On 05/03/07, George Herbert george.herbert@gmail.com wrote:
On 3/5/07, Oldak Quill oldakquill@gmail.com wrote:
I understand what you're saying about volunteers not being obligated to the foundation and that even trusted volunteers may have a tough time justifying getting out of bed in the morning for the Foundation, but I think the level of obligation many of our users feel to the project is comparable to the the obligation felt by an employee and could be put to use.
If a volunteer strongly believes in the work of the foundation, has shown commitment to the project through positions of trust, has shown that they will do at least X hours a day, and has assumed much responsibility then I think they could be trusted with a position.
I agree, there are some critical jobs with time-sensitivity that cannot be left to volunteers, but volunteers should be used as extensively as possible.
In my opinion, there's no question but that volunteers who are able to consistently deliver can accomplish many things.
There are also things that they can't reliably accomplish, because family, work, and other aspects of "having a life" will prevent them from focusing 20-30 hours on a particularly hard problem. There are a few exceptions - retired people, independently rich people, and unemployed spouses come to mind - but in general, we cannot expect people to dedicate work-like effort to the project on a volunteer basis.
I wanted to bring this up because, as a charity with limited resources, it is something that should be explored and discussed. I am aware that some employees are necessary: some tasks are too critical, time sensitive or large to be left to volunteers. Where do we draw this line? When does it become too much work to use volunteers for a particular task?
Adding internal employees is not taking work away from volunteers, it's enabling the community as a whole to get some things done that require more time and focus than volunteers can bring to the role.
My concern wasn't that work will be taken away from volunteers: I'm sure the Foundation wouldn't create positions willy-nilly.