If you’ve been involved in volunteer management for any length of time, you’ve inevitably come across people who just don’t get it. They either view volunteers as widgets who can be automatically plugged in to shore up the organizational need du jour, or they think volunteers are too much hassle to be worth it. If the decision makers in your organization feel this way, you’re not likely to get the support you need.
How to Boost the Power of Your Volunteer Orientation Process Most nonprofits use presentation-style training to deliver their volunteer orientations. Research shows, however, that presentations, by themselves, don’t teach behavior skills or promote critical thinking. It’s no wonder volunteers don’t always learn what they need to during the orientation process. Luckily, the effectiveness of presentations [...]
How to Design a Volunteer Training Program that Boosts Learning When designing a volunteer training program, the biggest challenge is how to create a training process that doesn’t scare volunteers away. Often, the programs I work with have daunting amounts of information volunteers must learn in order to perform with confidence. Programs must be assured [...]
As our economy evolves, I hear the frustration expressed that volunteers aren’t available any more. Two reasons are often cited -- 1) Older volunteers are delaying retirement, and 2) Unemployed volunteers are returning back to work. But, I wonder of this is the case.
Volunteer Leadership Skills You Need to Know A few weeks ago I was flying to the coast of Georgia for a speaking gig. I travel fairly frequently, so I have my set routine. Print out the boarding passes the night before (crossing my fingers that I’ll get magically selected for TSA pre-check), fold my travel [...]
Nonprofit Technology Trends You Need to Know to Reach Volunteers In my book chapter for Volunteer Engagement 2.0, I talk about nonprofit technology trends that are impacting how volunteers’ needs and expectations are changing. Technology is one of the most important and rapidly evolving domains in our lives and those of the volunteers with whom [...]
7 Deadly Sins to Avoid for Better Online Volunteer Training If you lead volunteers, it's likely you’ll be called upon to design and deliver online presentations as part of your volunteer training or orientations. I’ve been participating in and presenting webinars for about seven years now, and I’m sad to say I don't see much [...]
Gathering candid opinions from your volunteers will help you gain insights around what you need to improve. Despite our best efforts, however, sometimes our surveys raise more questions than insights and don’t help us understand the specific actions we need to take next. If that’s the case for you, here are some suggestions that I hope will help generate the rich, actionable feedback you need.
volunteers seem like a great match and they show a lot of enthusiasm about joining. But, even though you’ve got them to “yes!”, getting them to show up for training or their volunteer shift, it’s like pulling teeth. Can anything be done, or are folks just not able to commit any more?
The public now expects to access information at any time of the day or night. Are nonprofit organizations ready to deliver? Not all, not yet, but it’s an imperative.
