Scaling Your Volunteer Program: The Necessities
Might your group’s volunteer program use a lift? With over 60 million volunteers in the US, there are many people who find themselves prepared to assist! Scaling your volunteer program is an effective way to introduce extra folks to your group whereas receiving budget-friendly assist on your objectives.
At VolunteerHub, we all know that growing a thriving volunteer program isn’t so simple as gathering a gaggle of individuals and handing out just a few hammers and paintbrushes. The suitable program framework can construct a basis for recruiting and retaining dozens (and even lots of) of volunteers who share your group’s drive for group enchancment.
On this publish, we spotlight methods you possibly can guarantee your volunteer program thrives all through the years.
Design a Nicely-Structured Volunteer Program
The important thing to scaling your volunteer program is to first create a strong framework for this system, ideally earlier than any volunteers be part of your group.
Spending a while in your program’s framework upfront will hold your volunteers’ work aligned together with your mission down the street. Moreover, an successfully designed volunteer program will make attracting and retaining volunteers a breeze.
A well-structured volunteer program outlines:
- Program objectives
- Volunteer recruitment choices
- Volunteer duties
- Price range concerns
- Volunteer administration methods
- Program evaluation plans
Zero-In on Your Volunteer Program Objectives
Step one to growing and subsequently rising your volunteer program is honing in on its objective. Why do you want volunteers? How will their work contribute to your group’s total mission?
Let’s check out some volunteer program objective examples. You need to use these to information you when crafting objectives on your personal program.
- Our volunteer program will assist the group accomplish its mission to teach teenagers in regards to the risks of smoking. Volunteers will mentor at-risk college students and practice them to be well being leaders of their faculties.
- Our volunteer program will assist the group accomplish its mission to cut back meals waste in our group. Volunteers will gather compostable meals scraps from residents and add them to the group’s compost bins.
Having a extremely centered objective makes volunteer program scaling simpler as a result of it provides your group and volunteers a transparent snapshot of this system. Volunteers received’t unintentionally be part of your program anticipating to be companions for the aged when your group truly wants assist for fundraising. When your objective isn’t clear, your nonprofit runs the danger of dropping assist.
Establish Key Volunteer Recruitment Sources
The following step for making a extremely structured volunteer program is to compile an inventory of recruitment sources. This checklist will make scaling your volunteer program simpler sooner or later. By dedicating a bit further time to curating your recruitment sources in your program’s infancy, you’ll have a continuing stream of volunteers at any time of the 12 months.
Volunteers can come from nearly wherever, however focusing your recruitment efforts on the best sources can exponentially drive progress. For instance, in case your group wants volunteers to assist its diabetes consciousness initiative, one in every of your main recruitment websites could possibly be the nursing program on the native college. One other recruitment supply could possibly be retired healthcare employees. You’ll in all probability have higher luck with specializing in these sources than, say, native youth teams.
Upon getting an inventory of your prime recruitment sources, decide how you’ll hold an lively communication channel with every of them. Maybe somebody on the college is keen to periodically move on the names of volunteers to your group. Possibly you’ll maintain a quarterly recruitment occasion to garner curiosity on campus as a substitute.
Outline Volunteer Roles
One other necessary program element that entices volunteers to register and keep together with your nonprofit is crafting correct volunteer function descriptions. Individuals are extra hesitant to affix a corporation once they’re not totally clear on what they’d be doing.
If you happen to inform potential volunteers they’ll be “aiding your nonprofit’s conservation efforts in some capability,” they received’t know in the event that they’re going to be submitting farm tools invoices or tilling the soil for group gardens. That uncertainty will hold many individuals from pursuing volunteer alternatives.
Brainstorm inside your group and word down all of the potential volunteer roles you will have within the close to future. This checklist could change over time, however specializing in recurring alternatives is an efficient begin.
Within the earlier case, a extra outlined checklist of volunteer roles for a conservation group would possibly appear to be:
- Workplace assist volunteer – helps with on a regular basis clerical duties corresponding to answering telephones, submitting, and knowledge entry
- Spring planting volunteer – vegetation seeds and transplants seedlings in a number of group gardens beginning in mid-March
- Harvest volunteer – periodically harvests ripe vegatables and fruits from group gardens
- Elementary college educator volunteer – facilitates classroom displays on what conservation means and the way children might help
Decide Your Volunteer Price range
How does a finances issue into your volunteer program? Whereas it’s true volunteers don’t receives a commission, you’ll nonetheless must allocate cash to your volunteer program.
For example, in case you plan on recruiting volunteers for a roadside cleanup day, you’ll want provides for the mission. The checklist would possibly embody:
- Trash luggage
- Gloves
- Rubbish pickers
- Security vests
- Water and snacks
- First assist kits
- Fuel to fill the autos that can transport the collected rubbish
Nothing will squash volunteer program progress like a big group of hungry volunteers who don’t have the provides to do their jobs!
Once you’re creating your finances, you’ll want to think about greater than mission provides. You could want to think about the price of volunteer uniforms, coaching, and end-of-year celebrations. You might also must finances for added worker salaries, corresponding to bringing on a paid volunteer coordinator or a paid van driver to move volunteers to a piece web site.
An enormous finances isn’t mandatory, however being ready for the numerous incidentals a volunteer program can incur will hold your group working easily.
Use a Volunteer Administration System
To maintain program prices to a minimal, think about using a volunteer administration system (VMS) corresponding to VolunteerHub. This method lets organizations automate administrative duties together with volunteer monitoring and registration. It additionally makes creating and assigning volunteer roles fast and straightforward.
A VMS is good for increasing your volunteer program as a result of it shoulders a number of the tedious duties volunteer coordinators normally take care of. Volunteers can register together with your group themselves and signal on-line legal responsibility waivers, eliminating these steps out of your coordinator’s workload. Moreover, all of your volunteers’ contact particulars might be saved in a handy and confidential location, making communication stress-free.
Reassess Your Volunteer Program
When you’ve developed your volunteer program’s preliminary framework, be versatile in making tweaks right here and there. If an anticipated recruitment supply isn’t bringing within the variety of volunteers you’d hoped, don’t be afraid to regulate accordingly.
It’s by no means a foul thought to schedule a particular time to reassess your volunteer program’s efficacy. You are able to do this everytime you’d like, however having an in-depth reflection session at the very least twice a 12 months might help your group keep away from frequent pitfalls when managing volunteers.
Through the evaluation interval, ask your self inquiries to gauge how properly your present program’s construction is working:
- Are we assembly the volunteer objectives we set out for ourselves earlier within the 12 months?
- Are we hitting our goal variety of volunteers?
- What are some alternatives for streamlining our volunteer program?
- Do our volunteers appear pleased with their roles?
- Are our volunteers being utilized to their full potential?
- Which elements of our program are working properly and which may use enchancment?
Interact Your Group’s Volunteers
As soon as your group has a robust volunteer program up and working, don’t overlook to maintain your volunteers engaged. They’re important to this system’s success! You possibly can talk with them in a number of methods. You would strive one-on-one once they are available in for volunteer shifts or you possibly can ship out an nameless digital survey asking for his or her ideas. One other thought is to maintain a suggestion field close to their sign-in space to allow them to drop a fast thought on their method in or out out of your web site.
You possibly can all the time ask your volunteers for his or her concepts about the way to develop your volunteer base. You could be shocked to study they’ve group connections you didn’t learn about!
Participating your volunteers may also provide help to regulate morale. You would possibly study volunteers are experiencing issues you have been unaware of (maybe one of many volunteer websites doesn’t have sufficient parking, as an illustration).
This engagement drives constructive word-of-mouth referrals to your volunteer program. These suggestions are a surefire method of scaling any volunteer program. The happier your volunteers are, the extra doubtless they’re to speak about their experiences together with your group. Their associates, households, and coworkers could wish to be part of, too!
