Volunteers are vital to your school, but especially to the Development Office. These people represent those who believe so much in your school’s mission and what it’s accomplishing in your community that they’ll freely offer their time, talents, and dedication to further your school’s goals.
While you need volunteers to help your school function, your volunteers also need certain things from you to ensure their success and to keep them coming back to help in the future.
Organization is key!
Volunteers help the school they believe in, but they also expect certain “sacrifices” from you. In particular, this means that you must have your game plan fully mapped out and clearly communicated to everyone involved. Assign a leader to each group to facilitate that communication, serving as a point person when trouble arises. Also, having the required equipment and resources on hand and accessible not only lets your volunteers do their “jobs” with minimal fuss, but also shows respect for their time and work.
Should your volunteers spend more time trying to figure out what they’re supposed to be doing—or tracking down the supplies needed to do it—they’ll become discouraged and may not return.
Know what you’re doing and why you need them.
When you’re planning for an event, know the reason behind what you’re doing and why you’re asking for help from your volunteers—and tell them so. They want to know that what they’re doing matters, and that their participation will make a difference in the success of your project.
If your event has unclear goals or if you didn’t need volunteers (but included them because you felt like you should), your biggest supporters will feel like they don’t affect outcomes and that they don’t matter.
Recognize their work.
While volunteers don’t receive monetary compensation for their efforts—that’s what makes them volunteers!—acknowledge their sacrifice and hard work. During an event with volunteers, offer a public thank you to those working behind the scenes to pull everything off, and keep some sort of refreshment for them to stay energized. (The financial investment in providing food for your volunteers is nothing compared to the return that small show of gratitude will bring.)
After the event, send each volunteer a card or make a quick call to show that you, personally, appreciate his or her efforts.
Train your volunteers.
Volunteers often have natural knacks, and gravitate towards positions that take advantage of these skills. But innate talent needs further crafting to reach its maximum potential; training provides this growth. First aid and CPR courses, webinars about marketing or customer service—these are relatively inexpensive ways to train your volunteer corps.
You’ll serve the dual purpose of making your volunteers more useful during your school’s events, while offering them another thank you for working on your behalf.
Additional ISM resources:
The Source for Development Directors Vol. 7 No. 6 Great Gift Ideas For Your Volunteers
The Source for Risk Managers Vol. 3 No. 6 Trip and Volunteer Protocols
Additional ISM resources for Gold Consortium members:
I&P Vol. 39 No. 15 Driving Annual Fund Success Through Your Volunteer Cabinet
I&P Vol. 39 No. 4 Build Your Volunteer Corps: Rights vs. Responsibilities
