A nonprofit organization’s best practice

guide for technology and social media

Volunteer Management

for Today’s Generation

Demographics Affecting

Volunteer Rates

Peak for adults in their 30’s and 50’s

Education level

Reside with their own children under 18

Keeping Baby Boomers Volunteering: Corporation for National and Community Service,

Office of Research and Policy Development Authors

Reducing Turnover

Type/nature of activity

Greater time commitments

Asked by the Organization

Involved with multiple

organizations

Keeping Baby Boomers Volunteering: Corporation for National and Community Service,

Office of Research and Policy Development Authors

Millennials

75% of the global workforce will be Millennials by 2025

http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2013/09/04/why-you-cant-ignore-millennials/

http://www.gen-we.com/

Thinking Positive

Tech savvy

Diverse

Connected

Activists

Desire to make difference

Desire to push business forward

Grown up with: cell phones, Internet, connected devices

18% Hispanic, 14% black, 4% Asian, 3% Other, 59%

White

24 hour news cycle, websites as everyday part of social life

Cause awareness, online activity, conscious consumers

Social enterprises, crowdfunding, crowdsourcing

Service hour requirements, Teach for America, AmeriCorps

Negative Stereotypes

Narcissist

Entitled

Lazy

Coddled

Delusional

No attention spans

Love of Technology

Sent or received text

messages in the past day 51%

Believe new technologies

make people more efficient 69%

become involved in philanthropic

endeavors via the Internet 33%

find their online philanthropic

involvement satisfying 2%

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larissafaw/2012/10/23/are-millennials-lazy-or-avant-garde-social-activists/

Millennials would rather…

Give up sense of smell Than give up a

connected device

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/russ-warner/millennials-jobs_b_2566734.html

Have a flexible work environment & access to social

media Than have a higher

pay check

Millennials Giving Back 81% Donated money, goods or services

70% Educated others about a cause or issue

68% Participated in volunteer work or service

60% Signed an online or written petition

56% Fundraised for a cause

52% Expressed an opinion on positive social change issue by commenting online

49% Joined/created a group for a positive social change issue on a social network

45% Organized or united friends/neighbors to work together for a particular cause

43% Provided leadership skills to an organization related to positive social change

41% Wrote to or called a politician

36% Attended a political rally, speech or protest of any kind

35% Texted to make donations, voted, or organized a demonstration

http://www.waldenu.edu/~/media/Files/WAL/about/walden-university-social-change-impact-report-summary-report.pdf

Beliefs for the Future

*Due to digital technology, people are getting involved in positive

social change issues faster and more frequently than ever

before.84%

*Digital technology can turn interest in a cause into a movement

more quickly than anything else 88%

http://www.waldenu.edu/~/media/Files/WAL/about/walden-university-social-change-impact-report-summary-report.pdf

World will continue to be more integrated Think globally, act locally

Volunteer Management Cycle

Assessment

Position Design

Recruitment

Intake and Screening

Orientation and Training

Supervision and

Feedback

Recognition

Retention

Changing Workforce

Blurring work and life

Goals achieved vs hours worked

Performance review cycles

Coworking and collaborative workspaces

Working for more than a paycheck

Flexible shifts and after hours

Emphasis on social interaction and shared learning

Place people at the center

No more “top-down”

Assessment

Millennial Values

Collaboration Teamwork

Openness Transparency

Assessment

Organizational Culture Assessment

Open & Transparent

• How do you operate?

• How do you generate money?

• How do you make impact?

Release control

• Be open to others working on your behalf

• Create true personal connections

Solution-inspired

• Empower volunteers to create own solutions and execute strategies

Requires cross-departmental institutional involvement

Pathway

To Get Involved

Position Design

Self-organized group

Event-based

Young professional group

Leadership opportunities

Creating Volunteer

Opportunities

*Purpose

*Commitment level

*Date, time, location

*Staff contact

*Job description

*Benefits to the volunteer

*Prerequisites (training)

Position Design

Types of

Volunteer Activities

Micro volunteering / crowdsourcing

One-time event volunteering

Group volunteering

Board/committee / event planning

Using background experience

Position Design

How Millennials Find

Opportunities To Serve

Recruitment

Reaching Millennials

Use social media with strong call to action:

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube

Have a good website

mobile friendly, search engine optimized, well designed

Recruitment

Reaching Millennials

Send e-mail campaigns with clear call to action

optimized for mobile

ConstantContact, Mailchimp

List opportunities online

VolunteerMatch.org, Idealist.org, Networkforgood.org

catchafire.org, christianvolunteering.org, meetup.com

sparked.com/content/nonprofit, craiglist.org,

createthegood.org, Eventbrite.com

Recruitment

How to Use Social Media •

Disc

uss

issue

s you

are

deali

ng

with

as a

n

org

aniza

tio

n

•Ask

ques

tions

, idea

s, and

ways

to

impr

ove

wee

kly

1

•Post

vid

eo

blo

gs

, stori

es,

and

phot

os o

f peop

le

you

serv

e

•Pro

vi

de

dire

ct cont

act

info

(p

ho

ne,

em

ai

l, so

cia

l medi

a)

for

all

key

peop

le 2

•Cre

at

e a

t le

ast

one

share

able

actio

n o

n

each

page

of

your

websi

te

•For

exam

ple

, “If

you

like

this

artic

le,

ple

as

e

share

w

ith

your

frien

ds o

n

Faceb

ook” 3

•Searc

h

socia

l m

edi

a

conte

nt

(post

s/tw

eets)

and

com

ment

/pro

vid

e

feedb

ack

on

rele

vant

conve

rsatio

ns to

your

cause

or

issue

4

Recruitment

Social Media Tips

Make a complete Profile

• Photos, information about your programs, links to your website and blog

• Introduce people managing the account

Listen

• Get to know your followers

• Learn from what others are doing

Chat

• Build relationships

• Don’t lead with an ask or promoting

• Offer to help, share links, retweet others, and engage in conversation

Identify influencers

• Engage the people who have trusted relationships

Call to Action

• Build relationships, engage with people, be a good resource, connect others, and then ask your network to support your cause

Recruitment

Technology Tools

Making a website/blog

• Tumblr, Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla, Weebly, Squarespace

Listen

• Get to know your followers

• Learn from what others are doing

Receiving Online Donations

• Paypal integration, donation widgets, VolunteerMark

Volunteer Management Software

• VolunteerMark! Signupgenius.com, volunteerspot.org, etc.

Project Management Tools

• Asana, Google Apps, AgileZen

Volunteer Onboarding

Intake and Screening

Simplify the process

Be responsive (within 24 hours)

Give frequent updates

Make sure the volunteer is the right fit

Preferred communication Method (txt msg, Facebook)

Value volunteer’s time

Clear Process

From Start To Finish

Your Website

Volunteer Management Software

Intake and Screening

Organization Overview Orientation

and Training

Micro volunteer

1 time volunteers

Group volunteering

Leadership roles

Tell your story

Behind the scenes, open, honest

Engage Millennials to solve specific challenges

Relationship building

Value Feedback

Welcome all types of feedback

Ask what you can do to be better

Invest in tools and resources to position volunteers for success

Provide contact information everywhere

Be open, transparent, and accessible and always listen

Do not take down negative social media posts, try to resolve the concern

Encourage reviews on GreatNonprofits.org

Supervision and

Feedback

Recognizing Volunteers

Create a spotlight/blog post for highest impact volunteer

Recognize collaborative efforts

Recognize individuals for being team players

Show the impact of their work

Assess volunteers’ strengths and make deliberate connections

Say “Thank You” and “Happy Birthday”

Build personal relationship and ask about their interests/life

Volunteer Appreciation parties and social events

Recognition

Retaining Millennials

Maintain regular communication through varied channels

Have a skills bank that maps the competencies of your volunteers

Know and understand who they are and how they are contributing

Provide opportunities for Millennials to involve their friends and family

Provide career-building opportunities – develop a new skills set

Retention

Social experience

Skills-based volunteering

Solution-inspired

Call to Action

Key Takeaways

Thank You!

Andrew Stanley

(913) 735-7520

andrew@volunteermark.com

VolunteerMark – Maximizing The Volunteer Experience

www.volunteermark.com

www.facebook.com/volunteermark

@volunteermark

5250 W. 116th Place, Suite 200

Leawood, KS 66211