Volunteer Engagement: Meet Them Where They Are

What attracts potential volunteers to your organization? There’s no single answer, but there are many right answers…if you engage them in ways they value. Different strokes for different folks, as Sly and the Family Stone expressed it. Here’s a checklist to help your organization make potential volunteers – and current ones – feel valued and motivated.

What Can They Do, and When Can They Do It?   

Offering multiple options encourages busy volunteers to get involved with your organization in many different ways, for example:

• Virtual (remote) volunteering: Those who like to work off-site (or have no other choice, with their other responsibilities) can do online research, report preparation, email messaging to supporters, Website administration, and social media content, to name a few assignments.
• On-call volunteering: Some volunteers cannot commit to a regular schedule but could be on standby for immediate, high-priority projects.
• ‘Tis the season: Offer opportunities well in advance for specific times of the year. Summer camps, Thanksgiving dinners, and other holiday celebrations are examples.
• The big event: Similarly, many people would be willing to help out if you have a big event on a specific day or weekend, and they have plenty of advance notice.

Optimize Your Website As a Volunteer Tool

Do you have a dedicated landing page for your volunteer program? Make sure your volunteer application is short and easy to complete on that page. Provide carefully thought-out descriptions of volunteer opportunities and skills needed, and have a field where a potential volunteer can describe skills, interests, and experience that might open the door to new assignments. If you have regularly scheduled on-site information sessions for potential volunteers, promote them on the dedicated page. A password-protected volunteer portal is helpful for many reasons. Be sure tools are available for volunteers to share about their activities on social media.

Do Your Volunteers Donate Financially, As Well As Donate Their Time?

An estimated three-fourths of donors give to the organizations they volunteer with. The more ways your volunteers are involved with your cause, the more invested they will be. Monthly giving programs, planned giving (including your organization in the volunteer’s legacy), and in-kind donations all provide ways to encourage donations.

How Is Your Volunteer Recognition Program?

Gratitude for volunteer service comes in many forms, and it doesn’t have to be the same for all volunteers. Your “different strokes” could include small gifts (not a plaque, but something appropriate for the volunteer you are honoring, which means you need to learn about their interests); recognition of milestones such as ten years of service, 100 hours of service, etc.; thank-you notes (studies show that written ones are still the most appreciated); a one-on-one lunch or just a one-on-one conversation and expression of gratitude; and volunteer-specific events. 

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.