Unlock the Special Skills of Your Volunteers

When my husband Jeremy and I got married 20 years ago, the person overseeing the ceremony made an unconventional request: He asked that, in exchange for him volunteering to officiate our big day, we give volunteer time to some neighbors in need. 

At the time, I found the request puzzling because I wasn’t sure what expertise or skills I could lend to my community. But after a casual conversation about my job and my hobbies, before I knew it, I found myself giving back in ways that I had never imagined. 

Our officiant was a community leader and he recognized that everyone has something uniquely valuable to offer for good, and it was an important lesson to me. 

It's something I remind myself to this day, to be open to having people help you and your nonprofit in ways you may not even realize are needed, especially as we are in an era of influencers and digital content creators. What is easy for one person to do can be a sea of information to learn for someone else less familiar with the subject matter.

You love your volunteers. I know you do. Each day, they help your organization create more impact. And without your volunteers, so much less would be achieved. While all of that is true, there is more your volunteers can do and want to do. And to put it frankly, most of your volunteers are waiting for you to ask them to step up even more.

I think we’re all a little guilty of putting our volunteers in a box. Someone raises their hand to walk dogs at the shelter, and from that point forward that volunteer is associated as “the person who walks dogs.” But imagine all the different ways that volunteer could help you, and what other skills they might bring to the party.

At my organization, those casual conversations with our volunteers, those dedicated ones who are cleaning kennels or helping at events, have led to those same volunteers assisting in legal cases, opening doors with celebrities, and offering veterinary support.

Our wedding officiant knew this to be true. His discovery of my previous competitive basketball experience and love of the sport got me organizing free-throw workshops for the junior high girls’ team. Basketball coach was not an identified need in that junior high’s strategic plan and yet somehow, I found myself volunteering even more hours to do it. 

The key is how to unlock that thing a person knows so well they don’t even realize it’s super special or that they do so often. Like a child drawing every day, they forget the magic it brings to someone else who doesn’t have youngsters in their lives. And that special skill may not be the same as their work profession which is why my husband, with a background in policy work, found himself sharing his tax-filing knowledge leading up to our big day.  

When it’s the thing a volunteer is good at, truly loves or is hungry to learn, let them. It all starts with a conversation. It’s not mission creep. It might be something you didn’t know your organization needed. Like that junior high girls’ team that won the district basketball title that year, your organization could achieve something great from volunteers working in ways that you didn’t realize you needed.

The preceding blog was provided by an individual unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of NonProfit PRO.