How can you use recognition to build a positive volunteer culture?

1 Why recognition matters

Recognition is not only a pleasant gesture, but also a strategic tool to enhance your volunteer management. Recognition can increase volunteer satisfaction and retention, boost volunteer performance and impact, strengthen volunteer relationships and teamwork, and promote your organization and cause. Volunteers who feel recognized are more likely to stay engaged, committed, and loyal to your organization and cause. It can also inspire volunteers to do their best, improve their skills, and take on more responsibilities and challenges. Additionally, recognition can create a sense of belonging, appreciation, and respect among your volunteers, staff, and stakeholders. Furthermore, it can showcase your volunteers' achievements, stories, and testimonials to attract more supporters, donors, and partners.

2 How to recognize volunteers

Recognition is not a one-size-fits-all approach; it is important to tailor your recognition to your volunteers' personalities, motivations, and roles. To do this, ask them how they like to be recognized through surveys, interviews, or feedback forms. When recognizing volunteers, be specific and sincere by highlighting their specific contributions, achievements, or qualities. Additionally, recognition should be given as soon as possible after the volunteer's action and on a regular basis throughout their journey. Furthermore, recognition should be creative and diverse; it can take many forms such as certificates, awards, gifts, cards, letters, emails, social media posts, newsletters, events, trainings, opportunities or referrals. Additionally, you can use different methods and media to showcase your recognition such as videos, photos, stories or testimonials.

3 Examples of recognition practices

If you're looking for recognition ideas for your organization, here are some examples to get you started. You can create a volunteer recognition program, tailored to your mission, vision, and values, and involve volunteers in the planning, implementation, and evaluation. Celebrate volunteer milestones and anniversaries with personalized cards or messages, certificates, badges or pins. Feature volunteer spotlights and stories on your website or blog and invite volunteers to share their stories with staff, donors, partners or beneficiaries. Additionally, provide volunteers with feedback and support to help them grow and improve. Offer them opportunities for training, mentoring, networking or career development.

4 How to measure recognition outcomes

Recognition is not only a way to give, but also a way to receive. By recognizing your volunteers, you can gain valuable insights and information about your volunteer management and impact. Therefore, it is important to measure the outcomes of your recognition practices and use them to inform your decisions and actions. To do this, you can track volunteer data and metrics such as demographics, motivations, satisfaction, retention, performance, impact, and feedback. Additionally, surveys and evaluations can assess volunteers' opinions on recognition practices. Moreover, interviews and focus groups can capture volunteers' stories related to recognition. All of these methods can help you understand how recognition makes them feel, how it influences their performance and impact, and how it inspires them to continue or expand their involvement.

5 How to improve recognition practices

Recognition is not a one-time event, but an ongoing process. To ensure its relevance, effectiveness, and quality, your recognition practices should be regularly reviewed and updated. Seek feedback and input from your volunteers and involve them in planning, implementing, and evaluating your recognition practices. Create a volunteer recognition committee or team to oversee and coordinate your recognition activities. Benchmark best practices and trends from other organizations or sectors that have successful or innovative recognition practices. Keep up with the latest trends in recognition such as new technologies, tools, or platforms, and explore how they can benefit your recognition practices. Experiment and innovate by trying new or different ways to recognize your volunteers, testing new recognition forms, channels, or methods, and challenging yourself and your volunteers to be more creative and diverse in your recognition practices.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?