3 Volunteer Recruitment Strategies That Will Attract Your Ideal Volunteers

Volunteer recruitment strategies are a dime a dozen. But which ones really work to bring in the volunteer you really need?

And is there a magic wand that can make it all happen?

No doubt you’ve heard the phrase “If you build it, they will come”, a line attributed to the movie Field of Dreams. If you haven’t heard of the movie or seen it, it’s the story of a man who was called to follow his dreams by a voice in his head and so he did and he was successful. Thus, the mantra “if you build it, they will come” was born.

A mantra that is great for a movie with a neat, tidy ending; however, not so great for the real world.

In fact, in doing research for this blog post, I found out that the mantra is not even what was said in the movie! The quote is “if you build it, HE will come.”

As in one person.

Not ideal when you’ve put a lot on the line to make your dreams come true! But again, it fits the theme of the movie.

Also, this is a common fallacy in the volunteer management world.

Volunteer programs aren’t a “field of dreams” that attract volunteers and keep them coming back automatically. You can’t simply build it and they (he) will come.

You need a smart strategy to define, call attention to, and attract your ideal volunteers.

Read on for 3 volunteer recruitment strategies that will help you do just that.

Volunteer Recruitment Strategy #1: Reach New and Diverse Volunteers

When you think about reaching new and diverse groups of volunteers, you want to consider your volunteer persona strategy.

It will help you better understand the community you are trying to reach.

First, think about who your most obvious choices are for your organization. The people who will be easily attracted to volunteering for your nonprofit.

Note, this is NOT related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, which is a VERY important consideration, but is a good way to start thinking about who will want to volunteer at your organization based on their skills, passion, interests, etc.

For example, consider the roles below and who would be an obvious fit for them:

Museum Docent: art history grad student
Watershed Advocate: organic home gardeners
Hospice Support: family of past patients
Healthcare Navigator: retired insurance agents

Write down the roles you are trying to fill at your organization and consider the obvious fit for each of them.

Develop a Volunteer Persona to Reach Diverse Volunteers

You can start diversifying your volunteer pool by developing volunteer personas. Let’s take a look at one for an example.

This is Jorge:

Jorge is a male, widower, recent retiree, who just re-located to the neighborhood. He was a small business owner and goes to church weekly. He uses Facebook to keep updated with his grandchildren. He loves animals and keeps active.

When you think about Jorge and start developing a specific persona for him, ask the following questions:

What motivates him to volunteer?
Where can he be found?
What are his values and beliefs?
What barriers might exist that keep him from volunteering?

Now it’s your turn! Explore the key characteristics of the kinds of volunteers you are hoping to attract. Develop 2-3 personas you plan to reach.

Consider the following key information for each persona you want to develop:

Their demographics
Their goals and motivations
A quote (How would they describe themselves? What do they have strong opinions about?)
Their values and interests
Their barriers and objections to service
Where do they get their information/who do they trust (online, family, friends, etc.)
What words do they use to search online for volunteer opportunities?
Timing (are they only available certain times of the year?)

When you create a volunteer persona you will get a nuanced sense of where you might find your ideal volunteers, the messaging and platforms you might use to attract them, and how to write those aspects into your volunteer recruitment strategy.

Volunteer Recruitment Strategy #2: Map the Transformation from Observer to Doer

One of our favorite sayings at VolunteerPro is “commitment is a process, not a destination”.

And, when you understand and remove barriers for prospective volunteers and work to understand their full journey, you’ll learn how to find and induct volunteers into your organization seamlessly.

To do this, you’ll want to map the transformation from doer to observer.

Start by thinking about a new volunteer’s journey. What are they feeling? Typically, they are confused, they might not understand what to do, they might not know what to expect. And then, think about what’s at the end of the rainbow – a volunteer that understands, is making a difference, and is satisfied with their experience.

Your goal with this mapping experience is to create volunteer delight along the entire onboarding journey so that volunteers will enjoy their volunteer onboarding process and stick around. You’ll want to find any undue friction in the process and learn how you can meet volunteer needs throughout.

So, how do you identify friction?

Identify your volunteer touchpoints. Write down the key moments when your organization touches the lives of new or prospective volunteers. Here are some examples to get you going:

Browsing your web pages
Making a phone call to get more information
Submitting an application
Attending an interview
Getting appointed to a role
Participating in a training
Showing up for their first day

Think about all of the steps volunteers must take to start volunteering at your organization and write them down as your touchpoints. Don’t forget what happens before and after placement.

Then, analyze what the volunteer currently experiences at each step. Think about what they do, what they want to know, what motivates them (more on that below!), what they feel, and what they are missing.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to get you thinking about what might be impacting the volunteer experience:

What uncertainties does the volunteer face?
What language or jargon does the volunteer not understand?
What gets in the way of successful engagement?
What will keep volunteers moving through the process?
What information, benefits, motions, values, etc. will help them move forward?
What’s missing right now from the process for the volunteer? For the team?

After you have a decent list of barriers, brainstorm possible improvements that can be made to the recruitment and onboarding process.

Finally, decide how volunteer leaders and coworkers can strengthen and support your efforts.

Volunteer Recruitment Strategy #3: Work with Volunteer Motivations

Much of our expectations in the work (and volunteer) world are based on promises we think others have made to us. These are known as psychological contracts (PC), and they represent the mutual beliefs, perceptions, and informal obligations between an employer and an employee (or volunteer).

They set the dynamics for the relationship can include both the implicit “unwritten” and explicit “clearly expressed” promises.

For example…

An explicit promise might be that an organization will provide five hours of expert training to volunteers
An implicit promise by a volunteer might be that they will be loyal to the organization and not speak poorly about them in public

Unfortunately, psychological contracts are created in the mind and never express themselves. This can cause friction between volunteers and paid staff as expected “promises” go unfulfilled. This is known as a breach and has consequences.

When unchecked or rectified, breaches can mean perceived promises aren’t kept, which leads to negative emotions, which in turn leads to a perceived violation or slight, which can then result in decreased job satisfaction, commitment, and ultimate performance. A breach can be experienced by both volunteers and paid staff.

That’s why it’s imperative to understand and surface what expectations volunteers and employees bring to the table.

Mapping these is one way to begin to understand the hidden dynamics at play. This will also help leaders of volunteers better understand how to recognize and reward volunteers by meeting their needs directly.

Working with Research-based Volunteer Motivations

After mapping out the explicit and implicit expectations of both volunteers and staff, it’s time to consider how you can work with what drives people to get involved as a volunteer.

Researchers have identified six personal and social functions potentially served by volunteering. These may influence decisions about becoming a volunteer in the first place and decisions about continuing to volunteer.

1) Values

- Connecting organization’s mission and personal values
- Opportunities to meaningfully serve others

2) Career

- Providing specific skills development
- Facilitating advancement & networking

3) Social

- Teambuilding & opportunities to socialize
- Acknowledgment from highly respected peers

4) Understanding

- Professionalized in-service training & reflection
- Offering a variety of assignments to explore

5) Protective Motives

- Reassuring them their contributions have value
- Ensuring emotionally supportive settings

6) Enhancement

- Promoting leadership development & power
- Keeping the experience positive & upbeat

We write a lot about volunteer motivations here at VolunteerPro, so I won’t go into them too much here. However, if you want to attract the right volunteers to your organization, you’ll want to brainstorm ways you can reinforce each of these motivations in every step of your volunteer journey.

Now that you’ve thought strategically about what drives your volunteers to participate fully, look for trends to incorporate into themes that will make up your overall volunteer recruitment strategy.