Your organization is struggling to engage volunteers. How can you turn things around?

2 Recruit strategically

The next step is to recruit volunteers who match your needs and share your vision. You can use various channels and methods to reach out to potential volunteers, such as social media, newsletters, websites, word-of-mouth, events, and partnerships. However, you should also be strategic and targeted in your recruitment efforts. Think about who your ideal volunteers are, what motivates them, what skills and experience they have, and how you can attract and retain them.

3 Train and support

Once you have recruited volunteers, you need to train and support them to perform their tasks effectively and efficiently. You should provide them with clear and comprehensive orientation and training materials, such as manuals, videos, webinars, or workshops. You should also assign them a supervisor or mentor who can guide them, answer their questions, and monitor their progress. Additionally, you should offer them ongoing support and feedback, such as regular check-ins, surveys, evaluations, and recognition.

4 Communicate and connect

Another key to engaging volunteers is to communicate and connect with them regularly and meaningfully. You should keep them informed and updated about your organization's activities, achievements, challenges, and opportunities. You should also invite them to share their ideas, opinions, suggestions, and concerns. Moreover, you should foster a sense of community and belonging among your volunteers by creating opportunities for them to interact, network, and collaborate with each other and with your staff.

5 Evaluate and improve

The final step to engaging volunteers is to evaluate and improve your volunteer program and experience. You should collect and analyze data and feedback from your volunteers, staff, and beneficiaries to measure the outcomes and impacts of your volunteer activities. You should also identify the strengths and weaknesses of your volunteer management and retention practices and processes. Based on your findings, you should implement changes and improvements to enhance your volunteer program and experience.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?