October 23, 2011: International News From the Field

No matter your political persuasion, looking at the Occupy Wall Street movement from a volunteer management perspective is an intriguing exercise. With images in the media of tattoos, piercings, and strange costumes, it’s easy to pooh-pooh protestors as slackers with no direction.  But look again. This uprising has similar features to the volunteer driven origins of many of today’s main stream organizations.

• Influenced by highly skilled, highly educated volunteer: Every social change action requires someone to get the ball rolling, whether it be the Tea Party, the March of Dimes, or the revolution in Egypt. David Graeber doesn’t claim to be the initial instigator, but he appears  to have laid the “ground rules.” There is also a YouTube video where David Graeber recounts the first night of protest as quite organized and not just “a few college students” getting together and deciding to camp out.

• Financial structure in place: Funds are managed at a central location by volunteers with business experience.

• Self-governing structure in place: Although classifying themselves as a leaderless movement, they have a “horizontal governance structure in which committees tackle issues independently and then report back to the consensus-based General Assembly.” 

• Has system for designing and screening of volunteer positions: The committee structure also implies a level of volunteer screening even if informal. To create committees, individuals must ask for volunteers and individuals must accept volunteer committee positions. Someone needs to say “who has such-n-such experience?” and someone needs to say “I do!” It’s assumed that the general assembly needs to approve the volunteer “placement.” This is more formal than the “grab-n-go” method of volunteer screening seen in some not-to-be-named organizations.

• Volunteers advocate for the cause back into the community: As with any volunteer “program,” volunteers take their message back into the community. When interviewed by local, national, and international media, individuals are not afraid to passionately explain the cause they are protesting for.  This has garnered some big support from outside parties.

As with any volunteer involvement, things aren’t necessarily perfect. But there certainly are some basic bones evident for this volunteer movement to stand the test of time. At Energize, we will be watching closely for other signs of good volunteer management practices. One “best practice” we all will agree on:  Bring food and they will come!