Are You Making These Two Mistakes in Your Volunteer Retention Strategies? When it comes to volunteer retention strategies, your first instincts for how to encourage people to keep coming back might not the best ones. In fact, they might just shoot you in the foot. It turns out human beings aren’t very rational in their [...]
Member Spotlight: How to Build Volunteer Community from the Ground Up As a leader of volunteers, one of your key responsibilities may be to build volunteer community, But it isn’t always easy, particularly when volunteers are working remotely or are routinely taking breaks from service. But it’s important that volunteers continue to feel connected to [...]
How to Uncover "Hidden" Expectations for Authentic Volunteer Appreciation Genuine volunteer appreciation goes beyond plaques, pins, certificates, and giveaways. It involves deep listening and honoring the true needs of volunteers. But many volunteer expectations are never verbally expressed. How do we understand them if they aren’t communicated? Psychological contract theory can help. Psychological Contracts: The [...]
How to Match Volunteers with Rockin' Roles: Your Complete Guide Learning to match volunteers isn't rocket science, but it does take a little forethought. You need to know what you are specifically looking for, find out what each volunteer has to offer, and explore what they would like to contribute. This post shows you [...]
Volunteer Appreciation Ideas for Remote Volunteers With Valentine's Day just around the corner, we've got some volunteer appreciation ideas that work even when you aren't yet seeing volunteers face-to-face. Your best volunteer appreciation ideas shouldn't just be reserved for your annual luncheon or Volunteer Appreciation Week. Nor should they wait until the end of [...]
How To Use Volunteer Surveys to Support Winning Grant Proposals Sure, the volunteer surveys is great for gathering volunteer feedback. But, did you know, surveys can also help you show demonstrable proof of progress to current and potential donors and funders, making your nonprofit a trusted beneficiary of funding? Funders love impact and want [...]
10 Must Have’s for a Well-Crafted Volunteer Job Description A volunteer job description is an important communications and accountability tool. (Note: a better term is volunteer position description, or roles description, since no one gets paid.) They map out expectations and indicate clear boundaries. They can also describe what’s possible, helping volunteers see that they are about to become [...]
Member Spotlight: How to Advocate for the Importance of Volunteerism Welcome back to another member spotlight, where we feature some of the ups and the downs of what it’s like to work as a leader of volunteers and advocate for the importance of volunteerism. Follow along and learn how our members are taking action and getting traction with their volunteer management strategies! This [...]
