What You Need To Know About Managing Charity Volunteers

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A big part of running a charity involves finding and retaining volunteers. After all, they’re going to handle the bulk of your organization’s work. Without them, you’re pretty much sunk; you won’t be able to host any events or run any fundraisers.

Don’t worry- it’s actually not all that difficult to find people who are willing to work with you, nor terribly daunting to keep them working with you for the future.

Here’s how you can find volunteers that are passionate about your cause. More importantly, we’re going to talk about what needs to be done to retain those volunteers; to keep them coming back time and again to help you out. Let’s get started.

The Recruitment Process

Where you find volunteers for your nonprofit depends on a few factors.

First, there’s the industry you work in – a medical nonprofit is going to draw from a fairly different group than a charity concerned with helping flood victims.

There’s also what you’re recruiting them to do; whether you’re looking for short-term volunteers to assist with an event, or long-term volunteers to become a valued part of your charity.

In all cases, there are a few avenues you can go down in order to find people to help out:

Traditional media: Posters, brochures, print ads/notices.

Word of Mouth: Encouraging anyone who volunteers with your organization to tell friends, family, and acquaintances about it over social media and the like.

A Targeted Recruitment Campaign: Primarily meant to find volunteers with a very specific set of skills or characteristics. This campaign involves connecting directly with the volunteers.

Draw From Associates: Similar to word of mouth, this involves looking at groups who are already directly or indirectly affiliated with your organization – friends and family of volunteers or staff, clients, people in your neighborhood, people impacted by your core goals, etc.

Recruitment Websites: Sites such as Do-It, Timebank, ivo, and Reach can prove invaluable in the hunt for volunteers.

You are, of course, going to need a clear idea of your nonprofit and its goals before you set out to start recruiting. Job descriptions for volunteers should be concise, while still providing a full explanation of what each employee’s job will be. You’ll also need to ensure the volunteers you work with have a positive experience – but we’ll discuss that a bit later.

Train Them Properly

Once you’ve found yourself a new crop of volunteers, your next step is to train them. It’s not enough for them to simply know what their job is – they need to understand how to do it. Although the training process will differ based on complexity (more complicated volunteer positions will naturally require more intensive training), you’re generally going to want to cover the following:

Duties: What will they be expected to do as a volunteer? What are their responsibilities, and how many hours will they generally work?

Tools: What do they need in order to do their job? What equipment will they use, and how do they use it?

Conduct: How are your volunteers expected to behave?

Rights: What are the obligations of your nonprofit to its volunteers? When are they legally within their rights to refuse a task?

Safety: What if something goes wrong? What procedures should they follow to stay safe?

Contact Information: What are some important numbers every volunteer should have access to?

Important Locations/Layout: In the event that you’re running a fundraiser at a large venue, you should make sure your volunteers are familiar with the layout, and that they know where all the important stuff is – breakroom, storage, emergency exits, etc.

Make Sure They Have Access To The Proper Amenities

Training is far from the last step in the volunteer process. You also need to make sure your volunteers are properly equipped to do their job. As a general rule, your volunteers should all have access to the following:

A Means Of Communication: Whether you’re using a mobile app, website, or walkie talkies, there needs to be some way for volunteers to keep in touch with one another – either at a charity event or outside the organization.

Identification/Uniforms: For charity events, make sure all volunteers possess some form of identification that shows they’re part of your organization.

First Aid: There needs to be at least a few people at any event who are first-aid certified, and everyone should know where the first-aid stuff is.

Supervision: Make sure there’s a clear chain of command, and that each volunteer knows who to report to in the event that they need help with something.

Food And Facilities: Again, if you’re running an event at a venue, make sure your volunteers have access to washrooms, a break room, and food/drink.

A Shift Schedule/Debrief: Give everyone a schedule so that they know when they need to work – and where. Further, send out regular debriefs to your volunteer teams in order to keep them apprised of everything that’s going on within your charity.

Volunteer Retention

Now for the hard part. You’ve pulled in a bunch of volunteers, trained them, and given them what they need to work. How can you make sure they enjoy the work they do and that they want to work with your charity again?

Be Passionate About Your Cause: People are pretty good at picking up on the energy of whoever’s leading them. If you’re not passionate about whatever cause your nonprofit supports, they’ll know. Not only will they work less effectively, they’re going to be less willing to work with you again. Make sure you care deeply about the cause your nonprofit supports.

Know Their Needs: One of the biggest flubs I see in nonprofits is that they fail to understand what their volunteers are looking to gain from their position. Plenty of people want to help out a good cause, sure; but their reasons for doing so are many and varied. Maybe they or a friend has a personal stake in the matter, maybe they simply want to help out, or maybe they’re just doing this for some free stuff or bragging rights. Whatever their reasons, you need to be aware of them.

Understand That Some Jobs Can’t Be Left To Volunteers: There are certain tasks that are best left to professionals. “Core logistical functions, for example, are best handled by a professional, with the training, accountability, and long-term involvement to get the job done right,” explains Shawna McKinley of The Event Manager Blog.

Show Them They’re Appreciated: A little appreciation can go a long way. Never be afraid to congratulate your volunteers on a job well done. “Happy volunteers return and volunteer again,” writes McKinley. “So remember: you can never say thank you enough!”

Offer Incentives: Sometimes, the best way to bring in volunteers is to give them something free in return. Looking for someone to help out at a charity festival? Offer them free passes to some of the events, or free food. Want someone to help out with a fundraiser? Give them a free T-shirt for their participation. It’s nothing like the compensation of a full time job, but it lets them know they are appreciated.

Closing Thoughts

Volunteers are a valuable and vital resource for any nonprofit, regardless of industry. They’re also more than a resource; they’re human beings. Treat them as such, and you should have no trouble finding, training, and retaining them.