1. Taking Care Of
Our Volunteers
Emma Thompson

2. Agenda
 5. 05pm Introduction
 Survey Results
 Volunteer Recruitment
 Louise Wratten - Volunteer Bristol
 Volunteer Retention and Appreciation
 The impact of demographics on recruitment and retention.
 Vulnerable Volunteers
 Alex Bowsher - St Werburgh’s City Farm
 Elevator Pitches
 5.55pm Networking Break
 6.15pm Dominic Murphy – Cities of Service
 Corporate Volunteering Case Study
 Matt Collis – Avon Wildlife Trust
 Corporate Volunteering Key Points
 Question Time
 7pm Conclusion and Thanks

3. Speakers and Attendees
Speakers
 Emma Thompson – Head of Volunteering – Cities of Service
 Louise Wratten – Volunteer Coordinator – Volunteer Bristol
 Alex Bowsher – Volunteer Officer – St Werburgh’s City Farm
 Dominic Murphy – Chief Service Officer – Cities of Service Bristol
 Matt Collis – Project Officer - Avon Wildlife Trust
Tables
 Esther Keller - Business in the Community
 Louise Wratten – Volunteer Bristol
 Steve Haines and Scott Ward – Neighbourly.com
 Vicki Woolley – Bristol Green Capital Partnership
 Sally Ridley - Ablaze

4. Introduction
 Why me?
 Why now?
 Why this?
 What is this?
http://volunteerteam.bristol.gov.uk

5. What did we find out?
 113 organisations invited, 62 contributed survey results
 They ranged in age from <6 months – 153 years old!
 Ranging in size from <10 volunteers to >1200 a year
 Most run their volunteer programmes on <£500 a year
 Very few have paid staff managing volunteers
 54% Unskilled Roles, 46% Skilled Roles
 75% use or have used Pro Bono volunteers
 61% offer or have offered placements

6. Volunteer Recruitment

7. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Methods of Recruitment Used
Used Not Used

8. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Effectiveness of Recruitment Methods
Effective Not Effective Not Used

9. Volunteer Recruitment
 A good reputation is vital to ongoing recruitment and
retention.
 Having an organisation website and social media is
valuable and will help people find you.
 First response must be timely. Most first-time
volunteers are lost at the first response. Have an out-
of-office with a time expectation and get back to
them within that time scale.
 A quick phone call will encourage new volunteers
and help you understand each other’s expectations.
 Training helps.

10. Louise Wratten
Volunteer Coordinator
Volunteer Bristol

11. Volunteer Retention
and Appreciation

12. Setting and Managing Expectations
What do you want from your volunteers? What skills or
knowledge do you need? How much time do you need
from them? How often? Where and how will they
volunteer with you? How will you help them grow?
 Answer these questions before you start looking for
volunteers.
 Include the answers on your recruitment ads
 Go over them again at induction (do an induction!)
 Ask your volunteers what their expectations are.

13. To mollycoddle or not to mollycoddle?
What was your experience like? Were you on your
own, a self-starter, working on your own initiative?
Or were you welcomed, supported, appreciated?
For your volunteers, they appreciate being spoiled,
they will work harder, longer and more passionately
when they know that you need them and that you
appreciate the time and skills they bring to your
organisation.

14. Top Tips
 Read up on laws, insurance and paying expenses.
 Use these to create or update your Volunteer
Agreement
 Make sure your induction gives a good grounding
in the organisation, covers Health and Safety and
helps the volunteer feel at home.
 Your volunteers are the best ambassadors you
have for your cause, the more they know and feel
a part of the organisation the more they’ll talk.

15. Methods of Appreciation
 Volunteer using organisations in Bristol have more
than 10 different ways that they show volunteers
their appreciation!
 The research suggests that the more appreciation
you demonstrate, the better.

16. 64
43
14
Not very Difficult Challenging Very difficult
Ease of Volunteer Retention
Against Appreciation
Number of different kinds of appreciation shown by each designation

17. Methods of Appreciation
 Giving T-shirts 1.6 % - although these organisations
commented on how much appreciated these seemed
to be by their volunteers, especially if volunteers
weren’t always working as part of a team in the field.
 Providing references 2.3%
 Providing reduced or free tickets to events 2.3%
 Nominating Volunteers for Thank You Awards 3.1%
 Giving Certificates 3.1%
 Reimbursing Expenses 3.1%
 Sending out Thank You cards or emails 6.3%

18. 15%
17%
24%
13%
9%
22%
Methods of Appreciation
Free Food
Events
Verbal Thank You
Mention on Social
Training Provided
Those Mentioned Above

19. 0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Not very difficult Challenging Very difficult
Ease of Volunteer Retention Against Different Methods of
Appreciation
Food
Events
Verbal Thank You

20. The impact of demographics
on recruitment and retention.

21. Diversity Statistics
 43 organisations told us about their diversity.
 85.1% of green volunteers are Caucasian.
 14.9% were from BMAE backgrounds.
 Bristol City Council states that 16% of the
population of Bristol are from BME backgrounds.

22. Diversity Statistics
 Of the couple of organisations who mentioned
gender between 60-70% of their volunteers were
female.
 Of those who mentioned age there seemed to be
many more volunteers under 50 than over, with
many aged between 17 and 35.

23. Grow your diversity
 Borderlands – charity that helps recent arrivals
and asylum seekers volunteer in the community.
 Bristol Multi Faith Forum
 African Voices Forum
 Advertise on Ujima and BCfm
 Bristol BME Voice
 Bristol Aging Better
 Bristol Youth Council

24.  The impact of Millennials
The National Trust’s research:
 Current Traditional 75+
 New Old 50+
 Young Experience Seeker 18-35
 Families
Consider your organisation, does the above sound right?
What are your expectations of these groups? Can you
diversify your programmes more ask your volunteers to
contribute more complex skills/knowledge?

25. Vulnerable Volunteers

26. Who are Vulnerable Volunteers?
Volunteers who might:
 Be recovering from alcohol or drug addictions
 Live with mental or physical disabilities
 Be long-term unemployed
 Struggle with illness, such as depression.

27. Some Bristol Green Experts
 Windmill Hill City Farm have a Health and Social
Care Department
 Fare Share South West have Occupational Therapy
Staff and take on regular OT placements to
support vulnerable volunteers.
 St Werburgh’s City Farm recently got a Lottery
Grant to create a volunteer programme called
‘Include’.

28. Alex Bowsher
Volunteer Officer
St Werburgh’s City Farm

29. Elevator Pitches
 Esther Keller - Business in the Community
 Steve Haines and Scott Ward – Neighbourly.com
 Vicki Woolley – Bristol Green Capital Partnership
 Sally Ridley - Ablaze

30. Networking
Help yourself to food, have a chat with the people on our
tables and the other attendees.
Remember we have people from both business and
community here.

31. Dominic Murphy
Chief Service Officer
Cities of Service - Bristol

32. Corporate Volunteering
Case Study

33. My Wild Street - Case Study
Nearly 100 people from Burges Salmon worked with
Avon Wildlife Trust for 2 weeks during summer 2015
to transform a street in Easton into a wildlife haven.
 Preparation
 Collaboration
 Business Benefit
 Consolidation for Improvement
 Leading from the Start

34. Matt Collis
Project Officer ‘My Wild Street’
Avon Wildlife Trust

35. Corporate Volunteering Tips

36. Problems with the Traditional Model
 The business expects their volunteering day to be free
 The business wants to complete a task so that they
have something to talk about in publications, but there
isn’t always a clear single task needing to be done.
 The volunteers often have little or no experience in the
tasks that need doing.
 The volunteers often are taking part in a compulsory
day out of the office, with little information about why
they are there or what they will accomplish.
 The volunteers are ill prepared for the day, arriving in
suits and high heels to a farm, for example.
 The community organisation is often overwhelmed
and feels that they haven’t accomplished much by the
end of the day, apart from losing one of their own
working days.

37. What Makes a Positive Experience?
 They are planned 6 months or more in advance
 The volunteers are engaged and interested in the event and
the motivation for it
 The volunteers are gaining skills and knowledge as they go
 The business and community organisation maintain
communication along the way and each put time into
ensuring the support and preparation is done to make the
event successful.
 The event is spread over several days or a couple of weeks,
rather than the whole team going out on one day.
 The business recognises that, as a charity, the community
organisation doesn’t have the capacity to provide staff
support for free and so contributes time and money to the
event; that might be paying for tools, plants or paying for the
staff member’s time.

38. Key Messages
 Generally we’re doing great!
 When we take time out to increase our knowledge
and confidence about Volunteer Best Practices
our volunteers have a better experience.
 Build to satisfy the millennials and then encourage
everyone else to try it. Promote supportive
practices.
 Be nice! Say Thank You! Give good biscuits!
 Corporate Volunteers want to help, but they need
you to tell them exactly how. Ask for what you
need and explain why you need it, be explicit.

39. Any Questions?

40. Thank You
Website: http://volunteerteam.bristol.gov.uk
Dominic: dominic.murphy@bristol.gov.uk
Me after March: volunteeringemma@gmail.com