If You Want Volunteers, Ask

By Merle Benny

Now is the perfect time to recruit volunteers. Many people are out of work or working fewer hours. They may want to use their extra hours to do something they care about or to explore a career change. Others may want to volunteer because they are concerned about those suffering in these difficult economic times.

I’ve been a volunteer chef making dinner for 50 once a week. I’ve slept in more churches and synagogues than I can count. I’ve organized fundraisers, planned trips, made phone calls and cleaned bathrooms. Why? Because someone asked.

There are several fundamental reasons that people volunteer. Generally they get and stay involved because:
· They know you
· They understand and believe in your mission
· They have a connected to you or someone in the organization

But you will seldom get volunteers without asking for them. When you care about your mission and ask people to join you, you generally get just what you need – and then some. Your “ask” could be a general call for volunteers, like an announcement in a newsletter. Or it could be more specific, like asking a friend to help you out. Not surprisingly, the closer you get to the one-on-one ask the better results you will have.

Another key to success in recruitment to be specific about what you want. The more specific the request the better the results. When we want something we tend to downplay it. You need someone to cover the phones for three hours every Tuesday but you ask. “Do you think you could spare an hour or two, just this once?” We all do it, but the truth is, asking for exactly want you need works best.

Here’s a great example of this. Good Grief is a new organization providing services to children who have lost a parent. They need facilitators to work with the children. In the past year and a half they have trained about 80 facilitators and each one of them made a big commitment: they paid for their training, gave up four full days to be trained and they agreed to serve for one full year. That’s a lot to ask but the organization has had no trouble getting volunteers because their mission and the need have been clearly defined and communicated.

Find Volunteers

Potential volunteers are all around you. Hopefully, you are continually building your circle and sharing your mission so you have a large pool of possibilities. I suggest a regular Tour to build your circle of friends. Be sure you are keeping track and encourage (and make it easy for) everyone else in your organization to keep a list of volunteer candidates.

When you have a volunteer use him! There is nothing worse than asking for volunteers and not using them. Be sure the need is established and you are ready to go before you ask. Having a regularly scheduled volunteer training will help! The training could start with a Tour so everyone shares the same understanding of your mission and goals, then do the job specific training.

Here’s another insight: Volunteers tend to look like the recruiter. Well, not exactly but if you want young volunteers, train a young recruiter. If you want diversity, have diverse recruiters. Want upbeat; make sure your recruiters are enthusiastic.

To summarize, the key points to remember when you are recruiting are:

1. Know precisely what you want
2. Identify potentials volunteers
3. Ask!

In addition to cleaning toilets I have also had the honor of serving on selection committees and facilitating training. I was pleased to be asked to do these jobs. To be asked can be an honor. Think of the times you have felt honored to be included in something, even if it meant a commitment on your part. Everybody likes their talents to be appreciated – if you are asking the right person to do the right job than you are showing your appreciation and respect when you ask for their help.

Once you have a volunteer, take good care of her. Show appreciation, celebrate and give her more opportunities! Turn all your volunteers into ambassadors for your organization. That’s how you grow and succeed, even in tough economic time.

Merle Benny is a published author and has recently released The Winner’s Circle, a practical, easy-to-use program for nonprofit success and growth. It can be found at Nonprofit-Champion.com.

With over 25 years marketing and management experience, as well as being a lifelong volunteer, Merle now works exclusively with nonprofits to help them grow and succeed. Her creative solutions for nonprofit organizations have included events, websites, videos, branding, annual reports, brochures and development. She provides free ideas, tips and tools for nonprofit leaders at: http://www.Nonprofit-Champion.com

This article may be freely distributed if the author information stays attached.

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