How to Make Volunteers Feel Like a Million Bucks

How to Make Volunteers Feel Like a Million Bucks
(When You Only Have Pennies to Spend)
by Helen Beamer

You want to appreciate your volunteers in a spectacular way but your volunteer appreciation budget (what budget?) does not provide the necessary funds.  Faced with this challenge, I find it works best to be creative in how you recognize volunteers.

Here are a dozen low-cost ways to let your volunteers know you appreciate them.

1. Be friendly and say thank you.  It doesn’t cost a thing to greet a volunteer and ask how things are going.  A warm, welcoming atmosphere creates an environment that meets the social interaction needs of volunteers. Encourage staff who work with volunteers to express their appreciation to volunteers each day.

2. Involve your clients in saying “Thank You.”  Client-made cards, decorations, or performances in poetry, song, or dance demonstrate appreciation in the most precious way.  The words and drawings of grateful clients (especially if your agency works with children) convey a sincerity that will touch a volunteer’s heart.  You can replicate these one-of-a-kind thank you cards with a color copier or a scanner and color printer.  They make great gift cards attached to an inexpensive gift.  The reproductions look almost as good as the originals.

3. Turn others’ trash into treasure.  Your agency may have extra items left over from a fundraising event or an in-kind donation they can’t figure out how to use.  I have uncovered expensive gift bags and colorful ribbon, discovered potential centerpieces, and framed photos with castoffs I found stuffed in boxes and hidden in closets.

4. Seek out donations.  A local business may be willing to provide exactly what you are looking for.  I once got several beautiful flower arrangements for an event at no cost with the condition that I return the empty vases to the florist the next day.  Make sure to write a glowing thank you letter and to provide a donation receipt for tax purposes.  Obtain your supervisor’s approval before you solicit donations.

5. Recruit the talents of family, friends, and staff.  My mother-in-law makes and sells dried flower arrangements.  She put together more than a dozen centerpieces one year when I asked for her help.  The volunteers loved them!  A friend who likes stamping designed a card to fit a recognition theme.  Co-workers were more than happy to give an hour to wrap gifts for volunteers.

6. Turn centerpieces into volunteer gifts or door prizes.  We had lots of small potted plants (purchased at a discount) to brighten a volunteer reception one year.  At the end of the event, each plant went home with a happy volunteer.  Months later, a volunteer with a not-so-green thumb went out of her way to let me know her plant was still thriving.

7. Shop the after-holiday sales and clearance racks.  Plan ahead.  The volunteers will never know that the New Year’s greeting was printed on holiday paper purchased at last year’s after-Christmas sale at 75% off.  Look for candy (always a favorite) that gets marked down quickly after a holiday.  The off-season red, green, or pastel wrappers can easily be worked into a volunteer appreciation theme with real savings to your program.

8. Check out what is in stock at the dollar store.  The dollar store has a lot to offer to the cash-strapped volunteer coordinator.  You can pick up tablecloths, napkins, or plates in an assortment of colors for only a dollar per package, leaving you with money to purchase refreshments!  Dollar store gift items, like candles, flower pots, or lotions look inviting wrapped in cellophane or nestled inside a gift bag.

9. Honor your volunteers with certificates.  This is an inexpensive way to make sure you can afford to recognize each of your volunteers.  Create personalized certificates for an annual recognition event or to honor the volunteer of the month.  Using your agency’s second page letterhead (think, free paper) will coordinate the look of the certificate with other agency materials.

10. Do it yourself.  Preparing vegetable and cheese trays (with food purchased at sale prices) is a lot less expensive than hiring a caterer for a reception.  Be sure to use proper food handling techniques and storage if you do it on your own.

11. Use the postage meter.  When you send cards and invitations to volunteers, remember the postage meter.  Depending on your agency’s accounting practices, using the meter (instead of stamps) may count as an indirect cost to the agency, rather than coming out of your budget.

12. When you do have money to spend, look for gifts that promote your cause.

Give volunteers a practical gift imprinted with a logo or message that will show their affiliation with your program and serve as a marketing tool.  Mugs in my kitchen cupboard remind me of organizations where once I volunteered.  A tote bag or pen with your organization’s logo will be useful to volunteers and may spark a conversation with others about the work they do for you.

You do not have to spend a lot to make a volunteer happy.  One of the volunteer appreciation gifts I treasure most from my 12 years as a school board trustee is a green clay pinch pot created by an anonymous elementary school student.  I keep loose change and spare keys in that unique clay dish.  Every time I see it, it makes me smile.