Most nonprofits have volunteer directors, coordinators, and/or managers, but what about a volunteer engagement team to bring in new volunteers? Headed up by your volunteer coordinator, this team of long time volunteers can provide a fresh perspective and new ideas to your organization on how to involve new volunteers in your work.
This volunteer team should be dedicated to increasing volunteer engagement, and be educated on their purpose in this initiative. Build a diverse task force, filled with volunteers of different ages, backgrounds, and levels of involvement. This team will be responsible for developing a strategy for initial contact, continued communication, and volunteer participation, survey, and further retention. Have them serve in terms, circulating through your stronger volunteer base.
While this team of volunteers aimed at gaining new volunteers will doing a lot of the “grunt” work in executing this strategy, your volunteer coordinator should be sure to set specific expectations, milestones, and goals. This should not be an “anything goes” approach. As you figure out what works best in volunteer engagement in your community with the help of this team, you’ll be able to build a strong strategy that can be replicated and reformed in the future. If you go too far down the wrong path, you could offset your volunteers investment of time and resources and actually deter volunteers from signing on. Not exactly what you want, or what we want for you!
VolunteerLynk, our online registration tool, enables your volunteers to be ambassadors for your nonprofit. They can share how and when they signed up on social media, can view their past and future experiences and update contact info through their login portal, and share the link to sign up with friends and family via email. Learn more today!
Marianna Woodruff is Director of Brand Awareness at DonorLynk, LLC. DonorLynk aims to provide nonprofits with tailored solutions that work for you, not against you.