Your organization's volunteer management is struggling. How can you turn things around?

To revamp volunteer management, focus on streamlining processes for smoother onboarding and task allocation. Improve communication by providing clear instructions and regular updates. Implement appreciation programs to acknowledge volunteers' contributions, boosting morale. Offer training opportunities to enhance their skills. Establish a feedback loop to encourage input and ensure ongoing improvement.

It is crucial to evaluate the problem(s), establish specific and achievable objectives, and develop strategies to address the situation. Be receptive to giving and receiving feedback. Take advantage of this opportunity to clearly communicate the organization's philosophy, structure, and expectations, ensuring that everyone understands their responsibilities.

If you are having problems managing your volunteers, it is essential to determine what that looks like. Are volunteers leaving, or is it just hard to recruit them? I recall being on my local school council, and I turned up at every working bee because I was on the council, but there were those parents who never turned up at all. There has to be an incentive to volunteer for anything - find out why some people volunteer and others don't

I have found that determining the main reason for their struggles can at least start the process. Talk to each of your staff. This will let them know you want and need their feedback, and that you care that they succeed.

The most challenging job I've had was “managing volunteers.” I was a Center Director for a non-profit as the sole person being paid. The center had 100 active volunteers per month, which was the heartbeat of my center. When I was first hired, I sat down with each volunteer. I got to know them, discovered their “why,” and asked them what they liked and disliked. I held monthly new volunteer orientation and did the same with my incoming volunteers. I showed them I cared and was thankful for their dedication. I interacted with my volunteers regularly and listened to them.

To turn around struggling volunteer management, it's essential to set clear goals and strategies. Identify specific areas of improvement and establish achievable objectives to address them. Develop a comprehensive plan outlining the steps needed to enhance volunteer recruitment, training, retention, and engagement. By setting clear goals and implementing effective strategies, you provide a roadmap for success and ensure that everyone in your organization is aligned and working towards common objectives.

Volunteers can often feel underappreciated and undervalued. Email a 3-monthly questionnaire to garner their feelings about being a volunteer. Can they add suggestions for improvement in your service from their front line experiences. How long volunteers stay with you is a good indication of satisfaction or otherwise. Do they feel supported by you? I recall a question from a Lottery fund presenter some years back - 'Is your service still needed or are you asking us [the Lottery] to keep you in a job?' Evaluate your 'worth' to your service users as well as your volunteers. Bring them together for an out-of-hours meal. Even just a burger and chips. It can be very revealing to find out what personal issues they may have beyond volunteering.

Regularly review and refine the goals and strategies based on feedback and changing circumstances to ensure continuous improvement in volunteer management practices. Establish a system for monitoring progress towards the goals and evaluating the effectiveness of the implemented strategies. Keep volunteers and staff informed about the progress towards the goals and celebrate achievements along the way to maintain motivation and morale.

If your volunteers are not passionate it could be a lack of vision. If they can’t see the purpose & fruit of there sacrifice of volunteering, they will lack passion to just “do a good thing”. Leaders need to help them see the purpose and the fruit. Leaders also need to communicate directly to individuals how valuable they are. Name their personal gifting, skills, and how they personally contribute to the team and purpose. Appreciation & honoring is a powerful motivator. If you have a lot of volunteers this can seem like a lot but if you cultivate a lifestyle of honor, appreciation & cast vision, a synergy will develop among the people because they will talk to each other and that can change the culture.

Clear goals and strategies help align the volunteer management process with the overall objectives of the organization. 1. Setting clear goals provides volunteers with a sense of purpose and direction. When volunteers understand what is expected of them and how their efforts contribute to the bigger picture, they are more motivated to perform well. 2. Volunteers know what tasks they need to accomplish, how they should go about it, and what resources are available to them. 3. When goals are clearly defined, it becomes easier to hold volunteers accountable for their actions and performance. 4. Clear goals and strategies provide a framework for evaluating the effectiveness of volunteer management initiatives.

Ongoing engagement and consistency fosters a respectful culture where volunteers feel valued. To host with us, volunteers take a quiz aligned with guidelines and receive peer training and mentoring by seasoned hosts. Quarterly check-ins maintain active status and cohesion. Additional training sessions cater to skill development and refreshers, supported by weekly email reminders. A monthly recognition program celebrates volunteers, with top nominees receiving a $25 gift card and peer appreciation. Encouraging ownership, individual growth, and teamwork boosts morale among our blind or low vision volunteer base. With over 17,000 Zoom events held, our strong volunteer network ensures our virtual platform's continuity and success.

Once we have ensured that volunteers understand their job description, one of the plans involves, induction, training or further training. This helps to boost volunteer confidence. It also reduces the risk of ill-feelings when or if, roles need to be swapped. Assessment of competence is done through discussions, and assigning of roles and resources, and setting of deadlines. We also agree on review dates and further evaluation meetings, as well as performance evaluation.

Embracing diversity enriches organizations and communities by fostering creativity, innovation, and problem-solving. It enables different perspectives to be heard, challenges assumptions, and drives better decision-making.

Remember important dates in the lives of your volunteers such as birthdays and celebrate them on such special days of their lives; when they achieve a milestone, congratulate them and reaffirm them.

I have always found that little personal interactions make a huge difference. C-suites often don’t realize how prized something like a selfie with the “big boss” can be! Be like Bono; get out there and mingle with the masses!

DEI initiatives encompass a range of strategies and actions aimed at promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion within organizations and society at large. These may include: - Providing diversity and unconscious bias training to employees and leaders. - Establishing affinity groups or employee resource groups to support underrepresented communities. - Creating inclusive policies and practices, such as flexible work arrangements and accommodations for individuals with disabilities. - Engaging in community partnerships and outreach efforts to support diverse communities. - Holding leaders and organizations accountable for advancing goals through metrics, reporting, and transparency.

Volunteers choose to be involved without compensation - which means there is nothing holding them to engage in their role. If monetary reward (vouchers, discounts, stipend payments, etc.) isn't an option, consider what you can do to make the role worthwhile - networking opportunities, projects to develop skills, extra training, and other places for volunteers to gain skills makes it obvious that they are better off with the role than without. Make them feel included by giving them a lanyard or uniform. If money is an obstacle, consider digital certificates for regular recognition. There are endless ways to recognise volunteers based on budget and capacity, all to encourage them to engage.

I am involved in writing volunteer appreciate messages to mark anniversaries of their service at 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 years. It is important to celebrate those who spend their time to make things work for the organisation. Even during virtual meetings, we call out names, showcase some of their achievements, call for hand claps for them, and where possible, nominate them for awards within the organisation.

In my experience, the first step would be to meet with the volunteer manager to engage them in a self-reflection and analysis exercise to identify barriers to success. Taking a pause, not to accuse, but to engage the manager in discovery of the issues may very well lead to a more effective and faster resolution. Only looking at the result of an issue is dealing with a symptom not the problem, so you need to take a step further back up the chain and have an honest and exploratory conversation.

Pedagogy - as we may call is an assumption that we never have all the answers, continous learning helps us build our knowledge and skills. Realising we can go wrong at times, but learning from where we went wrong and using those learnings to not make those mistakes again go a long way.

To turn around struggling volunteer management, prioritize learning and improvement. Conduct a thorough assessment of current processes and identify areas for enhancement. Invest in training for volunteer managers to develop leadership, communication, and organizational skills. Implement feedback mechanisms to gather insights from volunteers and stakeholders. Utilize resources like workshops, online courses, and mentorship programs to stay updated on best practices. By fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement, you can revitalize volunteer management, boost morale, and enhance overall effectiveness.

Best way to improve Volunteer management in non-profits is to give them financial rewards for the work they do. People can not endlessly work for free . Such situation needs careful yearly planning with budgets for Volunteer management . Then we can easily co-create Golden Age of Humanity . Welcome to join my Humanitarian Team .

An annual review process is essential for evaluating volunteer program success. This includes monitoring and analyzing KPIs to determine if program goals are being achieved. By identifying areas needing improvement, we can continually enhance program outcomes.

Self assessment and an orientation within the organisation to ascertain how ready are you as an organisation to manage and engage volunteers.

Equity involves ensuring fair treatment, access, and opportunities for all individuals, particularly those from marginalized or underrepresented groups. It acknowledges that not all individuals have the same starting point or access to resources and seeks to address systemic barriers and disparities.

Looks like this article is written for us: We have a very robust volunteering program that engages around 10 to 12K volunteers from different walks of life, majority being corporate employees. This program has been widely appreciated & liked by corporate partners. Ou main challenge has been to keep volunteers engaged consistently beyond the events (volunteers love our fun-filled meal packaging events). Out of 70+k volunteers who have been associated with us, only a handful stay engaged beyond the events. Based on our internal review, we've made some changes: - Offer diverse volunteering options - Make engagement meaningful - Allocate dedicated staff for volunteer management - Install voluteer recognition program - Leverage technology

I find that constantly checking in with both managers and their volunteers help to identify potential problem areas or challenges before they become problems.