The document outlines strategies for recruiting and retaining volunteers, emphasizing the importance of understanding motivations for volunteering and effective communication. It highlights the necessity of engaging younger volunteers through social media, partnerships with schools, and creating an inclusive environment. Additionally, it provides best practices for managing volunteers, including setting clear expectations, recognizing contributions, and addressing conflicts promptly.

1. Renewing your volunteer
base and engaging youth

2. Engaging and Motivating Volunteers
Volunteering is a gift of time, talent, skills and
experience.
Understanding why people choose to volunteer is
key to recruiting them
What are your volunteer recruitment challenges?

3. Reasons people volunteer
• Contribution to the community
• Sharing their skills
• Affected by cause
• Exploring self
• Networking
• Joining with friends
• Faith
• Job opportunities

4. Interesting Statistics
 93% of Atlantic Canadians volunteer to make a
difference
82% volunteer to share their skills and experience
63% volunteer because they are personally affected
by a cause
56% volunteer to learn new skills
53% volunteer to network and get to know new
people
25% volunteer for religious reasons and to access
new job opportunities

5. Using the top 8 Reasons
• List your volunteer task and opportunities
• Do they match up with the top 8 reasons?
• How can you improve your odds ?

6. Vision and Mission
• Here is a good place to start!
• Do you have a vision and mission
statement?
• Mission is what you do best every day
• Vision is what the future looks like
because you do your mission
exceedingly well.

7. Recruiting Volunteers
• Start close to home
• Volunteers want to contribute in their own
community
• Have an open house
• Get the word out – use local newspapers and
TV.
• Make room for social media

8. Creating new partnerships
• Build relationships with schools
• Start a referral program
• Use bulletin boards
• No. 1 reason people don’t volunteer?
• No one asked them to.
• A new twist on the business card!

9. Your organization’s elevator pitch
• Combine mission and vision statement
• Make it interesting and brief
• Print it out a copy for staff, board and other
volunteers
• Combine it with recruitment business card
• Offer incentives

10. Engaging Younger Volunteers

11. Engaging Younger Volunteers
• Younger volunteer to gain job experience and
new skills
• Younger people also volunteer with friends
• Younger people like to be asked to put their
own skills to work for others.
• Many colleges and universities in N.B. now
have mandatory leadership/volunteer
programs

12. Recruiting Younger Volunteers
• Facebook
• Twitter, Tumblr
• Texting
• Partnering with Schools
• Partnering with established Youth groups
• Making your environment Youth Friendly

13. Social Media
• Do you Facebook?
• Do you Tweet?
• Is your website up to date?
• Do you text?
• Social media is free but also takes time.

14. Getting started with Social media
• Facebook is your best option to start
• You must have a personal account to open a
Facebook page
• Does anyone in your office use Facebook?
• Include this in a future job description.

15. Myths and Facts
• Young people won’t go for it
• Older people are afraid of young people
• Two generations won’t be able to talk
• Respect will be an issue
• Older people are all the same
• Teenagers are trouble
• Older people are all senile

16. What it can do for you
• Younger volunteers can increase your
volunteer pool,
• It can bring in the expertise you need to
accomplish projects or other initiatives
• It is additional fundraising capacity
• It creates an enriching work environment
• It is good for the community

17. 5 powerful questions
• Why do you volunteer?
• Why do you want to volunteer with us?
• What do you wish to learn?
• How much time can you give?
• What would you like to do here?

18. Their vision VS your mission
• Volunteers quit most often because ‘’it wasn’t
what they expected’’.
• Make sure to ask the right questions
• Check in with volunteers
• Have volunteer leaders and/or coordinator
• Have position descriptions
• Be honest about what your organization needs

19. Volunteer Expectations
• Volunteers expect to be respected
• Volunteers expect to be informed
• Volunteers expect flexibility
• Volunteers expect recognition
• What are you doing to ensure these expectations are
being met???

20. Benefits
• Beyond the warm and fuzzies
• Learning new skills
• Meeting new people
• Participating on projects
• Being part of the decision making process
• Being part of a team
• References
• Networking opportunities

21. Retaining your Volunteers
•Best practices for managing
the volunteers you have
and keeping them starts
with good human
resources practices.

22. After recruitment comes retention
• Keeping track of your volunteers
• Interview each one or have someone from
your board or staff do this.
• Screening is required when volunteers work
with children or vulnerable clientele
• References are a good way to get to know
someone.
• Be straight forward

23. Tools to retain
• A system to track volunteer hours
• A quick way to reach volunteers
• A description of volunteer opportunities
• A business recruitment card
• Flexible schedules
• A volunteer coordinator
• Trial period
• A volunteer hand book

24. Orientation of Volunteers
• Create a volunteer handbook
• Do introduce them to everyone
• Offer a tour of the premises
• Give them a contact person, email or phone
number
• Include benefits, recognition and rewards

25. Benefits * Recognition * Rewards
• Yes, people volunteer to give freely of their
time, talents, skills and experience.
• However, everyone enjoys to thanked,
recognized and rewarded for their
contribution.
• What does your organization do?

26. Communicating with Volunteers
• A sense of belonging and loyalty comes from
knowing what’s going on and being part of
something.
• How often does your organization
communicate with volunteers
• How do you communicate with volunteers
• Social media, email and texting

27. Building bridges
• Between volunteers, staff and board members
• People who know each other work better
together.
• Bringing the cause and the people who work
behind the scenes together is a great combo.

28. Dealing with conflict
• And other problems that will come up
• Follow up immediately after complaint
• Write everything down
• Meet everyone concerned separately
• Ask the same questions
• Apply corrective measures
• Follow-up with everyone and communicate
clearly.

29. Getting started

30. People volunteer with and for…
•Organizations they
know!
•Tell your stories and
share your history.

31. Top 3 action items
•What can you do to
get started on
recruiting the
volunteers you need?

32. Any Questions ?