154 – Entitled or Exploited? Part 1 – Volunteer Bias in Organizations

March 20, 2025

Episode #154: Entitled or Exploited? Part 1 – Volunteer Bias in Organizations 

In this episode of the Volunteer Nation Podcast, Tobi discusses the concept of volunteer bias in organizations, focusing on the theme, Entitled or Exploited. Using data from the Volunteer Management Progress Report, Tobi highlights issues such as volunteer retention, respect, and organizational challenges. 

She also delves into the implications of labeling volunteers as ‘entitled’ and introduces the concept of volunteer exploitation with real-world examples and emphasizes the importance of ethical leadership and boundary setting in volunteer engagement, urging organizations to introspect on their practices.  

Volunteer Bias – Episode Highlights

• [00:43] – Volunteer Management Challenges 
• [03:13] – Understanding ‘Entitled’ Volunteers 
• [05:33] – Volunteer Bias and Its Implications 
• [12:04] – Exploring Volunteer Exploitation 
• [17:36] – Ethical Practices in Volunteer Management 

Helpful Links

• VolunteerPro Impact Lab 
• Volunteer Management Progress Report – The Recruitment Edition 
• Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration (CCVA), Professional Ethics in Volunteer Management 
• Volunteer Nation Episode #101: Tap the Power of Psychological Contracts with Dr. Abby Medcalf, Entitlement in Relationships: How to Recognize It and Break the Cycle 

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Have questions or suggestions for the show? Email us at wecare@volpro.net.

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Episode #154 Transcript: Entitled or Exploited? Part 1 – Volunteer Bias in Organizations 

Tobi: Well, Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of The Volunteer Nation Podcast. I’m your host, Tobi Johnson, and I’m going to talk about something that’s been on my mind for a while. It’s taken me a while to put together this episode, and when I started putting it together, it got really long, so I’m breaking it into two parts. So, part one of Entitled or Exploited is about volunteer bias in organizations, and I’m going to talk about what I mean by that, but I want to preface this by some information and data we collected from this year’s Volunteer Management Progress Report, the Recruitment Edition. 

We always ask folks, what is their biggest volunteer management challenge right now? And we ask and hand code over a thousand different responses. I think I coded about fourteen hundred responses. And there were a couple of things that came up that I thought were interesting. One is volunteer retention dropped from fifth place to second place, which is great. 

It’s nice to know that general volunteer turnover and maintaining active, engaged volunteer base. is getting less of a concern, but it’s still one of the top five concerns. And many specifically called out younger volunteers and students as the most likely to renege on commitments, miss shifts, or disappear without alerting the organization, basically ghosting you, right? 

Still others were concerned with the turnover of the older, more veteran volunteers who could no longer perform their roles or had competing life priorities that made volunteering less attractive. But we also found, by the same token, that one out of ten of our respondents noticed respect and buying in as their top challenge when it came to community and volunteers. 

So they cited buy in, indifference, or active resistance for volunteer initiatives on the part of executive leadership, program leads, and coworkers, and hesitancy on the part of employees in bringing volunteers into their department. And some of these open-ended comments are challenging to read. Of course, we ask people what their biggest challenges are. 

So of course we’re going to hear about problems, right? That’s the question we’re asking. But it started to feel there were certain ways people were talking about volunteers that gave me pause. And there’s a particular statement that people make or a description that people use to describe problematic volunteers. 

I want us to take a deeper look at it. I don’t know if you’re interested, but I am interested in exploring this and so I hope you’ll find it interesting as well and maybe give you a fresh take on this. And that is the word entitled. From time to time, I hear folks complain about entitled volunteers. Folks are expressing their frustration about a demanding supporter or about a volunteer who’s been ghosting them and not showing up. 

This was also reflected in this year’s Volunteer Management Progress Report survey responses, especially to the biggest challenge question. And I always find this phrase, entitled volunteers, curious. What are we saying exactly when we’re talking about entitled volunteers? And I’m using air quotes here. 

You can’t see my fingers, but they’re there. But don’t get me wrong, before we get into this, I want to make sure that I’m clear. I have managed my fair share of demanding volunteers, volunteers who want change to happen and don’t understand that it takes time for change to happen. Not every volunteer is kind and gracious in their comments and feedback. 

Not every volunteer shows up when they’re supposed to. There’s lots of. issues with managing volunteers. I’m not saying it’s easy, but the word entitled has certain connotations and I believe that it reflects a certain kind of volunteer bias in volunteer organizations. Now let me talk about this a little bit. 

Let’s pull this apart a little. Entitled, first, the word entitled, quote unquote, can have two different meanings depending on the context. One meaning is having the right to something. If somebody’s entitled to something, they have a legitimate claim or right to it. So, employees are entitled to a lunch break, for example. 

There’s also, in a specific context, entitled means feeling deserving of special treatment. If someone is described as entitled in a negative sense, it means they believe they deserve privileges or special treatment without earning them. So, for example, he acted entitled expecting VIP service without paying extra. 

In today’s world, when we talk about entitled volunteers, often we’re talking about people being spoiled or taking or expecting more than they’ve earned. And I find this to be challenging and problematic. And I just have to ask the question, is this volunteer bias? And in research terms, volunteer bias is the idea that people who volunteer to participate in studies do not represent the general population. 

When I speak of quote unquote volunteer bias, I mean something similar, that people tend to label all volunteers based on the unproductive behaviors of a few people. And entitled volunteers, when we use that term, it’s a label, and it tends to broad brush stroke a lot of people. And the other question I have is. 

Shouldn’t volunteers feel entitled? Shouldn’t they feel deserving of respect and treatment, special treatment for everything they’re giving organizations? After all, they’re taking time out of their busy schedules. They’re offering value to our organizations, and they could be choosing to do anything else with their time. 

And so, I don’t think we as organizations are entitled, if we want to keep using this term, to their labors, to volunteer labors, simply because our organizations help people and have a need. So when I think of entitled volunteers, I think of the alternate of having a right to specific benefits or privileges. 

I’m not speaking about having the right to treat people poorly or neglect commitments, but the right to provide feedback about decisions that impact them, the right to complain that what is on offer is not what was promised, the right to effective management and sufficient resources, the right to not be treated as a second class citizen. 

And unfortunately, in some of the open-ended comments in the responses to our survey, it felt like volunteers, these rights were not being honored for volunteers. That there was, in some organizations, a lack of respect, lack of resources, resistance to volunteers. And those are things that I think volunteers are entitled to. 

So, when anyone at your organization speaks about quote unquote untitled volunteers, I think it is perfect, teachable moment. It’s time to ask, well, what are we exactly saying? And to be clear, what, what does this entitlement mean? Is it that the volunteer needs coaching around expected behavior or certain accountabilities? 

Or is that volunteer unhappy that the, our organization has not fulfilled its commitments? Either way. depending on who’s not fulfilling commitments. Either way, it’s up to staff and employees to manage the situation rather than pawning the blame off on those who are not responsible for leading. Your volunteers are not responsible for leading unless they’re a leadership volunteer, which most of our organizations from our survey, we know from the volunteer management progress report that very few. 

Less than 5 percent of the volunteers in any organization are leadership level volunteers. And so, I think it’s time for us to self-reflect on what organizations might be doing to fail these unpaid workers or our volunteer supporters, our community supporters. I don’t think it’s about entitled volunteers. 

It’s about behaviors, certainly, sometimes, but it’s sometimes a reaction to frustration that our organization has not stepped up and fulfilled its promises. Let’s pause for a quick break. So, I hope you’re already thinking right now, I hope you’re being self-reflective about what does it means when we’re walking around talking about entitled volunteers? 

Is it a throwaway phrase? Is it a productive phrase? Is it a phrase that helps us get to a solution? I don’t really think so. So, let’s talk about after the break. I want to talk about, because the title of this is entitled or exploited, I want to talk about volunteer bias, but also exploitation in organizations of volunteers. 

So, after the break, I’m going to give some examples of this and talk about the definitions so we can, again, gain clarity. And then I’ll also talk about What’s an alternative to volunteer bias in our organizations? I’m not going to leave, let you, leave you hanging, right? I am not going to leave you hanging. So don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.  

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Okay, we’re back with my discussion of volunteer bias and entitled volunteers. I want to talk now about exploitation and exploited volunteers because I think some volunteers are exploited. Some of the comments that I read really felt like it. Of course, I don’t know firsthand, but I’m going to give you some definitions and you can think on it yourself. 

Similar to entitled, the word exploited can also have two different meanings depending on the context. One meaning is someone is taking advantage of unfairly when a person or group is used for someone else’s benefit, or often in an unfair or unethical way. So, for example, the company exploited its workers by underpaying them. 

There’s also an alternative definition, and that is exploited may mean utilized effectively. So, when a resource or opportunity or situation is used to its full advantage, sometimes in a neutral or positive way. I’m going to give you an example from last weekend’s football match, the Premier League. 

Anybody who’s a Premier League football or soccer fan is going to totally know what I’m talking about. If you, if you don’t, it’s okay. Just let me nerd out for a minute. So, here’s my example. Aston Villa exploited the weaknesses in Chelsea’s defense to score two goals and win 2-1 last weekend, dropping Chelsea from 4th to 7th place in the league table. 

Okay, I’m a huge Chelsea fan, you may have heard this before, so I am in tears this week. It was, ugh, it was a rough loss. But, you know, Aston Villa. Kudos to them, hat tip. They exploited the other team’s defense. And so, again, I’m just being nerdy about my, my football passion. Anyway, so again, like entitled, entitled can have a positive or negative connotation, so can exploited. 

Okay? So, we’re being fair. We’re, we’re talking about all the different ways. Let’s talk about examples of exploitation. Okay? Sure. And these are examples of volunteer exploitation. In our discussion of volunteer bias, sometimes when we have a biased view that volunteers are acting entitled, we may think, well, they don’t deserve our support because they’re acting entitled, and therefore maybe we don’t, we can just exploit them. 

Now, I’m sure there’s not like a step by step thinking in this way, but it is a knee jerk reaction. So, I want you to think as I talk about these ways that volunteers can be exploited, I just want you to take an honest look at your organization or any organizations you’ve worked for in the past. Have you, have you seen this going on? 

So, here’s some examples of exploitation of volunteers. Excessive workloads without support, expecting volunteers to take on additional responsibilities meant for paid staff without adequate training, resources, or recognition. Even just any taking on any expectations. Unpaid labor for profit using volunteers to perform work that generates revenue for an organization that could afford to hire paid staff. 

That is exploitation. Emotional manipulation. Guilt tripping volunteers into over committing our employees to volunteer their time by implying that if they don’t step up, the cause will suffer. So that could be exploitation of paid staff or volunteers. I think there’s a fine line between making the case for our cause and guilt tripping somebody into overextending themselves. 

Those are two different things. Fourth thing, lack of credit or recognition, not acknowledging volunteers’ contributions or treating them as disposable workers to fill quote unquote slots. That’s a term I have a really hard time with. Volunteers are not widgets to be placed in slots. They are human beings who want to partner with you to make a transformation happen. That’s what they’re about. So, they’re not slots, they’re not day labor workers where you’re driving up to the big box store with your pickup truck and throwing people in the back to go and dig a ditch for the day. That’s not what volunteers are. 

And I think we must really change our thinking around this if that’s prevalent in our organizations. Let’s look at another area of exploitation. There are no clear boundaries between volunteering and employment. This is a tough one. Using volunteers and employees interchangeably to save money. It is not fair to employees, and it is not fair to volunteers to be clear about what is unpaid and what is a paid job. 

Another way volunteers are, can be exploited. Exposure to unsafe or unethical conditions. Placing volunteers in situations that Put them at risk without proper training, equipment, or oversight. I hate to say this, but I heard of an organization during the COVID pandemic who wanted to recruit more volunteers to work on the front lines instead of paid staff so that paid staff didn’t get sick. 

Serious. Serious. Hand, hand to God, I heard that from a colleague. So, I know that volunteer involving organizations, some volunteer involving organizations are exploiting volunteers. I don’t think that we can just pull the wool over our eyes or just pretend that it’s not happening. I think exploitation happens in different degrees. 

I think it’s up to every organization to look at this and see if there’s any areas where volunteers are being exploited. Volunteering involving organizations is bound by professional ethics. So, it’s important that we consider these sticky questions. And if you want to consider Uh, more and check out more about our ethics in the field. 

Check out the Council for Certification and Volunteer Administration, CCVA’s Professional Ethics and Volunteer Management, which includes their core values and principles for the ethical treatment of volunteers. And I’ll link to that in the show notes, but that is the global standard for ethical practice. 

Now other countries as well have even deeper. So, check in your country, if your organization, if you have a national peak body or organization that has more on the rights of volunteers and ethics and volunteerism. But it’s very important that we think about whether or not volunteers are being exploited. 

The title was entitled or exploited. So, I wanted to cover both of those. Now I want to also ask, is there volunteer bias at work in your organization? So, is it clouding your view of your management and leadership responsibilities when you opt to include volunteers in your work? And I want to point this out. 

It is an option. No organization is required to bring on volunteers. It is a choice. Now, it may be a practical choice. around budget, around community engagement. I hope it’s more than just around the budget, but it is an option. Every organization can decide yay or nay when it comes to volunteers. Now, a few organizations, either by virtue of their funding, their bylaws, etc. are required to engage volunteers, but for most it is entirely optional.  

So, if we are deciding and we continue to choose volunteers as a strategy, as a human resources strategy, we need to step up and make sure that we are conducting this activity ethically, and that we are on the lookout for volunteer bias in our work, that we are not seeing volunteers and painting volunteers with a broad brushstroke because of a few issues. 

When issues arrive with teams, effective leaders will examine their culpability and take action to improve the situation, rather than label the culprit who is promoting the issue or creating the issue, culprit or culprits, rather than labeling or painting everyone with the same brush. When we choose to involve volunteers in our organization, we also choose that and decide that we will take responsibility and accountability for the leadership of those volunteers. 

So sometimes this means difficult conversations with direct reports, which is part and parcel of a volunteer supervisor’s job, those who are responsible for supervising volunteers. So, it’s important, I think. I saw these Issues come up in our open-ended comments, the lack of respect for volunteers, the resistance to volunteers. 

Why was this created? It’s created through bias, through the ways that we are conceptualizing volunteers as people. And volunteers as people are a wide range of kinds of people, of levels of commitment, of expertise, et cetera, support and passion for our good cause. And so, I really want to make sure that we are on the lookout for volunteer bias in our organizations, but also that we are ready and willing. 

as an organization to take full responsibility and accountability for the leadership that goes along with engaging the community. It’s just part of the, it’s part of ethical practice. So, I don’t want to leave you hanging. So, I want to end this conversation. on an alternative to volunteer bias, and that is better setting boundaries in volunteerism. 

So, setting clear guidelines for volunteer coaching, discipline, and dismissal ensures fairness, accountability, and professionalism, while protecting both the volunteer and the organization. It is a kind of boundary setting. So, you know, Boundaries must be set and maintained across the board to be fair. 

Everyone needs to be held to the same standards, and these need to be equitable. In other words, everyone gets tailored support to create successful outcomes. So fair equals everyone is held to the same standards. Equitable equals everyone gets tailored support to create successful outcomes. This is what we are committing to when we are committing to bringing on volunteers. 

My friend, Dr. Abby Metcalfe, who is a psychologist and just the queen of boundary setting has written books on it. I’m going to link to her article so you can get to her webpage. She’s just so fantastic about all the sticky situations we get in as human beings and how we relate to each other in our relationship with one another. 

Just amazing. She has a podcast. She’s an amazing person. She wrote this. beautiful article about entitlement and relationships that I thought I’d close with. When it comes down to it, entitlement and boundary setting are two sides of the same coin, really. In her article, she talks about how entitlement is encouraged in the U.S. It’s part of U. S. individualism. We shouldn’t be surprised if people act entitled, at least here in the U. S. She also talks about why people act entitled, and sometimes it’s for reasons that you would not maybe expect. She talks about and calls out signs when you might be acting yourself in an entitled way. 

She does this with full love. She also offers some tips for dealing with entitled people, and honestly, it’s all about setting better boundaries. As volunteer involving organizations, it’s our responsibility to set and maintain boundaries with both volunteers and employees about acceptable behavior, and to have the wisdom to know when to sever the relationship before it gets toxic, and again, I’ll link to Dr. 

Abby Medcalf’s Entitlement and Relationships article. But, you know, I want you to think about as volunteer involving organizations, we are the leaders. One of the jobs of leaders is to set and maintain boundaries. It’s not just setting boundaries. We often have volunteer waivers and volunteer agreements and training and a list of thou shalts. 

That’s fine for setting boundaries. Sometimes they’re clear, sometimes they’re not. But maintaining boundaries is a whole other game. It’s about communicating when boundaries are transgressed. And so often we’re brushing these boundaries and these issues under the table. So labeling volunteers or employees for that matter as entitled does nothing to improve the situation of behavior issues or conflicts. 

And in fact, it can make matters worse. So, the next time we see volunteer bias at play in our organizations, let’s call it out for what it is. Also, let’s use that opportunity to be honest about whether our organization is living up to our side of the bargain when it comes to engaging the community with respect and dignity. 

So, I hope you have found this insightful, new way of thinking about our responsibilities when it comes to volunteers and how we treat them when we engage them. In part two of this series, I’m going to talk about the rights of volunteers, but also the responsibilities of volunteers. So when you’re setting those boundaries, we’ll have lots of ideas for you about. 

What boundaries do you want to set and what is, what should be standards of practice when it comes to volunteers? What should we expect of our volunteers and what should volunteers expect of us? I hope you liked this episode. If you like it, I hope you’ll share it with a friend. We love ratings. We’d love a five-star rating, if you agree that it’s valuable to you and I hope you’ll join me next week, same time, same place on The Volunteer Nation. 

Take care, everybody.