184 – The Experience Economy – Are Nonprofits Keeping Up?

October 16, 2025

Episode #184: The Experience Economy – Are Nonprofits Keeping Up? 

In this episode of the Volunteer Nation Podcast, Tobi Johnson unpacks how the experience economy is reshaping the way nonprofits engage and retain volunteers. 

Building on last week’s discussion about the evolving volunteer marketplace, Tobi explains why it’s no longer enough to simply offer opportunities — today’s volunteers expect meaningful, memorable, and transformative experiences. 

If you’re ready to meet modern volunteer expectations and create experiences that truly stand out, this episode is packed with insights you won’t want to miss! 

Experience Economy – Episode Highlights 

• [01:37] – Understanding the Experience Economy 
• [05:23] – The Evolution of Economic Value 
• [07:46] – Creating Quality Volunteer Experiences 
• [15:55] – Modern Examples of the Experience Economy 
• [18:04] – The Experience Economy in Nonprofits 
• [18:52] – The Market Metaphor in Volunteerism 
• [19:43] – Understanding Volunteer Motivations 
• [22:59] – Altruism and Empathy in Volunteering 
• [24:07] – Social Connection and Personal Development 
• [28:51] – Value Expression and Psychological Benefits 
• [32:40] – The Experience Economy in Volunteering 
• [34:46] – Episodic and Flexible Volunteering 
• [36:04] – The Ripple Effect of Volunteer Experience 

Experience Economy – Quotes from the Episode

“Volunteers don’t volunteer because they’re want to work for free. They volunteer because they want to change the world.”  

“People say well, volunteers aren’t consumers. Yes they are. No, you’re not selling a product, you’re selling an experience. You’re enlisting people into that experience, and they have expectations. They’re assessing whether that experience is going to be a good one based on how they’re treated early on.” 

Helpful Links

• Volunteer Management Progress Report  
• VolunteerPro Impact Lab 
• Volunteer Nation Episode 183 – The New Reality – Volunteers Don’t Need You  
• Volunteer Nation Episode #118: 8 Ways to Make Volunteering Experiences Much Easier 
• Volunteer Nation Episode #147: Volunteer Recruitment Trends from Our New Report  

Contact Us

Have questions or suggestions for the show? Email us at wecare@volpro.net.

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Episode #184 Transcript: The Experience Economy – Are Nonprofits Keeping Up? 

Tobi: Hello, my friends. Welcome to another episode of the Volunteer Nation podcast. I’m your host, Tobi Johnson. And last week I did a little truth telling. I had to get some stuff off my chest. I talked about the new reality that volunteers don’t need you. They don’t need your organization as much as you need them. And I talked about societal trends, volunteering trends, and just what’s making up the context within which the volunteer marketplace is happening. 

I talked a lot about what’s happening in the general marketplace that creates a type of expectation set that really expands across all the experiences of a consumer. And for some people, they’ll say, well, volunteers aren’t consumers. Well, yes, they are. No, you’re not selling a product, you’re selling an experience, and people are. 

You’re enlisting people into that experience, and so they have expectations, and they are assessing whether that experience is going to be a good one based on how they’re treated early on. And so today I want to talk about the experienced economy and whether or not nonprofits are keeping up. Talked a little bit about what the trends were saying about how, you know, what is the context of milieu in which volunteers are seeking opportunities and organizations are offering opportunities. And I talked about a lot of areas where frankly; we need to level up our game today. I want to dig deep, a little bit deeper into volunteer psychology and some of the things that volunteers, the experience economy can teach us that. 

Can give us new insights into ways we can innovate. Because I don’t like to, I’m not a fan of complaining without offering solutions. And last week I wasn’t really, I was complaining, but I was truth telling. I thought it had to be said. We need to call it out so that there are areas that we need to improve right away. 

Volunteering rates. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but sure is shooting. If we don’t level up our game and meet expectations, they will continue to plummet. And our organizations really can’t. Those that are volunteer driven cannot survive without community support. And people don’t support us just because we have a great cause. 

I wish that was the case. That’s not how it is. So today I want to talk about what we can do, how we can think about volunteering and our volunteer opportunities through the lens of the experience economy. And so, the experienced economy is really. A concept where businesses compete primarily on the memorable, engaging experiences they create for customers, not just the products or services they deliver. 

Now, sit on that for a minute. I. The experiences, the emotions versus a logical analysis of the products and services. You can think, you could see about the examples of this when people buy cars, yes, there’s a little, oh, well, is it going to have miles per gallon? Uh, I don’t know if it were all about miles per gallon. 

A hundred percent of the people would be buying electric cars by now because, you know, they’re the best miles per gallon. right? There are no gallons. Right. And the impact on your electric bill in your house is very minimal with an electric car. So, if it was about cost of operation and. Upkeep of electric cars is much less than a gas-powered car as well. 

So, if it were, if purchasing cars were just about the cost of operation in that sort of practical way, people would, a hundred percent of the people would already be on electric cars. But that’s not how we operate. We are emotional. Similarly, you think about political, uh, campaigns and elections; people often do not compare objectively the platforms of each candidate against one another. 

Because people will vote against their own interests because they emotionally feel a certain way. So, we are in the age of emotion, and we are in the experience economy. That’s what drives a lot of decision-making and this idea of the experience economy was coined by Joseph Pine and James Gilmore in their 1998 Harvard Business Review article, and they later wrote a book on it. 

And that experience economy represents an evolution in economic value. So, what do people see as value? right? If you think about the different ways people value, or the way we look at a market, we think of initially; this is sort of the beginning was commodities. We want to extract and sell raw materials. 

We want to buy coffee beans, right? It’s at the base level. We’re just looking at the commodity. Commodities are just a good thing, so I want you to think about this as an evolution, right? In people’s thinking in the marketplace. Because volunteers are volunteer recruitment, and your volunteer opportunities are occurring within a marketplace side by side. 

With other experiences, especially in the digital marketplace, if your volunteer opportunities come up alongside products being sold, for example, on Facebook, you can’t separate them anymore. So, if you think about this evolution, first is commodities. Just as were coffee beans, we need to get people coffee beans. 

Okay? Second is goods. We’re going to manufacture coffee beans, so they’re going to be packaged as ground coffee. And then we think about services. That’s the third level. It’s, we’re sort of evolving our, uh, marketplace. So, services we’re going to develop, helpful activities like a coffee shop make you a cup of coffee, specifically the way you like it, right? 

And experiences are. You’re sharing memorable events while you’re having that. Tailored cup of coffee, so maybe your star, you know, Starbucks or Panera or wherever is your third place where you hang out outside of the home, outside of work. It has ambiance, personalization, and rituals. Some people go to the same coffee shop every morning. 

They do the same drive through every day, and those baristas start to get to know people, and they’re like, hey, so and so, how are you doing? You want the regular. Right. That’s an experience. So, we go from, I want to buy coffee beans too, I want people to know who I am. I want them to know what I drink. And I want people to be friendly. 

I want the place to be clean. I want it to have some good music going. I want it to keep me calm. I don’t wanna stand in line too long. Too long. Oh, by the way, I want to have some food with my coffee. That’s way different than buying coffee beans. Right. So, let’s talk about the characteristics of experiences. 

Because I want you to think about, are you just selling coffee beans or do you have full experience for your volunteers? Like the selling of coffee beans. Is this. Basically, we have a shift for you to fill and come here and fill this shift. That’s a coffee bean. That’s no experience, right? So, let’s look at this. 

What experiences do, they’re memorable, and I would say these are quality experiences. Let’s qualify for this. Quality experiences are memorable. They remain with people. Long after they end. People remember that experience. They’re personal. They engage individuals in an inherently personal way. Even online. 

You know, last weekend we were presenting on. Planting fall and planting trees and shrubs in the fall. So, what are the mistakes? How do you do it? How do you select the right plants for the right place? What plants are great for our climate in East Tennessee? What are the mistakes people make? Why is fall the best time to plant? 

And I still remember. That presentation and that work with one of my fellow volunteers. It was basically the two of us presenting, and we had a great time. And at the end she said, “You know what? That was so much fun.” Because we just had a slide deck that I had created. We went back and forth; we shared ideas with one another. 

It was just a good time. And I think that, I hope that the public, that in our Tennessee master gardener, our gardening tips live and our gardening tips group, that people were getting value out of it. Right. So emotional. Creates feelings and forges connection. So, experience, quality, and experiences are memorable, personal, and emotional. 

My fellow volunteer and I were talking about, well, you know, you know, we haven’t gotten together in person. She asked me, this was so interesting, she said, have we ever met in person? Now we’ve been volunteering together, I would say for five years. Online. We live in the same city. And I said, well, yeah, of course we’ve met in person. 

She goes, when? And I go, I don’t remember. And I said, ‘Well, didn’t you come to my house a couple years ago? I had a barbecue at my house for the team. And she said, oh, I couldn’t come at that time. And I said, oh, okay. I said, “I know I’ve met you in person, and I can’t remember when. So, we feel that we are connected now.” 

That’s a strong emotional connection. The fourth area of experience is transformative. The best experiences actually change the participant. So, key characteristics, quality, experiences, memorable, personal, emotional, transformative, and if you talk to volunteers that are very, very dedicated. They will tell you, oh, I get way more out of volunteering than I give. 

And you know, if that, if they say that, that they’ve been transformed. They’ve been transformed, some perspective that they’ve had on the world has been changed. Some deep. Connection in their heart has been unlocked; something has happened that has transformed their life. And that is the most powerful experience we can all have as human beings. 

And if you are lucky enough to be able to design a place where people can experience those transformations, both your clients and your volunteers, that is a gift and a privilege to offer the community. And that’s what we should all work towards in my mind, in the experience economy. Now we talked about key characteristics of experience. 

Let’s talk about the experiences in the experience economy. Time becomes the currency. People pay for how businesses and nonprofits, in our case, use their time. In the last episode when I was talking about that volunteers don’t need us; I talked about how valuable our time is. Our time has become the most valuable thing. 

It’s always been the most valuable thing because it’s more valuable than money. The amount of time you have left on the planet. We’re so lucky to have it. Each of us is so lucky to have that time on the planet. We’ve been given something. It’s a gift. And so, people are now, time is currency. So, people are paying attention to how organizations, businesses, volunteers, are using their time. 

When we think of the experience economy, this was written in 1998. This was 30 years ago almost, and they were so far, Gilmore and pine were so far ahead of the curve when they, they thought about the experience economy, but customers become guests who participate actively, not just passive consumers. 

Think about this from a volunteer perspective. If we’re not asking volunteers. For their perspective and input into decisions that impact them directly in our organization, policies, procedures, et cetera, then they’re not getting that active experience. They’re not guests. Or in our case, I like to think of volunteers as partners, not guests like co-collaborators, co-conspirators versus guests, but yes. 

People want to participate actively. Businesses become stagers who orchestrate experiences. Now, from a volunteer perspective, I often talk about architecting volunteer experience. You’re a designer at an organization. You’re designing an exceptional volunteer experience, so that’s what you’re doing. You have high productivity, high satisfaction, high loyalty, and you have exceptional service or whatever the end product that volunteer is supporting, right? 

All those things when you create a culture. Of, you know, with all these things in place, you develop a culture that’s just knocking it out of the park, and so businesses become stagers who orchestrate experiences while volunteer organizations become architects of the volunteer experience. The fourth thing that happens in an experienced economy is that work becomes a theater. 

Employees perform. Venues become stages. Now, if you think about this, there’s some pros and cons to this, right? Work becomes a theater. If you think about volunteering, it becomes a theater. Life becomes a theater. It has become theater through TikTok in particular, but also other social media. That everyone is documenting now. 

There are a lot of downsides to this, but whether or not you agree with it or enjoy social media, it is happening. What they predicted or what they characterize as the, the experience economy that people are documenting their experiences and sharing their experiences to the good and the bad. And there’s plenty of issues around that. 

But I think when they were writing in 1998, we hadn’t experienced all of the social media and the evolution of social media to where it is now. And some of the negative impacts it’s had, particularly on younger people. But there’s also a backlash on that right now. The trend is, you know, people are moving to things like Substack because they’re saying, you know what I want? 

Or people are moving to private communities like Slack, you know, or. Other text-based private chat threads. Why are people doing that? Because they want to. They want to have stages, but they want to have smaller stages. They want to have some smaller, more intimate ways to communicate. So, the theater’s gotten maybe too big, right? 

But again. Still calling that out in 1998, so it’s amazing. All right, let’s talk about modern examples of this economy, this experience economy, and what brands really have made this. You know, if you think about Apple Stores, it was very clear early on when Apple. Put their store started, put their stores up and open their stores. 

Oh, wow. This is a completely different experience. People are hanging out. It’s like a coffee shop. Um, they’re not selling devices. They have spaces for discovery and learning. This stands in the marketplace at its end. You think about Disney. Disney is not in the business of selling tickets to rides, to thrill rides. 

They’re in the memory of making business. It has become now that every kid should go to Disney at some point to have that memory in their data bank. In their memory data bank. Like any family who can afford to go to Disney, whether they like Disney or not, they’re going to take their kid there. Because every kid should have a Disney memory, right? 

Airbnb. So, it shifted the marketplace of hotels and just find a room. Rent a room to belong to. Find the place that matches your personality, where you feel like you belong, and feel safe and feel our attention to these Airbnb, vrbo, those. It’s a different type of relationship, right? We’re being hosted, right? 

Or Peloton. Pelotons another one where it’s experience economy, not just exercise bites, but community motivation, personal transformation. You’re connecting with the exercise instructors online, and so it’s not about just riding an exercise bike; it’s about being part of a collective that’s moving forward. 

And there’s also subsections of that collective if you follow the particular instructors that you want to follow. So that’s part of the experience economy. That gives you a sense of what it’s about. What con constitutes a quality experience. What, how does the experience. Economies show up in the marketplace. 

Now let’s look at the nonprofit marketplace or the nonprofit sector. The experience economy has raised expectations across all interactions, including volunteering. I mean, you may. People are, some of you are saying, wait a minute; we are not a marketplace. We are a cause That’s getting important work done. 

Yes, you are. However, you don’t exist in a bubble. You just don’t. We’re not in a world that’s hermetically sealed. We have our hermetically sealed places in the world. It’s not that way anymore, especially in the digital age. So digging your heels in there, you can dig your heels in if you want, but you do so at your own peril. 

So that experience the economy. Does sort of infiltrate, if you want to say it that way. If you’re, if you’re having a hard time with this market metaphor, it has quoted unquote infiltrated our space. Now, I don’t think that’s such a bad thing. I think people should, because they’re contributing to their most asset, which is their time, they should expect. 

It was a fantastic experience, right? So, people now evaluate volunteer opportunities using the same criteria they use for everything else. Is this seamless, engaging worth my time, doesn’t respect me as an individual? Will I remember this positively, or is my time being wasted? So, when your volunteer application feels clunky compared to booking an Uber or earning from Amazon, you’re competing in an experienced economy with a commodity era approach, and you are losing. 

So, we have to do better. So, let’s get into what some of the psychological, we’ve talked about the experience economy. I want to talk about the psychological needs of volunteers to help you think. And you might want to get a pen and paper right now because you might come up with some ideas while we’re talking about this. 

So, some of the challenges, I think. In our sector right now stem from a profound lack of understanding around volunteers and their motivations. It is almost as if organizations and volunteers are speaking entirely different languages. I see this all the time, you know, so I feel like we need to understand what human needs do volunteering supply in people’s lives. 

Are your organization’s opportunities and experiences supplying these to volunteers? I mean, seriously, when people come to your website and all they see is a list of 501 requirements to volunteer, or even 10. There’s no mention of the impact of volunteers. There’s no mention of the mission, what it’s all about, what kind of meaning volunteers are making, and meaning about their experience. 

They’re making a meaning about it, and so we’re not giving them any fodder to help them make that meaning or any information to help them make that meaning. All we’re saying is these are your requirements. It’s not the same language. Volunteers want to make a difference, you know? They’re like, I like to say. 

Volunteers don’t volunteer because they want to work for free. They volunteer because they want to change the world. So, we’re giving them all this like HR focused information and they’re like, well wait, what about changing the world part? How come there’s no information on changing the world part here? 

That’s what I’m here for. So, it’s almost like we’re speaking different, completely different languages. It’s crazy. I’ve been noticing this lately. So, what needs does volunteer volunteering supply people in their lives? So, let’s look at this. Research suggests that volunteers have mixed motivations and inside the Volunteer Pro Impact Lab and in our courses, we talk, we do a lot of deep dives into volunteer motivations. 

These motivations, but I’m going to give you just some basic overview. Um, the motivations vary by age, life stage, and cultural context, family, upbringing, you name it. There’s lots of our peer groups, our education level, there’s lots of ways our motivations are shaped and formed, informed, sustained volunteering tends to also strengthen intrinsic motivations over time. 

Those motivations that come from within. And even if people start with an externally focused motivation, like I need to get my, get something on my resume. If they continue to volunteer with you and have a great experience, that transforms into a intrinsic motivation versus extrinsic motivation. And so, folks will say, well, you know, it’s not good to be volunteering because you have extrinsic motivation. 

You want something out of it. Well, you know what, those things change all the time. So, I wouldn’t even worry about that. That’s why I like to suggest people give opportunities for people to dip their little baby toe in and see if the water’s warm enough for them to cannonball in. Okay. Let’s talk about these motivations. 

One is altruistic and empathetic. So, people often volunteer from genuine concerns. And they desire to help their communities. Most people will say that’s the reason they volunteer. Empathy and compassion are strong predictors of volunteer behavior. So, if people have that as part of their makeup as a person, then they’re going to be more likely to volunteer. 

But think of what’s counteractive, or do you know what? What goes against altruism and empath. Empathy, altruism, and empathy. Well, when things feel like a job. We don’t engage in our work. Now, I will say little bit in the nonprofit sector, we do, because we do, we have empathy, and we have altruism, and that’s why we choose jobs that don’t pay very well. 

I worked a whole lifetime in nonprofits before I started my consulting practice. I know exactly what it’s like to not work for enough money, but when it feels like too much work. This can erode the feelings of volunteer’s altruism. So, think about that when you’re designing for EX the experience economy. 

Second thing, social connection, volunteering provides opportunities to meet people, build relationships, and feel part of a community. This is very important to build social capital in communities and to combat loneliness. Loneliness is an epidemic in our world right now. And so, you think about this, what’s that impact on you developing something in the experience economy? 

Well, remote volunteering makes this more difficult, particularly when our digital communications and online community building strategies. And tools aren’t up to speed. So yes, it would be better if volunteers at some point could meet face-to-face, but deep connections can be formed online if you are skilled at it. 

So that means you need to be skilled at digital communications like email, copywriting, that kind of thing, videos, et cetera. And you also need to be skilled at MO moderating online communities. It is not a set it and forget it situation. Social connection, volunteer motivation, and personal development. 

Many volunteers are motivated by opportunities to learn new skills, gain experience, and explore their career paths. This is not news for us, right? This is especially true for younger volunteers and those seeking to enhance their resumes. But in the ex, in the experience economy. How does that, how does that get impacted? 

Well, roles that may not match what volunteers want to learn. The training and facilitation modalities are subpar, or there are a few opportunities for leadership development, and you’ve got a problem, right? If volunteers are motivated because of personal development. In the experience economy, they expect to have a volunteering opportunity that will supply some place for them to develop some space for them to develop. 

And we know from our volunteer management progress report survey, our industry survey, we do it every year, and a couple of surveys I’ve asked about leadership opportunities. I think it’s this year, 2025 and 2024 I believe. There are very few organizations that have leadership development as part of their volunteer strategy, and there’s not even volunteer leadership roles. 

So, there you go. If that’s what the customer wants or the marketplace wants, especially volunteers that are motivated by personal development, you’re going to get left behind.  

VOLUNTEER PRO IMPACT LAB 

Hey, are you looking to upgrade and modernize your volunteer program? Or maybe you’re building one from scratch, and you’re just not sure where to start. If so, we’ve got the perfect resource for you, the Volunteer Pro Impact Lab. Having built several direct service programs from the ground up, I know that it doesn’t happen by accident. It’s a clear process that takes careful attention with a focus on impact. In the end, you need a system in place that’s clear, standardized, efficient, and that gets results. 

In addition, and maybe this is the most important, you need a volunteer program design that directly contributes to your organization’s most critical goals. That’s where the Volunteer Pro Impact Lab comes in. When it comes to effective volunteer engagement, our bespoke volunteer strategy Success path model, which is the heart of our resources and strategic advising, will help you transform your volunteer strategy from fundamental to a fully mature what’s working now approach and all in less time with our online assessment, you’ll quickly gain clarity on precisely where to focus your efforts, and we’ll provide recommendations for the exact steps needed. For sustainable growth, regardless of how large or small your organization is or what your cause impact area or focus is. 

Our program development and implementation support model will help you build a strong foundation so volunteerism can thrive at your good cause. If you’re interested in learning more, go to volpro.net/join and we’ll share how to get started. And what’s involved.  

All right. Let’s look at value expressions. That’s another volunteer motivation people volunteer to act at on their deeply held values and beliefs, whether religious, humanitarian, environmental, et cetera, identity, et cetera. Volunteering allows people to live according to their principles. Right. So, people will choose a volunteer opportunity that matches their values. 

In fact, in my, uh, the book I’m writing for volunteers who lead the first step in the framework that I’m creating is about self. It’s about aligning our own values with the values that are on offer in volunteering, in the mission of the organizations that we want to support. And so, I start with leadership. 

From the inside out model and yourself and your alignment is the first thing I want to explore with volunteer leaders. And so organizations that focus more on paperwork and less on the progress volunteers are helping bring about in their messaging, et cetera, and does, don’t help them easily make the connections between the volunteers’ values. 

And the work available is making it really difficult for people to express their values or to even know when they’re assessing different volunteer opportunities, whether or not it’s a good match. And so, they’ll move on in the experience economy; they’ll move on to some other organizations. That makes it clear, much clearer. 

Let’s talk quickly. So those are just some examples of, oh, let me talk about one more motivation, psychological benefits. Research has consistently shown that volunteering improves mental health, life satisfaction, and sense of purpose for most of us working in the field. We know this already, right? 

We do. The helper’s High is real. People get, feel good hormones; they’ve done research on this. You get the feeling of those hormones that make us feel good. So, volunteering triggers positive emotions and reduce stress and depression. And volunteers are aware of this. Some of them volunteer to heal, to be in a healing environment. 

Often those types of volunteer opportunities are, have a healing element for them. So, for example, a NAMI or a National Association of, uh, mental illness, a local NAMI chapter or a pub, a speaker’s bureau. So, people are no, no volunteering can heal. They want to help others heal. And so, they’re involved in this way. 

But here’s the thing. In the experience economy, if we’re not. Purposefully designing experience that gives people time for self-reflection, maybe a little stillness, wellness, and not having staff have enough time to support volunteers. Those psychological benefits can evaporate because there’s not enough time to reflect on the fact that they may be happening. 

Right. And so those psychological benefits are also really important to volunteer motivation. And when we think about the experience economy, we’ve got to think about it. Are we offering these things? So, there’s a few others, if you want to learn more about leadership and check out Volunteer Nation episode 147 volunteer recruitment trends. 

From our new report, you’ll learn a little bit about what we, and if you download the report in particular, you’ll learn about sort of trends in leadership, whether or not organizations are, are engaging leaders, and how confident they are that they’ll have the next slate of leaders. 

There’s some good info there, so if you’re interested in the leadership side, check that out. So, as you’ve probably realized by now, the experience economy applies to volunteering as well as the marketplace. So just like consumers expect seamless experiences from Uber, Amazon, and DoorDash, potential volunteers now expect friction free onboarding. 

If your application takes weeks or requires excessive paperwork for a simple role, you have already lost people to assess that. See if you have different ideas of ways to innovate. Immediate people expect immediate gratification, the ability to see impact quickly, not after months of training. So that’s an area to look at. 

Personalization. People want roles that match their skills, interests, and availability. Not one size fits all assignments. No one wants to feel like a widget. And digital integration. People expect digital integration, easy scheduling, communication, and tracking that fits into their existing digital lives. 

This includes reporting. Sometimes your reports are onerous, and they need to be. Redesigned. I always say when we’re talking about onboarding and re and paperwork, that every form you create can either build a relationship, keep a relationship neutral. Or erode a relationship. Every single form, every single thing. 

People have to type something into check boxes off of every single one of those on your website, on paper, wherever it is, can do that. And so why not make sure every single form can build a relationship by making it easy. By even the tone of it and the design of it is either considered easy or hard. 

So, reduce those speed bumps in the brain as people are going through your paperwork. Check out, um, volunteer Nation episode 118: 8 Ways to Make Volunteering Experiences much easier for a lot of ideas around these things. I’ll post these in the show notes so you can check those out. So, a couple more things before we wrap up about the. 

Experience economy, the episodic and flexible trend is crucial. This is something we can’t ignore. The data on episodic volunteering is particularly telling people want to contribute meaningfully. Without long-term commitments. Organizations still require yearlong pledges, multiple year pledges. Uh, regular weekly shifts are swimming against the tide. 

There are lots of ways to work on this to make it better. Successful programs now offer micro volunteering; project-based engagement shows up when you can model, which I know is difficult to manage skill-based and time limited projects. And one way you can really build flexibility is to deliver services through team-based volunteering. 

If you work as a team. For a particular slate of tasks. You can have more flexibility. Some team members can work this week, others can work the next week, and you have a team own that particular set of tasks. It makes for easier and more flexible for volunteering. So, there are solutions you can also chunk out and not make one volunteer. 

Take responsibility for everything. There’s lots of solutions here. So the last thing I want to say is the ripple effect that goes on beyond your organization when you’re in an experience economy. A frustrated volunteer who waits three weeks for a background check. Calling back just doesn’t, just not volunteering. 

They tell their network. They may reconsider their donations. They may form a lasting negative impression of the organization’s competence. They may tell others about it. Remember, many volunteers are also donors where they volunteer. Tactical pivots are required. Y’all, based on last week’s episode and this week’s, I’m hoping that you’re seeing this in order to be successful. 

Volunteering. Organizations need to think like networks. One. Failure impacts other organizations’ abilities to attract talent. We’re all in a network together. We’re all interconnected. You need to get your technology and user experience up to speed. People want info on chunks that are mobile ready. That is responsive. 

That is fast. Gotta have it. Manage your editorial calendar. Take that volunteer appeal posts when you’re not recruiting or not willing or able to be responsive. Uh, and just put something up. On your website, that says, hey, here’s when we’re going to get on our wait list. We’ll let you know. Here’s when we’re going to open the doors. 

Key people in the loop wait list, clear communications, nurturing emails, and nurturing series of emails. We talk about this a lot inside the Impact Lab. I do training on it. How to set up a nurture campaign. And provide human connection from the start. That’s probably the most important thing in the experience economy. 

People want to feel connected to one another. If people can’t reach out, they’re only sending email into a void of volunteers at X, Y, Z, nonprofit as well. Who the heck is on the other end of that email, and do they even get a response? You should have a support email. Our support email at Volunteer Pro is wecare@volpro.net. 

wecare@valpro.net. Why did I decide on that email address? Well, I did it on purpose. wecare@valpro.net because it’s a promise, and when people email us, they’re sometimes shocked that they have directly back from me within a couple of hours, if definitely less than a business day. With information and help. 

It blows them away sometimes. Wow. I didn’t expect it. Well, we made a promise to you. wecare@volpro.net. We care. And so, putting calls to action out and not responding, it’s just. Not what we need to do right now. So I hope this discussion of the experience economy both gives you onus, impetus, and also permission to start making change. 

I also think I hope that has given you some ideas to think about in terms, just think about the definitions of the experience, the exceptional experience. Can you do that? Yes, you can. It doesn’t cost a lot of money. It doesn’t cost a lot of money. People think we don’t have a budget for that. Hey, compassion doesn’t cost anything. 

Right helpfulness does not cost anything. We can do this with the right intentions. So, I hope you’ve enjoyed today and the last two, these last two episodes just feel like it’s time for us to take a good, honest look at, are we living up to our promises as volunteer involving organizations? 

Our community promises, are we living up to them? And if not, what do we do to be able to live up to them? So, I hope this is helpful. If you think somebody would benefit from hearing this, I hope you’ll share it with them. We always like ratings and reviews. I’d love to hear comments about what you thought about this episode, and I hope you’ll join me next week, same time, same place on the Volunteer Nation. Take care.