The Need of Our Nonprofit Sector for Committed and Competent Volunteers is Greater than Ever

Just a quick scan of the local newspapers, newsletters, and websites, illustrates the urgent need for volunteers of all types by nonprofits throughout northwestern Michigan. Volunteer recruitment, development, and management are key components of nearly every strategic plan that we’ve seen at NorthSky over the past six months.

Successful recruitment and retention of volunteers relies on a nonprofit’s ability to tell its story and define community benefit in a compelling enough way to activate volunteerism. It’s essential to attract and then hold those volunteers through the power of your work and the community’s need for your services. Where to begin?

As boring as it sounds, data collection is the place to start. Documenting the numbers, types, and impact of your volunteer team provides quantifiable proof of your community benefit and the support of the community for your organization. It also helps to excite and motivate your volunteers. So share it!

The first and most basic step, is to capture who your volunteers are-- contact information, age, affiliations, and residency, and begin logging their hours. The average financial value of every hour can be estimated at $20 (per the Volunteer Centers of America) so now you have a financial story to tell your board.

Beyond the basics, begin measuring volunteer satisfaction, conducting exit interviews and using volunteers to provide input on how to improve services and performance. Begin interviewing and collecting testimonials and success stories. No time? Assign a seasoned volunteer to take charge of collecting volunteer logs and to input data into a database. And yes, please, use a database. Almost every fundraising software product has a volunteer module. You'll find cost effective options at http://www.techsoup.org/.

Check out the NorthSky online Resource Center (http://www.northskynonprofitnetwork.org/resource.php)

for an analysis of software options, sample surveys and logs to help launch your data collection.