• Make it clear what you need their support with
  • What you need
  • Where it is they will be supporting you
  • How this will support your organisation
  • Why it is important to the people on the receiving end
• Provide a good onboarding experience.
  • Ensure they have a health and safety brief so they feel confident in their volunteering time with you. 
  • Make sure they know where all the amenities are. 
  • Provide them with a mentor as this will help volunteers to find their feet and also starts to build relationships. 
• Make it clear how to claim for any expenses they incur while volunteering for you.
  • Make this simple, respect that they don’t want a complicated process to navigate and let them know of any tax benefits they can claim. 
• Ensure you make boundaries clear.
  • This is important to ensure the volunteer knows what they are able to do, where they are able to go, and keeps them from potentially stepping over the line and inadvertently interfering with the organisation’s work.
• Introduce volunteers to each other and to any staff they come into contact with.
  • This recognition forms community and friendships and feeds into your impact report for social value.
• Create a welcome pack that provides information on your work so the volunteer has something they can take home and refer to.
  • If you are able to include a small gift that is reflective of what you do, this would have the double advantage of being a lovely surprise for your volunteer, but also something for them to talk about with their friends, who may then in turn become volunteers themselves!
• Shout out about your volunteers!
  • Recognition is often one of the biggest motivators. People love being seen to be doing good. 
• If they are a professional, endorse them on LinkedIn.
  • Thank them for sharing their knowledge and experience with your organisation, and what impact that has made to your work. This has the advantage of highlighting what you do, but also highlighting your volunteer’s extra curricular activities that may aid in their career.
• Send out a newsletter highlighting what your organisation has been doing recently, being sure to mention your lovely volunteers (but get their permission first), and any upcoming volunteering opportunities. Be sure to mention what the work means for the community you are working with.
  • Send the newsletter to local services such as schools, chemists, shops. The newsletter can act as a noticeboard for the local community and potentially bring in more volunteers for you.

Keeping volunteers motivated and working the way you need them to can be tricky. These are just a few ideas for you that I hope may prompt some more as you mull them over. Let me know how you get on or if you have any other ideas to share. :-)

©Fiona Doney 2024