Could your nonprofit achieve its mission without volunteers? For most nonprofits, the answer is “No.” With limited manpower and tight budgets, most charitable organizations depend on volunteers. Therefore, doesn’t it make sense to actively engage your volunteers?
New technology is making it much easier to keep volunteers “in the loop.” Social media, texting, and volunteer management systems are important tools for nonprofits to consider these days. Nonprofits can (and should) leverage these technologies to keep volunteers engaged (and improve volunteer retention).
How can you engage your volunteers and keep them coming back for more? We’ve rounded up some of our favorite articles to help you do just that. Use the tips highlighted in this guide to take your volunteer engagement strategy to the next level. Your volunteers will thank you!
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How to Engage Volunteers
Engage, Inform, Recruit: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media to Recruit Donors and Volunteers
Content is king. But are you sharing engaging content on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn? This article from NTEN’s blog, written by Alec Stern of Constant Contact, provides some helpful tips that nonprofits can follow to engage more volunteers and donors via social media. http://www.nten.org/articles/2013/engage-inform-recruit-how-nonprofits-can-use-social-media-to-recruit-donors-and-volunteers-0/
Want to Keep Volunteers Coming Back? Value Their Time
The quickest way to lose volunteers is to waste their time. As a volunteer manager, it’s your job to make sure your volunteers’ time is being put to good use. As Kathryn Pauley of Nonprofit Hub points out, “Treat their donation of time with as much importance as you would a monetary donation – because, some would say, a donation of time is more valuable.” In this article, Pauley shares three steps that your organization can take to keep volunteers coming back. http://www.nonprofithub.org/featured/want-to-keep-volunteers-coming-back-value-their-time/
How Your Nonprofit Can Benefit from Texting
More people communicate via text message than phone calls. On the same note, many nonprofits are beginning to incorporate texting as a part of their volunteer management strategies. Find out why your organization should consider sending texts to volunteers. http://www.volunteerhub.com/blog/volunteer-texting/
7 Ways to Get Volunteers to Keep Coming Back
Want more life-long volunteers? The key is to keep them happy and engaged. Daniel Melbye shares seven pointers to help you do just that. http://danielmelbye.com/7-ways-to-get-volunteers-to-keep-coming-back/
6 Ways to Keep Your Volunteers Engaged
For most nonprofits, the problem isn’t getting volunteers…it’s keeping them. Volunteers want to feel needed, appreciated, and (most importantly) that they’re making a difference. With so many participants, meeting the expectations of every volunteer is next to impossible. Here are six things that your organization can do to provide a better experience for everyone involved. http://blogs.volunteermatch.org/engagingvolunteers/2013/01/31/6-ways-to-keep-your-volunteers-engaged/
Constituent Engagement: 3 Tips for Bonding with Volunteers Through Tech
Is your nonprofit leveraging technology to engage volunteers and reduce turnover? If not, you’re missing out. Here are three ways technology can help your organization build trust. http://www.volunteerhub.com/blog/constituent-engagement-3-tips-for-bonding-with-volunteers-through-tech/
What Do Your Volunteers Want? 10 Ways to Keep Your Volunteers Coming Back
Keeping volunteers happy and actively involved can be quite challenging. By taking the time to listen to your volunteers, you can learn what will motivate them to keep coming back. If establishing life-long volunteers is your goal, these 10 tips from Joanne Fritz will get you started on the right path.
http://nonprofit.about.com/od/volunteers/tp/whatvolunteerswant.htm/
Nonprofit Volunteers: Top Five Tricks to Creating a Loyal Volunteer Network
Here are five things your nonprofit can do to make sure your recruiting and training efforts don’t go to waste. http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/nonprofit-volunteers-top-five-tips-30075.html%20/
How to Personalize the Volunteer Experience
Want to build loyalty with volunteers? Studies show that personalizing a volunteer’s interactions can go a long way to create loyal participants. This article provides several reasons why personalization is important to your organization. http://www.volunteerhub.com/blog/personalizing-volunteer-experience/
Volunteers, Part I: What Makes Them Stay?
Part 1 of a 2-part series, this article from GuideStar highlights several strategies for retaining highly effective volunteers. http://www.guidestar.org/rxa/news/articles/2007/volunteers-part-1-what-makes-them-stay.aspx/
Volunteers, Part II: Why Do They Leave?
Part 2 of a 2-part series, this article takes a look at seven environmental factors that could negatively impact a volunteer’s experience and ultimately cause him or her to leave. http://www.guidestar.org/rxa/news/articles/2007/volunteers-part-2-why-do-they-leave.aspx/
Bookmark this page and check back often! As we come across new articles and resources relating to this topic, we will add them to the list.
