Ongoing Training for Volunteers: 6 ideas to get you started

VIP Americorps member Mira Fielding with volunteers from her partner site, Circle of Sisters, at the 8th Annual Power of Know Conference put on by the Women’s and Gender Studies students at Sonoma State University

Ongoing volunteers provide invaluable support to your organization - so do them a favor and help mix up their volunteer experience by providing some ongoing training!  Help them learn more skills, grow personally or professionally, or learn more about your organization's cause.  Go beyond the basic training and orientation to give them a special training experience that shows them that you care and are invested in them.

Having trouble finding training topics to provide to those volunteers who have been around for a while?   Here are 5 quick tips to get you started:

1. Ask your volunteers what they want to learn about.  Volunteers will be more invested in the training and appreciate it more if it is a topic they are interested in.
2. Ask your organization's staff what they would like volunteers to know.  The people who work with volunteers day-to-day will have a good idea of what additional skills could really help your organization.
3. Provide training on leadership.  Your dedicated volunteers are great candidates for volunteer leaders who can help train, orient, or recruit others to get involved in the organization.  Help them get started by boosting their confidence with some leadership skills.
4. Take your volunteers with you to a training you are going to attend.
5. Invite volunteers to the organization's staff trainings.
6. Check out available workshops and trainings at your local volunteer center, chamber of commerce, or university.  You may as well take advantage of trainings that are already offered in your area!

Keep your volunteers happy!

There is some great wisdom in today's Volunteer Match blog article about keeping volunteers happy.  Their three overarching tips for keeping volunteers at their best? Learn what motivates them, engage them in two-way communication, and show your appreciation for them.


How do you keep your volunteers happy?

Inspiration Thursday: Encouraging volunteer story from OC Food Access

"I came to a harvest at a time when I needed a community to reach out to me.  I was struggling with a long term illness, and was feeling very alone.  The prospect of fresh fruit and companionship pulled me out of bed and energized me enough to make some connections.  I was captured by the friendliness and excitement of the other volunteers.  Sampling the produce was also exciting.  I had never had an orange picked directly from the tree before.  The flavor and quality of a freshly picked orange blasted all of my expectations about what citrus should taste like.  It was a small healing moment for me.  I was so happy to be sending something so amazing to people who really needed a boost.  I could relate in that moment.

As time went on, and I had the opportunity to not only pick the fruit, but deliver it, recruit other volunteers, and get deeper into the Harvest Club community, I came to love it more and more.  I was able to talk with growers about their trees, some with long history.  I saw just how many oranges would go to waste if we hadn't picked them.  I witnessed the joy it brought to people who received the produce.  And I got excited about finding new and better ways to serve this community.  I definitely look forward to being involved with this group for years to come.

"

-Sarah Vay Kerns (Volunteer from OC Food Access)

VIP Impact: Mighty Mouth Health Education

Here's a great letter of appreciation we received from partner site supervisor Stacey Stirling of Mighty Mouth Health Education:

VIP Fellow Juan Sosa participating in a team-building activity with his VIP team.

"I would like to highlight my AmeriCorps VIP Fellow Juan Sosa.  Juan has taken on organizing volunteers for our Mighty Mouth Dental Prevention and Education Program.  This program is now able to continue to function with volunteer nurses and our VIP volunteer coordinating the schools and classrooms with the available volunteers. 

Juan has also been able to reach out to additional health fairs this year with his extended use of the volunteers that he has gathered. I am forever grateful to this program and the positive impact that it is having in our community.

Our goal is to decrease decay rates in Sonoma County and all the programs the volunteers are involved in are based around prevention and education. The more we are able to utilize these volunteers the wider our reach of dental prevention and education."