Good News and Bad News in Volunteer Management

From the 2025 VolunteerPro Volunteer Management Progress Report – The Recruitment Edition.

The Good News

• For most organizations, the number of volunteers has returned to pre-COVID levels.
• Some organizations have enhanced their recruitment by redefining volunteer roles to “better balance the needs of the community and the needs of the organization.” (See our January 2025 blog post on this topic.)
• There is a strong correlation between the amount of time spent on volunteer management and success in volunteer recruitment.

The Not-so-good News

• Over one-quarter of respondents cited recruitment as a top challenge.
• 18% said lack of time is a top challenge. When the leader of volunteers has other responsibilities, “volunteer engagement takes a back seat when push comes to shove.”
• Good volunteers are underutilized; it is not common for volunteers to be given leadership responsibilities in the organization.
• Digital marketing techniques for recruitment are underutilized. “Email has been shown to be more effective in organic reach, open rates, click through rates, and conversions than social media in marketing industry research. However, our data reveals that volunteer-involving organizations tend to use email more as a traditional one-to-one communication or broadcast tool than a way to nurture and educate prospective supporters.”
• Only 7% of responding organizations offer information sessions on volunteer opportunities. For most, the volunteer application is the first step in engagement.

The complete 52-page report also includes information on volunteer leader salaries, recruitment and onboarding practices, tracking of volunteer engagement metrics, and more. It is available as a download from VolunteerPro, at Volunteer Management Progress Report – VolunteerPro.

If you are interested in protecting your volunteers through the unique VIS insurance program, please click on the “Get volunteer insurance now” link on the home page, or call 800.222.8920. For more information on VIS’s risk management resources for members, and our vendor partners, click on the “Member Benefits” tab.