Look after your amazing volunteers this year
Seize the moment
January is a prime time for charities to recruit new volunteers as many of us make New Year's resolutions to donate our time. Once they’re on board and know what they’re doing, you really want to keep them! Here are our top tips for looking after your volunteers in 2024.
Keep in touch
Establishing a rhythm of regular supporter communications is a reliable way of helping your volunteers feel part of the wider organisation and your mission. Experiment and see which methods work best for the volunteers at your charity, whether it’s email newsletters with links to video updates, or letters and phone calls. Personalise the version that goes to your volunteers and make sure it thanks them regularly for giving up their precious time.
Get social
Social media campaigns can be really effective in sharing stories about your volunteers to inspire others. Short video case studies or infographics bring to life the impact that being a volunteer for your charity brings.
Provide useful resources
Try to make the volunteer experience as smooth as possible by making sure volunteers can access the right “tools” for their work with your charity. “How-to” guides, role descriptions, volunteer inductions and training all help a new volunteer to settle in. Many charities now produce their training as video courses to increase their reach and ease pressure on staff time.
Be flexible
Many people are squeezing volunteering in around work and caring responsibilities, so try to offer a range of entry points for people to engage. Micro volunteering tasks that take just a few moments (such as supporting an online campaign or petition) can be ideal for students. Regular volunteering opportunities might appeal more to those wanting to learn new skills or feel part of a team. Not everyone can sign up to a 12 month programme of training and volunteering. Can you offer short-term volunteering such as one-off events or once-a-term activities?
Ask for feedback
Your volunteers hold valuable data on your organisation, because they experience it from the inside! Don’t forget to ask for feedback at regular intervals in order to improve your volunteer journey. Simple online surveys which take just five minutes can help you build a picture of volunteer satisfaction.
Where you have volunteers actually working with your beneficiaries, make sure you regularly ask them to share their experiences and reflections - they’re a great source of stories for your supporter comms.
Make connections (in real life!)
Since the isolation experienced in the covid pandemic, making friends is one of the big reasons that people start volunteering. Organising a coffee and cake catch up for your volunteers gives you the opportunity to:
Help volunteers connect to each other and to your charity
Meet other staff and trustees
Benefit from peer support which can be really valuable, especially in lone volunteering roles such as 1-1 befriending
Be more accessible
Think about your volunteer recruitment and how you might be able to include a wider range of people.
Could you offer some training mid-week during school hours so that parents with kids can attend without needing childcare? How about a Saturday or evening session for those who are working full time? How about switching to online, video-based training so that people can attend without having to travel or pay for transport? Some of these small changes could make a big difference to your volunteers in 2024.
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If your charity would like to provide dynamic, useful video resources for your volunteers in 2024, we can help. Better Story can bring together all the different strands – strategy, filming, directing, editing, creating workbooks – to make your training as engaging as possible. To find out more, get in touch with our team.
