Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration - Immigrant and Refugee Volunteerism FAQ

If you’re looking to learn more about a prospective volunteer’s culture and background, begin by offering space in the application for the volunteer to speak about his/herself, interests, and their volunteer style. These questions help you to determine their motivations and history. Please note, that you should be careful in crafting your questions so that they are not discriminatory.

After hiring the volunteer, you can explore this individual’s cultural history as you would with other individuals you are interested in learning more about. For example, share stories of your own cultural history and ask them to share theirs. If the individual wishes not to share, they will let you know. However, my work with different cultures indicates that people want to share their story. If you are respectful, observant, open, and patient, you will find that you can build trusting relationships with any group.

2. Are there specific examples of questions to begin learning about a person's culture?

Start with yourself and your own beliefs, values, and assumptions. Ask yourself:

What beliefs do I have about learning about another culture?

What assumptions am I making about cultures?

What values are specific to me? What might I encounter that is different? How would I feel if I encountered this?

Why am I interested in this other culture?

What am I seeking? What am I looking to gain for myself?

What do I know about this other culture?

What information do I still need to learn about this culture?

Where can I find information about this culture?

How can I be mindful of my cultural values when entering into another culture?

What ways can I monitor my learning about this culture?

These questions will help you to determine your intentions when learning about new cultures. Every time you have a question or collect information, write down your experiences and the thoughts you have related to cultural differences in a journal. This is an excellent way to prepare yourself mentally and emotionally for working with different cultures.

3. How do we educate non-profits to see the value in working with immigrant volunteers who have limited or no English-speaking skills?

Start by emphasizing the importance of these volunteers to accomplishing the mission of the organization and to achieving the strategic goals. The concept is that volunteers from these communities help organizations stay focused on their mission, and in return, the organization provides them with formal skills and information that can be transferable.

Next, identify specific challenges and barriers that new American volunteers may face in volunteerism. Then, identify what resources you have to meet or address the challenges and barriers including the challenges you face. Finally, work together to brainstorm solutions to the challenges and close the gap. This process is not linear; rather, it is cyclical and must be re-strategized frequently.

4. My organization needs to know in advance if a volunteer can fill a position on a regular basis. What are suggestions you have for engaging this type of volunteer?

If you must maintain a regular volunteer schedule, inquire about time commitment during the application process, interviews, or recruitment process by asking questions such as:

What times are you available to volunteer?

Of the following times listed, please check your first, second, or third choice

How flexible are you with the times you’ve indicated?

Additionally, don’t dismiss someone who can’t fit into your schedule. If possible, find ways to integrate that individual into other roles. If not, discuss this with the individual and continue to maintain consistent relationship with them. This helps them to know that you’re still interested in the value they offer.

5. What kind of recognition do new American or immigrant volunteers prefer?

Like any other individuals, volunteers from immigrant communities differ in their motivations, preferences, interests, and needs. You can obtain this information about recognition by checking with the individual about the type of recognition that he/she would prefer.

6. How do you find influential individuals from within immigrant communities?

It’s always helpful if you have a liaison or know of someone who can connect you to the leadership of the community. They may already be a volunteer you know! Remember that it takes time to build relationships. Here are ways to help you build those connections:

Attend local or community events to show your support and willingness to learn about the culture.

Partner with local culturally-specific organizations on events, grants, programming, etc. Read newspapers and listen to news about individuals from the communities you would like to engage.

Check with your business associates, colleagues and friends who might have connections to the communities you want to learn from. Use forums like LinkedIn.

Connect with directors of culturally-specific organizations to see if they can assist.

Create your own event and invite people from different communities to attend

Check with local organizations (United Way, Girl Scouts, educational institutions, etc.) to see who they know and how best to connect to these individuals.

Remember that leadership, power, and decision-making is not necessarily formal within these communities. You can learn about informal leadership by building your knowledge base of the cultural group.

7. How do we best reach out to volunteers from immigrant communities?

A simple response to this question is: know your audience. Find out what they read, listen to, and watch, where they gather, what organizations they like to work with, who they go to when they have problems, what types of people they like to work with, what are issues and concerns they have, and so on. By compiling a list of demographic and socioeconomic information you create a composite of your audience, and thereby find the proper strategies to addressing outreach.

Much of outreach is relationship-building. An element of relationship-building is finding the resources that best help you to learn about the cultural community you would like to engage. Finally, as a reminder, it’s important to recognize that cultural communities differ within the culture itself.

For the research report and resources on engaging new American volunteers, please visit www.MAVANetwork.org/diversity.