Recognizing Volunteer Trends

June 20, 2018June 20, 2018 Josanna E. Berg-Hammond

Volunteer coordinators are always looking for new team members – and volunteer trends are a good place to start. At VolunteerLocal, we’ve noticed a few trends that seem to be popping up more and more across the country. Below, we’ve listed some of the top trends we’re seeing that may help you find your next great volunteer.

Businesses are Getting Involved

More and more businesses are looking for ways to make a group outing a way of giving back to their community. Whether it’s a major corporation that just moved into town or a small business with 10 dedicated team members, there are so many opportunities to get help for your cause. Try reaching out to the HR team at the company with a bit about your organization, what kind of help you need and see if they might be interested. For this kind of outreach, offering an opportunity for a large group to come to help out all at once can be a great option.

Colleges are Looking for New Partners

Colleges offer a wealth of volunteers with varied schedules and a passion for changing the world. We’re seeing a growth in millennial activism and with that, there are plenty of willing volunteers walking around local campuses. With colleges, you can often reach out to a specific organization on campus that’s just right for your cause. Maybe the track and field team can help at your next marathon or students in the communications school are able to do social media outreach for your event.

Schools are Teaching Civic Duty

Volunteers aren’t just walking around college campuses these days; they’re also bounding through the halls of elementary schools. More and more primary education teachers are looking for ways to teach students about civic engagement. While high school kids are old enough to help with quite a lot, you’d be surprised what the little ones can do too. Stuffing envelopes and making signs are simple and fun ways to get younger kids involved.

So get out there and broaden your base! There are people of all ages looking to help, and keeping an eye out for volunteers in the places you might not normally think to look might just win you a lot of new volunteers.

Creating a Hype Squad

June 19, 2018June 19, 2018 Josanna E. Berg-Hammond

There are lots of important volunteer jobs – but what about one that keeps your volunteers excited to be a part of your movement? Enter: The Hype Squad. Take those energetic teens and millennials in your volunteer base and create a team to hype everyone up about your event and organization’s mission.

At the Event

When you start scheduling out each role for your event, why not leave 15-minute shifts here or there for a small crew to get the other volunteers excited? Send them out with bottles of water, small pieces of swag or (our personal favorite) snacks! Giving volunteers that quick acknowledgment that you’re glad they’re there can be a huge morale boost and keep everyone excited for the cause.

On the Ground

Get your organization evangelists out to the masses! Create a small team of people who will go the extra mile in getting the word out about your organization. Make sure this team has a clear understanding of your mission, some literature/pins/swag and a genuine interest in getting the word out. We’re not necessarily suggesting you send them out to a street corner to yell about your cause, but outreach can be as easy as talking about it at a party or posting flyers at school.

Virtual Squad

While face-to-face is always great, social media is a hype squad’s best friend. See if volunteers are able to share news about your event and organization on their social media accounts and offer ideas for how to share to make it even easier (a selection of event photos, sample tweets, etc.). Encouraging your team to take photos while volunteering and creating organizational hashtags will get the word out fast about what your crew is doing and attract more volunteers.

Most of all, make sure your organization has a mission that people can get behind. Help volunteers understand why your team is so important and how much you can help your community so you can create a team that truly wants to hype your cause.

Building Your Volunteer Team

October 18, 2017October 19, 2017 Brianne Sanchez

Building out a volunteer team is a little like filling a football roster.

A common mistake rookie volunteer coordinators often make is to put themselves in the role of quarterback instead of coach. The last place you should be at the beginning of your event is on the field with a bunch of players rushing you.

An effective volunteer coordinator should be able to direct from the sidelines and have a big-picture view of the event. That degree of distance only feels comfortable when you know you have the right people plugged into different positions. Recruit trusted volunteers whose natural strengths or talents give them a leg-up for the most critical positions:

Volunteer Captain: Look for someone with a customer service oriented spirit. Inevitably, you will have a few volunteers who arrive to check in awkwardly early, when you’re still in the midst of a few last-minute tasks. Training a friendly and organized volunteer captain or two a few days before the event will free you up from fielding volunteer questions so you can be available to troubleshoot other issues that might arise. Just remember to plan for a frenzy of volunteer activity at every shift change and keep volunteer support especially strong during those periods.

Vendor Greeter: The caterer, the florist, the balloon guy, the sound engineer, the exhibitors – they all seem to arrive in unison and have complex setup questions. If you have a confident friend who knows her way around an event map and can help exhibitors get situated in the right spot, you might not need to clone yourself. If food safety and storage are a concern, it would be wise to secure a capable volunteer familiar with regulations tasked with overseeing that area.

Social Media Maven: If there is an event hashtag but no one to populate it, what’s the point? Don’t expect you’ll have time to snap candids and come up with creative captions when you’re running an event. Hand over the digital keys to your event’s account for the day to someone on the marketing committee. Bonus points if they already have an Instagram with a loyal following and are willing to cross-post a few pics on their personal account.

Signage scout: Get the right volunteers on your event setup squad and you’ll save time and energy down the line. Don’t underestimate the power of fresh eyes on signage. You might know the venue like the back of your hand, but if there’s any question about where to find the bathrooms or how to map the event flow, it’s great to get a volunteer who can offer a critical eye and make things easier for your attendees.

The key to being able to comfortably delegate is to know each volunteer is playing to his or her strengths. Think through these more specialized types of jobs in advance and actively recruit people with the most helpful personalities for these positions. Don’t forget a pre-event huddle so everyone knows everyone else’s roles, too! Having a printed contact list with leaders’ cell phone numbers, or walkie-talkies tuned to the same channel also lets your critical volunteers connect. Setting up these connections will lead to smoother transitions before and during your event.

Happy Volunteering Blog

Volunteer Recruitment

Recognizing Volunteer Trends

Businesses are Getting Involved

Colleges are Looking for New Partners

Schools are Teaching Civic Duty

Creating a Hype Squad

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