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Volunteerism is so important in today’s world. I can’t even begin to think of all the people in the world who would suffer were there no volunteers to give their time and skills to help. Some organizations wouldn’t exist at all if no one stepped up to lend a hand and others have volunteers that do the work of twenty because there’s no one else and the need doesn’t go away. Why then, do more people not give their time?

I can give you one major reason: because some people out there think it’s okay to treat volunteers like dirt on their shoes, to be walked on and wiped off at the first opportunity. I’m all for doing your absolute best when you say you’ll do something, whether you’re getting paid for it or not. That being said, everyone makes mistakes, and there is usually more that needs to be done than anyone has time for, but the people who are not volunteering to help in any way at all have very little right to criticize anything, and no right to any non-constructive criticism.

Most importantly, if you have constructive criticism that you think will help the organization or the process, presenting it to the volunteer privately is the best way to go; sending your complaints out in a mass email to everyone in the organization is sure to alienate people, and will probably make you look the fool in the long run. Part of the issue may be the fact that it’s far easier to go off on someone in an email than it is in person. In an email, you can say what you want, and the fear of how they’ll respond is diminished, if it was ever there at all.

Volunteers aren’t always asking for gushing praise and thanks, though that never hurts either. But if you’re not willing to pitch in and help out, don’t tell the volunteer how to do the job (that they’re doing for free, remember), and especially don’t do it in such a way as to be obvious about the fact that you are trying to make that volunteer look stupid. It’s put up or shut up time, folks.