Finding a specific volunteer role in an association
Some members doubt that they are suitable volunteers because they joined an association only recently or are not native speakers of its working language. A member finds a specific volunteer role by knowing the work volunteers do across the association, following the openings it publishes, learning how each kind of role is entered and which routes do not wait for an advertised vacancy, and finding out what a role will ask before offering to take it.
What does not disqualify a member
A freelance medical writer and translator in Italy who sat on the executive committee of the European Medical Writers Association (EMWA) saw a certain tendency among its members, particularly those who had recently joined, to consider themselves inappropriate candidates for getting involved, either because they had been members for less than a year or because they were not native speakers of English, the association's lingua franca. In one freelance writer's experience, most would-be volunteers feel unsure at the start whether they will ever be able to make the time or contribute their best efforts; he felt so himself and, with support and encouragement, went on to give his time and his best as an EMWA volunteer.
Having joined recently
After two years on the executive committee, the writer and translator in Italy concluded that recently joined members often have a fresh, external view and can critically spot areas where input is needed; her own fresh view had always been very much appreciated. She also concluded that, when proposing new initiatives, enthusiasm and proactivity are more useful than experience.
She had first attended an EMWA autumn conference in London in 2011. When she criticised some aspects of the organisation over dinner at EMWA's conference in Cyprus, she was told that people like her were needed and that she should get involved. She joined the social media team at once, sent a candidate statement for the public relations officer position at the end of the year of the Cyprus conference, and was elected in May 2013.
Not being a native speaker of English
Her third conclusion was that language is not a barrier to getting involved, since everyone speaks the language of science up to a certain level, even where they use a different language professionally; she herself works not in English but from English. The association's business is nonetheless conducted in English, and in her experience native speakers on the executive committee are always very helpful in reviewing text. Across the three executive committee mandates up to 2015, two of the committee's nine members were not native speakers of English.
The work volunteers do across an association
In 2008 officers and volunteers kept the chapters of the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) vibrant, and members on its committees and task forces developed and produced the annual conference programme, chose award winners, supported the association's publications, website and promotional efforts, wrote, edited and produced the journal, refined the constitution and bylaws, reviewed the budget, advanced the education programme, developed new revenue sources and programmes, nominated new officers, and grappled with the issues that would define the association's future.
In 2019 EMWA's activities were managed exclusively by volunteers, from the members of the executive committee to the table leaders at the freelance business forum, with administrative support from its office staff in Macclesfield. Freelances took part in running it as its president and as executive committee members and served on its subcommittees and special interest groups, and the five volunteers on the freelance business group's subcommittee were all freelances.
In March 2026 EMWA's volunteers ranged from special interest group leaders and workshop developers to conference session organisers and committee members. They developed workshops, led seminars, wrote articles, mentored newcomers, organised networking events and contributed in countless other ways.
Where an association publishes its openings
In 2008 AMWA, having expanded its executive committee to serve member needs and needing more help to maintain its legacy, asked members to review the willingness-to-serve form on its website, identify the opportunities that matched their expertise, complete the form and send it to headquarters. In 2013 the association was to run its next volunteer drive from September to November, and filling out the call-for-volunteers form during the drive was the best way to express interest. In 2014 it asked members to complete a volunteer interest form on its website, welcoming members with all levels of expertise and professionals from all general and specialty areas.
In December 2012 EMWA listed the executive committee posts up for election the following year: public relations officer, honorary secretary, treasurer, education officer and vice president. Members who wished to stand were asked to contact the president, the head office or another member of the executive committee, and each post's job description, setting out what it entailed, was on the association's website under 'Contact Us' and 'Executive Committee'.
In 2014 EMWA's Facebook account, Twitter account, LinkedIn discussion group and LinkedIn company page were each in the charge of one member of its social media team, and the team asked members who thought they had something to offer, however small, to contact the public relations officer.
In June and September 2017 EMWA's journal printed the same call for volunteers: the association is run by its members and relies on them to develop and support all its initiatives, a number of its groups had vacancies, and anyone interested was asked to write to the association's information address. The September 2017 news pages also reminded members that they could volunteer for the association's committees and groups.
In March 2019 EMWA, which is run by volunteer medical writers, named the teams a member could contribute to, among them congress planning, the journal, the website, the social media team, conference advertisement, the webinars team, the internships project, workshop leaders, the pharmacovigilance special interest groups, the freelance business group and finance, with one contact address for all of them.
In 2019 the programmes EMWA had begun in recent years, such as the symposium and the expert seminar series at the summer conferences, needed volunteers' help, as did the special interest groups it had launched, among them medical communications, veterinary writing and medical devices. A member could read about such openings on the association's website, in its monthly newsletter email and on its social media, or ask the head office to connect them with a subcommittee or special interest group chair.
The standing call for volunteers
From June 2019 to March 2026 EMWA's journal printed a recurring call for volunteers that describes the association as member-run: volunteering in any capacity furthers its development, a member chooses whether to take part in a very limited way or as part of a larger project, and everyone shares the benefits. A shorter version printed in March and June 2023 says the same of the part volunteers play in the association's development and of the choice between a very limited involvement and a larger project.
The call lists the areas in which members can volunteer as follows, with the date by which each change had appeared:
- The conference, through its planning committee and its advertising.
- Finance, by June 2020.
- The journal, through contributions and the editorial board; by June 2022 through submitting articles and the editorial board, and by March 2024 through submitting articles alone.
- The website, through contributions and the web team.
- The freelance business group.
- The social media team.
- Training, through leading workshops, the professional development programme committee, webinar contributions and the webinar team, with the committee given as professional development by December 2021.
- The internship project, in June 2019.
- The special interest groups: pharmacovigilance, regulatory disclosure and medical devices in 2019; medical communications, veterinary medical writing and sustainability added by June 2020; business development and communicating with the public added by December 2021, making eight; entrepreneurship in the place of business development by September 2023; regulatory writing in the place of regulatory disclosure by March 2024; and visual communications added by March 2026, making nine.
- The ambassador programme.
- The Getting Into Medical Writing group, by December 2021.
- The executive committee's posts of president, vice president, journal editor, public relations chair, conference chair, honorary secretary, professional development programme committee chair and treasurer, with the web manager added by June 2022; by March 2024 the posts are president, president-elect, journal editor, public relations chair, conference chair, honorary secretary, education officer, treasurer and web manager.
The call asks members eager to support ongoing initiatives to write to the association's information address. The shorter version of March and June 2023 points instead to the volunteers page of the association's website for the current initiatives, and to the public relations officer for other opportunities.
Other calls for volunteers
In June 2022 EMWA asked for volunteers for two teams, both headed by the treasurer, with the association's finances overseen by the head office's accountancy department. The finance committee wanted members with a head for figures and budgets who could help ensure that membership funds were well spent; it then had six members, including the treasurer and the honorary secretary, met virtually as need and availability allowed, and sent email updates quarterly. The salary and compensation survey team conducted the association's salary survey every four to five years to help members track compensation trends for medical writers, and aimed to present updates at the association's conferences and ultimately prepare them for publication in its journal. Depending on their level of involvement, volunteers might qualify under the association's volunteer reimbursement policy. Members could write to the treasurer or to the survey team for more information, or apply through the association's information address.
In March and June 2023 EMWA looked for volunteers to join the team of its podcasts programme, which was launching that year for a broad range of individuals, from those yet to begin a career in medical writing to those keeping up with cutting-edge topics in medical writing or regulatory affairs; members interested were asked to write to the information address.
In December 2025 EMWA's president reminded members that elected positions would open in January 2026 and encouraged those passionate about contributing to its strategic direction to consider joining the executive committee, writing that the association thrives because members step forward to lead.
In March 2026 EMWA's president encouraged members who had considered volunteering to take that step.
How each kind of role is entered
In 2019 EMWA's professional development programme organised the workshops at the association's conferences, over 120 different ones, and freelances with a passion for teaching could volunteer through it as workshop leaders. A member wishing to design and present a workshop was to get in touch with the chair of the programme's committee, and a prospective leader sent the committee a proposal, which it evaluated for suitability and other factors; once approved and refined, the workshop was offered at future conferences, and one freelance writer and a colleague who went through the process first ran their workshop at the autumn 2018 conference in Warsaw.
In 2019 the webinar programme had hosted monthly webinars for a couple of years on topics from the latest regulatory changes to improving writing skills, and a member wishing to present one on a topic they were proficient in could contact the two volunteers who oversaw the programme to discuss it.
In 2019 EMWA's ambassador programme, a recent initiative, raised awareness of medical writing as a profession and introduced the association to people finishing their education and looking for career options, and its volunteers visited university career events, medical conferences and medical communication events to present on medical writing and on how membership helps a medical writer develop. One freelance writer signed up as a volunteer at the association's conference in Vienna. A member can also help the programme by passing information about local career events and job fairs to its chair, or, through contacts at a university or research institute, by exploring whether the nearest volunteer could present to the postgraduate students there.
In 2019 the editor of the journal's freelance section actively asked freelances to volunteer articles for it, and a member wishing to share their experience could contact the journal's editor-in-chief, the section's editor or the website manager.
Routes in that do not wait for a vacancy
In 2010 AMWA's opportunities to volunteer existed at both chapter and national level. A member could contact the chapter's leadership to offer assistance, which, in the words of the association's president, was rarely refused, or submit the association's willingness-to-serve form, which listed roles for contributing to activities within the chapters, the annual conference, the journal and more. The president encouraged members who had not volunteered before to start with something small to test the waters and move on from there, holding that all contributions, large or small, are valuable, and to find out how to get more involved from their local chapter leaders or by writing to him. His own volunteering had begun when he was approached to help with publicity for his chapter's meetings in 1998–1999.
One manuscript editor came onto an AMWA chapter committee more than thirty years before 2008 through a chapter dinner meeting, which he attended possibly because it was in a restaurant a few blocks from his house. A draft of a new chapter constitution was to be discussed there, and no one present much liked it, but only two of them stood up to say why, so the two naturally became the committee to draft the new constitution.
In one freelance writer's experience, each EMWA conference a member attends widens their network and brings news of new initiatives and opportunities to help, and it may even lead to an invitation to join a committee or propose a new workshop. He himself became an EMWA volunteer by chance, after being invited to help the freelance business group as a freelance advocate.
The same writer suggested that a member can also volunteer for EMWA through local networking: looking for other medical writers in the area, getting connected, starting to form a network and talking about the association to non-members.
What a role will ask of a volunteer
In 2013 most AMWA volunteers committed to serving a year on a committee, the year typically running from one annual conference to the next. The load varied by committee: some, such as the social media committee, required regular teleconferences, and others might require less frequent communication. The member resources committee had recently carried out a time assessment for all of the association's committees, which members could use to guide their decisions in offering their time.
In 2010 AMWA's president held that, with so little free time seeming to be available, proposing, developing and leading an AMWA workshop, including developing and grading its homework, showed tremendous dedication and commitment to the profession.