Archive for the ‘Volunteer Recruitment’ Category

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8 Ways to Grow Volunteer Leaders

Monday, September 17th, 2012

The secret to mobilizing and engaging volunteers to bring about sustainable, positive social change…

…is the development of volunteer leaders.

Volunteer leaders provide vision and they inspire, recruit and lead others.

You can play a role in mentoring, coaching and encouraging potential leaders to build the skills they need to take on leadership roles that drive social change.

First, identify individuals who have consistently demonstrated their ability to collaborate and work well with others in productive, long-term relationships.

Through mentoring, you can help new leaders recognize their own ability to manage a team and make effective decisions that result in progress toward objectives, which will improve the community.

Here are eight ways you can develop leaders from within your volunteer ranks:

1.  Provide opportunities within your organization for emerging volunteer leaders to develop and practice their skills.

2.  Encourage your volunteers to take on challenges that will foster their own growth and development.

3.  Make it safe for them to make mistakes by treating them as learning experiences.

4.  Support initiatives that your volunteers may come up with themselves rather than insisting on your own (to the degreethat you can). Volunteers will be inspired to pursue efforts and topics that are of particular interest to them rather than what you feel is best.

5.  Recognize individuals frequently for their contributions. Recognition that is low-key, frequent and personal is generally more meaningful to people than a big, annual event (although doing both is even better).

6.  Send volunteers with leadership potential to a training or take them to conferences.

7.  Remind yourself that a progressive increase in responsibility coupled with improved skills helps build leaders.

8.  Believe in everyone’s ability to reach higher and achieve more.

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Motivate Volunteers by Understanding Their Needs

Tuesday, August 21st, 2012

What makes people volunteer? This question often runs across the minds of nonprofit organizations when trying to recruit volunteers for service projects. It is important to understand these motivating factors to recruit more dedicated volunteers to your cause. When individuals have a strong tie to your organization, they are more likely to return for service again. They feel that their needs and feelings are being respected when they are included in project planning.

How can you better serve your volunteers? Check the top six factors that make individuals volunteer for your organization.

  1. Social: Individuals are often motivated by social factors when choosing whether or not they should volunteer. Social factors include statements such as “My friends volunteer” or “People I know share an interest in community service.” These individuals tend to choose organizations they have heard about through word of mouth. Word of mouth is one of your best recruitment strategies. Provide great service experiences so that volunteers want to talk about it and get their friends involved in your cause.
  2. Value: Other individuals are motivated by their core values when choosing their ideal service projects. Value reasons include, “I am concerned about those less fortunate than myself” or “I feel it is important to help others.” It is important to reinforce your organization’s core values in its recruitment message to attract this type of volunteer.
  3. Career: Volunteers can also be motivated by their career paths and goals. Volunteer work is a great way for people who are looking to expand their professional network to find new connections. It is also a great outlet to gain new skills or utilize skills they may not have used  otherwise. This type of reasoning includes “I can make new contacts that might help my business or career “or “Volunteer work will look good on my resume.” It is important for your organization to include the personal benefits to volunteering, as well as the overall community benefits from volunteer work.
  4. Understanding: Volunteering to gain a better understanding of the community and its needs is essential some individuals. These individuals may ask your organization “What can I learn more about the cause for which I am working?” Volunteering allows individuals to gain a new perspective and understanding of their community and its members. It opens new doors for new information that can be used to better serve the community.
  5. Protective: Volunteer work is a great stress reliever. It makes us feel better about ourselves and our current situation when we actively help our community. These factors should be highlighted, when recruiting volunteers, as well. This reasoning includes “Volunteering is a good escape from my troubles” or “By volunteering I feel less lonely.” Volunteering forces you to step out of your comfort zone and find new meaning and perspective.
  6. Esteem: When we help others through volunteering it makes us feel that we serve a purpose and we are an important part of the community. Highlight this aspect in your recruitment message. Let your volunteers know that they are making a huge difference in the overall health of the community in which they are serving. If possible, cite results from the actual project to let volunteers know the  magnitude of their service.

Which one of these factors applies to you? We would love to hear your comments and suggestions in the section below!

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10 Steps to Recruiting Older Volunteers

Monday, August 20th, 2012

Hosting intergenerational projects within your volunteer organization is essential to including the entire community. Often, it can be difficult for organizations to understand older volunteers. It is important to understand older adults and what issues they care about to ensure their participation in your project.

How can your organization better include older adults? Check out the list below to ensure a successful intergenerational project!

1. Define your ideal volunteer candidate: Let prospective volunteers know the necessary characteristics you are searching for to participate in the particular project.

  • Make note of the necessary project goals, physical and time demands, and grant requirements.

2. Develop an organizational checklist: This checklist should cite the most critical information necessary to complete the actual project i.e. time commitment, age range, etc.

3. Identify the barriers that could keep older adults from volunteering such as:

  • Lack of confidence that they have the skills to make a valuable contribution to the community.
  • Physical limitations such as illness or fatigue
  • Limited time to make a volunteer contribution
  • Cultural myths that say old age is a time for relaxation and not a time for meaningful work.

4. Identify motivating factors:

  • Discourage the barriers that keep older Americans from volunteering by encouraging the rewards such as friendships, new
     purpose, chance to use developed skills again, etc.

5. Develop your recruitment message:

  • What can your program sell to older Americans?
  • Highlight the specific aspects of the program that will be exceptionally appealing to the older population.

6. Draft your recruitment materials:

  • Draft a recruitment message that will be appealing to your targeted audience.
  • Utilize pictures and stories that are positive and show the outcomes from the projects.
  • Use color and testimonies, if possible.
  • Get feedback from volunteer and leaders of the specific projects.

7. Use a wide variety of recruitment strategies:

  • Recruiting volunteers is all about networking and building relationships. Spread the word about your project through coworkers, organizations you belong to, and community programs.

8. Recruit a big volunteer class:

  • Plan to lose about 25% of volunteers that sign up for your project. Write this fact into your project guide to ensure that you can plan for this ahead of time.

9. Provide good customer service:

  • Have someone on staff is solely responsible for answering questions.
  • Provide follow up and begin collecting an email list for volunteer newsletters and opportunities.
  • Have informational materials ready to go for prospective volunteers.
  • Answer all questions.

10. Gain dedicated volunteers:

  • Ensure your volunteer return rate by conducting prescreening and matching volunteers with projects that match their skills and qualifications.

Does your organization recruit older volunteers, as well? We would love to hear your recruitment strategies in the comments section below!

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The Dedicated Volunteer Rises

Friday, July 20th, 2012

Volunteers come to your organization to serve because they are attracted to your organization and its mission. Volunteers continue to serve at your organization because they have an incentive to stay whether that is recognition or a personal connection to the mission. Raise super volunteers who are committed to helping out by providing incentive for them to stay!

Below, we have compiled just a few examples for volunteer validation. It is important that you add this component to your overall volunteer strategy!

  1. Send cards for personal achievements such as birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
  2. Write a news story about a service project or an extraordinary volunteer.
  3. Send a shout out to your dedicated volunteers in your organization’s newsletter.
  4. Send a thank you note to your volunteers after a project.
  5. Smile at your volunteers when you speak with them.
  6. Spontaneously say thank you throughout the service day to let them know how much you appreciate them.
  7. Develop a volunteer suggestion box to let your volunteers know that you appreciate their opinion.
  8. Ask your stellar volunteers to conduct a training or educational session at your organization.
  9. Let volunteers lead a project.
  10. Plan a volunteer party to let volunteers socialize and network with staff members and other volunteers.
  11. Invite your consistent volunteers to staff meetings so that they can know what is going on within the organization and they can share their opinions and updates with staff members.
  12. Send a volunteer to a conference or educational seminar.
  13. Show enthusiasm for the volunteers’ interests by allowing them to develop their own service project or encouraging them to pursue growth in their service project choices.
  14. Be flexible with your volunteers and stay patient.
  15. Share the dedication and impact of a special volunteer at a staff meeting.
  16. Provide volunteer “perks” such as a monthly parking spot or tickets to a sporting event.
  17. Give your volunteers certificates to award them for doing a great job.
  18. Develop a volunteer honor roll.
  19. Ask an effective volunteer to mentor a new volunteer or lead a new volunteer group.
  20. Provide food or drinks at a service project.
  21. Provide a volunteer office for project planning and work space.
  22. Have volunteers share success stories or give shout outs to volunteers who did a good job at the project.
  23. Surprise a volunteer with a birthday cake to show them that you care.
  24. Hold a volunteer awards show at a staff meeting to let everyone know what the volunteers excel at.
  25. Make telephone calls. Tell volunteers who could not make it to a project that they were missed.
  26. Provide t-shirts at a volunteering event to commemorate the day.
  27. Hold a potluck dinner in honor of the volunteers.
  28. Send hand written thank you cards instead of emails.
  29. Make sure you place volunteers in their perfect fit role when signing them up for a project.
  30. Make the volunteer feel appreciate by being pleasant and accommodating to their concerns.

We hope these tips will help your volunteers be even more extraordinary than they already know. It is important to include this step when developing volunteer recruitment strategies.

How does your organization validate its volunteers? We would love to hear about it in the comments section below!

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Time to Step Out and Get Social!

Tuesday, July 17th, 2012

Be the change through social mediaIf your organization is still resistant to utilizing social media tools, it is time to catch up with the times. Social media has risen to the forefront for businesses to reach consumers and dedicated audiences nationally and globally. Thanks to social media, you can now better inform others about your organization’s mission, recruit more volunteers, and humanize your organization.

Are you still not convinced? We have 13 reasons why you need to make a social media plan for your organization today, we promise you will not regret!

  1. Expose yourself: It should be your goal to consistently expose your organization’s mission to an ever increasing audience. Social media can help target specific individuals to your organization by providing brand resources and information to a social following. For example, if your organization wants to attract volunteers, you can begin announcing volunteer projects through social media.
  2. Add more customer service: Support the unanswered questions requiring customer service with the use of social media. Social media allows your organization to show the communities where it serves while providing immediate answers to questions.
  3. Start a conversation: Start a conversation with those who truly care about your organization. Ask your friends and followers what they like, what needs to be improved, etc. By opening this conversation up through social media, you will have the ability to improve the overall function of your organization.
  4. Be an open book: Social media opens the door to letting the public know what everyone thinks about your organization, use this to your advantage! When someone makes a negative comment about your organization, respond to it professionally and provide resources to better serve that individual. Others will tend to look more favorably upon your organization when they see how you handle business.
  5. SEO, SEO! Pages that utilize social media tend to have higher search results on Bing and Google. This feature will allow new users to find your organization more easily!
  6. I’ll scratch your back, if you scratch mine: Social media is the new word of mouth. When your page starts to get likes and retweets, new potential volunteers are only a click away. When others see what their friends interact with on social media, their interest is more likely to be sparked.
  7. Provides great brand exposure: Use social media to build a community. Allow users to start conversation and share resources, so that they will turn to your page when they need help or want to serve.
  8. The fans will flock: When more people share your organization’s content through social media, the more popular those resources will become across the internet. It is important to promote your organization’s events, resources, service opportunities, etc. through social media in order for its popularity to grow.
  9. Everybody is doing it: Believe us, your targeted audience already knows about social media and they are probably using it. Get on the train too and interact with them.
  10. Your partners are using it: Most businesses and nonprofit organizations are now using Facebook and Twitter on a daily basis. Join them! Social media becomes easier to use everyday with its frequent improvements and user friendly tools.
  11. Build your influence: Get to know the people who interact with your social page the most; they will be more likely to influence others to visit your page and utilize your resources. You may be able to attract and reach more volunteers through this influence.
  12. Allow your organization to be more relatable: A business or organization becomes more human when it participates in social media. Users can feel more connected to your organization because they can provide their feedback and communicate with actual employees. It allows users to see the behind the scenes of an organization.
  13. It’s a full proof plan: New users are more likely to trust your organization when they see it on social media and can understand the purpose. When users see interactions and engagement, it allows them to trust the overall reputation of your organization.

We hope these 13 reasons convince your organization to jump on board with social media! You will only benefit from starting a social media plan at your organization.

How does your nonprofit organization use social media? We would love hear your comments and tips in the section below!

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Volunteering & Books go Hand-in-Hand this Summer!

Friday, June 22nd, 2012

As many sports, school, and television series conclude at the beginning or midway through the summer, people often choose to partake in summer reading. I choose summer reading to relax, to be entertained, and to, most importantly, to learn. Because me and several other of the folks are participating in some summer reading, I’ve compiled a list of five ways you can volunteer with books!

  1. Read! Read about ways in which you can coordinate volunteers in your community. Books related to volunteerism include the training and recognition of volunteers, as well as Collaboration and Community Organizing. Additional books of volunteerism highlight disaster response, diversity, virtual volunteering, leadership, and recruitment. As you may have noticed, there is so much information out there that is focused on volunteerism. So get to reading and learning!
  2. Instead of throwing your books away, donate your books to local organizations! While shopping in thrift stores, I often find myself shopping for books and other This sign at an awesome bookshop. items, just to see if I can catch a deal! In addition to finding great deals, book donations allow for low-income families to secure summer reading! Thanks to the YMCA, the Boys and Girls Club, and the Salvation Army, and several other organizations, you can donate your books or schedule your books to be picked up.
  3. Gather some friends and coordinate your own book drive in your neighborhood or community! Coordinating a book drive first begins, with marketing your book drive. Print flyers or mention the book drive in your facebook or twitter status to get the word out! This will allow you to do good, meet people in your community, all while hanging out with your friends.
  4. Participate in Books for Africa! With books for Africa, you can either contribute a monetary donation or book donation for a great cause. Additionally, Books For Africa accepts: 15 years old or newer popular fiction and nonfiction reading books (soft and hard cover); 1996 or newer publish date primary, secondary, and college textbooks (soft and hard cover); 1996 or newer reference books such as encyclopedias and dictionaries; 1996 or newer publish date medical, nursing, IT, and law books. Books for Africa also accepts school/office supplies including, paper, pencils, pens, wall charts, maps, etc.
  5. Recycle your books! Books wear out. They get water damage. They break down. You get tired of them or you’ve simply already read them. When your books have passed their time in your life, there are lots of things you can do with them including recycling them. Books cannot usually be recycled along with your other paper products, like newspaper, because of the binding glue. Book Destruction, a Grossman Group company, recycles whole books. They grind the books down and process them by repulping the paper to make new paper. Green Earth Book Recyclers works with Book Destruction to collect used textbooks from college students for recycling.

There are plenty of ways you can participate in book volunteerism this summer! We’d love to hear in the comments how you plan to volunteer with books or volunteer in general this summer!

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14 Ways to Better Engage Your Volunteers

Monday, June 11th, 2012

Most volunteer managers can agree, retaining regular volunteers can be a daunting task at times. It is important to not get discouraged when you are constantly seeing more new faces than familiar faces. Remember, one hundred percent retention of volunteers is an unrealistic goal.

You may be asking yourself, “how can I ever retain one volunteer if the odds are against me?’ Check out the tips below to help ensure a more active volunteer group within your organization or at your service projects!

  • Opportunities for evaluation: Evaluation can be informal. Just read your volunteer’s body language and verbal cues to see how they are feeling about the project. If their cues seem more negative than positive, ask them to come talk. You can ask them questions such as, “what do you like most about your job?” or “what can we do to make your time more fulfilling?”
  • Vacations and leaves of absence: To ensure volunteer enthusiasm and interest, offer regular volunteers the option of promotion for good performance. If your volunteer is feeling overwhelmed by personal obligations, allow them a leave of absence or vacation until they are able to serve again. Keep in touch with them to let them know that you care about their well-being.
  • In-service training: Training can be a great reward for dedicated volunteers to learn valuable skills for not only their volunteer work, but also their personal life. If your organization has a conference coming up or an opportunity to meet with a professional trainer in the field, reward them with the opportunity.
  • Staff meetings: Allow volunteers to attend staff meetings within your organization in order to give them a voice in projects. If that is not possible, coordinate volunteer team meetings so that they can share opinions.
  • Presentations: Invite volunteers involved in an interesting project to share their work at a staff meeting.
  • Advocacy opportunities: Invite your volunteers to advocate with governmental agencies, their opinion may mean more because they are not paid to give it.
  • Volunteer advisory council: Form a volunteer council to help develop policies and share project ideas. The council should have the chance to meet with your organization’s board members, too.
  • Expense reimbursement: Reimburse your volunteers for their out of pocket expenses such as gas or clothing. Making a small budget for reimbursement will pay off in the long run.
  • Benefits: Treat your volunteers like your staff members. Volunteers need food and drink, a safe working environment, and excess insurance if they are driving frequently.
  • Personnel file: Keep record of your volunteers’ involvement so that you can right a reference later or be reminded of good performance. This file will help you keep track of your dedicated volunteers.
  • Interesting tasks: Vary the work given to volunteers to ensure fulfillment and prevent boredom.
  • Respecting volunteers: No volunteer is “just a volunteer.” Remember, volunteers are unpaid staff members; they should be treated with the same respect as paid staff members.
  • Volunteer socialization: Create opportunities such as picnics or ice cream socials for volunteers to network and celebrate successes together.
  • Staff appreciation: Recognize and thank staff members that work well with volunteers. If staff feel appreciated, they are more likely to connect and interact with volunteers.

 

It is important to provide inclusive projects for both your volunteers and your staff members to guarantee retention. When volunteers feel their work is both meaningful and fulfilling, they are more likely to return.

How does your organization better retain its volunteers? We would love to hear your retention policies in the comments section below!

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Celebrate the Movers and the Shakers

Monday, May 14th, 2012

“Through their guiding wisdom, enduring love of family, and inspiring commitment to country, older Americans continue to steer and enhance our national life.”- President Barack Obama

On May 1, 2012, President Barack Obama declared May: National Older Americans Month. The president stated that May should be a time for celebrating those who have contributed so much to our nation over their lifetime.

The Corporation for National and Community Service reports that older Americans have contributed 3 billion hours of service from 2008-2010. Although there are service groups that directly engage older Americans such as RSVP, Senior Corps, and AARP, how will your organization better engage this sector?

43% of Americans from age 55-64 engage in volunteering. Check out our tips below to learn how you can boost this statistic and embrace the skills and expertise that older Americans can offer to the service sector.

 

  • Activists: Many baby boomers come from a generation of activism. They desire a way to take a hold of this passion. Volunteer opportunities should be developed with this idea in mind. Whether your program is designed for neighborhood, community, or world activism, it is important to provide them a sense of fulfillment through service. Make sure that your organization’s mission is clear, so that baby boomers know they are volunteering for a specific cause. Allow older volunteers to form relationships through volunteering, it will make them feel more connected to the project.
  • Consumers: Older volunteers are sophisticated consumers who expect variety when making choices. Your organization should try to offer a variety of opportunities that will fulfill different interests and passions, so that older volunteers can find their niche. It is important that your organization offer a variety of short-term opportunities; to introduce beginners to volunteerism. Design projects to target specific groups to yield better results. Projects should also include skills that these specific audiences have developed over the years.
  • Workers: Many baby boomers are overworked in their professional jobs. When older American retire, their biggest complaint tends to be loneliness and lack of relationships that they once had in their jobs. It is important to understand that fact when recruiting older volunteers. Service should be designed to offer meaningful relationships to volunteers, while employing their skills, as well. Projects should allow the baby boomer to feel a new sense of fulfillment that they once felt in their profession. Allow volunteers to play an active role in planning volunteer projects, to rid the stereotype of older volunteers. Offer incentives and chances for advancement to volunteers, as well. 54% of volunteers state that they would offer more time, if they received incentives to work.

It is important to engage this sector of adult volunteers when planning your next service project. Older volunteers have a great deal of information, skills, and commitment that they can give your organization. Celebrate older Americans this month by giving them a new fulfillment through volunteerism!

Does your organization engage older volunteers? We would love to hear your suggestions in the comments section below!

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4 Ideas to Help Mobilize Volunteers

Tuesday, April 24th, 2012

Today’s post comes from Gregg Michaelsen, Fundraising Consultant at Simple Fundraising Ideas. Gregg specializes in providing unique fundraising ideas for non-profit organizations.  Check out his site at http://simple-fundraising-ideas.com/ to get ideas on how you can raise funds for your organization.

I love setting up fundraisers.  There’s something fulfilling about them especially if the fundraiser is for a great cause.  If you have the right fundraising ideas, setting up a fundraiser is actually very easy.  After all, you just need to let people know that you need help for your cause.

Do you want to know the hard part?  It’s finding volunteers.  I’ve long faced the fact that people are busy.  They have their own responsibilities.  We can’t blame them if they’d rather perform their responsibilities that spend some time volunteering.

You don’t have to worry because there are still a lot of people who will be more than willing to help.  These are the people that have set aside time and resources just so they can help out your cause.  Needless to say, you have to make it worth their time and effort.

This is a common scenario.  The volunteers can’t perform their tasks because your organization wasn’t able to come up with the funds needed.  It’s really unfortunate to see volunteers that have nothing to eat or drink.  It’s unfortunate when they have to cough up their own money so in addition to donating their time and effort, they’re also donating money.  There’s nothing wrong with this if it’s their choice.  But if they’re forced to pay for their own transportation to and from different venues, that’s something that should be addressed.

This is why I came up with ideas that can help mobilize volunteers.

1. Team up with a local restaurant for the meals of your volunteers.

A lot of restaurants are more than willing to help in their own special way.  What better way to do it than to provide for the meals of the volunteers?  Approach the restaurants in the area and tell them that you’re offering them a unique opportunity to help out.  I personally like approaching pizzerias and a lot of them are more than willing to donate several boxes of pizza.  In return of the free meals, you can place a small banner in the fundraiser’s venue with the restaurant’s information on it.

2. Donate a van.

Look for someone who’s willing to lend his or her own van.  This is to make sure that the volunteers can go anywhere as needed without worrying about their transportation.

3. Use discount cards.

This is another favorite of mine.  Team up with a supermarket and hand out discount cards to your volunteers.  They’ll get discounts when they use the card for their purchases and the supermarket gets additional businesses.  In addition, the cards should accumulate points that you can later on convert to cash for additional funds for your organization.

4. Give volunteers allowance.

Now, this is not in any way payment for their services.  That will defeat the whole purpose of volunteerism.  This is just a small amount of “pocket money” just in case they need to buy something related to the fundraiser.  This way, they don’t need to spend their own money.

With these tips, you can easily mobilize volunteers and they’ll actually enjoy volunteering.  This is very important so they will volunteer again for your next fundraiser.

Check out these fundraising ideas to raise a lot of funds so you’ll have the funds needed to mobilize your volunteers.  Remember, their success is your success.

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