This document proposes an SMS-based program called Volunteer Hustle to help a Seattle-based soup kitchen strengthen and diversify its volunteer communications, management, and retention strategies. The goals are to provide a low-pressure recruitment tool, lower barriers to volunteering, and decrease staff time spent on recruitment. The program aims to increase volunteer numbers and hours through flexible, easy-to-access opportunities communicated via text. Impact will be evaluated quantitatively by tracking things like volunteer hours and management time saved, and qualitatively by surveying volunteer satisfaction.
The document discusses the digital collaboration community HitRECord.org. It analyzes why members choose to collaborate on HitRECord over other options, and what incentives keep them participating. Interviews found that while monetary gain was initially a personal goal, members ultimately defined success as collaboration, learning, and community support. The community influenced individual perceptions of goals and success. The conclusion recommends letting the community's culture naturally develop with open communication and multiple incentives for participation.
Ad-supported streaming generated $616 million in income in 2020 while subscription streaming generated $1.58 billion according to IFPI data. Pandora uses sponsored listening to generate revenue from ad-supported streams. Streaming services transition users from free to subscription tiers by providing windowed content, more artist content like videos for subscribers, and limiting features for free users.
Internal and external audiences: developing a strategy to engage hearts and m...CharityComms
Alina O’Keeffe, engagement manager, Sands, the stillbirth and neonatal death charity
Visit the CharityComms website to view slides from past events, see what events we have coming up and to check out what else we do: www.charitycomms.org.uk
Managing and recruiting seasonal volunteers is always a challenge, particularly when volunteer interest can be skewed towards certain times of the year. While holiday volunteers can be a great asset to your organization, how do you recruit volunteers for the rest of the year? We'll discuss some strategies for maintaining a consistent volunteer base, and conveying the importance of year-round volunteers to your seasonal volunteer team. Made possible through funding from the Walmart Foundation.
The strategic plan aims to increase utilization and better integrate The Society's programs - Look Good Feel Better, Road to Recovery, and Reach to Recovery - across 19 counties. This will allow for a more proactive approach and focus on shared opportunities. Milestones will be tracked through monthly reports. The plan targets cancer center directors, patient navigators, and oncologists and aims to influence patients, caregivers, and peers through marketing materials, networking events, and increasing accessibility to programs.
The technology team aims to leverage modern technology to support Sensible Washington's distributed and resilient organization, new media and social media outreach, volunteer support and campaign logistics, and outcome measurement and process refinement. This includes allowing local volunteer groups to self-manage while staying connected, propagating a culture that rewards volunteers, and preventing area-specific organizational collapse. The goals are to use new media to convert people into supporters through creative campaigns, and to make data collection easy for volunteers to allow for better decision making and measurement of processes and outcomes. The team needs volunteers from technology experts to beta testers to help achieve these goals.
Principles of Fundraising Success: Unleash the Secrets to Donor Retention and...ArrevaSoftware
This document provides an overview of principles for successful donor retention and engagement. It discusses analyzing donor data to better understand retention rates and identify loyal donor segments. Key reports and RFM analysis are used to develop donor personas and segmentation strategies. Communication strategies should be tailored to different donor segments using various channels at optimal frequencies. Goals and responsibilities should be set and tracked. Centralized donor relationship management technology integrates these efforts and tracks activities, communications and donations over time. Implementing thoughtful, prompt and personalized donor engagement can improve retention rates.
The document discusses the digital collaboration community HitRECord.org. It analyzes why members choose to collaborate on HitRECord over other options, and what incentives keep them participating. Interviews found that while monetary gain was initially a personal goal, members ultimately defined success as collaboration, learning, and community support. The community influenced individual perceptions of goals and success. The conclusion recommends letting the community's culture naturally develop with open communication and multiple incentives for participation.
Ad-supported streaming generated $616 million in income in 2020 while subscription streaming generated $1.58 billion according to IFPI data. Pandora uses sponsored listening to generate revenue from ad-supported streams. Streaming services transition users from free to subscription tiers by providing windowed content, more artist content like videos for subscribers, and limiting features for free users.
Internal and external audiences: developing a strategy to engage hearts and m...CharityComms
Alina O’Keeffe, engagement manager, Sands, the stillbirth and neonatal death charity
Visit the CharityComms website to view slides from past events, see what events we have coming up and to check out what else we do: www.charitycomms.org.uk
Managing and recruiting seasonal volunteers is always a challenge, particularly when volunteer interest can be skewed towards certain times of the year. While holiday volunteers can be a great asset to your organization, how do you recruit volunteers for the rest of the year? We'll discuss some strategies for maintaining a consistent volunteer base, and conveying the importance of year-round volunteers to your seasonal volunteer team. Made possible through funding from the Walmart Foundation.
The strategic plan aims to increase utilization and better integrate The Society's programs - Look Good Feel Better, Road to Recovery, and Reach to Recovery - across 19 counties. This will allow for a more proactive approach and focus on shared opportunities. Milestones will be tracked through monthly reports. The plan targets cancer center directors, patient navigators, and oncologists and aims to influence patients, caregivers, and peers through marketing materials, networking events, and increasing accessibility to programs.
The technology team aims to leverage modern technology to support Sensible Washington's distributed and resilient organization, new media and social media outreach, volunteer support and campaign logistics, and outcome measurement and process refinement. This includes allowing local volunteer groups to self-manage while staying connected, propagating a culture that rewards volunteers, and preventing area-specific organizational collapse. The goals are to use new media to convert people into supporters through creative campaigns, and to make data collection easy for volunteers to allow for better decision making and measurement of processes and outcomes. The team needs volunteers from technology experts to beta testers to help achieve these goals.
Principles of Fundraising Success: Unleash the Secrets to Donor Retention and...ArrevaSoftware
This document provides an overview of principles for successful donor retention and engagement. It discusses analyzing donor data to better understand retention rates and identify loyal donor segments. Key reports and RFM analysis are used to develop donor personas and segmentation strategies. Communication strategies should be tailored to different donor segments using various channels at optimal frequencies. Goals and responsibilities should be set and tracked. Centralized donor relationship management technology integrates these efforts and tracks activities, communications and donations over time. Implementing thoughtful, prompt and personalized donor engagement can improve retention rates.
Online and Offline: Creating a Holistic Customer ExperienceHootsuite
Are offline activities still relevant in a digital world? Let’s explore the impact integrated on- and offline social media efforts can have on business. During this session we’ll take a look at the ways both types of efforts are used, the impact they can have on business, and key takeaways that can be shared with colleagues.
Elizabeth Houston - How To Successfully Blend Online and Offline Community Bu...FeverBee Limited
Elizabeth Houston, Director of Enterprise Community at Hootsuite, will show you how Hootsuite manages to use both online and offline events to get people to participate in their community and create a seamless customer experience.
The document discusses the role of an outreach librarian in supporting evidence-based decision making. Key points:
- The outreach librarian is embedded with client teams to understand their needs and simplify access to information resources.
- Services provided include answering enquiries, supplying documents, managing e-resources, conducting horizon scanning and current awareness, and providing user education.
- Effectiveness is measured through user satisfaction surveys, focus groups, and tracking requests through a customer relationship management system to ensure targets are met.
Network Fundraising - Biz Mastermind GroupsLaura Miller
Increase and diversify your revenue stream - a sample proposal to raise funds through biz mastermid groups - prepared for an American Red Cross Chapter. Raises funds NOW + plants seeds for major legacy gifts.
Versus Arthritis - supporter centred digital communicationsmore onion
This presentation explains how Versus Arthritis, with help from more onion, have driven organisational change to transform the way they engage supporters, recruit and retain donors, and deepen understanding of their audience. They outline the steps in their journey, from initial pilot project through to introducing entirely new roles and organisational processes, and how they've built internal buy-in and overcome obstacles to change.
New Media Strategies for Nonprofit Outreach and FundraisingSarah McMaster
Presented by Sarah McMaster, MWCC Director of Marketing & New Media during the Mount Wachusett Community College Center for Civic Learning and Community Engagement's Non-Profit Collaborative Fundraising Mini-Conference, held November 1, 2013. The Road From Here: Fundraising in the New Economy
1) The document discusses strategies for donor engagement and fundraising for multiple sclerosis research, including marketing campaigns, social media outreach, and tracking donor trends.
2) Key donor trends include major donors continuing to give to fewer charities, more donations coming from individuals and corporations during strong economic times, and most generous donors planning their support.
3) Maintaining competition requires innovative ideas, creating community identity, and clear communication about donation goals to effectively engage donors and volunteers over time.
The document provides step-by-step guidance for organizations to establish effective volunteer programs, including creating structure, establishing budgets, screening and training volunteers, recognizing volunteers, and retaining volunteers through communication, feedback, and social activities. It also summarizes three national studies on animal welfare volunteering which found that providing necessary tools and supplies, discounted services, and conflict policies help retain volunteers.
Accountable Fundraising: You Can Integrate Achievement, Long-term Success and...4Good.org
Suggested practices in this webinar will significantly improve your bottom line as you gain better results for your cause, increases loyalty from staff and board, and deepens the level of appreciation from those who support your mission.
How to Reinvigorate Your Donor Base Using Peer to Peer FundraisingArrevaSoftware
Could your donor base use a pick me up? Are you searching for a renewed and rejuvenated set of fundraisers? Then look no further than the fundraising fountain of youth: peer to peer fundraising.
In a world where crowdfunding sites are just a click away, peer to peer fundraising has the ability to engage younger generations more easily than other, more traditional forms of fundraising.
During this webinar we will outline how peer to peer fundraising:
-Engages Gen Z and Millennial volunteers.
-Yields more gifts from Baby Boomer and Mature donors.
-Increases your organization's reach across social media.
-Helps to spread mission awareness to newer audiences.
iHV regional con: Kelley Webb Martin - Timebanking to promote Health Visiting...Julie Cooper
Presentation by Kelley Webb-Martin at the Institute of Health Visiting Regional Professional Conferences 2015.
Kelley Webb-Martin is Chair of Trustees, Nusho,
PEN, Patient Experience Network, NHS IQ, NHS Improving Quality, Ruth Evans, Patient Experience, Lesly Goodman, Samina Allie, Rachel White, NHS England, Midlands and Lancashire CSU, Black Country Partnerships NHS Foundation Trust, Using insight across a health system to improve care, What's the story with storytelling within the NHS, Digital story telling workshops
Technology trends are continuously changing and improving the way we work and communicate with each other. Staying on top of these trends is essential in developing new strategies for attracting, engaging, and retaining volunteers. Join the founders of Kindness Connect, Jonathan Burns and Kevan Osmond, as they explore these changes and how you can best utilize new and affordable technology to maintain an effective and engaged volunteer program.
A marathon, not a sprint: Nurturing the fundraising journeyAdestra
Automation can be used to ensure subscribers receive timely and relevant content, increasing engagement and ROI. The webinar focused on developing supporter journeys through marketing automation, emphasizing a customer-first approach of nurturing contacts through different lifecycle stages from welcome to loyalty. Case studies showed how charities like NSPCC and Breast Cancer Care automated journeys to increase open and click-through rates. Testing was also discussed as important to learn about audiences and make incremental improvements.
Integrating skilled volunteers into your existing volunteer program is both exciting and scary. If you're thinking about adding skilled volunteers to your program, or if you've just started, this webinar can help you make the experience successful for both the volunteer and the organization. Navigating the introduction of the idea into your organization, developing the art of delegating work to volunteers, and setting achievable outcomes will be covered.
This document discusses the skills, responsibilities, and impact of high performing volunteer leaders in hospice agencies. It outlines that volunteer leaders require skills in human resource management, customer service, training, commitment to quality, fiscal management, and community outreach. When volunteer leaders have these skills, they can impact agency operations, census growth, cost savings, innovative programs, community collaboration, and media/marketing. The document provides examples of performance measures and ways to document the value volunteer leaders provide through monthly reports and surveys. The overall message is that high performing volunteer leaders are essential to the success and sustainability of hospice agencies.
This document summarizes PASYKAF's experience creating two new volunteer teams to support cancer patients and fundraising activities. For the patient support team, PASYKAF established clear recruitment and retention policies, provided training, and saw positive results with 6 regular and 3 occasional volunteers. For the fundraising team, PASYKAF held information sessions that attracted over 100 people and saw 74 volunteers join. Areas for improvement include developing skills training and better utilizing all volunteers. The new approaches around clear policies and training have led to successful volunteer recruitment and support.
This document discusses strategies for churches to conduct capital campaigns to raise funds for ministry goals. It notes that churches typically do capital campaigns to build or improve facilities, pay down debt, or add staff and programs. Using an outside consultant is recommended, as they have training and experience that increases the likelihood of meeting fundraising goals compared to self-led campaigns. The document outlines best practices for selecting a consultant and preparing for the campaign, which involves five phases: pre-campaign planning, a planning weekend, the active campaign period, a commitment weekend, and a follow-up phase. Traits of effective campaigns include strong leadership, pastoral commitment, a clear and compelling vision, a realistic financial goal, and consensus among members.
Learnings and Successes: Multi-channel Customer JourneyTherese Lockemy
How to build an integrated customer engagement journey through multiple channels.
You will learn what to consider before launching a multi-channel customer engagement journey, and how to successfully test and adjust your approach and supporting technology to enhance the customer experience.
How to launch and build an integrated customer engagement journey.
How to expand to other markets and scale existing and future journeys.
How to test and optimize your journey.
Online and Offline: Creating a Holistic Customer ExperienceHootsuite
Are offline activities still relevant in a digital world? Let’s explore the impact integrated on- and offline social media efforts can have on business. During this session we’ll take a look at the ways both types of efforts are used, the impact they can have on business, and key takeaways that can be shared with colleagues.
Elizabeth Houston - How To Successfully Blend Online and Offline Community Bu...FeverBee Limited
Elizabeth Houston, Director of Enterprise Community at Hootsuite, will show you how Hootsuite manages to use both online and offline events to get people to participate in their community and create a seamless customer experience.
The document discusses the role of an outreach librarian in supporting evidence-based decision making. Key points:
- The outreach librarian is embedded with client teams to understand their needs and simplify access to information resources.
- Services provided include answering enquiries, supplying documents, managing e-resources, conducting horizon scanning and current awareness, and providing user education.
- Effectiveness is measured through user satisfaction surveys, focus groups, and tracking requests through a customer relationship management system to ensure targets are met.
Network Fundraising - Biz Mastermind GroupsLaura Miller
Increase and diversify your revenue stream - a sample proposal to raise funds through biz mastermid groups - prepared for an American Red Cross Chapter. Raises funds NOW + plants seeds for major legacy gifts.
Versus Arthritis - supporter centred digital communicationsmore onion
This presentation explains how Versus Arthritis, with help from more onion, have driven organisational change to transform the way they engage supporters, recruit and retain donors, and deepen understanding of their audience. They outline the steps in their journey, from initial pilot project through to introducing entirely new roles and organisational processes, and how they've built internal buy-in and overcome obstacles to change.
New Media Strategies for Nonprofit Outreach and FundraisingSarah McMaster
Presented by Sarah McMaster, MWCC Director of Marketing & New Media during the Mount Wachusett Community College Center for Civic Learning and Community Engagement's Non-Profit Collaborative Fundraising Mini-Conference, held November 1, 2013. The Road From Here: Fundraising in the New Economy
1) The document discusses strategies for donor engagement and fundraising for multiple sclerosis research, including marketing campaigns, social media outreach, and tracking donor trends.
2) Key donor trends include major donors continuing to give to fewer charities, more donations coming from individuals and corporations during strong economic times, and most generous donors planning their support.
3) Maintaining competition requires innovative ideas, creating community identity, and clear communication about donation goals to effectively engage donors and volunteers over time.
The document provides step-by-step guidance for organizations to establish effective volunteer programs, including creating structure, establishing budgets, screening and training volunteers, recognizing volunteers, and retaining volunteers through communication, feedback, and social activities. It also summarizes three national studies on animal welfare volunteering which found that providing necessary tools and supplies, discounted services, and conflict policies help retain volunteers.
Accountable Fundraising: You Can Integrate Achievement, Long-term Success and...4Good.org
Suggested practices in this webinar will significantly improve your bottom line as you gain better results for your cause, increases loyalty from staff and board, and deepens the level of appreciation from those who support your mission.
How to Reinvigorate Your Donor Base Using Peer to Peer FundraisingArrevaSoftware
Could your donor base use a pick me up? Are you searching for a renewed and rejuvenated set of fundraisers? Then look no further than the fundraising fountain of youth: peer to peer fundraising.
In a world where crowdfunding sites are just a click away, peer to peer fundraising has the ability to engage younger generations more easily than other, more traditional forms of fundraising.
During this webinar we will outline how peer to peer fundraising:
-Engages Gen Z and Millennial volunteers.
-Yields more gifts from Baby Boomer and Mature donors.
-Increases your organization's reach across social media.
-Helps to spread mission awareness to newer audiences.
iHV regional con: Kelley Webb Martin - Timebanking to promote Health Visiting...Julie Cooper
Presentation by Kelley Webb-Martin at the Institute of Health Visiting Regional Professional Conferences 2015.
Kelley Webb-Martin is Chair of Trustees, Nusho,
PEN, Patient Experience Network, NHS IQ, NHS Improving Quality, Ruth Evans, Patient Experience, Lesly Goodman, Samina Allie, Rachel White, NHS England, Midlands and Lancashire CSU, Black Country Partnerships NHS Foundation Trust, Using insight across a health system to improve care, What's the story with storytelling within the NHS, Digital story telling workshops
Technology trends are continuously changing and improving the way we work and communicate with each other. Staying on top of these trends is essential in developing new strategies for attracting, engaging, and retaining volunteers. Join the founders of Kindness Connect, Jonathan Burns and Kevan Osmond, as they explore these changes and how you can best utilize new and affordable technology to maintain an effective and engaged volunteer program.
A marathon, not a sprint: Nurturing the fundraising journeyAdestra
Automation can be used to ensure subscribers receive timely and relevant content, increasing engagement and ROI. The webinar focused on developing supporter journeys through marketing automation, emphasizing a customer-first approach of nurturing contacts through different lifecycle stages from welcome to loyalty. Case studies showed how charities like NSPCC and Breast Cancer Care automated journeys to increase open and click-through rates. Testing was also discussed as important to learn about audiences and make incremental improvements.
Integrating skilled volunteers into your existing volunteer program is both exciting and scary. If you're thinking about adding skilled volunteers to your program, or if you've just started, this webinar can help you make the experience successful for both the volunteer and the organization. Navigating the introduction of the idea into your organization, developing the art of delegating work to volunteers, and setting achievable outcomes will be covered.
This document discusses the skills, responsibilities, and impact of high performing volunteer leaders in hospice agencies. It outlines that volunteer leaders require skills in human resource management, customer service, training, commitment to quality, fiscal management, and community outreach. When volunteer leaders have these skills, they can impact agency operations, census growth, cost savings, innovative programs, community collaboration, and media/marketing. The document provides examples of performance measures and ways to document the value volunteer leaders provide through monthly reports and surveys. The overall message is that high performing volunteer leaders are essential to the success and sustainability of hospice agencies.
This document summarizes PASYKAF's experience creating two new volunteer teams to support cancer patients and fundraising activities. For the patient support team, PASYKAF established clear recruitment and retention policies, provided training, and saw positive results with 6 regular and 3 occasional volunteers. For the fundraising team, PASYKAF held information sessions that attracted over 100 people and saw 74 volunteers join. Areas for improvement include developing skills training and better utilizing all volunteers. The new approaches around clear policies and training have led to successful volunteer recruitment and support.
This document discusses strategies for churches to conduct capital campaigns to raise funds for ministry goals. It notes that churches typically do capital campaigns to build or improve facilities, pay down debt, or add staff and programs. Using an outside consultant is recommended, as they have training and experience that increases the likelihood of meeting fundraising goals compared to self-led campaigns. The document outlines best practices for selecting a consultant and preparing for the campaign, which involves five phases: pre-campaign planning, a planning weekend, the active campaign period, a commitment weekend, and a follow-up phase. Traits of effective campaigns include strong leadership, pastoral commitment, a clear and compelling vision, a realistic financial goal, and consensus among members.
Learnings and Successes: Multi-channel Customer JourneyTherese Lockemy
How to build an integrated customer engagement journey through multiple channels.
You will learn what to consider before launching a multi-channel customer engagement journey, and how to successfully test and adjust your approach and supporting technology to enhance the customer experience.
How to launch and build an integrated customer engagement journey.
How to expand to other markets and scale existing and future journeys.
How to test and optimize your journey.
Learnings and Successes: Multi-channel Customer Journey
Volunteer hustle v2
1. Volunteer Hustle
An SMS based program.
2012
Group 3: Ashley Ball, Jeff Barr,
Samantha Juneman, Veronica Nett,
Dacia Saenz.
2. Goals and Objectives
campaigns
Strengthen and diversify the volunteer communications, management
and retention strategies of a Seattle Based Soup Kitchen
• Provide a low pressure recruitment tool to notify volunteers of
potential opportunities to give their time without being intrusive
or demanding
• Lower barriers and remove some of the extra legwork out the
process of volunteers seeking out and signing up for volunteer
opportunities on their own
• Decrease the number hours and resources the soup kitchen’s
staff use to advertise, schedule and recruit its needed volunteer
to help our Seattle Soup Kitchen diversify and strengthen their volunteer communications,
pool
management, and retention strategies.
• Increase the kitchen’s volunteer recruitment pool, and the
number of drop-in and logged volunteer hours
3. Statement of Need
Recession
campaigns reality: Food banks are struggling.
Rising Hunger Rates Falling Volunteer Retention Rates
4. Statement of Need
campaigns
Volunteer retention best practices:
• Respect for volunteers’ time
• Easy-to-find opportunities
• Well-planned communication (frequency, method, & tone)
• New technologies
Volunteer Hustle SMS system:
• Cost-effective
• Un-intrusive
Volunteer retention best practices: flexibility
• Allows schedule
•Respect for volunteers’ time
• Fits time-sensitive needs of soup kitchen
•Easy-to-find opportunities
• Scalable as a model for other charities
•Well-planned communication (frequency, method, & tone)
•New technologies
6. Success and Impact
campaigns
Our ultimate goal is for more people with food insecurities to be served. A
way to make this happen is to have more hands on deck all around by
helping Seattle Soup Kitchen staff have more time and volunteer
resources to run their organization. We can help by making the following
happen:
•Volunteer Management Team streamline volunteer communication,
management, and retention.
•More volunteers donating their time because barrier to volunteering
has been lowered.
7. Approach to Evaluations
campaigns
We will use a combination of both quantitative and qualitative
data to asses the impact of Volunteer Hustle SMS on both the
volunteer management team (text sends) and the volunteer
pool (text recipients).
8. Key Performance Indicators
campaigns
Quantitative Outcome Measures for Volunteer Management Team:
•Decrease in hours spent in outreach growing volunteer pool
•Decrease in hours spent communicating volunteer opportunities to pool of
potential volunteers
•Decrease in hours spent scheduling volunteers in all available roles
•Increase in volunteer hours logged
•Increase in volunteer pool
•Increase in drop-in volunteer hours
Qualitative Outcome Measures for Volunteer Experience:
More likely to volunteer because:
•Satisfied with the frequency and type of communication from organization
•Easier to learn about volunteer opportunities
•Flexibility of opportunities is easier to fit into their schedule
•Feels like organization values their time
9. Cost
campaigns
Preparation Costs: $1739.00
•Research and Analysis One Year of Operation: $4018.28
•Training Staff and Volunteers
•Installing System
•Initial Marketing Campaign
•(Labor +Materials)
Monthly Operational Costs: $189.94 Three Years of Operation: $8576.84
•Internet Costs
•SMS subscription
•Evaluation
10. Volunteer Hustle
An SMS based program.
2012
Q&A?
Group 3: Ashley Ball, Jeff Barr,
Samantha Juneman, Veronica Nett,
Dacia Saenz.
Editor's Notes
A few best practices and tactical approaches to make your content meaningful and sharable for your community!
The Goal of the Volunteer Hustle is to Increase the volunteer population base for a Seattle soup kitchen and increase the number of people who give their time to the soup kitchen by tapping into a pool of volunteers who cannot commit to volunteer times in advance, but who are willing and able to come in if notified via SMS message of available volunteer opportunities the day of based on the needs of the soup kitchen. The program is an un-intrusive, low-pressure means of communication (compared to a phone call soliciting their time) , which reaches a large number of volunteers quickly and directly, allowing them to be flexible with their schedules. The system also allows for the time-sensitive needs of a soup kitchen, which has distinct, time-bound meal shifts to fill each day . From the volunteer standpoint, the objective is to lower barriers preventing people from giving their time by directly offering them low-pressure volunteer opportunities, and removing some of the extra legwork out the process of them taking the time to seek out and sign up for these volunteer opportunities on their own. By lifting some of these barriers, the SMS program emphasizes a positive experience and reinforces that the volunteer’s time is valued, needed and will be well spent at the soup kitchen. The goal of this interaction is to ultimately motivate people to continue to respond to the text messages, volunteer their time, and share their experience with others.
According to the USDA, 50 million Americans now live with food insecurity. National hunger range: 5.4% - 5.7% Washington state: grew from 4.3% - 6.2% from 2008-12, an all-time high. Children ’s Alliance report: “food banks and other private food providers across the state are experiencing increased demand.” At same time, volunteer retention rates have dropped: Nationally, retention rates dropped from have declined, from 65.5% (2008) to 64.5% (2010). Washington ’s losses were more extreme here, too: shrank from 75.2% in 2008 to 69.1% in 2010. Source: Volunteering in America. This is bad news for non-profits like our Seattle soup kitchen: -increasingly reliant upon volunteer hours to provide critical services. -losing money when they can ’t retain them.
In this landscape, volunteer management and retention strategies can mean the difference between life and death for an organization. ($38 billion in lost labor in 2009) Groups with the best retention rates follow a set of best practices. [list] Our project ’s use of SMS technology for retention and management fits these parameters. -un-intrusive, low-pressure means of communication -reaches a large number of volunteers quickly and directly -allows them to be flexible with their schedules. -Fits needs of a soup kitchen (distinct, time-bound meal shifts to fill each day) -model for retention and management Nearly 25% of WA children live in food-insecure households. -insecure economy placing state/federal assistance programs at risk -without volunteers to match the rising need, families will go hungry. We cannot afford to wait to implement this solution.
A few best practices and tactical approaches to make your content meaningful and sharable for your community!