Appreciating Your Volunteers

By Kelsey Larsen, VIP Leader at the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles

As the nonsectarian children’s literacy program of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, KOREH L.A. trains volunteer reading partners to work with kindergarten through fifth grade students attending our partner schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District.  Our volunteers work one-on-one with children identified by their teachers as “reluctant readers” for one hour per week, helping enhance the students’ reading skills and foster a love of reading.  Four AmeriCorps VIP Fellows (including myself) work together to serve volunteers in different geographic regions of Los Angeles.  KOREH L.A. also has a program supported by a fifth VIP Fellow called the Teen Literacy Corps (TLC), which involves high school students in the process of increasing literacy skills in elementary school children. TLC partners public and private high school classrooms with nearby LAUSD elementary school classrooms, and trains the high school students for one-on-one reading mentorships. 

One of the most important and fun aspects of volunteer management is recognizing and appreciating your volunteers for all the amazing work they have done.  This year alone, KOREH L.A. had over 400 volunteers working with over 600 students in 60 schools, not including our TLC program.  Here’s some creative ways we’ve shown appreciation to volunteers. We hope you can use these tips to celebrate the work of your great partners!

KOREH L.A.’s Volunteer Appreciation Tips:

1. Have a culminating celebration.  Because we work with schools, the school calendar provides an easy structure for the “end” of the year’s volunteering.  However depending on your program, any time could work for this (December, or the end of the day’s events).  This year, KOREH L.A. held an end of year appreciation brunch for all of our KOREH volunteers, where they had a chance to come together as a group, eat some good food, celebrate, and be recognized for their service. Our volunteer brunch was a great sendoff to our 2012-2013 volunteers!

Welcoming volunteers to our Appreciation Brunch

2. Give shout outs!  Be sure to recognize both the individual and the group.  Individual recognition should be as personal as possible and doesn’t need to be expensive – at the brunch, our volunteers received certificates with their name and the name of the school where they volunteered, as well as a handwritten thank-you from the VIP Fellows.  During our Fall Enrichment Seminar, a festive and educational holiday gathering for our volunteers, we highlighted “great stories” volunteers had shared with us about their experiences. We also love to mention volunteers on Facebook and Twitter.   

KOREH L.A. Volunteer Nikki Turbin shares the KOREH L.A. love!

3. Let them share their stories and advice.  Since recognition comes not just from Volunteer Coordinators but from other volunteers, allow volunteers to be heard!  At all of our events, we provide time for volunteers to discuss their experiences with one another.  Often, it’s hard to get them quiet again!  Another way to connect volunteers is by asking volunteers to share their wisdom or experiences on a blog post.  If you have a volunteer who wants to share their expertise at an event, let them!  At her regional volunteer meeting, VIP Fellow Kaitlin Schluter reached out to a volunteer with a background in child development to share some tips with other volunteers, providing them with valuable guidance.   

 

VIP Fellow Kaitlin Schluter leads volunteers in discussion at her regional meeting

4. Give them something they can take away.  Before our volunteer brunch, we reached out to the LAUSD School Board President, who agreed to speak to our volunteers about education.    This year, each of the VIP Fellows also held a regional meeting for their volunteers, where they led a discussion on a topic that volunteers wanted to learn more about and provided them with ideas for new activities to do with their students.  Whether it is a speech from a respected individual on a topic they care about, or some extra resources, our volunteers appreciate the new ideas and information.

5. Recognize loyalty.  Give a special mention to volunteers who have been serving for a long time (In the case of our program, this is multiple years, however it could also mean coming to more than one service day, serving for one month, etc.).  At our brunch, we had volunteers raise their hands or stand up for the number of years they’ve been volunteering with us.  This encourages volunteers just beginning their service to keep coming back!

Volunteer Management

 by Alex Drey-Mulari, AmeriCorps VIP Fellow at THINK Together in Ontario, CA

HandsOn Inland Empire (HOIE) is the volunteer department at Inland Empire United Way. In conjunction with hosting volunteers at the United Way, HOIE manages a website that allows volunteers and non-profits in the area to come to one place to connect. The department also organizes two large-scale school makeovers a year, manages corporate volunteer groups, and trains community members to become Volunteer Leaders. Through the department’s combined knowledge of volunteer programs and management, they are able to successfully support 7 AmeriCorps VIP Fellows. Alex Drey-Mulari is one of the Fellows currently hosted by HOIE. Alex works at THINK Together as a volunteer coordinator and he wrote the following from his experience throughout the year.

Volunteer Management is a huge umbrella term, and there are certainly many ways to approach it. Here at THINK Together, an academic support program in Southern California, we get to oversee all aspects of volunteer management. Over my term of service I had the wonderful opportunity to develop and strengthen many skills related to volunteerism. Here are some of my personal experiences with coordinating volunteers, and I hope that you can gain some insight into what it takes to work with volunteers.

First, always be present in your job, by being energetic and engaged. This does not mean that you need to a social butterfly if you are not that type of person. You should always look happy while doing your job, especially when interacting with current or potential volunteers. Always remember that volunteers are giving their precious time, and they want to feel excited about what they are doing. Your position is key to taking the volunteer’s desire to serve, and making it as enjoyable as possible. Also being energetic is more fun anyway.

Next, I would suggest getting to know your volunteers. This could be in the form of a volunteer interview, included in their volunteer application, or even just asking them questions. Volunteers serve for a myriad of reasons, and it is important to understand why each individual is volunteering. If they want to spend time tutoring children, then do not assign them to spreadsheets. Also, find out what kind of recognition the volunteers like. If they want a standing ovation in front of everyone that’s great, but maybe a hand-made thank you card is more their style. Taking that extra time to be on a first name basis with all of your volunteers really helps keep volunteers around, and again the experience is more fun this way.

The last skill I think that is essential to effective volunteer management, is scheduling of time. Many a time during my service, even today as I am writing this piece, scheduling has been an issue. I had volunteers scheduled to attend orientation to work for our summer programs, and turns out the summer ended before they could even start. Due to this interference I fell behind in other work, and had to scramble around last minute. This is a terrible position to be in, so being on top of everything is much more preferable. Learn what needs your immediate attention, and what other tasks can wait until later. Managing volunteers starts with managing your own time properly, and that is a skill I am continuing to develop.

Alex (on the far right) with VIP Fellows from HOIE.

Sustainability 101

By Maggie Hollingsworth, VIP Fellow at Fresno State Career Services

As a college campus resource, Career Services finished strong; a happy ending to a productive school year. More students have made contact with us to improve their earning potential this year then they have in the past several years, and they know about us thanks to the help of our volunteers, the Career Ambassador Team. The 21st century economic depression, which was due (mainly) to increased energy costs and irresponsible mortgage lending practices, affected the entire nation, and with unemployment rampant, college students felt the brunt of it. Career Ambassadors helped students learn resilience through our mission, “to improve [students’] self-knowledge, career-literacy, job-search preparation, and expanded opportunities to connect to employers”.

Talking to students about how and why they should utilize our services was easy; developing the program was the challenge. And now, the challenge is to sustain the program that I’ve built with the help of Career Services staff, and the feedback of the Career Ambassadors. The process of program sustainability is this:

• Making sure the position description is right;
• Coming up with a recruitment strategy, screening process, and orientation timeline that can be used annually;
• Communicating frequently with the staff member who will soon be managing the program, and adapting it as necessary;
• Finalizing all of the volunteer materials, and organizing it in a hard and digital copy;
• Reviewing volunteer records; confirm they are complete;

The last thing I would recommend to guarantee that the organization's Volunteer Coordinator, and the (returning or new) volunteers can get along without you, is to integrate them as soon as possible, and research an online interface for them to communicate all aspects of the program (calendar, discussion board, to retrieve program forms, etc.) in a simple and organized way. For Fresno State, it’s Orgsync, and it’s amazing. 

Why not start early? How to get kids started in service:

In volunteering it’s all about the three C’s of compassion, caring and community. However, a fourth, and often-neglected ‘C’ could be the most valuable: children.

Research has shown that a positive volunteer experience when young will increase the likelihood of that individual continuing engagement as an adult. With the right approach, young people can directly benefit any nonprofit organization. For the youth willing to contribute their energy, proficiency with technology (including social media), and fresh ideas, the benefits their service are numerous.

Here are some ideas for getting children more involved in service:

• Focus on service learning:
• School groups or classes can volunteer together under the direct supervision of a teacher or adult. This can involve conducting an enrichment activity through student-led clubs for those with specific skill-sets, e.g. band members providing instrument lessons for the disabled, educating a retirement community about smartphones, or peer-to-peer groups focusing on anti-bullying techniques.
• Established youth organizations can offer a service project they complete as a unit/troop/team, under the supervision of the adult group leader. 
• Get the whole family involved.  Families can volunteer as a multi-generational unit, with parent involvement.  This works great on tasks like making crafts, creating artistic performances, preparing food (just no knives for the kids!), painting, cleaning, and other group activities that accommodate varying skill levels.
• Create a place for "helpers." Have certain duties set aside during community service projects in which kids can act as helpers.  At a food bank, "helpers" might include greeters at the door as volunteers or clients sign in.  In a nonprofit office, "helpers" can assist office workers by shredding paper, organizing desks, or picking up after activities.  Get creative and find roles that directly connect to someone else's role so that the child has some direct supervision.

Based on their skills and interests, children can be lend a hand on many projects. Empowering youth volunteers in social work and direct service is exactly what Craig Kielburger, founder of Free the Children, has set out to do. Kielburger was just 12 years old when he took action against child labor and exploitation in Pakistan. Now 30, he is an author and global activist for the rights of children. Check out this interview he did in 2010 in which he discusses the potential that every child can harness:

Are there opportunities for young individuals to contribute to your program?

This article was written by Cody Cibart, AmeriCorps VIP Statewide Leader at CalSERVES.

Stay up to date: Read weekly volunteer news from Points of Light

For VIP Fellows and others working with volunteers, staying on top of trends and news in the worlds of volunteering and philanthropy can give one's organization the edge to recruit the best volunteers and keep them coming back.

Thanks to Points of Light, it's easy to stay on top of current volunteering news.  Every Friday they put out a volunteer news roundup - check it out or sign up for their RSS feed to stay up to date!

Trending: engage businesses in volunteering

CSR, or corporate social responsibility, is the buzzword of the times in the volunteer management world.  As consumers become more concerned, more community-minded, and more aware of how every dollar they spend makes a difference, more and more people are driven to support businesses that are doing good.

In turn, businesses are responding by doing good in a myraid of ways - including organizing teams of employees or fans to support a certain cause.  More and more, businesses are sending their built-in people power to support good that's already going on around them.  Their strategy?  Create an employee volunteering program. And this is where nonprofits can help these businesses make a difference.


Have you reached out to businesses to seek volunteers?  If not, you're missing out on an opportunity that could not only provide  your organization with more time, volunteers, and expertise, but an opportunity that businesses are looking for to boost their reputation and gain favor of the communities they work in.

Here are some ideas to help you get started in approaching businesses about forming an employee volunteering program:

• Make the case.  Do your homework and figure out why a business and its employees would be interested in partnering with your organization in the first place.  Does their business connect somehow to the service you do in the community?  Do their employees benefit from your organization's services?  Also consider: what can your organization offer in return for their partnership?  Highlighting the business logo on your website, featuring their volunteering efforts in your newsletter or social media are a couple of common ideas.  Check out this resource from HandsOn for more information on EVPs.  And be sure to take a look at these 10 reasons why doing good is good for business.  

• Have a plan. Take your research about the company's interests and get creative.  Come up with a couple of options for the business to consider that align with their goals.  A couple of potential plans might start with:
• The business invites all employees to an all-day service day with your organization twice a year or once a quarter.  The business takes on the responsibility of recruiting a minimum number of volunteers for each service day.  (This is a great way for businesses to promote a positive work culture and build relationships among staff members.)  In return, your organization will organize all logistics for the service days, provide opportunities during or around the service activity to allow employees to connect, and will list the business as a sponsor on the organization's website.
• The business allows employees to use up to 4 paid hours per month volunteering at your organization.  (This is a great system for businesses whose employees have a special interest in specific programs run by your organization.)  In return, your organization will recognize the business's employee volunteers at fundraising dinners and will feature an article in the organization's newsletter twice a year that highlights the business and its volunteer contributions.

• Find a contact.  To establish an EVP, upper management levels of a business will need to be involved.  You may start your conversations with employees in the Human Resources (or maybe even Marketing?) department, but to establish a program like this you'll need to know  the key players at the company who make the big decisions.

• Make the pitch. Create promotional materials, a presentation, handouts (like this one from HandsOn), or anything else you might use to make your pitch look polished.  This is key if you're trying to make the point that your opportunity will be good for the business's image.  You will need to establish that your organization is a great one that does great community work and carries a great image in the community.

Do you have any wisdom to share in generating corporate volunteers?  Tells us in the comments!

Learn more: attend a VolunteerMatch Webinar

What could be better than free learning?  Check out this opportunity from Volunteer Match: a free webinar on engaging millennials in volunteering, happening tomorrow:
 http://learn.volunteermatch.org/webinars/friends-benefits-how-nonprofits-should-engage-millennial-volunteers

Great Tips on Position Descriptions from the HandsOn Blog

So you know you have a need for volunteers... but where do you go from here?

Position descriptions are a great place to start when building a volunteer program.  Creating unique position descriptions for each available role you can provide is a great exercise not only in getting ready to recruit volunteers, but in making sure you have a clear idea of what your volunteer will be doing.  Position descriptions are a great way to set clear expectations and avoid those awkward "I-don't-know-what-you-should-be-doing-here" moments.

Earlier this month, the HandsOn Blog featured an article on creating volunteer position descriptions: 6 Tips for Awesome Volunteer Position Descriptions.  From an interesting title to evaluation, this article has some great ideas on the elements that make position descriptions effective.  Go check it out!

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?

Tips for inclusive service projects

Let's make sure that all with a heart of service can lend a hand through our programs!  To get started, check out this recent blog article from the HandsOn Network that includes great tips on creating inclusive service projects.

Rural Volunteering: a toolkit

Do you work with a rural volunteer program?  Then you know the special challenges that come with working in smaller communities that often have fewer resources, less infrastructure, and yet just as much need for service as other locales.

Thankfully, a VISTA AmeriCorps program with the Office of Surface Mining conducted research on rural volunteering and has shared its insights in a Rural Volunteering Tooklit.  Check out their research and resources here!

What's Next? : Life After AmeriCorps Resources

This is a re-post of our original entry posted on June 1, 2011.  It still encompasses some of our favorite Life After AmeriCorps resources, perfect for VIP Fellows as they start to decide what their next steps are.

As the year is starting to wind down and some of our VIP Fellows are getting ready to transition out of their current positions, "what's next?" seems to be the question on everyone's mind.

A year as a VIP Fellow provides experience in leadership, organization, service, and other skills that come from a year of building capacity, working on a team, and managing volunteers.  We  know our members are well prepared for the road ahead, whether they are going back to school, continuing to serve, or launching themselves into (or back into) the job market.  Here are some of our favorite resources that provide some information you might find helpful if you're looking for a job or to continue serving after AmeriCorps.

• A job hunting guide specifically for AmeriCorps members, developed by Education Northwest’s AmeriCorps program officers.

• The AmeriCorps Alums Career Center: provides not only job postings related to civic service, but also has professional development resources and tips as well.  Under the tab "For Alumni," select "Career Center."

• Idealist: job, internship, and volunteer opportunity search site for the nonprofit and public service sector.

• Indeed.com: a way to search multiple job search sites at one time. 

• Non Profit Expert: almost exhaustive list of nonprofit job search resources.

• Peace Corps: if you're looking to serve abroad for a couple of years with all expenses paid.

• Go Abroad: a search site for volunteer opportunities around the world.

• VISTA Campus Life After AmeriCorps Resources - these informational guides are geared towards AmeriCorps VISTAs, but most apply for all AmeriCorps members.

 Do you have any other helpful "life after AmeriCorps" resources to share?  Let us know in the comments!

Check out Volunteer Match's Secrets of Volunteer Recruitment

Volunteer Match's free guide, 101 Volunteer Secrets, was gleaned from members for the Volunteer Match community and holds some great gems of wisdom.  Take a look, download it here, and find some great tips!

Get better responses from your blast-emails to volunteers

I just read this great article over at Katya's Non-Profit Marketing Blog: 7 ways to get better response rates to your e-news.  While it's generally focused on e-news, this article is absolutely relevant to those of us who are trying to recruit volunteers via email.

Take a look at her tips, and get some great ideas on getting more response to your emails.

Volunteers in the news: Data scientists are helping nonprofits change the game

Infographics - they're fun, attention-grabbing, and a popular trend in marketing.  A good infographic can help an audience make sense of complicated or long-winded data, or help them focus their attention on what might be considered dull information in another context.

More and more, nonprofits are catching on to these creative information-sharing images (like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has a whole web page dedicated to the things).  They're helping grab the attention of all audiences - from Millenials who are drawn to the popular visuals, to donors and volunteers who want clearer information about the organizations they support.

Infographic on Inforgraphics - by Ivan Cash

The Chronicle of Philanthropy even ran a recent article about infographics and nonprofits.  What is striking about the Chronicle's article is not so much the use of infographics (they've been around for a while now), but the fact that organizations of volunteers are popping up to help nonprofits create these eye-catching materials.  Data without Borders, for instance, matches nonprofits with volunteer data scientists to complete data projects (like presenting information through infographics).

From a volunteer management standpoint, this is great news.  Skilled volunteers (data scientists) are being matched with nonprofits in need (of better marketing and clearer presentation of their data), to provide the highly-specialized help that skilled volunteer is meant to provide.  It's proof that volunteers don't just need to be used on the front lines - they can be utilized at all levels of a nonprofit.

What needs does your organization have?  What do you need to be able to meet your mission?  Maybe if a volunteer came in to update your technology, the organization could communicate more effectively with volunteers, donors, and clients?  Perhaps a volunteer with great organizational skills could help redesign the filing system, or someone with an eye for design and data can create an infographic that connects volunteers to your cause.

Think outside the box with volunteers, and you never know where you can find that you need help.  A little bit of creativity in creating volunteer positions could go a long way in changing the game for your organization.

Technology in Volunteer Programs: Ideas from NTEN

"Running an effective, successful volunteer program can be a game-changer for your nonprofit." -Shari Ilsen, Nonprofit Technology Network

So true, Shari!  Check out the post that great quote originated from here.  This informative article provides great ideas of the different ways you can utilize technology in running an effective volunteer program for your organization.

Is your gate open or closed? 5 quick ideas to make your volunteer program more inviting

Katya's Nonprofit Marketing Blog had a great post last week about a music school that increased their clients by over 50% - just because they opened their front gate and put out a few welcoming signs.  What simple changes to make a big impact!

This got me thinking -how might this apply to our volunteer programs?  What if such small changes could make volunteers flood through your organization's doors, like it made new students flood through the doors of that school?

Here are some small but powerful ways to make your volunteer program more inviting:

1. Get rid of physical barriers.  Simple changes like opening the door to the organization, taking down the cubicle wall that separates the volunteer coordinator from the rest of the office, or removing other physical barriers can make potential volunteers feel more at ease about approaching you.

2.  Make open positions obvious.  Like the welcome signs in Katya's story, sometimes a metaphorical "come on in" can invite a volunteer to step up.  Advertise your specific volunteer position openings.  It's like a "welcome sign" into your volunteer program.


3. Smile.  When anyone comes into your office - client, donor, supporter, community member - smile, say "hello," be friendly, and make sure they feel welcome.  No need to put them on the spot - but a kind acknowledgment of their presence will make the person feel more at ease.  And you never know who might be interested in lending a hand if they just feel comfortable with you!

4. Institute a "smile" policy.  It shouldn't just be you making people feel welcome - get the whole team on board!  Volunteers see your staff as a representation of your volunteer program - so make sure they know the entire staff is welcoming and supportive.

 5. Create a clear chain of communication.  Everyone in your organization needs to know who a potential volunteer should approach if they're interested in giving their time.  Make sure an interested volunteer can approach anyone at the organization and get a clear referral to the volunteer coordinator.  Little can scare off a potential volunteer more than a convoluted or circular chain of contacts who are unsure of how to help them get involved.

How do you make sure that volunteers feel welcome at your organization?  Share your ideas in the comments!

Get the word out about your AmeriCorps Week events

AmeriCorps Week (March 10 - 18) is fast approaching, and AmeriCorps members, alums, and service-lovers all over the country are looking to celebrate service in America by... well, serving!  So get the word out about service opportunities (or any other AmeriCorps Week events) at your organization and help others get involved!  Here are a few places you can list your AmeriCorps Week events:

• AmeriCorps Alums Events website
• Idealist (click on "post a listing" at the top right corner of the page)
• VolunteerMatch (click on "register" to get started)
• Craigslist (put a posting in the volunteer section for your area's page)

Still looking for ideas of events you can hold during AmeriCorps Week?  Find some great resources over at AmeriCorps Alums.

Tomorrow: Check out this free webcast on social sector innovation

Looking for a little inspiration?  Taproot Foundation, a nonprofit that connects other nonprofits with business expertise, is holding a free webcast tomorrow at 11:30 am PT on innovation in the social sector.

This webcast will feature a strong panel, and should be interesting - check it out if you'd like a thought-provoking activity for your lunch break!