These tips and tricks can help your nonprofit attract volunteers strategically
The process you take to attract volunteers for your nonprofit organization can be a key to long-term success. Engaged and committed volunteers share your organization’s message in the community, encourage others to volunteer, and help you meet your goals.
Are you reaching your volunteer recruitment goals? Do you need specific numbers to satisfy a grant requirement; if so, are you matching those targets? How are your volunteer retention numbers looking?
VolunteerHub was developed to help nonprofits attract volunteers, and engage, and manage them. In this post, we’ll show you how easy it is to do exactly that.
Attract Volunteers by Talking to Volunteers
Before making any major decisions, it’s often helpful to speak with current volunteers regarding your volunteer recruitment and engagement process. You might be surprised at the ideas your volunteers come up with. Even small ideas can have a huge impact.
For example, reframing the time commitment verbiage could make a difference in how potential volunteers view an opportunity. Which of the following sounds more appealing to you?
- “We require volunteers to spend an hour with their students each week.”
- “Volunteers and students meet on Wednesday afternoons to explore the city as a group.”
Spend time talking to existing volunteers and examine every aspect of the recruitment and sign-up process. You’ll likely yield a long list of excellent ideas. Now, it’s time to use VolunteerHub to get the work done.
Create Events that Attract Volunteers From a Variety of Audiences
Your volunteers span a spectrum of ages and interests. Why not tailor the recruitment process for the audience that will most likely see it? With VolunteerHub, you can create group-specific event pages that will catch the eye of any prospective volunteer.
Let’s say you’ve been given the opportunity to speak with college students. Instead of giving them a standard brochure with a brief blurb about your new mentoring program, you can direct them to a customized landing page specifically designed for them. The landing page can be designed to match your VolunteerHub site with your target audience in mind. Before you’re done presenting, many of the college students will have already registered via their smartphones!
Attract Volunteers From Your Existing Donor Pool
Integrating your CRM with VolunteerHub is a powerful way to convert current and previous donors to volunteers. You know they are already interested in your cause because they are willing to donate their hard-earned money to it. Yet, many donors are never asked to volunteer for the organizations that they support.
To effectively convert donors to volunteers, you need to have technology on your side. VolunteerHub seamlessly integrates with popular nonprofit CRMs, such as The Raiser’s Edge, Blackbaud CRM, eTapestry, Luminate CRM, and other popular CRMs. This level of integration allows you to quickly identify donors who have never volunteered.
In addition, deduplication prevents you from creating duplicate records and reduces administrative overlap. VolunteerHub regularly asks volunteers to update their contact information, which is automatically synced to your CRM. You can rest assured that you have the most up-to-date contact information for your supporters.
Once you’ve segmented your list, sending a simple email to your existing donors may be the easiest volunteer recruitment you’ll ever do. Even if your donors can’t commit to volunteering regularly, they may be available to help with special events. They are also more likely to pass the message along to others in the community, especially if they know that you are actively recruiting volunteers.
Promote Your Events on Social Media to Attract Volunteers
Volunteers, like most people, spend a lot of time on Facebook and Twitter. Your organization should have an established presence on social media and use it to promote community involvement and attract volunteers. Linking to a landing page from a status update, Tweet, or blog post provides a clear call to action for potential volunteers. Convert social media followers to volunteers by regularly promoting your events and making it clear that you are seeking new volunteers.
Social media is also a great way to spotlight what’s happening in your organization. Share photos from volunteer events or thank you notes from individuals who have benefited from your nonprofit’s mission. Including a brief story or image increases the chances of engagement, and your landing page provides them with the perfect opportunity to sign up for your next event.
Use People Power to Attract Volunteers
Encourage your existing volunteers to bring a friend, spouse, or child. People love to volunteer with friends and family.
To help promote your “Bring a friend” campaign, VolunteerHub offers a variety of communication tools. You can send text messages or email reminders and encourage volunteers to invite friends and family members.
Be Prepared for Event Day
The Boy Scout motto holds for event days, and VolunteerHub can help you stay organized amid chaos. The tool allows you to accept walk-up volunteers with ease. Pull out your smartphone or tablet, connect to WiFi, and you’re ready to register new volunteers. VolunteerHub will collect their information and ensure that volunteer hours are stored securely in the cloud.
VolunteerHub’s Virtual Kiosk feature can even be configured so that volunteers can self-register.
Attract Volunteers to Your Nonprofit
Knowing how to attract volunteers is an important goal for most event-focused organizations. With a tool like VolunteerHub, you can spend less time on manual tasks and more time engaging your ever-expanding pool of volunteers. Learn more about our volunteer recruitment software.
