The average FFEA member organization has 3 full-time employees and utilizes over 275 volunteers per year. Whether you're throwing a festival, concert, fair, or operating a venue, you're using volunteers in some form or another. But if uncoordinated and unplanned, a volunteer program can quickly unravel and become not only ineffective, but also a potentially litigious situation. In this session, you'll learn how to get the most out of your volunteers, how to organize your program and general volunteer best practices.

1. GETTING THE MOST FROM YOUR
VOLUNTEER PROGRAM
CINDY BLACKBURN & JENNIFER BROWN

2. 2
The relationship between an
organization and a volunteer is
at times…best described as a
love-hate relationship

3. VOLUNTEERS VS. STAFF

4. 4
What a
volunteer
isn’t…
• Free labor
• Non-essential
• Part of a barter
• A mind reader
• Held to lower professional standards

5. 5
Is this your
brain?

6. 6
Three important concepts
RECRUIT
RETAIN RECOGNIZE

7. RECRUIT

8. 8
Prepare « Evaluate, assess and prioritize needs
« Develop position descriptions
– Determine roles not suited for volunteers if
expertise or time commitment is not a fit
« Articulate benefits to volunteers
« Identify skills, proficiencies required
and training needs
« Develop questions to gain insight into
technology comfort and proficiency

9. 9
« Volunteer Match
« Idealist.org
« All for Good
Utilize Volunteer
Specific Sites

10. 10
Connect with
the Community
« College Career Centers
« Similar Organizations
« Other Events
« High Schools
« Word of Mouth

11. 11
Leverage Social Media
« Facebook
« Twitter
« LinkedIn
« NextDoor

12. 12
Choosing Volunteers
« It’s okay to be picky
« Be specific about what
you are looking
« It’s okay to ask for short
term volunteers
« Goal is to match
person with role

13. RETAIN

14. 14
Training
« Be clear with information
that can be shared
« Allow legacy volunteers
the opportunities to train
(or mentor) new
volunteers
« Offer small
ongoing training
opportunities

15. 15
Steps for
success
« Clearly define roles and expectations
« Create and maintain a searchable
online Volunteer Handbook with time
contribution, hours, dress code –
provide the roadmap/GPS prompts
« Make job descriptions and code of
conduct available online

16. RECOGNIZE

17. 17
Do you know what
#voluntinesday is?

18. 18
During your event
« Volunteer Coordinator(s)
– Dedicated person on site
without five other jobs
– Volunteers will care more
with a role model
« Identify Volunteers
– Dress, name badge
« Be aware of HALT
– Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired

19. 19
Take care of
basic needs
and offer
perks
« Water and caffeinated beverages
« Snacks - healthy and junk food
« Venue Maps & Event Lineups
(schedules)
« Letters of reference and certificates -
people use these on resumes
« Incentivize volunteers to get other
great volunteers - small things like a
Starbucks card, slice of pizza, tickets for
self or others, t-shirts

20. 20
Recognize volunteers
in newsletters
« Let your volunteers
tell their story
« Let their stories
motivate others
« Make them feel like
part of the family

21. REMEMBER

22. 22
Penultimate
thoughts
« May need to offer a carrot to make
volunteers become self-auditing
« Having attendies provide feedback on
experience with volunteers
« With high demand events, reward
volunteers who discover unethical
activities
« As needed providing transparency
about operations and budget

23. RESOURCES

24. 24
Resources « Free volunteer management websites
– www.signupgenius.com
– www.volunteersignup.org
– www.signmeup.com
« Free scheduling tools
– www.meetingwizard.com
– www.needtomeet.com
– www.calendly.com
– www.doodle.com

25. 25
Resources « The Seven Deadly Sins of Recruiting
Volunteers – By Thomas W. McKee
– http://www.volunteerpower.com/articles/
7sins.asp
« The New Breed: Understanding and
Equipping the 21st Century Volunteer
– http://www.volunteerpower.com
« Session Slides
– http://bit.ly/ffea-volunteers

26. 26

27. www.vendini.com