Nonprofit Volunteers: Top Five Tips to Keep Them Coming

I just read an article by Ilona Bray with Nolo (www.nolo.com).  She is an attorney who specializes in nonprofits, and she also has volunteering experience. I thought her tips for creating a loyal volunteer organization might be helpful to my audience.  

If your time is limited, the following summarizes her points. You can also read the article in its entirety by following this link.

All too often, nonprofits spend long hours recruiting and training volunteers, only to have them leave after a few shifts. In order to reap the maximum benefit from your volunteers, you have to figure out ways to keep them coming for the long term. Here are some ideas to do just that.

1. Tap Into Volunteers’ Motives

Ask volunteers at the outset what they'd like to get from their experience, and look for ways to satisfy that. If, for example, volunteers are hoping to use their photography skills, ask them to build up a collection of photos ready for use in your newsletter, annual report or Web site. If you have regular volunteers, try to schedule them so that they overlap and can talk with one another.

2. Tell Volunteers What You Expect

Start by giving each volunteer some formal training. Explain the work of your organization and the volunteer's place in it. Discuss what you normally expect volunteers to do and what more interesting tasks they might "graduate" to after proven good work.

Be ready to provide feedback on how your volunteers are doing, particularly if they're trying to develop job skills. At the initial training, tell the volunteer that you'll periodically sit down for a review — and make clear that the volunteer will then have a chance to tell you how he or she is enjoying the volunteer experience and what would make it better.

3. Make Volunteering Convenient

Most nonprofits want volunteers to commit to working a certain number of hours per week or month. But creating alternatives to this model can be a good idea.

Some organizations, for example, ask people to make a general commitment of hours, but then to call ahead and advise the organization of when they'll actually be putting in those hours. Others may recruit heavily for one-time events, or ask volunteers to take on a particular time-limited project. 

4. Make Volunteering Fun

You don't have to create a party atmosphere for your volunteers, but realize that some tasks are innately more fun than others. For example, if you work with kids or animals, it's a fair bet that most of your volunteers are hoping for some contact with them too.

5. Show Appreciation

Volunteers want to know that they are making a difference and advancing the cause. It’s our job to make sure the volunteers know this, for example by:

• saying thank you, early and often
• planning some organized volunteer-appreciation activities, particularly if you have a large volunteer corps
• holding an annual volunteer party
• inviting volunteers to your nonprofit's other events, such as a holiday party, lecture, or annual dinner, and
• giving little speeches at events saying how much particular volunteers have done for your organization, and accompanying this with awards, certificates, or small plaques.

Additional Volunteering Resources:

Volunteer Match

Points of Light

Sometimes nonprofits spend long hours recruiting and training volunteers, only to lose them after a few shifts.