Renewing your volunteer base and engaging youth

Engaging and Motivating Volunteers

Volunteering is a gift of time, talent, skills and experience.

Understanding why people choose to volunteer is key to recruiting them

What are your volunteer recruitment challenges?

Reasons people volunteer

• Contribution to the community• Sharing their skills• Affected by cause• Exploring self• Networking• Joining with friends• Faith• Job opportunities

Interesting Statistics

93% of Atlantic Canadians volunteer to make a difference

82% volunteer to share their skills and experience63% volunteer because they are personally affected by

a cause56% volunteer to learn new skills53% volunteer to network and get to know new

people25% volunteer for religious reasons and to access new

job opportunities

Using the top 8 Reasons

• List your volunteer task and opportunities• Do they match up with the top 8 reasons?• How can you improve your odds ?

Vision and Mission

• Here is a good place to start!• Do you have a vision and mission

statement?• Mission is what you do best every day• Vision is what the future looks like

because you do your mission exceedingly well.

Recruiting Volunteers

• Start close to home• Volunteers want to contribute in their own

community• Have an open house• Get the word out – use local newspapers and

TV.• Make room for social media

Creating new partnerships

• Build relationships with schools• Start a referral program• Use bulletin boards• No. 1 reason people don’t volunteer?

• No one asked them to.• A new twist on the business card!

Your organization’s elevator pitch

• Combine mission and vision statement• Make it interesting and brief• Print it out a copy for staff, board and other

volunteers• Combine it with recruitment business card• Offer incentives

Engaging Younger Volunteers

Engaging Younger Volunteers

• Younger volunteer to gain job experience and new skills

• Younger people also volunteer with friends• Younger people like to be asked to put their

own skills to work for others.• Many colleges and universities in N.B. now

have mandatory leadership/volunteer programs

Recruiting Younger Volunteers

• Facebook• Twitter, Tumblr• Texting• Partnering with Schools• Partnering with established Youth groups• Making your environment Youth Friendly

Social Media

• Do you Facebook?• Do you Tweet?• Is your website up to date?• Do you text?• Social media is free but also takes time.

Getting started with Social media

• Facebook is your best option to start• You must have a personal account to open a

Facebook page• Does anyone in your office use Facebook?• Include this in a future job description.

Myths and Facts

• Young people won’t go for it• Older people are afraid of young people• Two generations won’t be able to talk• Respect will be an issue• Older people are all the same• Teenagers are trouble• Older people are all senile

What it can do for you

• Younger volunteers can increase your volunteer pool,

• It can bring in the expertise you need to accomplish projects or other initiatives

• It is additional fundraising capacity• It creates an enriching work environment• It is good for the community

5 powerful questions

• Why do you volunteer?• Why do you want to volunteer with us?• What do you wish to learn?• How much time can you give?• What would you like to do here?

Their vision VS your mission

• Volunteers quit most often because ‘’it wasn’t what they expected’’.

• Make sure to ask the right questions• Check in with volunteers • Have volunteer leaders and/or coordinator• Have position descriptions• Be honest about what your organization needs

Volunteer Expectations

• Volunteers expect to be respected• Volunteers expect to be informed• Volunteers expect flexibility• Volunteers expect recognition• What are you doing to ensure these expectations are

being met???

Benefits

• Beyond the warm and fuzzies• Learning new skills• Meeting new people• Participating on projects• Being part of the decision making process• Being part of a team• References• Networking opportunities

Retaining your Volunteers

•Best practices for managing the volunteers you have and keeping them starts with good human resources practices.

After recruitment comes retention

• Keeping track of your volunteers• Interview each one or have someone from

your board or staff do this.• Screening is required when volunteers work

with children or vulnerable clientele• References are a good way to get to know

someone.• Be straight forward

Tools to retain

• A system to track volunteer hours• A quick way to reach volunteers• A description of volunteer opportunities• A business recruitment card• Flexible schedules• A volunteer coordinator• Trial period• A volunteer hand book

Orientation of Volunteers

• Create a volunteer handbook• Do introduce them to everyone• Offer a tour of the premises• Give them a contact person, email or phone

number• Include benefits, recognition and rewards

Benefits * Recognition * Rewards

• Yes, people volunteer to give freely of their time, talents, skills and experience.

• However, everyone enjoys to thanked, recognized and rewarded for their contribution.

• What does your organization do?

Communicating with Volunteers

• A sense of belonging and loyalty comes from knowing what’s going on and being part of something.

• How often does your organization communicate with volunteers

• How do you communicate with volunteers• Social media, email and texting

Building bridges

• Between volunteers, staff and board members• People who know each other work better

together.• Bringing the cause and the people who work

behind the scenes together is a great combo.

Dealing with conflict

• And other problems that will come up• Follow up immediately after complaint• Write everything down• Meet everyone concerned separately• Ask the same questions• Apply corrective measures• Follow-up with everyone and communicate

clearly.

Getting started

People volunteer with and for…

•Organizations they know!•Tell your stories and share your history.

Top 3 action items

•What can you do to get started on recruiting the volunteers you need?

Any Questions ?