Volunteering is a rewarding and meaningful way to make a difference in your community, but finding and retaining volunteers can be challenging. How can you attract new volunteers to your organization quickly and easily? In this article, you will learn some practical and effective strategies to recruit volunteers who share your vision and values.
Before you start looking for volunteers, you need to have a clear idea of what you need them for. What are the goals and objectives of your organization? What are the roles and responsibilities of your volunteers? How much time and commitment do you expect from them? Having a well-defined volunteer program will help you communicate your expectations and match your volunteers with suitable opportunities.
There is no magic bullet for recruiting volunteers quickly. Unless you're working on a one off event / initiative where you have a tight timeframe and very specific volunteer roles. The biggest thing to consider are your needs, as a volunteer manager or coordinator, and the needs or your organization. Having a clear sense of what your needs are and what roles a volunteer will be stepping into will help frame your volunteer offering and tell your story to potential volunteers. Once you know that you can build volunteer roles, recruitment and outreach materials to attract the best matches for your organization!
To attract volunteers quickly, utilize social media and online platforms to showcase the impact of your work. Create engaging content like stories and videos to demonstrate the value of volunteering. Leverage your current network to spread the word. Host open houses or webinars for engagement and offer diverse volunteer roles. Simplify the sign-up process, making it easily accessible online. Regularly acknowledge and appreciate volunteers, creating a welcoming and rewarding environment.
A good way to attract new volunteers is by fostering a culture of appreciation, recognition, and feedback for your volunteers, and making them feel valued, respected, and supported. You can do this by providing training, mentoring, and guidance, as well as regular communication and updates. You should also celebrate your volunteers’ successes and milestones, and reward them with incentives, perks, and opportunities. Another way to attract new volunteers is through storytelling on social media- everyone loves a good success story! Invite current and past volunteers to add their stories of volunteering to inspire others to do the same.
If you can make the registration process and check-in process as streamlined as possible, people will want to come back to help again. Providing incentives is a large help as well such as free food or gift cards. Local organizations might be interested in sponsoring these incentives as well, so it is not a large cost to your organization.
I agree. Having a well thought-out volunteer management strategy is an essential part of building a resourceful, productive volunteer-based team. It is also important to clearly articulate your organization’s vision, goals and objectives, and work plan. This is very important and would ensure that your volunteers know what is expected of them and what they are trying to achieve. It is also important to communicate the value your organization is providing to the volunteers as they serve. This would largely depend on the scope of your organization’s mission and activities, but you should always strive for a mutually beneficial relationship between you and your volunteers.
People volunteer for different reasons, but one of the most common ones is to make a positive impact on a cause they care about. Therefore, you need to showcase the impact of your organization and how volunteers can contribute to it. Use stories, testimonials, photos, videos, and social media to highlight the achievements and challenges of your organization and its beneficiaries. Show how volunteers can make a difference by sharing their skills, talents, experiences, and passions.
Showcasing your previous projects and success stories is a good tool to attract and recruit volunteers who share similar interests. Everyone will connect easily to an obvious result than a hidden attainment. Being a volunteer and a founder of an organisation, I know how many volunteers that rush to sign up to volunteer with us each time we share our newly executed project and up and coming projects too. People love to identify with success. Tell your impact story which portrays the values and objectives of your organisation. Tell your story in such a way the volunteers will find themselves in the picture and wish to occupy the space to make it a reality. The more vivid the stories are in their mind, the more they connect.
Showcase the impact on journal or bulletin to highlight what specific projects volunteers are contributing for a wider picture which then they can feel very proud of . Share stories and pictures from Volunteers and make a marketing strategy to keep in trending so that wider audience can see. Being engagement would make them feel that they are involved into something for an impact as a change maker
Using social media platforms to market what you do for the community by giving examples of direct impacts from the people that you're impacting. If I'm somebody looking to volunteer it's because I have time and I want to help so I am going to look for an organization that shows how much they help people and how much it affects those people.
You could also create a community of people who engage with your organization to create a greater appeal. This could also build a long term impact for the volunteers. Being part of a community has always helped me personally enhance my volunteering experience and created a long lasting impact.
One of the biggest barriers to volunteering is the complexity and hassle of the application and screening process. If you want to attract new volunteers, you need to make it easy for them to join your organization. Use online platforms, forms, and tools to streamline the process and reduce the paperwork. Provide clear and concise information about the volunteer opportunities, the requirements, the benefits, and the next steps. Follow up promptly and warmly with potential volunteers and keep them engaged until they start their role.
This is literally what’s hurting the applicant process for so many nonprofits. The hiring or onboarding process is just WAY too long. It’s important to really think about how long the internal process is, any external processes that add time or outside energy that volunteers or potential hires have to put in. If they have to do too much work they will opt outta doing it.
Being clear with the duration of the process and specific plan with dates for each process can be really helpful in creating clarity in timeline of the process. This could also help manage the anxiety associated with the process as there is a clear communication on when to expect further processes and plan accordingly.
While volunteers are not motivated by money, they do appreciate recognition and appreciation for their work. You can offer incentives to attract and retain volunteers, such as certificates, awards, letters of recommendation, training, networking, feedback, and social events. Incentives can also be tailored to the interests and needs of your volunteers, such as flexible hours, remote work, travel expenses, or career development. Find out what your volunteers value and reward them accordingly.
Volunteers could sometimes feel like out groups. Providing positive reinforcements through recognising their contributions as part of the team could incentivize their performance. This could serve as an emotional incentive to drive motivation.
Many volunteers are motivated by different means. The most importance is providing acknowledgment of their involvement in form of certificate and awards that will contribute to their portfolios on their personal development plan. Moreover networking, parties and goodie bags with merchandise can boost their mood. Also, path to career development into paid role transition can help them to stay longer and happy employment retention with less training required as volunteers are already familiar with working culture, values and ethics of an organisation
One of the most effective ways to recruit new volunteers is to ask your existing ones to refer their friends, family, colleagues, or contacts. Referrals are more likely to trust your organization and have a positive attitude towards volunteering. You can encourage referrals by creating a referral program, offering incentives, hosting events, or sending newsletters. You can also ask your partners, donors, sponsors, or supporters to spread the word about your organization and its volunteer opportunities.
One thing I have found helpful is using what you have first in everything. Your existing volunteers are treasures. If they are convinced and enjoy the opportunity they have with your organisation, they will be your first recruitment officers. They would be glad to share their experience and lessons from volunteering with your organisation. You need to prompt them with content, challenge and asking for referrals especially from their likes - colleagues, friends and senior friends.
Absolutely. A volunteer who has gained positive experiences from an organisation is more likely to refer to friends and families in a quick turnaround. A positive experience is fulfilling and accomodating their needs. For instance it could be a paid travel expenses, uniform, access to places which no one has, celebrations achievements and many more. When volunteers feel sincerely with great feeling, then they wouldnt hestitate to spread word of mouth. Thus increases reputation for an organisation.
Finally, you want to attract new volunteers from different backgrounds, cultures, ages, genders, abilities, and perspectives. Diversity and inclusion can enrich your organization and its impact by bringing new ideas, skills, experiences, and networks. You can foster diversity and inclusion by reaching out to different communities, groups, and platforms, using inclusive language and images, providing accessibility and accommodation, and creating a welcoming and respectful environment for all volunteers.
I found it helpful to invite potential volunteers to observe the possible volunteer opportunity in person .. similar to job shadowing..
There are local boards of trade organizations where you can find specialized agents who try to help students from high schools to universities look for internships. Most of their services are free, and you have the option to recruit the volunteers after their graduation. There are also government grants and subsidies available if you recruit for paid volunteering.