Listen to how people talk about volunteers in your organisation. What opportunities does that give you to educate others about the power and potential of volunteering?

These people are either poorly informed, haven’t thought about volunteering, or are sometimes prejudiced against volunteers — well-meaning amateurs who can’t do anything important or significant.

These same people would never let a volunteer oversee an organisation (boards) or provide legal advice (pro bono) because that’s important work and can’t be done by someone who is “just a volunteer”.

Why? Frequently it’s because some people are comfortable with volunteers being nice-but-not-essential — lovely people who support the cause but don’t do anything vital.

Yet when people give time in roles outside those norms, the language changes. People call them board members, or pro bono — anything other than volunteers.

The shorthand I often use is volunteers making the tea and stuffing the envelopes, but it could just as easily be rattling collecting tins, working in a charity shop etc..

I was recently at an event where we got into a discussion about who counts as a volunteer.

You see, in my experience, many Volunteer Involving Organisations are comfortable with volunteers in ‘traditional’ roles.

We are stewards of hope.

So, when what you do gets you down, take a pause and remember the position we have.

We are stewards of hope.

We are stewards of hope.

Without us, the world would be a darker, less inspiring place. A world that would be harder to face every day.

We are stewards of hope.

We help channel people’s hope to rebel, speak up, campaign, disrupt and (yes, sometimes) fight against oppression, discrimination, prejudice, and hatred.

We are stewards of hope.

We help people to take actions that give others hope. Those who see hope in the acts of kindness towards others. Those who, through the support of a volunteer, perhaps see a glimmer of hope in their personal world.

But we do so much more. We are so much more.

We are stewards of hope.

We help people to channel their hope for a better world into tangible action, volunteering to bring that future closer to reality.

Stewards of hope

That’s what we are as Volunteer Engagement Professionals — stewards of hope.

It’s easy to focus on the day-to-day of our work. Systems, processes, forms, meetings, frustrations, budgets. All are important. All help us get things done.

As the year draws to a close you, me, we, need a reminder about the importance of what we do as Volunteer Engagement Professionals in these dark times.

Here’s the original article, I hope it resonates with you.

2025 has been a challenging year for the world on many fronts.

People can feel lost and hopeless in such times.

That’s why I think this #200WordTuesday needs resharing.

For this #200WordTuesday, I’m doing something I’ve never really done before — I’m recycling an old post.

I originally shared it at the end of November 2022.

When I was reviewing old posts recently, I came across this article, and it really resonated with me.