Volunteer Trends & Online Engagement

Volunteer Trends May 2009

Objectives

Review current volunteer trends

Develop effective strategies for engaging volunteers

Overview of Social Media

Volunteer Trends

Youth

Families

Older Adults

People affected by the current economy

Volunteer Trends

Today’s volunteers are seeking the following types of volunteer opportunities:

Skills-based & project-based

Focused on impact

Creative

Meaningful & challenging

Flexible or virtual

Offer targeted experience or training

Make them feel like they are making a difference

Volunteer Trends

Today’s volunteers expect:

Freedom to research volunteer options and connect online

Fast response time

Less authoritative management and less bureaucracy

More professionalism

To feel that their time is being used effectively

Developing a Strategy

Identify your agency’s volunteer needs

Be creative

Be mindful of current trends – What are you doing to appeal to today’s volunteers?

Go where the volunteers are

In your community

Online

As of December 2008 ,

74% of American adults

use the internet

Pew Internet & American Life Project (December 2008)

Volunteer Engagement Online

Include strategically placed (i.e.: obvious) link to volunteer opportunities on home page

Use stories, pictures (both cause-related and of diverse volunteers), and videos when possible

http://www.austinfoodbank.org/

Discuss varied volunteer roles and options

Include download-able application or online application form

Include FAQs, a phone number and an e-mail link for questions

http://www.miriamskitchen.org/HELP/Volunteer/tabid/69/Default.aspx

Growing marketing trend – allow people to select the type of information they would like to receive from your agency

Trends in Constituent Satisfaction with Nonprofit Websites: Building Membership, Donations, and Loyalty through the Web Channel: http://www.foreseeresults.com/_downloads/researchcommentary/ForeSeeResults_NonprofitWebsiteStudy_Spring2009.pdf

In 2005, 8% of online adults had a profile on an social network site. Today, 35% do. Pew Internet & American Life Project (January 2009)

Social Media Goals

Engage in conversation with volunteers and colleagues

Share information

Educate others about your agency and/or issue

Learn from others

Increase transparency and responsiveness

Build community

Network

Advocate

Social Media Challenges

Giving up control of the conversation

Achieving a comfort level using social media

Balancing organization’s identity with personal identity

Time/personnel resources for maintaining social media presence

Adjusting to ever-changing landscape of social media – being flexible

Understanding technology and terminology

Measuring ROI (return on investment)

Social Media Getting Started

Identify

Which types of web 2.0 does your organization want to use? What is your goal?

http://www.chrisbrogan.com/if-i-started-today/

Identity

Establish an identity and keep it consistent across platforms

Balance organizational goals with personality

Invest

You get out of Social Media what you put into it

Interact

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that social media is all about YOU and YOUR organization – it’s about interactions

Info taken from: http://dannybrown.me/2008/11/30/the-four-is-of-social-media /

LinkedIn

Median age is 40

6% of adult social network users

Pew Internet & American Life Project (January 2009) The Guardian UK: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/mar/09/socialnetworking-facebook State of the Twittersphere Q4 2008 report Facebook Median age is 26 22% of adult social network users 168% global audience growth in 2008 Twitter Median age is 31 11% of adult social network users 5-10 thousand new accounts opened daily (growing quickly) MySpace Median age is 27 50% of adult social network users 3% global audience decline in 2008

Social Media Getting Started Social Media Facebook Cause

Profile (personal)

Page (organization)

Causes (organization)

http://www.facebook.com/ http://apps.facebook.com/causes/193813?m=5e8b17e0

Social Media Getting Started Social Media Facebook Page

Free Report: Twitter Jump Start - The Twitter Guide for Small Non-Profits http://www.corporatedollar.org/twitter-jump-start-the-complete-guide-for-small-non-profits/

Twitter Mini-Guide: http://www.hybrid6.com/webgeek/2009/01/a-twitter-mini-guide-60-useful-twitter-resources.php

The Digiactive Guide To Twitter Activism: http://www.digiactive.org/2009/04/13/twitter_guide/

Social Media Twitter http://search.twitter.com/ http://monitter.com/ http://twitter.com/

26 Nonprofits on Twitter: http://mashable.com/2009/03/19/twitter-nonprofits/

Social Media Getting Started Social Media MySpace http://www.myspace.com/

Resources – Online

Go online!

Research what others are doing related to both volunteer management and web 2.0

Learn about volunteer trends, volunteer management and new technologies using resources such as webinars, Slide Share, YouTube, and podcasts

Idealist.org http://www.idealist.org/en/vmrc/index.html

Energize Inc. http://www.energizeinc.com/

Volunteer Match http:// www.volunteermatch.org

Points of Light Institute http://www.pointsoflight.org/

Hands On Network http://www.handsonnetwork.org

Cyber VPM http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cybervpm/

UPS Foundation – Best Practices http://community.ups.com/philanthropy/toolbox.html

Nonprofit Risk Management Center http://www.nonprofitrisk.org/

Resources – Online

Resources – Online http://www.idealist.org/en/vmrc/index.html

Resources – Webinars http://www.volunteermatch.org/nonprofits/learningcenter/ http://www.nten.org/events/webinar

Resources – Slide Share http://www.slideshare.net/VolunteerSpot/family-friendly-volunteering-service-project-ideas-from-az

Resources – You Tube

Volunteer Tribute Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe-QyxX3r1w&feature=channel

Common Craft’s Twitter in Plain English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o&eurl=http://video.google.com/videosearch?as_sitesearch=youtube.com&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-USiurl=http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/ddO9idmax0o/hqdefault.jpg

(also, check the “More” section for other Common Craft videos)

Resources – You Tube Miriam’s Kitchen Awareness Video: http://www.youtube.com/miriamskitchen

Resources – Podcasts

501c3 Cast

http://www.501c3cast.com/

Energize Inc.

http://www.energizeinc.com/hot.html

Volunteer San Diego Podcasts

http://vsdpodcast.org/

Resources – Social Media

NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Network): http://www.nten.org/

Tech Soup : http://www.techsoup.org/

We Are Media : http://www.wearemedia.org/Tool+Box

Change.org : http://nonprofits.change.org/

Using Social Media Sites to Promote Your Mission: http://www.fundraising123.org/article/using-social-networking-sites-promote-your-mission

10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media: http://spurspectives.com/10-ways-to-change-the-world-through-social-media/

Internet Giving Benchmark Analysis: http://www.blackbaud.com/targetanalytics/benchmarking/dcinternet.aspx

Net Squared: Remixing the Web for Social Change: http://www.netsquared.org/about

Resources – Social Media 12for12k: http://www.12for12k.org

Nonprofit Blogs

Beth’s Blog: How nonprofits can use social media

Subscribe.

How to Use Social Media Effectively: http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2009/01/convios-now-is-the-time-campaign-a-healthy-social-media-lifestyle.html