If you're looking to build your volunteer team, you may be wondering where to start. There are many ways to get the word out about opportunities and attract new volunteers. Here are six tips that can help boost recruitment:
Offer flexible volunteer assignments.
Flexible volunteer assignments can be tailored to the volunteer's interests and skills, their schedule and availability, and also their location.
Provide a wide range of ways to get involved.
Your organization can make it easier for volunteers to get involved by offering a wide range of volunteer assignments.
Offering flexible assignments is one of the simplest ways to increase your pool of potential volunteers and encourage more people to join your cause.
Recruit through your current volunteers.
One of the best ways to recruit new volunteers is through your current volunteers. They are likely to be invested in their roles, passionate about the cause and know exactly what it takes to succeed as a volunteer. They can help recruit other people who share their commitment and enthusiasm. When you have a strong core group of volunteers, they can take on additional responsibilities—like mentoring new recruits or conducting training sessions—and still make valuable contributions in other areas.
Highlight the impact of volunteers.
As a volunteer manager, it's your job to show the positive impact volunteers have on your organization. You can use data from past years (or whatever tools are available to you) to show that more volunteers mean more programs, which means more people served.
You should also be able to demonstrate how the presence of volunteers helps create better outcomes for those being served. For example, if you're working with kids who are struggling in school and one of their parents is volunteering as a tutor or mentor, they're going to have stronger bonds with that parent because they've formed an emotional connection based on shared experiences and values.
Volunteers also bring value by contributing new ideas into the organization and challenging existing ways of doing things; this kind of change can sometimes be uncomfortable for everyone involved but it's ultimately for the better.
Post the volunteering opportunity online.
Posting the volunteering opportunity online is a great way to reach a wider audience. You can post the opportunity on your website, social media and other online channels. You can also post it on your local council’s website or an online job board like Indeed or Seek.
Use these strategies to tap into your community for more volunteers.
Your community is full of people with skills and interests that can help make your organization better. Tapping into it for volunteer recruitment will make a big difference in your ability to meet the needs of your organization. Use these strategies to tap into your community for more volunteers:
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Ask for referrals from current volunteers and other stakeholders, such as board members, donors, or staff members who don't directly recruit volunteers. They often have connections to promising individuals who can help you reach specific goals or fill gaps in service areas where you may need more support.
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Reach out to local organizations and schools (such as churches, synagogues, mosques and temples) that connect with people from different walks of life by hosting community events or offering classes on topics like leadership development or financial literacy training; they might be able to refer potential candidates through their networks within the community.
If you’re looking to boost volunteer recruitment, we hope these tips have helped. It’s a lot of work to find new volunteers to join your cause, but the payoff is well worth it! With the right strategies in place, you can increase your pool of potential volunteers and bring more people into your organization.
