Tag: volunteer management Page 4 of 38

4 Ways to Attract More Volunteers

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On 13th December 2023

In News & Views

It can be difficult to build a volunteer base. Even if you have an established group of regular volunteers, more are usually needed! With the help of some inspiration, you can begin to attract more new volunteers to your organisation and volunteer programs. 

Create a Buzz

If you can add an element of fun, through a competition or a family event day, for example, this will generate excitement for volunteers. Although handing out leaflets is an effective way to portray information, there will not be much intrigue. A build-up to an event or prize draw encourages involvement and discussion. Fostering a sense of community is crucial for many volunteer-involved organisations. 

Competitions are a great way to discover new volunteers. Competitions can be lighthearted or more meaningful. A competition that relates to your organisation’s purpose can be a form of volunteer induction, helping them to understand what, why and how you do what you do. For example, if you are a museum, you could run a photography competition for your museum and its collections. Potential volunteers will be inspired to visit and take an interest in what your organisation has to offer. Congratulate your entrants on their competition efforts and they will be more likely to offer their time as a volunteer. 

Inventive Opportunity Titles

Keep it simple with a funny or interesting opportunity title. For volunteers who are already navigating your TeamKinetic site, this will break up their browsing by attracting attention. Pique their interest and provide a sense of the opportunity, then give clarity through the opportunity description.

See the difference for yourself under the opportunity summary! Measure the click rate of opportunities with more versus less inventive opportunity titles.

Build your Brand Image

Sustaining a reputable name for your organisation takes maintenance! Ensure that your organisation has a personality and voice both online and offline. With an effectively communicated brand image, your organisation will stand out and become recognisable to prospective volunteers. 

Let people get to know your existing volunteers. Case studies, volunteer ‘profiles’ or interviews are a great way to show appreciation for your existing volunteers whilst connecting with potential volunteers. This humanises your organisation and gives credibility to your volunteering opportunities. Honesty and transparency are key!

Create conversation on social media. Pose questions or give advice for your audience to engage with. Social media can be far-reaching, as your community responds, their connections will be exposed to your content, and so on. Your social pages are also a great place to feature volunteering opportunities. After creating an opportunity on your TeamKinetic site, there is an option to ‘Share’ to multiple channels including your organisation’s social media accounts under the ‘Promote’ tab on the left-hand toolbar. If your opportunities are reflective of your organisation, your social media accounts will also accurately portray your brand image. As a result, you will attract the right kind of volunteers. For more advice on signposting your TeamKinetic site via social media, click here.

Develop Partnerships

Working with external partners helps to attract more volunteers. For example, the Liverpool City Region Volunteering Hub uses its TeamKinetic site to link volunteers from across the Liverpool City Region. Partners include One Knowsley and Halton and St Helens VCA. All the above tips can be used, just on a wider scale! Every organisation within your partnership can engage with new and existing volunteers. 

If you are not currently in partnership with other organisations, you can link out of your TeamKinetic provider page. Link with local community groups and organisations and attract more volunteers to your TeamKinetic site. Volunteers who currently engage with your partnered organisations will be exposed to your opportunities too.

Before you can recruit volunteers you need to find them! These simple tips can boost your community and volunteer base.

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Setting Volunteering Objectives

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On 29th November 2023

In News & Views

As discussed in our previous blog, setting volunteering objectives helps to motivate your volunteers. Clarifying the volunteering purpose and approach can aid your opportunity creation process and eliminate any uncertainties that cause barriers to volunteering. If you want a quick-fire method for pinning down your volunteering objectives, read on!

For your volunteers

Volunteering objectives depend on the volunteering opportunity. Some objectives are more easy to define than others. However, the danger of a seemingly simple volunteering objective is that it is not communicated to the volunteer. Do not assume that simple objectives are obvious to someone who is not directly involved with your organisation. 

Outline your volunteering objectives within your opportunity description. Volunteers can then evaluate how well the opportunity aligns with their lifestyle, interests and intentions. Objectives also help give the prospective volunteer a sense of who you are as an organisation. 

For your organisation

Setting volunteering objectives is also a useful exercise for clarifying the purpose of an opportunity for you and your organisation. If you implement objective setting in your opportunity creation process, your objectives are more likely to be successful. It is more effective to have fewer attractive, well-organised volunteering opportunities than many undefined, therefore unattractive, opportunities. 

The Method

You may be familiar with using the SMART method in professional or academic settings. For the reasons outlined above, it is also beneficial to create specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound volunteering objectives.

Combine the following 5 elements and you will have a SMART objective. For example, ‘To distribute 5000kg of food donations to households in Manchester by 1st January 2025, helping improve the wellbeing of the community’.

Specific – The objective is focused and clearly defined.

Upon applying or joining an opportunity, volunteers will be certain about what the volunteering opportunity entails. 

Measurable – Volunteering efforts can be quantified. 

This does not have to be numerical but it is useful for there to be a method for determining the success of your volunteering opportunity.

Attainable – The objective may be aspirational, but it is realistic. 

An achievable goal is essential for motivating volunteers and clarifying what success means for your organisation.

Relevant – This objective is consistent with the purpose of your organisation.

Volunteers will be able to make the connection between volunteering and making a contribution to the broader goals of your organisation.

Timely – There is a time frame given to achieve the objective.

This can be a rolling or set deadline. It is important for volunteers to be aware of the level and length of commitment that is expected.

Be SMART!

For the benefit of you and your volunteers, set SMART objectives. Help to streamline your volunteering opportunity creation and recruitment process. The opportunity description is the perfect place to inform your volunteers and make sure they understand the opportunity objective or objectives!

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Motivating Busy Volunteers

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On 22nd November 2023

In News & Views

When someone has very little spare time, motivating them to volunteer can be especially difficult. This is not always due to a lack of desire to help, but because of an inability to commit and a long list of other priorities. If you would like to widen your volunteer base and help with motivating busy volunteers, try and incorporate one or more of the following strategies. After all, if you want something done, ask a busy person!

Clear Goals

Establish the purpose of your volunteering opportunity. Whether this is simple or more complicated, volunteers must be aware of the desired outcome. This way, volunteers can decide whether they can volunteer whilst maintaining their other commitments. Be positive yet realistic. 

The opportunity description is the first port of call for opportunity information. Ensure this is filled out with detailed yet clear information as to the purpose of the volunteering opportunity; not just what the opportunity involves.

Recognition

Remind volunteers of their impact! If a volunteer is unaware of the difference they are making, they may be quick to lose interest. Follow the achievement of a pre-defined outcome with recognition. Without recognition, volunteers may lose sight of the volunteering opportunity’s purpose and their achievements.

With TeamKinetic, a volunteer’s ‘achievements’ are visible to the volunteer within the system. As an admin, you can see impact reports of whole volunteer groups. It’s worth using this data to help recruit additional volunteers.

Examples

Don’t just tell volunteers what success looks like, show them! If a busy person sees a real-life example of a volunteer that they can relate to, they are more likely to volunteer. Showcasing real volunteers also adds credibility to your organisation because volunteers can trust that their needs will be accounted for. The same goes for attracting volunteers from minority groups.

Utilise images during your opportunity creation process. A visual representation can be compelling. The chat feature can also be used to communicate with other volunteers. Volunteers can identify their similarities and discuss how volunteering fits into their lifestyle.

Know your Volunteers

With TeamKinetic, you can invite volunteers to opportunities. This is a great tool for saving both you and your volunteers time. However, if sent inappropriately, busy volunteers can be discouraged from continuing volunteering with your organisation.

Create a ‘group’ for volunteers who have expressed that they only want to volunteer a certain amount of hours per month, for example. This way, you can avoid spamming busy volunteers with invites to opportunities they are most likely unable to attend.

With our recent poll showing that 18% of volunteer managers want to engage more working professionals, it’s time to start motivating busy volunteers. Steer away from the stereotype of volunteers as elderly people with an abundance of free time. Your organisation can welcome all types of volunteers!

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Third Sector Climate Impact

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On 1st November 2023

In News & Views

In light of recent news concerning the UK’s climate-related government policy, it is fitting to draw attention to the third sector’s climate impact. This blog will also explore the ways that your organisation can reduce their climate impact and the climate benefits of volunteering. Armed with this knowledge, the third sector can push for more sustainable volunteer practices and progress towards Net Zero. 

The Third Sector / Climate Connection

The climate crisis is an all-encompassing issue. The climate situation’s impact on global factors including health and inequality means that the climate crisis is extremely relevant to the third sector. Irrespective of governmental decision-making, the third sector can make systemic changes that will impact a number of climate-related issues.

There have been several reports by influential sector voices including Charity Digital. Similarly, Reach Volunteering has taken responsibility for raising awareness of the connection between climate impact and volunteering. Reach Volunteering’s #VolunteerForClimate campaign works to spotlight many environmental and climate organisations that are facilitating volunteering opportunities. 

Your Impact Potential

Besides educating yourself and your organisation on the findings of industry and climate reports, or getting involved in third-party initiatives, you are probably wondering what climate-related measures can be directly implemented in your organisation. Charity Digital’s research found that 88% of charities are concerned about climate change, but 52% are unaware of the actions that other organisations are undertaking. Ways to limit your organisation’s climate impact include:

Divesting from Fossil Fuels

Making a commitment that your organisation will not make new investments in fossil fuels in the next 3 to 5 years is powerful. NCVO’s ‘Fuelling Positive Change’ campaign supports education and implementation of fossil fuel divestment. Since 2012, almost 1600 organisations from all sectors have committed to divesting from fossil fuels. Even Amnesty International have pleaded their support to the ‘Fuelling Positive Change’ campaign. Krystal is an example of a tool that helps your organisation to divest entirely from fossil fuels. With Krystal, 100% of your organisation’s web hosting can be powered by renewable energy.

Social Investments

As a volunteer-involved organisation, you are likely already investing in charitable purposes. Consider causes that can positively impact the climate. Community infrastructure that pushes for renewable energy, for example, can help achieve climate goals. 

Working Together!

Become a part of the third sector’s collective climate initiatives. For example, ACEVO has a climate crisis working group and NPC has the Everyone’s Environment programme. If a member of your organisation were to get involved, climate-related sector information can be passed on and utilised. Speaking out on your organisation’s platforms under Reach Volunteering’s hashtag #ChangeTheStory, for example, brings awareness to the climate crisis amongst fellow volunteer-involved organisations.

Climate Impact from the Volunteer’s Perspective

Running your own climate-related volunteering opportunities is beneficial for both the environment and your volunteers. Increasingly, people are reporting that they feel ‘climate anxiety’. This anxiety is often due to an awareness of the climate crisis yet feeling powerless to make a substantial difference. Rosemary from Bradford has experience of working within sustainability and chose to volunteer to share her skills and feel connected to her community. Rosemary feels that volunteering has helped to keep her climate anxiety at bay.

There are so many challenges, perspectives and types of action related to climate. If you’re thinking about volunteering, there will definitely be an organisation which will be the right fit for you.

Rosemary

Take Action Now

Foundational to the third sector’s climate impact is sharing information and resources. Join forces with other organisations either as an educational or practical way to positively impact the climate. Involve volunteers where possible; this will boost your climate impact and community well-being. As articulated by NCVO’s Alex Farrow when speaking on the ‘Fuelling Positive Change’ campaign:

“The impacts of climate change will make everything our sector does harder. Our campaign is a rallying cry to take collective action on one of the biggest challenges we face.”

Alex Farrow,  NCVO

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Halloween Volunteering Opportunities

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On 25th October 2023

In News & Views

For alternative ways to fundraise, attract new volunteers, and excite existing volunteers, add a bit of seasonality to your volunteering opportunities! With Halloween just around the corner, it’s not too late to create volunteering opportunities on your TeamKinetic system. Take inspiration from the following Halloween volunteering opportunities and you’ll have a volunteer-involved event organised in no time!

Spooky Movie Screening

Some fundraising opportunities can be hosted entirely by volunteers! Hosting a screening of a Halloween film is minimal effort but can generate a significant reward. Guests will pay a small fee for an evening of frighteningly good entertainment. Whether this is a family-friendly event or a super scary horror night; consider what will be most appealing to your organisation’s audience and volunteers. Simply provide seating and project your film of choice. As an additional fundraising opportunity, include a Halloween bake sale or tuckshop.

Trick-Or-Treat QR Codes

Encourage your volunteers to take home stickers with a ‘scan to donate’ QR code or QR code linked to your TeamKinetic site. Stickers can be placed on buckets taken out treat-or-treating or placed on a bucket containing your own treats for treat-or-trickers to take from. Volunteering has never been so easy! Besides donations, this is also a great way to raise awareness of your organisation. QR.io is a useful free tool for generating QR codes.

Halloween Sweet Treats

A Halloween bake sale can be a stand-alone event or incorporated into a larger volunteering opportunity like a games night or movie screening. Encourage people to bring along Halloween-themed treats and the hard work will be done for you! Be sure to indicate that all proceeds will go to your organisation’s worthy cause. Task volunteers with running the stall or even making or preparing items for sale. Click here for some fun Halloween baking ideas!

Now it’s your jack-o’-lantern!

Don’t give up the ghost; engage with seasonal events! Halloween is perfect for fundraising events that are also great volunteering opportunities. Remember to signpost your Halloween volunteering opportunities at your organisation location and across your website, social media and TeamKinetic site itself. This is essential to boost volunteer registrations in a short time period!

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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.

TeamKinetic Best Practice: Signposting – In-Person

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On 19th October 2023

In TeamKinetic Best Practice

In-person, or place-based, signposting is often the first step in a volunteer’s journey. A visual queue can be very provoking! Just like you might update your current noticeboard with news and events, update it with ongoing and new volunteering opportunities. Signpoisitng volunteering opportunities on-site or across your organisation’s locations is a brilliant way to inspire those who have an existing affinity with your organisation, or, are simply passing by.

TeamKinetic aids the creation of physical volunteering opportunity advertisements with the ‘Print’ tool. Press ‘Print’ on an opportunity to generate a poster. The poster includes the opportunity details you entered and a QR code to the opportunity page. Existing employees can also download a volunteering opportunity list as a CSV or PDF. This is especially useful when looking to fill skill-based opportunities that may be best suited to those with existing knowledge of your organisation.

If you want to get even more creative, Canva and Adobe are useful tools for creating free signage or posters. Design your poster to be visually appealing and informative. Don’t forget to include the opportunity QR code linked to your TeamKinetic site! With the QR code, volunteers can scan, view and join the opportunity via their mobile phone.

Best Practice Inspiration

This is an example of best practice in-person signposting by A.C.E. A.C.E’s inclusion of location and contact details and a thorough ‘Opportunity Description’ make for an informative poster generated using TeamKinetic’s ‘Print’ tool.

More Signposting Best Practice!

For guidance on other best practice signposting methods including website signposting, search engine signposting and social media signposting, click here.

Ensure you follow us on our social media pages to receive regular updates about the voluntary sector and learn more about the TeamKinetic system. You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to our podcast:

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TeamKinetic Best Practice: Signposting – Search Engine Optimisation

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On 19th October 2023

In TeamKinetic Best Practice

The Importance of Signposting for Search Engine Optimisation

You may be surprised by how many people scout out volunteering opportunities online before inquiring or joining an opportunity. Even with all the best in-person signposting, you will not appear in an online search without effectively signposting your volunteering opportunities on your organisation’s website and TeamKinetic site! The aim of search engine optimisation (SEO) is for your organisation’s TeamKinetic site to appear at the top of the search engine, e.g. Google, results page. Therefore, an important element of best practice signposting is search engine optimisation. As outlined below, effective signposting for search engine optimisation includes updated content, location data, detailed opportunity descriptions and links.

How?

When creating an opportunity, be sure to provide a detailed ‘Opportunity Description’, list any ‘Benefits & Perks’, ‘Skills Required’ and ‘Search Tags’. Therefore, when people are searching for volunteering opportunities, either on a search engine or within your TeamKinetic site itself, there is more likelihood that the keywords used will match up. If a volunteering opportunity is long-standing, it is a good idea to update the ‘details’ so that your site’s content is accurate and fresh. Websites that have regularly refreshed content tend to rank higher on the search engine results page.

Besides being a crucial element of a volunteering opportunity, including location data in your volunteering opportunity is a factor in search engine optimisation. When creating an opportunity, select ‘Pick the Location’ and enter the address details. Those browsing online for volunteering opportunities will be doing so via an IP address linked to their location. If your volunteering opportunities contain location data, those who are nearby are more likely to see your TeamKinetic site at the top of their search results page.

Including inbound links to your own website, news feed, or blogs can also boost your chances of ranking highly on the search results page. A good place to include a link to your organisation’s website would be the ‘About Us’ and ‘Home’ pages on your TeamKinetic site. Volunteering opportunities could include a link to your volunteering-related website news feed within the ‘Opportunity Description’. As with signposting on your organisation’s main website and social media, including links to your TeamKinetic site adds continuity across your organisation’s online platforms. High online presence raises SEO.

Best Practice Inspiration

An example of best practice signposting for search engine optimisation is Glasgow Life‘s TeamKinetic ‘Home’ page. Glasgow Life has included various outbound links; linking to their organisation’s main website under the ‘Back to Glasgow Life Volunteering Homepage’ button, to volunteer registration under the ‘Register Now!’ link, a ‘log in’ link, and registration buttons depending on whether a site visitor is ‘Interested in Volunteers?’ or ‘Recruitng Volunteers?’.

More Signposting Best Practice!

For guidance on other best practice signposting methods including in-person signposting, website signposting and social media signposting, click here.

Ensure you follow us on our social media pages to receive regular updates about the voluntary sector and learn more about the TeamKinetic system. You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to our podcast:

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TeamKinetic Best Practice: Signposting – Website

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On 19th October 2023

In TeamKinetic Best Practice

The Importance of Website Signposting

For most organisations, their website is the go-to destination for information about what they do, where to find them and who to contact. Therefore, signposting your TeamKinetic site on your organisation’s main website is best practice. Showcasing your current volunteering opportunities inspires involvement with your organisation. Continuity between your website and TeamKinetic site helps to create a more rounded picture of your organisation. This way, volunteers can have insight into their impact and how this benefits the purpose of your organisation. 

How?

If possible, be sure to update your volunteering website features regularly. This is key for ensuring you come to the top of online search results. If you have an existing ‘news’ feed, recent and current volunteering events will fit in nicely. Entice those browsing your website with past and present volunteering projects, events and initiatives. Also, collect volunteer testimonies and feature them alongside the opportunity details. Hearing from a volunteer helps to assure prospective volunteers that your organisation is welcoming and personable. 

Include a call to action button! For example, ‘Volunteer with us’ or ‘Volunteer now!’. This can be in addition to more detailed opportunity descriptions, or as a stand-alone prompt. If you have less time or resources to create a volunteering news-style feed, simply linking to your TeamKinetic website via a call to action button will be effective. You can link to any relevant area of your TeamKinetic system; specific opportunities, your TeamKinetic homepage or volunteer registration.  

Using volunteering-related keywords in your website will mean that those looking for volunteering opportunities with your organisation, or similar, are more likely to be directed to your organisation’s website. Signposting volunteering news and opportunities on your website is a simple way to increase your chances of ranking higher in search results. Optimising your TeamKinetic page for Google search is explored in the TeamKinetic Best Practice – Search Engine Optimisation Signposting guide.

Best Practice Inspiration

An example of best practice website signposting would be Wiltshire Wildlife, who have a tab on their main organisation website that links directly to their TeamKinetic site. In addition to this, their ‘Blog’ and ‘News’ tabs feature regular volunteering opportunity-related updates and information.

More Signposting Best Practice!

For guidance on other best practice signposting methods including in-person signposting, search engine optimisation signposting and social media signposting, click here.

Ensure you follow us on our social media pages to receive regular updates about the voluntary sector and learn more about the TeamKinetic system. You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to our podcast:

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TeamKinetic Best Practice: Signposting

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On 18th October 2023

In TeamKinetic Best Practice

TeamKinetic is perfect for showcasing your volunteering opportunities, but how do you make the journey to registering as a volunteer clear and simple? You may already be doing one or more of the following, depending on the nature of your organisation. But, as you will see, it is vital to effectively signpost your volunteering opportunities across in-person and various digital spaces! This way, you will maximise your volunteer reach and outcomes.

For seamless volunteer signposting, ensure you:

  1. Direct volunteers via your organisation’s website
  2. Optimise your TeamKinetic site for search engines 
  3. Use in-person signage
  4. Utilise your social media platforms

Click any of the above for guidance on how and why to incorporate each signposting method.

Ensure you follow us on our social media pages to receive regular updates about the voluntary sector and learn more about the TeamKinetic system. You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to our podcast:

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TeamKinetic Best Practice: Signposting – Social Media

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On 18th October 2023

In TeamKinetic Best Practice

If you are a volunteering-involved organisation, don’t be quiet about it on social media! Social media signposting is best practice for attracting volunteers to your TeamKinetic. After creating an opportunity on your TeamKinetic site, there is an option to ‘Share’ to multiple channels including your organisation’s social media accounts under the ‘Promote’ tab on the left-hand toolbar. If your organisation already communicates with existing and prospective volunteers via their Facebook page, for example, then posting about volunteering opportunities on Facebook will increase your chances of attracting enthusiastic volunteers! Similarly, where enabled, your volunteering opportunities can be shared between different organisations’ TeamKinetic sites or national brokerage sites such as Do it, the Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) or the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO).

In addition to your website, regularly update your social media page with volunteering news. Post links to opportunity pages on your TeamKinetic site, and engage with other sector voices. For example, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), the Association of Volunteer Managers (AVM) or Volunteer Scotland. Engaging with sector voices over social media draws attention to your organisation’s social media profile, and, in turn, drives traffic to your TeamKinetic site. Ways to engage with other organisations’ social media pages are; reposting and adding some of your thoughts, commenting on another page’s posts, or simply being active and liking posts that are of interest or relevance to your organisation. If links to your website and TeamKinetic site are present on your social media pages, either in your page’s ‘bio’ or within posts, your TeamKinetic site will be easy to find!

Best Practice Inspiration

An example of best practice social media signposting would be One Knowsley, who post a volunteering opportunity of the week feature across their social media pages. Including the opportunity link makes it quick and easy to view the opportunity page. Mentioning Guide Dogs improves One Knowsley’s chance of achieving a wider audience reach on Twitter.

More Signposting Best Practice!

For guidance on other best practice signposting methods including in-person signposting, website signposting and search engine signposting, click here.

Ensure you follow us on our social media pages to receive regular updates about the voluntary sector and learn more about the TeamKinetic system. You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to our podcast:

Twitter       Facebook       LinkedIn       YouTube       Instagram       Podcast

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