How do you design a volunteer handbook that reflects your organization's values and culture?

1 Identify your goals and audience

Before writing your volunteer handbook, you need to consider both your goals and audience. Your goals could include informing volunteers about your organization's history, purpose, and impact; setting expectations and standards; providing guidance and resources; creating a sense of belonging and appreciation; and encouraging feedback and communication. Your audience could include new volunteers who need to learn the basics, existing volunteers who need to refresh their knowledge, and potential volunteers who want to know more about your organization. Having a clear understanding of your goals and audience will help you craft a handbook that is tailored to their needs, interests, and language preferences.

2 Outline your content and structure

Once you have your goals and audience in mind, it's time to plan the content and structure of your handbook. To do this, create an outline that covers the main topics and subtopics you want to include, and the order in which you present them. A typical volunteer handbook might include a welcome message, a section about your organization's mission and values, policies and procedures for volunteers, descriptions of volunteer roles and opportunities, training and support for volunteers, and resources for volunteers such as manuals, guides, checklists, forms, websites, contacts, etc. You may also choose to add additional sections or sub-sections that are relevant to your organization and volunteers such as FAQs, testimonials, stories, tips, etc.

3 Write your content with clarity and consistency

When writing the content for each section of your handbook, keep these tips in mind to ensure clarity and consistency. Utilize simple and concise language that is easy to comprehend and follow. Speak directly to your volunteers with active voice and second person. Incorporate headings, subheadings, bullet points, tables, charts, images, etc. to arrange and emphasize your information. Use examples, scenarios, stories, quotes, etc. to exemplify and reaffirm your points. Craft positive and motivating language that expresses your appreciation and excitement for your volunteers. Lastly, maintain consistent formatting, style, tone, and terminology throughout your handbook.

4 Review and update your handbook regularly

Your volunteer handbook should not be a one-time document. Rather, it is a dynamic document that needs to be reviewed and updated regularly to account for any changes in your organization, volunteers, or external environment. To review and update your handbook, you should solicit feedback from volunteers, staff, and stakeholders on the content, format, and usefulness of the handbook. Additionally, identify any gaps, errors, or outdated information in your handbook and make necessary revisions or additions. After making any changes or updates to your handbook, make sure to communicate them to your volunteers and staff and distribute the updated version in print or digital format.

5 Evaluate the impact of your handbook

The final step in designing your volunteer handbook is to evaluate its impact on your organization and volunteers. You can measure how well it meets your goals and serves your audience by using surveys, interviews, focus groups, metrics, indicators, benchmarks, and analysis. This will provide feedback from volunteers and staff on their satisfaction, engagement, learning, performance, recruitment, retention, recognition, productivity, quality and more. Through evaluation of the handbook's impact you can demonstrate its value and effectiveness as well as celebrate the achievements and contributions of your volunteers.

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?