How to Give Your Volunteers the Best Experience in 5 Steps

As a nonprofit, you rely on volunteers to achieve critical goals. They’re the heart of your organization. From serving your mission to working events to running late-night fundraising campaigns, they’re likely helping your nonprofit with numerous aspects of your mission.

But because of their omnipresence and their eagerness to help, it can be easy to take your volunteers for granted. It’s important that volunteers receive the best possible experience from your nonprofit, because this will determine whether or not they’ll continue to volunteer and develop deeper organizational relationships with your team.

In our experience, there are five important steps to improving your volunteer management practices, and offering your volunteers the best possible encounters with your nonprofit:

1. Provide a variety of volunteer opportunities.
2. Leverage effective training materials.
3. Communicate effectively with volunteers.
4. Encourage volunteers to enhance their skills.
5. Show appreciation for volunteer contributions.

With nearly two million nonprofits across the United States, people have a bevy of options of organizations to support. Of all these choices, your volunteers have committed themselves to your cause. Show them that they matter and steward them to retain their support. By retaining your volunteers, you’ll save money on recruitment and training costs, grow a sustainable community, and better achieve your nonprofit’s mission.

1
Provide a variety of volunteer opportunities.

Before your volunteers step into their roles, match them with an opportunity that excites them. Providing variety in your volunteer opportunities allows supporters to choose the activities that most interest them and the schedule that works best for them. Depending on the number of programs you offer, the size of your volunteer base, and the needs of your organization, you may want to highlight a handful of options based on the volunteer’s responses to a simple survey.

Tip: This survey doesn’t have to be fancy! Use a form that integrates into your CRM solution for a seamless flow of information. Ask a combination of multiple choice, matrix, and short-answer questions that can be answered (and analyzed) quickly and efficiently.

Based on volunteer interests, skills, and availability, you may choose to provide opportunities including:

• In-person service (serving food at a homeless shelter or training animals at an animal shelter) that can give local volunteers the opportunity to work alongside other volunteers.
• Digital assistance at live/virtual events (professional development talks, benefit concerts, etc.) that appeal to local and non-local volunteers alike.
• Administrative tasks (website design, writing, marketing, organization, phonebanking, and filing) that can be accomplished either remotely or in person.

Volunteer time is an incredibly valuable resource. In 2020, the estimated value of a volunteer was approximately $28 per hour. Tracking the opportunities your volunteers choose to get involved with and the amount of time they give to your nonprofit is important not only to understanding your impact and the cost of your programs, but for raising additional funds.

Many corporations will offer volunteer grants to support the nonprofits where their employees volunteer. For example: Microsoft will donate $25 for every hour an employee volunteers for your organization. Aetna will donate $300 for every 20 hours of volunteer work. As a good practice, when acquiring new volunteers, check if they qualify for a volunteer grant to make the investment of their time go further.

2
Leverage effective training materials.

Once you connect a volunteer with an opportunity that excites them, you need to prepare them to be successful in that assignment. Ensuring proper preparation sets up your volunteers for success and helps create a positive experience for each volunteer.

Like everyone in your nonprofit, volunteers want to see the impact they’re having on the community they’re serving. To achieve this, provide them with the onboarding and training materials that will help them to:

• Practice how to do the task assigned to them. Provide opportunities for volunteers to ask clarifying questions about the assignment and to shadow an experienced volunteer.
• Understand why each task matters to your nonprofit and the campaign/mission. It can sometimes be difficult to see how a task fits into your larger cause. Using specific examples, explain the value of their assignment.
• Learn about additional opportunities. Does your organization run multiple programs or host regular events? Share these opportunities to deepen your volunteers’ engagement with your organization.

Depending on the volunteer’s assigned role, consider also offering a virtual training option. Virtual trainings are more cost-effective than traditional in-person ones – and they provide flexibility for when and where your volunteer can be trained. With remote training, you can engage remote-only volunteers and help all your volunteers feel like they are using their time efficiently.

3
Communicate effectively with volunteers.

For both new and returning volunteers, effective communication is key to creating positive experiences and retaining those volunteers long-term.

Communicate regularly with your volunteers, providing them with the information they need to successfully complete their task and to get more involved with your mission. You might decide to leverage messages such as:

• A welcome email series. When volunteers first sign up to support your cause, provide an overview of your organization’s mission and impact on the community. This will introduce them to your mission as a whole and engage them with your overarching goals.
• An introduction to volunteer opportunities. Before your volunteer gets started, send an overview of opportunities, related tasks, and scheduling. To make this more engaging and dynamic, you can incorporate a video message from staff or existing volunteers. This generates excitement for the opportunity while providing them with the expectations for their experience.
• Role-specific reminders. Give specific instructions about when and where to show up, how to log time, what to bring, and any other important details needed to complete their role. Remind them about these details as they sign up, several days before volunteering, and the day before their volunteer day.
• A survey. Ask volunteers about how their volunteer experience has been and how your organization can improve in the future. This provides volunteers an opportunity to reflect on their opportunity. Plus, it allows your organization to gather specific information from volunteers to build out the data in your CRM.

Lack of direct, personal communication can be a compelling reason for volunteers to leave a nonprofit. A CRM solution, such as NonProfitEasy’s Donor Management Software, can help you target messages to the right segment of donors and volunteers as well as personalize each message with their names and information on their organizational history.

Even when you’re not communicating directly with volunteers, you can make them feel involved in your cause via an effective social media engagement strategy. Because of social media’s prominent role in people’s lives, it’s often the first place volunteers will go for timely information on your programs and organization. It’s always a good idea to post any critical updates on your public facing profiles.

4
Encourage volunteers to enhance their skills.

Volunteering is an excellent way for supporters to gain new skills and to develop professionally. Consider what professional experience you can provide to volunteers and recruit the best supporters to fill those opportunities.

If you’re unsure about the skills your volunteers want to enhance, just ask them! Once you know what they want to accomplish, assign them to tasks that will help them practice these skills. Potential professional skills that can be developed through volunteer opportunities include the following:

• Communication. Volunteers can develop these skills by working directly with constituents, answering phones, writing letters, and serving as docents at events.
• Leadership. More experienced volunteers can lead new volunteer orientations and help manage/mentor volunteers.
• Time management. Help volunteers set and follow through on deadlines to complete their assigned tasks.

Moreover, you can add additional value to your volunteers’ experience by offering ongoing training and learning opportunities. Providing volunteers with professional development resources will help them achieve their goals both inside and outside of your organization. Give volunteers a chance to learn from each other by:

• Hosting a “book club” where volunteers can meet to discuss an article, book chapter, or podcast.
• Organizing a mentorship/buddy program to connect new and experienced volunteers.
• Holding a monthly “lunch and learn” session in which sector leaders share their knowledge and experience.

Volunteer professional development is a win-win! As your volunteers gain new skills and support, they’ll become more confident, more efficient, and more invested in your cause.

5
Show appreciation for volunteer contributions.

Many nonprofits make the mistake of thanking their donors but never acknowledging their volunteers for the hard work they put in to serve the organization’s mission. If a volunteer feels like they aren’t valued, it’s more likely that they’ll take their support elsewhere. To show your volunteers that you appreciate them for the work they do, Lumaverse’s list of volunteer recognition ideas suggests the following appreciation strategies:

• Hosting appreciation events
• Sending thank you letters
• Giving appreciation gifts like branded merchandise
• Asking for feedback
• Providing a recognition board

Like with any relationship, showing your appreciation is at the foundation of building a healthy and productive connection with your volunteers.

In addition to one off thank-yous, try to establish a regular pattern of recognition that’s tied to your program cycles/seasons. You might also consider using a tiered system (with special gifts or events) to recognize those volunteers who give an exceptional amount of time.

When your volunteers have a positive experience with your nonprofit, they’ll have a compelling reason to continue supporting your organization, step into new and additional roles, and advocate for your cause. No matter if you’re well-funded or running on a shoestring budget, small, thoughtful changes (often at little or no cost) will change the shape of your volunteers’ experience.

Lomesh Shah has over 25 years of experience in international corporate leadership with a strong emphasis on marketing technology and data management systems. Lomesh has worked with small to mid-size businesses, privately-held companies and Fortune 500 corporations in various capacities; from sales and marketing to overseeing automation and re-engineering of processes and operations.

As President and Co-Founder of NonProfitEasy, Lomesh spends much of his time immersed in the nonprofit industry both as an industry leader, speaker, and in service to several organizations as a board member and volunteer. Outside of the industry, Lomesh is a technology junkie and will give anyone willing to listen an assessment of the latest trends in anything from espresso makers and mobile gadgets to electric cars and wind power.