How to Start a Volunteer Program: 12 Steps for Success
![In this guide, we’ll review the steps of how to start a volunteer program.](https://bloomerang.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/how-to-start-a-volunteer-program-feature.jpg.webp)
Has your nonprofit identified an unaddressed need within your community? Need more help running your current programs? Or could your next event benefit from a bigger team? If so, you may be interested in starting a volunteer program.
Volunteers provide nonprofits with the on-the-ground support they need to further their missions, whether that means helping to build homes, providing meals for food-insecure families, mentoring local youths, or cleaning up trash at local parks.
To help you build a sustainable volunteer program, in this guide, we’ll cover the essential steps for starting a volunteer program:
Once you’ve strategized each of these steps, you’ll be able to create a volunteer management process that allows you to continually recruit, engage, and retain effective volunteers. Let’s take a closer look at each step of the process.
The first step in building your new volunteer program is to analyze your current programs’ progress and continually assess community needs.
For example, perhaps your nonprofit’s mission is to refurbish local community parks. You might determine that you can better fulfill your mission by developing a volunteer program that supports your staff’s efforts by helping raise funds. With enough volunteers, you might even have the team necessary to expand your work to new locations and better serve your community.
Identify the organizations in your community (if any) that are already working to solve this issue. Determine what makes your volunteer program’s approach different and why your services are necessary for the community. This can help you promote your program more effectively down the line.
Your goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
A lofty, ambiguous goal will not serve your organization in the long term. However, if your goal is SMART—specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound—you’ll have a clear benchmark to work toward and measure progress.
Here are a few volunteer program goal examples:
These goals are specific and have a clear timeline for completion, giving the nonprofit team a clear and attainable benchmark to strive for. Use your goals to make decisions about other aspects of your volunteer program, such as how many volunteers you’d like to bring on board or what you’d like them to prioritize.
Your mission statement will act as a guiding principle that your team can use to promote your program and set priorities. Your volunteer program’s mission statement should align with your nonprofit’s overall mission statement to show how your program fits into your larger efforts.
Base this statement on your program’s goal. For example, an animal advocacy organization with the goal of homing more pets than they did the previous year might have a mission statement like, “We work to reduce the number of homeless pets in the community by offering free rescue services and housing animals with volunteer foster homes.”
A strong mission statement can boost your marketing efforts by telling prospective volunteers what they can expect from working with your organization.
Establish accountability for your volunteer program by creating a team that will oversee and coordinate various aspects of your program.
Depending on the size of your program, your team may consist of the following roles:
If you have a small team, one person may take on many (or all) of these responsibilities. Additionally, some of these roles may be filled by qualified volunteers rather than paid nonprofit staff members.
Make sure team members know what their responsibilities are and when they will be asked to share data or reports relevant to their roles.
After establishing the core tenets of your volunteer program you’ll be ready to start recruiting volunteers. The first stage of the volunteer recruitment process is finding the right people for the right roles.
Develop clear volunteer role descriptions to explain what qualifications potential volunteers should have. These explanations should include the following:
After creating your volunteer role descriptions, you can now build your registration form with skill and certification-based questions to streamline your volunteer onboarding and scheduling process.
Volunteer management software brings all essential volunteer management activities under one roof, making it easier to recruit, engage, and retain volunteers while also tracking progress made toward your program goals.
Look for volunteer management software that offers features like:
It’s also helpful to invest in volunteer management software that comes with a mobile app. This lets you stay in touch with volunteers to provide critical information and updates whenever needed.
Keeping your volunteer schedule updated and organized is key to reaching your program goals. Keep these considerations in mind when developing your schedule:
Try offering volunteers the opportunity to self schedule and select the shifts that appeal to them. Doing so will allow them to pick the times that best fit their interests and availability , while also reducing your leadership team’s administrative work. You can also send messages to specific volunteers when you schedule opportunities that are relevant to their skills or interests.
Once you’ve finalized your volunteer roles and schedule, it’s time to start promoting your opportunities to your target audience. Use the following strategies to connect with a broad group of prospective volunteers:
Your nonprofit’s donors can also be a great resource for finding potential volunteers. These individuals have already shown their support for your cause and may be looking to get involved in a hands-on way.
Volunteers will feel more comfortable and have a better experience when you equip them with the information and resources they need to perform their tasks.
Your training and orientation processes should be thorough and hands-on. Follow these guidelines for a successful training experience:
Your training sets the tone for your volunteer relationships, so make a good first impression with an organized, practical onboarding experience.
Effective ongoing volunteer management is essential for ensuring everything runs smoothly and delivering a positive volunteer experience. The better the experience your volunteers have, the more likely they are to return.
At this point, your volunteers have been given the training and information they need to do a great job. Now, it’s up to your team supervisors to help your volunteers excel by offering them support whenever they need it. Here are a few volunteer management tips to ensure everything runs smoothly:
By streamlining your volunteer program’s logistics, you will show volunteers you value their time. Volunteers should feel like they’re a central part of your nonprofit (because they are!). By offering positive experiences and ongoing engagement, you can develop deeper relationships with volunteers that lead to long-term support.
When it comes to volunteer retention, appreciation is the golden ticket. Whether it is a simple thank you as your volunteers leave, a gift such as a free t-shirt or water bottle, or a more significant statement of gratitude like a personal phone call, appreciation efforts make a difference to your volunteers.
No matter what type of thank you message you send volunteers, you should make sure it’s personal and specific. Don’t just say “Dear volunteer, thank you for your ongoing support.” Tailor thank yous to each volunteer with messages like, “Dear Vanessa, thank you for volunteering at our Run4Good 5K event. Because of your support, we were able to raise $10,000 for local elementary schools and host a safe, fun event for the community.”
The final stage in the volunteer management process is to evaluate and optimize your existing plans to see even better results for future opportunities. When you understand how your volunteers discovered your organization, which opportunities they’re most interested in, and their preferred communication platforms, you can tailor your marketing efforts and opportunities to be more appealing in the future.
Two of the most effective ways to assess the success of your volunteer program are running reports and asking volunteers for feedback.
Harness the data in your volunteer management software to run reports on data points like:
When you ask for volunteer feedback, you can supplement your quantitative data with qualitative information about volunteer satisfaction levels. Once they have finished working a shift, or at the end of an event or program, consider sending your volunteers a survey.
Ask volunteers questions like:
Once you have this feedback, you can then make changes to your volunteer management process based on volunteers’ comments, ensuring that you continually improve your process to provide the best experience possible.
These essential steps can help you at any stage of developing your volunteer program, whether you’re creating a new program from scratch or reviewing your current program to identify gaps in your strategy.
Every minute that you invest in planning an effective volunteer management process is well worth the effort to ensure that your organization can recruit, engage, and retain more volunteers, transforming them into long-term supporters.
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