Recruiting (and Retaining) Volunteers
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A few years ago, my love for animals motivated me to volunteer at a local animal shelter. I signed up, got my T-shirt, and attended orientation. I learned a lot about animal behavior, met some people, and signed up for shifts. A few days later, I was driving over in the mornings to walk and play with dogs, as well as clean their kennels. But just three weeks after I started, I stopped.
Does this sound familiar? You’re not alone. Keeping volunteers engaged is a challenge for many organizations. In fact, it was a huge problem for this animal shelter, which had even started charging volunteers $20 for T-shirts with the hope of getting them to commit long-term.
It wasn’t the animal shelter. It was me. Despite my $20 T-shirt investment and other factors that should have made me want to stay—monthly events to connect volunteers, several friends who worked there—I left because it wasn’t a good fit. While I love animals (my dog is a rescue pup!), I realized that I wanted to spend my limited time volunteering somewhere that better matched my interests and skills.
Retaining good volunteers starts with recruiting the right volunteers. Everybody is busy, so every organization needs to make sure their volunteers feel their time is being spent the right way and feel fulfilled by their assignments. The good news is that there are just as many types of people with different interests and skills as there are organizations contributing to the social good community. The bad news? This can be a confusing landscape to navigate.
Blackbaud University is here to help. Our new Organizational Best Practices: Volunteers—Recruitment and Retention workshop can help you attract volunteers who will fit best with your organization, and to develop creative and effective strategies to keep those volunteers once you get their feet through the door.
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Organizational Best Practices Blog
02/12/2019 10:17am EST
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Thank you Jocelyn Wright for an Ah ha moment!