Managing Volunteers 101
This post originally appeared on the HandsOnNetwork Blog on May 11th, 2012
Without volunteers, most non-profit organizations would cease to exist or suffer a drastic reduction in capacity to serve communities and achieve the organization’s mission. Therefore, a refresher course in basic volunteer management is always in order! The way you plan your service projects will significantly affect the success of your volunteer recruitment. The best way to increase your volunteer base is to retain current volunteers; retention is simply a matter of making volunteers feel good about themselves and their service. Class is now convened! Read on for a few key volunteer management reminders.
Accommodate Volunteers’ Schedules
Just as volunteers come from different backgrounds and community groups, they also have a wide variety of schedules. In order to engage the highest number of volunteers, consider ways to coordinate service events for people with varying schedules, needs, and interests.
- Include volunteer efforts at different times of day and different days of the week.
- Have flexible hours or recruit volunteers to serve in shifts instead of an entire day.
- Plan projects around multiple impact areas or diverse opportunities within a single issue.
- Offer family-friendly projects in which parents and their children can serve together.
- Provide opportunities for first-time volunteers and for volunteers with more advanced skills.
- Plan projects for individuals and for groups.
- Include indoor and outdoor projects.
- Offer short-term and long-term projects.
Communication & Motivation
From the very beginning of volunteers’ involvement in your service activities, you should maintain good communication with them. Motivate them to stay interested and involved in your project with a few simple steps:
- Be prompt in your response to phone calls/e-mails. Return volunteer calls or e-mails within 24 hours.
- Be thorough in your explanation of the volunteer duties. Volunteers will be more likely to sign up if they know exactly what they will be doing, and they will know what to expect at the project.
- Use this opportunity to teach potential volunteers about the issue area, the community service organization they will be serving, and the potential impact of the project.
- Use their names often; this helps develop a personal connection.
- Keep the commitments you make. People will not support you if you don’t provide information requested, address issues they bring up, and/or miss scheduled appointments.
Cultivate Reflection
Reflection is an important part of offering closure to a project. Reflection allows volunteers to stop for a moment, think about what they’ve accomplished, share their experiences, and offer feedback for future projects or ideas for how they will continue to address the social issue. Reflection is designed to encourage volunteers to examine the project so that they see the impact of their service. Understanding how their service impacts the community will encourage volunteers to be involved in future projects.
Sample questions for reflection discussion:
- What did you learn today—about the agency, your fellow volunteers, the service recipients, or yourself?
- How do you feel about the project? Was it worthwhile? Was it time well spent?
- What would you change about this project?
- Do you plan to take future action related to this issue?
- What other ideas or opinions can you offer this program or project?
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