Innovative Ideas

Often when the topic of recognition comes up, we automatically think of volunteer appreciation. I am all for that and salute all forms of volunteer recognition. Recognition ranges from placing volunteers in the RIGHT job (the highest form of recognition) to a variety of presentations acknowledging and capturing their contribution(s) to the organization.

Too often, however, we miss an opportunity to also thank staff who perform well in supervising their volunteers.

I frequently suggest that formal recognition events should combine a joint recognition of staff and the volunteers who functioned as partners to accomplish a task for the organization. Staff of nonprofit organizations frequently give more than 100% to the organization. When they must then recognize the services of volunteers and receive no appreciation for their support of that work, it can actually arouse some negative feelings.

If you want your staff to be supportive of the volunteer program, involve them in the planning and include them in the appreciation for the contributions made by volunteers.  It is one way to diminish any staff resistance to engaging volunteers. The joint recognition shows that the organization is aware of the skills and time it takes staff to creatively and effectively partner with volunteers.

One organization in Florida has a particularly clever way of acknowledging staff. They have awards for extraordinary volunteer service and also have nomination forms to be used by volunteers to honor a special staff person who:

"provides supervision, training and support--- an exceptional someone who has made your volunteer experience both fulfilling to you and beneficial to the program for which you work." 

The Awards are called, "Celebrate Excellence".

I would love to hear about other creative ways that staff and volunteers are recognized as a TEAM that supports the organization's mission.

Innovative Ideas Archive

Evaluating and Improving the Effectiveness of your Orientation and Training

This is a tip I learned from hearing my daughter talk about her volunteer experience with Make-A-Wish Foundation. The San Francisco Bay Area's chapter is well organized and does an exceptional job at working with volunteers. 

My daughter took their extensive training course to be able to become a Wish Granter. She learned a great deal about the dynamics of entering a family with a seriously ill child and had to learn what to expect when working with children with serious diseases. 

In this organization, after volunteers return home from working with a family, the organization asks (on-line) a very significant question:   "Is there anything that you experienced when volunteering today that WE did not adequately prepared you for?" Why is this such a powerful question? 

1. The implication is that the organization did not adequately prepare the volunteer, not that the volunteer should have been able to effectively deal with the situation. There is an enormous difference in how a volunteer feels when it is asked that way.
     

2. The organization can use this information to coach the volunteer so that he/she feels more prepared for future visits. 
     

3. The organization can use this information to improve their next orientation and / or training session so that volunteers coming into the organization will have an opportunity to discuss this type of scenario. 
     

4. Volunteers feel that the organization cares about their experience and will be giving them information to better equip them to handle similar situations in the future. 
     

5. Because these are volunteers being supervised at a distance, it is an opportunity for both the volunteer and the organization to communicate. 
     

6. The organization can better determine if volunteers are comfortable in their positions. Understanding this, they can either give them additional supervision or, if continued problems occur even with additional assistance, move them to a position that they are comfortable and capable of handling.

A Novel Recruitment Strategy

Realizing that many of today's volunteers are not able to make continuous long term commitments, a very smart nonprofit museum group that I spoke to devised an excellent way to re-recruit!

Volunteers that had previously resigned due to personal reasons were invited to attend a reunion of former volunteers.  

The purposes were to:

1. let volunteers know that they were missed

2. acquaint volunteers with new exhibits and ways of volunteering with the museum

3. offer the possibility of refresher courses and new training so that former volunteers could serve as substitute docents or volunteer for a new time-limited exhibit

4. invite former screened volunteers to reconnect with the museum in any manner possible for them at that time.

Results:

1. "It was the most effective, time-efficient recruitment technique we ever used."

2. Previous volunteers were delighted to be remembered and re-invited to contribute time to the museum.

3. Volunteers enjoyed an opportunity to be caught up on the new exhibits and became motivated to serve, again.

4. Volunteers were pleased to have reunions with docents they had previously worked with.

5. Many docents renewed a lapsed financial gift when they reconnected, even if they were unable to volunteer at that time.

Do you have an innovative recruitment idea to share?   
If so, email your idea and name and contact information to Betty and we will post it on this page.

Thanks and come back often for more innovative ideas in the world of volunteer management and fundraising.  All ideas will be archived.