Arelis and Russell from Rare Genomics Institute

• Arelis - vollunteer management director
• 165 active volunteer - 10 is the average, 5 hour minimum per week.
• 90% of volunteers do it completely voluntarily
• No paid staff - all HR is volunteers
• ED was connected to a grant. But still participating.
• 100% volunteer organizations
• Help individuals raise funds to fight rare genemics
• Software, infrastructure, patient advocacy, IT team
• Each team can submit funding requests, travel, conferences
• Receives donations from corporations
• 13 teams - science 2.0 team (such as scientists), grants team, HR, IT, patient advocacy to help them find resources
• HR Protocol - recruitment and volunteer engagement. Hire volunteers because they have a skilll set and a passion. Support their resume.
• Post positions in Volunteer match. Fill out a detailed questionnaire. Review them. Based n needs of the department. Needs are one thing. HR does initial fit interview. Then work with the specific team leads. Minimum 2 phone interviews.
• Initially, make it clear that even if you are volunteering, that you have the time and heart
• First on seriousness: 5 hours per week, and 90 day period requirement. Evaluate at 90 days. Provide a title at that time - they are 'accepted.' There are specific communication effectiveness needs. Talk about interview. We respect the volunteer and their time.
• Director of Talent Acquisition. Reviews and posts it. Typically - select the skills/abilities. Review those individuals. Then send them to the team for review. Review
• 30 minute interviews. "Wow, you are really taking this serious, like it was a real job". E
• Expected to hit the ground running. Introduces them to a project manager. Interviewed with team leader. Weekly team meeting.
• Every team has a position description for the work that they do.
• They know what they are getting into.
• HR does a 2 week followup.
• HR Team - VP of HR - oversight + direction. Dir of Volunteer Mgmt (+2) - engage volunteer. Dir of Talent Acquisition (+2) - takes info from teams. Manager of Volunteer Engagement.
• HR Chicken and egg - after retreat - if you want success, you will need to put energy into HR.
• Execution is not task completion. It's understanding how things work. Understanding why you need a position, what you need it to do, and how you retain talent.
• Infrastructure for allowing you not to wonder about what is going on - is important. Need to keep a record of hours. Submit hours to the IRS. So you can use that for corporate sponsors.
• Idealist.org - one of best websites for posting nonprofit job descriptions. Volunteer Match. Linked In - 2 interesting areas. Full time + a volunteer website recruiting. You do not need to buy advertising. RG uses Genome Web. Engineering sites. Hire for someone that could meet 2-3 needs. That I can trust. Then find that person as the technical recruiter.
• Find out about their recruiting style. I'll hear in their voice regarding how I describe the organization.
• Define your mission as an organization, and build everything around that.
• 1. Values, 2. Mission - we do this for those reasons., 3. Structure of team. SOPS for that team. Start a framework for each team. Design Team, CAD Team. KSA - knowledge, skills, abilities - but because of the mission, they will do XYZ. So you hire for visionary and technically sound. You can teach skill, but will need to have folks that have passion and desire. Careful about people that have passion only - need the technical skill to carry through.
• My clarity - what does it take for me to understand that I can trust them. Be clear about that.
• Objectives - cut the salami - define goals.
• Promotion is in title - promote ones who are effective. Make sure that your people have others to support them.