This article will be the first in a series where we look at the technologies available to volunteer managers. With more ways to communicate becoming available almost every day, we want to look at your options and try and advise which will provide the most bang for your buck.
A quick look at the technologies available to volunteer managers and your volunteers tells you there are more options available than any one person can reasonably manage, facebook, Blogging, twitter, SMS, Instagram, YouTube, Vine and the list goes on. So how do you select the technologies that suit your Volunteers and how do you use them to maximum effect?
Remove Barriers!
Providing an environment for Volunteers with as few barriers to entry as you can, is the best place to start. Technology can be used to simplify and improve the Volunteering experience whilst providing a platform for marketing, advocacy and an open marketplace of opportunity. It must also be considered that at its worst, technology, can be the biggest barrier to entry due to poor design, ineffective use of data and creating an environment that does not allow Volunteers flexibility and room to grow and develop.
So what lessons have we learnt over the last 8 years of building Websites for Volunteer Organisations?
Can you remember what you did before Google? How did people get anything done? Websites are ubiquitous now and peoples expectations from websites are only being set higher and higher. Expectation is that most tasks can be undertaken on the web when we need to do them, from On-line banking, paying your council tax or ordering a pizza.
From a volunteer’s point of view, what do they need from a website?
We have found through extensive Volunteer research over the last 6 years that the number 1 requirement for Volunteers is simplicity of use. If the website is difficult to join, offers poor search results and prevents Volunteers from getting on to Volunteer opportunities with a single visit to the site, the chances are it will result in lost Volunteer Engagement.
You may not be in a position to use a system such as TeamKinetic, so our advice is to build a website with the Volunteer as your customer and always keep your customer in mind. Make sure it’s easy for your Volunteer to find opportunities that suit their interests and finally look at how the Volunteer goes from impulse to Volunteer to actually arriving at that first opportunity, examine that process and look at how you can remove and reduce the various barriers they will face. Don’t make your website an additional barrier.
Implementing a VMS?
If you are lucky enough to be able to look at Websites such as TeamKinetic or some of the other systems that are available on the market currently then bear in mind the following checklist:
Does your volunteer get clear advice and instruction at each stage of the process? (reminders and instructions via Text, e-mail and in their online profile.
Is there someone the Volunteer can contact if they have questions?
Does the system collect feedback on the Volunteer experience that can be used to further develop the opportunities on offer?
and most importantly: is the website easy to use for Volunteers?
If you can find a website solution that meets the criteria outlined above we think you will enjoy success with your Volunteer programme. Over the next few weeks, we will explore some of the other channels of communication, services and technologies that we think you can leverage to enhance and develop the experience for your Volunteers.
If you have any questions or suggestions about technologies available to volunteer managers and how they can make a difference please feel free to get in touch on the details below as we would love to hear what you think.
If you would like to find out more about TeamKinetic then please get in touch and arrange a demo.
I look forward to your suggestions.
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