Over the last decade, we have worked with many organisations, helping them improve their volunteer management. We have found some common problems in volunteer management.

As you know being a volunteer manager can often be a lonely job.  TeamKinetic feels that it is important to get volunteer managers talking, sharing good practice and working together, this is important for the growth of the third sector and volunteering as a whole.

Recruitment Issues

Recruiting enough volunteers is one of the most common problems we hear. Our software looks to help resolve this common volunteer management issue. Although this may seem a monumental task to find the help you need, sometimes it can be simpler than you think.

Here are a few of our suggestions:

The rise of social media is a wonderful thing for the voluntary sector. Social media being free is a blessing for many industries and the voluntary sector is no different. Over one billion people are on Facebook and Twitter meaning there is an audience out there, you just have to appeal directly to them. There are many pages offering tips on how to use social media properly – cracking this medium may be the way to grow your volunteer base.

Do you know your volunteers, do you know what social media, if any they use?
Do you have the IT skills to communicate with your volunteers through the most appropriate channels?

Modern marketing isn’t the only way to attract new volunteers, more traditional means of communication should never be ignored. How do you engage with older volunteers, who are not on social media? How can you start a word-of-mouth campaign to build your support. Ideas like refer a friend or linking to existing groups such as rotary or taverners work well. People tend to respond positively to a review from people they know and trust.

Don’t ever discount the power of good posters or interesting newsletters.

Keeping Volunteers Interested

Retaining a volunteer is much cheaper than recruiting a new volunteer! Improving your retention should be a priority for anyone working in volunteer management.

How do you keep your volunteers for longer?

Theories of behaviour change suggest that for people to make a significant and sustainable change to their behaviour, their motivation must be significant or that change of behaviour will not be long-lasting.  If you want to help motivate a volunteer to stay involved, you must call to their primal instincts.

What you are doing as a volunteer makes a difference! We could not do this without you.  We need you!

It’s just good manners to say thank you to the people who help you. Say thank you right and that person will come back time and again.

Recognition is tricky, as no one volunteer is the same and some people feel uncomfortable being made a fuss of.  However, it is important that you recognise people’s efforts. Be it a Christmas party, a summer dance or a cup of tea with the team, getting your volunteers together to say thank you properly and to tell them how important they are, how indispensable they are and what a difference they make.  Appreciate your volunteers and remember to show and share that appreciation.

Timing Opportunities

Knowing your volunteers and understanding them is vital in volunteer management. For you to cater to the needs of your volunteers do you understand the demographics, motivations and barriers to participation? Examples of this might be, are you volunteers 18-24, are they students, unemployed, have children, are they likely to be in work during the day? How do I optimise my session times, recruitment and opportunity description to appeal to my target audience, do I know what motivates them and what prevents them from doing more?

Do I have the data to find out what time is best for my volunteers?  Do I have the tool available to learn through insight?

Volunteers appreciate you fitting opportunities around them. To offer them what they want, when they want to do it.  Boosting volunteer enthusiasm, because they know you’re taking their personal situation into account.

TeamKinetic – The Solution!!

Of course, we think a great way to solve many of these issues and more besides effective volunteer management is software. What’s even more obvious to us is the volunteer management software that you should use should be built using open data principles, work on every device and be super easy to use.

TeamKinetic’s volunteer management software has a system that can suit everyone no matter how large or small. We would be more than happy to have a chat with you regarding your particular volunteer management needs. We work across the sector with Universities, National Sporting Governing Bodies, volunteer centres, charities,  major events, hospices, hospitals, museums, parks, community groups and Sports Clubs.

If you think that your organisation could benefit from having more time to help more people, please feel free to get in touch.

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Have you enjoyed using TeamKinetic? If you could leave us a review on Capterra, we’d really appreciate it! We’ll even send you a little thank you.