volunteer coordinator tips

4 Fresh Volunteer Coordinator Tips to Start the New Year  

If you’re looking for a few solid volunteer coordinator tips to inspire you and getting you ready for the year ahead, we’ve got your covered. 

Every year seems to start out the same: you’re fired up about it, you’re pumped to grow your volunteer program to new heights, and you just know that nothing is going to stand in the way.  

Then, something like COVID-19 hits and you lose momentum, or motivation, or for some volunteer coordinators, your job.  

So, how can you ensure you are starting this year off on the right foot? Especially after experiencing a year like the last.  

Read on for a few quick and easy-to-accomplish volunteer coordinator tips that will help build a foundation for a better 2021. 

1) Complete a Yearly Review of Your Volunteer Program 

If you want to move into a new year with eyes wide open, you need to take an honest look at what happened in 2020, both the good and the bad. The insights you discover will fuel a more productive year.  

Take stock of and celebrate all your accomplishments, no matter how small!  

  • Did you participate in any form of continued education? Perhaps you studied for and took the CVA Exam or you sought out volunteer management training programs. Celebrate your commitment to mastering your craft!  
  • Did you pivot your organization’s volunteer engagement strategy online at the drop of a hat? Celebrate your flexibility and willingness to adapt.  
  • Did you expand your skillset at work, taking on responsibilities outside of volunteer management while volunteer involvement was put on hold? Celebrate your dedication to your organization’s mission, colleagues, and the clients you serve.  

Even if the only accomplishment you can think of is making it to 2021 alive (raises hand), celebrate what you have made possible with your resilience in the face of overwhelming challenges.  

Now that you have celebrated your achievements and sheer grit, it’s time to look at the other side of the coin: your disappointments.  

Even in a “normal year” disappointment is normal. But 2020 hurled lots of opportunities for disappointment our way, and if you don’t learn how to release it, the negative effects can linger in 2021. 

Check out this Psychology Today article for 7 tips to help you overcome disappointment.  

Need some prompts to get you going on this exercise? Answer these questions:  

  • What went well for me last year? 
  • What accomplishments did I have? 
  • What disappointments did I have? 
  • How did I improve my volunteer program? 
  • How did I improve my relationships with staff, volunteers, clients, etc.? 
  • What did I stop doing that is now making me happier, more productive, more resilient? 
  • What can I start dong to make a difference for my volunteers, co-workers, cause, and community? 
  • What do I wish I had taken more time for? 
  • What kind of leader do I want to be in these uncertain times? 

2) Set Goals for Your Volunteer Program 

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted everything we know, but that doesn’t mean you have to sit idly by and watch the devastation.  

Your organization and your volunteers need you now more than ever, and you are up to the task. 

Follow these volunteer coordination tips to develop a proactive strategy to help you recover business continuity and retain as many volunteers as possible, all while keeping everyone safe. 

Re-open with Less Risk 

As the Coronavirus vaccine makes its way through your community, it’s time to respond. Will you require everyone to be vaccinated? How will you check for health?  Now is the time to consider re-open to full volunteer involvement while maintaining community trust. 

Below are some volunteer coordinator tips for asking focused risk management questions. This is simply a framework to help you find clarity and ask the right questions, but you will need to do more checking. Before finalizing any plans, be sure to obtain advice based on US or other national, state, and local laws from a qualified legal practitioner. 

Here are some of the key questions you need to answer when building out your goals for welcoming volunteers back. 

  • WHICH volunteers are essential to critical operations right now (if any)? 
  • WHEN will you bring volunteers back to work and in what phases?  
  • WHEN will you re-orient them? 
  • HOW will you welcome volunteers back to ensure they can work safely and confidently? 
  • WHAT risks do you need to plan for and what new policies may need to be developed? 
  • WHAT specific tools will you need to be successful?  
  • WHAT assets do you already have at your disposal?  
  • WHO can help you implement successfully? 

Once you answer these, start thinking through some of your 2021 goals.  

To help you through this, check out our FREE Worksheet: The Goal Cascade.  This worksheet will align your volunteer department goals with those of your agency. 

3) Build New Skills to Scale Your Impact Quickly 

If you need to scale your volunteer team quickly, it helps to have proven strategies in your toolkit.  

Learning through trial and error will slow you down.  You need to be confident in the road you choose, because backtracking takes time and energy you simply don’t have. 

Learning and incorporating new skills and practices can impact you both personally and professionally. While formal programs that offer tools and expert guidance are helpful, there are also other ways to learn new skills.  

Take a look at our suggestions below and find one or two that you can commit to in 2021 and start working towards reaching your highest levels of potential!  

Be a Mentor  

As a manager (even if it’s not in your title, if you work with volunteers, you are a manager!) being a mentor can help you level up your leadership skills.  

Here are some benefits you can expect when you act as a mentor:  

  • You’ll learn new things.  
  • You’ll feel more empowered. 
  • You’ll build new professional relationships. 
  • You’ll develop leadership and management skills. 
  • You’ll feel good about yourself, knowing you are helping someone else.  

If you’re on the fence about whether to become a mentor or how to find a mentee, think about any mentors you have had in your career. How did you get connected to them? How did they help you professionally and personally? How did the relationship help your mentor?  

Lean Into New Challenges 

What do I mean by “lean in” as a volunteer coordinator tip? 

I know this may be an unpopular opinion, but I am not a fan of the term “Lean In” as popularized by Sheryl Sandberg in her book of the same name.  

Yes, while there are some practices and messages that have helped bring awareness to how women achieve in the workplace, I think the advice given leaves a lot to be desired by people who don’t live a privileged life.  

Now that I got that out of the way, when I say “lean into” new challenges, I mean taking on a project or task at work that you aren’t 100 percent comfortable with.  

If you are bored at work, you are more likely to fall into a rut and do the bare minimum to scrape by. But “we’ve always done it this way” approaches won’t help you scale quickly. 

If you are feeling less than enthused in 2021 (and it’s entirely natural, given the year we’ve had!), consider introducing a new challenge at work to re-engage your creativity, improve your performance, enhance your skills, and your future career prospects.  

Read, Read, Read 

My goal this year is to read more books that ground my work practices.  

Here are some that are on my list that I think would be beneficial for leaders of volunteers to read:  

Network Internally

Just as you should network with people outside of your organization, you should be networking with people inside of your organization as well.  

For volunteer services to be effective, all your staff need to know how volunteers impact the organization’s mission and clients and they can’t begin to understand this if they don’t know you, the volunteer coordinator!  

 So, how can you start networking with your colleagues? Follow these tips below:  

  • Work with organizational leadership to host social gatherings (online or in person when safe). One of the most successful ways I have seen this done is by the CEO of the organization I previously worked for. She hosted quarterly lunches in which all the staff was treated to lunch, an opportunity to meet colleagues from other departments, and hear agency updates. These were always well attended.
     
  • Create an online chat group. In the current remote work climate, your colleagues may be missing water cooler chat or being able to pop down the hall to ask a quick question. By starting a Slack channel for your organization, you can replicate some of that interaction and continue to build relationships with people outside of your department.
    • Schedule meetings with other departments. At least once a year, set aside time talk about how they are using volunteers, how they want to use volunteers, and any questions or concerns they have about volunteers. Act as a helpful internal consultant as they think through the opportunities.
       
    • Send good vibes. When someone at your organization is promoted, recognized for their achievements, receives an award, etc., send them a note of congratulations. This will go a long way to show that you are paying attention to what all your colleagues are accomplishing and not just those you interact with on a regular basis.  

Follow some of these tips, and you (and your volunteer program) will soon reap the benefits of a strong internal network.  

4) Volunteer Coordinator Tips for Finding a Positive Work-Life Balance 

When the world transitioned to remote work during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, lines between home life and work life became blurry.  

If you are struggling to manage your work-life balance, read on for a few tips. 

Prioritize Tasks  

Volunteer coordinators wear a lot of hats, so naturally, you have a lot of tasks on your plate. Before you try and accomplish every single one, prioritize them based on the following, with the highest priority at the top:  

  • Urgent and important 
  • Important but not urgent 
  • Urgent but not important  
  • Not important and not urgent 

Once you categorize your tasks, see which ones you can delegate to another staff member or perhaps a volunteer.  

Need to enter volunteer hours into your CRM? That’s an important but not urgent task that can easily be done by a volunteer. Need to address a situation involving a volunteer? That’s an urgent and important task that is best handled by you, the volunteer coordinator.  

Know When You are Most Productive 

I am a morning person, and when I need to complete tasks that require me to focus my attention or use any kind of creativity, I need to work on them early in the day.  

If I wait until the afternoon hours for these tasks, my attention wavers and I am unable to fully focus on what needs to be done. This means it will take me longer to complete a task and I will feel compelled to stay late to finish my work. 

Find out when you are most productive and plan your day (possibly even your week, month, year) around it.  

Set Your Work Hours  

Have set work hours and make sure you communicate them to your team and your volunteers. Of course, things will come up that may require you to work early or late. Just don’t make a habit of it or you will make excuses to work late into the night for every little thing that comes your way.  

Plot Out Personal Time 

At the beginning of the year, consider how you want to use your vacation time and put it on the calendar!  

Even if you don’t have travel plans or can’t travel due to pandemic related travel bans, it’s important that you take time for your personal life, otherwise your professional life will suffer as a result of burnout.  

Complete an End of the Day Review 

Before you sign off for the workday, do a little self-reflection. Ask yourself these questions:  

  • What worked for me today? 
  • What didn’t work for me today? 
  • How can I fix anything that didn’t work for me? 
  • What am I going to work on tomorrow?  

With this end of the day review you’ll train your brain to stop thinking or worrying about work after work hours by resolving any issues, and you’ll get a jump start on your next day’s tasks.  

What are Your Tips? 

What do you do to start the new year off on the right foot? Is there anything you would add to our list?  

We’d love to hear your thoughts! Add them to the comments below.