volunteer recruitment and management

1. Volunteer Recruitment and
Management
Lynne M. Wester
Donor Relations Guru
@donorguru

2. AGENDA
• How can you engage volunteers in your program?
• Keys program components and ideas for
delegating
• Creating a communication plan
• Finding and building the right team
• Strategies for successful engagement
• Questions

3. What could volunteers do?
• What does your volunteer program look like
now?
• Hamster wheel - same tasks again and again
• Not enough time to think strategically -
seasonal or annual events “sneak” up on you
• Volunteers work in a handful of positions

4. How can Volunteers Help?
• What activities do you do now that could be
delegated?
• Recruitment plan and communications
• Annual recruitment plan
• Interviews with current volunteers - messaging
• Creative Communications
• Attend volunteer fairs or speak at recruitment
events

5. • Program foundations or core components
• Write their own position descriptions
• Work with a group or committee to determine
policies and procedures
• Share new structure with other volunteers - Town
Hall
• Help other volunteers understand the new
structure and help enforce policies

6. Interviews and Screening - create
Placement Counselors or Talent Scouts
• Review applications
• Conduct initial interviews
• Shift or team leaders screen/place new
members
• Investigate and outline new opportunities for
volunteer engagement - skills or project
based, virtual

7. Activity:

8. Retention and Recognition activities
• Shift/Team leaders build relationships
• Conduct ongoing interviews - 3 months, etc.
• Survey or interview current volunteers about
their roles or what they would like to do
• Create social media communication plans - thank
you, impact messages, videos
• Coordinate ongoing education, social or
recognition events

9. Start Spreading the News
• Create a communications plan
• Become an advocate for your new engagement
program
• Who in your community would want to
support/participate?
• Existing volunteers, Paid/Leadership staff, Community
members, donors, clients
• How can you reach them? What do they want to
know?
• Internal, external, social media, newsletters

10. Create the Right Team
• Find the volunteers with the passion and the skills
• Be selective
• Not everyone will be the right fit. Start with the great
volunteers you know you can work with.
• Look for the skills/experience you need
• HR consultants, hiring professionals, organizational
structure specialists.
• Screen them as if you were going to hire them!
• Be clear about your vision
• If you don’t know where you’re going - no else will

11. Create the Right Team
• Let go, but don’t check out
• Build in evaluation and check in points to
ensure you’re supporting your team
• Be honest about what’s working and what’s
not
• Feel comfortable having those conversations.
Learn to say and hear no.

12. Activity:

13. Things to Think About
• You don’t have to change everything right now
• Start small
• Start with the steps that feel easier
• Invite volunteers to take on leadership roles
• Look to the volunteers that are already in those roles,
or have naturally taken on more responsibility
• Invite your superstar volunteers to take the lead
• Share your impact and successes with the organization
• Manager, leadership, co-workers and, of course, the
volunteers!

14. The Next Level
• Where can volunteers go in your program?
• Keys to evolving your program
• Creating involvement, flexibility and a
connection with volunteers
• Tools for evolving your program
• Things to think about
• Questions

15. Where do your volunteers go?

16. Keys to Evolving Your Program
• Develop work that is meaningful to the volunteer
and important to the organization.
• Create a connection between volunteers, clients
and your mission
• Establish the foundation necessary to support a
diverse program of volunteer engagement
• Know and share the impact of the work
volunteers do

17. Create more Involvement
• Training and experience pathways
• Do volunteers know what they need to do to be able to fill each
role in your program?
• Is it clear how that happens, or is it mysterious or based on
longevity?
• Do you offer those classes or have on the job experience checklists?
• Leadership positions
• Do you have opportunities for volunteers to move into leadership
roles? In your program? In the organization?
• Shift leaders, committee leaders, subject matter experts, pro bono
consultants

18. Create more Flexibility
• Are there different types of opportunities or different levels of
involvement available?
• One size doesn’t fit all
• Doesn’t allow for growth or retraction as a volunteer’s life changes
• •Do you offer project based opportunities, virtual opportunities
• Bring more positions into your volunteer engagement program
• Let volunteers help you!
• Volunteers know the work that volunteers do - empower them to
document or create the foundation and flexibility you need.

19. The Trend:

20. Create more Understanding
• Keep volunteers informed
• New ideas or theories in your impact area
• New policies, practices or projects in your program
• Milestones in your organization
• Incorporate impact into recognition
• Don’t just say thank you - share the work the volunteer has
done
• Include clients in the thank you message
• Spread the thank you outside of your volunteer program -
Social media, internal and external communications

21. Create the Connection
• Turn your volunteers into Advocates!
• Do volunteers know your mission?
• Major accomplishments, funders
• Do they know about other programs?
• Areas and impacts besides their own
• Empower them to spread the word
• Keep them up to date
• Use social media
• •Do you know which of your volunteers are also
donors?

22. Tools for Evolving your Program

23. Activity

24. Tools for Evolving your Program
• Start with the easy (easier?) stuff
• Create or document the structure that exists now
• Identify volunteer position descriptions, how they fit
together, what volunteers need to know to do them.
• Create more flexibility
• What did your volunteers tell you they wanted to do, but
couldn’t - so they left?
• Where does the rigidity come from? You, organization
leadership, the past, or perceived ideas about volunteers?
• Create a communication plan to turn volunteers in to
advocates

25. Thank You!
• Lynne M. Wester
• @donorguru
• Connect with me!
• www.donorrelationsguru.com
• lynne@donorrelationsguru.com