volunteer matching blocks with people on them with a magnifying glass

Volunteer Matching: Finding the Right Role for Every Volunteer 

The Top Line

Most organizations don’t spend a lot of time on volunteer matching. Instead, they use a one-size-fits-all approach to assign work based on the most pressing needs at the time. While this may feel expedient, matching volunteers with roles that don’t fit results in high turnover and added volunteer recruitment work.

Volunteers aren’t robots. Each is a human with unique skills, capabilities, and desires. If a role fits like a glove, the volunteer experiences great satisfaction, and the organization enjoys higher retention rates. The investment in time and attention pays dividends. Plus, it’s simply a more human-centered approach.

Read on to Discover:

volunteer matching handshake

Volunteer Matching by Pinpointing Volunteer Motivations 

Volunteer interviews are a powerful opportunity to better understand applicant motivations, inform whether they may be a good fit, and project what might keep them motivated down the road.

These should be two-way conversations. They are the first step in developing a potentially rich partnership. For this reason, volunteer interviews shouldn’t be devoted entirely to your program needs. Plan to spend 50% of the time listening to the volunteer’s wishes and expectations. Additionally, interviews are a great time to gently address misconceptions on the part of the volunteer.

There are some critical pieces of information to learn about your applicant during an interview. Here are a few things to explore through your volunteer interview questions:

What are the Causes They Feel Passionately About?

Volunteers who feel a close emotional connection to the organization’s mission become deeply engaged and stay. If they don’t mention anything that closely resembles your mission, consider helping them find a better match elsewhere. 

What are Their “Must Haves” and “Non-Negotiables”?

There is nothing more frustrating than being asked to do something you’ve specifically said makes you uncomfortable or that you don’t have time for.

Volunteers are unpaid and are not a temporary workforce. They are partners in actualizing your mission and, therefore, should have a say in assignments. Make sure you know your volunteers’ taboos up front. It doesn’t mean they won’t evolve, but start with what excites them. Ask them what brings them the most joy.

Also, be honest about any training requirements.

This conversation sheds light on what motivated them to apply and gives you ideas about how to thank them for their service. Keep those notes — you’ll need them later to plan your volunteer recognition activities.  

Have They Met Your Minimum Qualifications?

Establish your core requirements for specific volunteer positions, and communicate them. If a volunteer doesn’t meet the minimum qualifications and can’t learn them easily, they will get frustrated and leave, wasting their time and yours. 

When Would They Like to Incorporate Volunteering into Their Lives?

You’ll need to know when a prospective volunteer has enough time to get started. This includes any time they need to set aside for training and orientation. Sometimes it takes busy people a few weeks or even a month to clear the decks to accommodate a new commitment.

Explore what days of the week and times they are available and what frequency of volunteering makes sense in their world. Does once a month or weekly sound more doable? Often, organizations assume volunteers will willingly bend to accommodate the organization’s needs. Sometimes that is the case. But more often, today’s busy volunteers juggle several responsibilities, and yet they still want to give back. Help them find a way to contribute, no matter how large or small, with your support.

Consider matching volunteers with a buddy for collaboration to lessen the load. As a team, they handle the task or role and decide together how and when it gets done and by whom. “Busy work” doesn’t help you, and doing irrelevant work doesn’t feel great for volunteers who genuinely want to make a difference.

What Skills Do They Have (and Want) to Share?

Design your volunteer program around a broad range of activities, from menial to highly skilled. You will increase the opportunities to attract volunteers of all skill levels to support your organization.

Also, don’t assume that because someone has a skill, they want to put it to use. For example, an executive who manages stressful corporate mergers all week may not be interested in developing partnerships for your organization. They may desire something straightforward and relaxing, like data entry. Honor that.

How Does the Volunteer React to Specific Situations?

By asking volunteers to respond to questions about common situations that occur at your agency, also called behavior-based interviewing, you have the opportunity to understand how each volunteer works, plans, problem solves, and reacts to stress.

This is important information to decide whether they are a suitable fit and, if so, what support they might need when they join the organization’s volunteer corps.

By investing a little time to get to know each volunteer, you’ll have a better chance of understanding them on a human level. They will feel seen and understood, and you will make a more educated decision about what roles to offer them that best meet their needs and preferences.

For specific questions to ask, check out our free Volunteer Interview Questions Cheat Sheet HERE >> 

Volunteer Matching by Preferences & Availability

When a volunteer hesitates to accept an invitation to serve, the favored objection is “I don’t have time.” Time is indeed one of our most valuable resources.

Plenty of Options

Community members have choices about how they spend their leisure time. They might binge-watch the hot new series their friends told them about, host a family backyard bar-b-que, or spend a little alone time to rest and recharge. People want to build meaningful activities into their lives, but either aren’t sure how, or worry things like volunteering will dominate their calendars. If your organization wants to get and keep volunteers, put the public at ease.

Make sure you have options that include short-term event-based roles to longer-term assignments. Give volunteers the chance to get to know your organization through shorter-term commitments, then grow into longer-term roles.

The Gift of Flexibility

Paid employment comes before volunteering and has a higher priority in volunteers’ lives, and rightly so. Make sure you have roles that match your volunteers’ work schedules. If you only have roles that volunteers take part in during the week, then you limit the number of people who serve.

You must be more flexible than your volunteers. Be creative about ways you accommodate their talents. Not everyone will be an absolute perfect fit, and you need to plan to accommodate.

Prepare for Uncertainty

Recruiters should not read into a volunteer’s hesitation that they are not willing to help. Rather, be grateful they take the invitation seriously enough to give it careful consideration.

If you are unsure if the “no” is definitive, ask the applicant, “Is the issue you raised something that would keep you from volunteering now or in the future?” and “If we could accommodate your limitations, would you be willing to give it a try?” Through follow-up questions, the recruiter can address any misconceptions on the part of the prospective volunteer and find ways to tailor opportunities to the volunteer’s needs.

volunteer matching conversation

Matching Volunteer Skills with Specific Roles 

To match volunteer skills with open positions, the screening interview is an important tactic. The interview is a two-way street — you seek candidates who meet specific minimum requirements, as well as to understand the volunteer’s wants and needs. 

To prepare for interviews, identify the “need to have” and “nice to have” knowledge, skills, and abilities for each volunteer role you aim to fill. Include them in each volunteer position description. Also, give applicants a volunteer interest checklist, which helps home in on what volunteers are willing and eager to do, and use it as a starting point for discussion. Below are the knowledge, skills, and abilities you might include in a volunteer position description, depending on the specific role:

Basic Skills 

  • Learning complex information and translating it into daily practice 
  • Understanding the implications of added information to their volunteer role 
  • Finding answers to questions using reliable resources 
  • Managing one’s own time and prioritizing tasks to achieve goals 
  • Working with others, both as a leader and a follower 
  • Maintaining a positive attitude 
  • Completing required reporting and paperwork on time 
  • Demonstrating commitment to the program 

People Skills 

  • Maintaining proper professional boundaries 
  • Exhibiting compassion and caring for others 
  • Listening attentively to others 
  • Using self-care strategies to handle stress  
  • Effectively teaching others to do something, one-on-one 
  • Perceiving others’ reactions and responding appropriately 
  • Resolving conflict and addressing challenging behaviors 
  • De-escalating angry people 
  • Bringing others together to negotiate differences 
  • Persuading others to change behavior 
  • Accepting and learning from coaching and feedback  
  • Exhibiting a responsive customer service orientation 

Technical Skills 

  • Using a computer (internet, software packages, social media, etc.) 
  • Communicating information in a coherent way to groups 
  • Developing relationships with community partners on behalf of the agency 
  • Writing and designing communication materials using plain language 
  • Analyzing and interpreting data and information 
  • Solving complex problems 
  • Using logic and reasoning to find the strengths and weaknesses of various alternatives 
  • Speaking, reading, and writing more than one language 
  • Operating a vehicle safely (auto, van, truck, etc.) 
  • Following the established protocols for a specific, assigned role 

Not all volunteers are prepared and ready right from the start. If you feel a volunteer will learn the minimum required skills within a reasonable period, find ways to support them in doing so. If not, look for other roles within your agency or refer them to other organizations that might be a better fit. 

For more on how to determine the right fit for a volunteer, check out Chapter 3: Volunteer Interview Questions for Better Matching of our Essential Guide to Managing Volunteers at Your Nonprofit HERE >> 

Final Thoughts on Volunteer Matching

Volunteers contribute their time for free. Give them flexibility and consideration in the matching process. Get to know their needs and preferences through interviews. Pinpoint the specific skills you need and assess whether the volunteer has, or can learn, them. Find ways to make volunteering work with their schedule. If you do all these things when matching volunteers, you’ll build a self-sustaining team that is accountable, fulfills commitments, and has fun doing so.