Volunteer Recruiting and Getting Staff Buy-In in 2023: Top Trends from This Year’s Volunteer Management Progress Report

Launched by VolunteerPro President and founder Tobi Johnson, the annual Volunteer Management Progress Report has provided much-needed data for volunteer-involved organizations for the past eight years.  

This global state-of-the-industry report offers valuable statistics and measurements on yearly trends in several key categories, including volunteer recruiting and retention, staff salary ranges, and number of staff members, among many others.  

The 2023 report – the “Back to Business” Edition – dives into the unique challenges faced by leaders of volunteers in the wake of a global pandemic and how organizations are building back stronger and wiser after the last two years.  

In this week’s blog, I chat with Tobi about the survey and two of the biggest challenges from this year’s results: volunteer recruiting and getting staff buy-in for volunteer involvement.  

Going Global – The Expanded Reach of This Year’s Survey

Jamie: This year’s VMPR has been a huge project! Of course, it always is. How are you feeling now that it’s almost complete? 

Tobi: I’m really excited! This is going to be a fantastic year. I can feel it in my bones. And – you know I don’t just say things without data to back it up – the survey trends in this year’s report totally support my confidence. 

Jamie: I’ll take that! I think we all would, after the last couple of years.   

I know the final report is coming out soon, but in the meantime, can you share some snippets of what’s to come? Just some of the top-line themes that caught your eye?  

Tobi: The first interesting thing is this year we had 39 participating countries. When people get the report and download it, they can see a map of where everybody came from. When we started the report, it included about twelve countries, so it’s fantastic to see more and more global participation in the survey.  

And you know, it’s interesting to see the similarity in responses from all around the world. People may be feeling very alone as a volunteer manager. They may believe that their organization is the only organization experiencing certain challenges. This report, hopefully, is a little bit of reassurance that you’re not alone, that other people are facing and overcoming the same things.

I hope people all over the world nod their heads as they read the report and say to themselves, “I am not alone!” 

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Jamie: It’s interesting to see the commonalities in challenges around the world…volunteer recruiting, retention, buy-in from staff and leadership. They’re not new struggles, but it seems like the pandemic created fresh wrinkles in all those recurring issues as organizations started engaging with volunteers again.      

Tobi: For our 2023 Volunteer Management Progress Report, we called it the “Back to Business” Edition. I did not realize how true that would be! Each year I choose the theme and that impacts the questions we ask, but also sometimes the responses come back and reaffirm that we were completely on target with our initial concept.  

For so many this year, it’s almost like we’re starting from scratch again. You know, a lot of the nonprofit sector was started by volunteers. If you look back at the history of an organization it’s often volunteers that started it, so it’s interesting that volunteer managers are now having a hard time championing volunteerism for their organizations.  

Earning Staff Buy-In and Respect for Your Volunteer Program

Jamie: Getting that buy-in from leadership and successfully championing volunteers – that was one of the big trends in this year’s responses. It was the third-highest challenge reported overall at 9.6%. What’s your recommendation to get that needed support from colleagues? 

Tobi: We’ve got to get better at communicating and tracking impact if we want buy-in from fellow staff and leadership. If we can show a return on investment for volunteers to leadership, then they are going to set the stage for the expected staff behaviors regarding the support and involvement of volunteers.  

As a leader of volunteers, you can only set the stage so much if the executive at your organization doesn’t care about volunteers. So first and foremost, you need your leadership to understand, and the language of leadership is numbers. It’s organizational impact. That’s what your executive-level folks do on a daily basis.  

They’re communicating with funders, they’re communicating with donors, they’re communicating with other investors about your organization’s impact. And if you can’t speak directly to how volunteers contribute to that agency bottom line, then it’s going to be really hard.  

We talk a lot about key performance metrics in the VolPro Membership community. We’ve got to get better at this because without them it’s hard to get respect. It’s hard to get the attention and influence that you’re looking for if you don’t have numbers and data and stories of change, success stories to back it up.  

It doesn’t always have to be numbered data. It can be storytelling as well. But if you don’t have those, it’s very hard to build any support at all.  

Jamie: Data is such an important tool for leaders of volunteers when they go into those meetings to advocate for their volunteers and programs! 

Tobi: Absolutely! And what the trends from this year’s survey show is that we have a lot of room for growth in this area. 

Want to learn more about key performance indicators and which ones you should be tracking? Check out Episode 36 of the Volunteer Nation Podcast, 5 Nonprofit KPIs Your Volunteer Program Should be Tracking HERE>>

Volunteer Recruiting Through Relationship Building

Jamie: The results definitely highlight some challenges in the sector. What’s one big win on this year’s report?  

Tobi: I’ve been tracking the number of active volunteers in the Volunteer Management Progress Report every year, and I’m happy to say that the numbers from this year’s report are actually back to pre-covid levels. 

In the survey, we asked respondents to select if their organization had between 0-25 active volunteers, 26-50, 51-100, 101-250 and so on. During covid, the mean, or the average, went down to 51-100 volunteers. The mean for this year is back up to 101-250 volunteers, which is where it was prior to covid.  

So these numbers are a huge win. We’re coming back stronger, and the “Back to Business” theme is perfect for this year. 

Jamie: I know some volunteer managers will be nodding in agreement, and some will be saying, “I don’t see that at my organization yet.” 

Tobi: Volunteer recruiting was definitely the biggest challenge reported this year. Almost 33% of all respondents listed it as their number one concern. Interestingly, it’s not just a problem with recruitment in general, but a lot of “what used to work for us no longer does.”  

You know, when you boil it down, volunteer recruitment really is outreach and relationship. Sometimes, we just want to find that “buy” button in people’s brains and have volunteers lined up out the door. But today more than ever, recruitment is about building meaningful relationships, and that takes time.  

For more about recruitment and relationship building, check out Episode #2 of the Volunteer Nation Podcast, How To Recruit Volunteers by Building a Following First HERE>> 

Tobi: We need to really challenge ourselves when we think of volunteer recruiting from a transactional basis. I was reading a research study this morning about professional association volunteers, which found that members do not volunteer or give because of the benefits they get from the association. They volunteer and give because they believe that the association supports their needs and cares about them.  

That’s why people volunteer. It’s all about relationships. So, I would challenge organizations that are focusing on recruitment this year to intentionally work on relationship building as well.  When we only look at volunteer recruiting transactionally – we need this many people, for this shift, on this day – it really shoots us in the foot. People don’t sign up to volunteer because they just want to work for free. They volunteer because they want to connect with others and change the world.  

Jamie: I think that’s a great statement to end on. People volunteer because they want to change the world. So…let’s inspire them and invite them to do it in 2023. It truly is going to be a great year! 

PreOrder Your Copy of the 2023 Volunteer Management Progress Report

Be The First To Know As Soon As It’s Published!

The Volunteer Management Progress Report is produced each year by VolunteerPro | Tobi Johnson and Associates as a free resource to all volunteer-involving organizations and leaders of volunteers. The 2023 Report, our “Back to Business” Edition, will be published in mid-January. 

Want to know as soon as the full results are available? You can preorder your FREE copy today HERE, and we’ll email the report directly to you as soon as it’s published.  

Got questions or want to be a distribution partner for next year’s survey? Email us at wecare@volpro.net to learn how!