I’m a big fan of Steven Bartlett, the young dragon on Dragon’s den. I was a fan and a follower way before he shot to fame. I started reading his book Sexy, Happy Millionaire and it gave me the idea for this blog.
Steven talks a lot about gratitude and the positive impact it has on our lives, it made me think of gratitude on many different levels. It certainly made me think of our charities, our volunteers, vHelp as a team and how can we all get better at showing gratitude.
Do We Show Volunteers Enough Gratitude?
We all know the value volunteers add to our society is immense which brought this simple question to mind - do we show our volunteers enough gratitude?
Showing them gratitude doesn’t just bring them back to the charity for more, according to Steven it’ll make us (people who show gratitude) happier people. Something I totally believe and buy into. If we show gratitude, we definitely feel happier as people, as a team and as an organisation.
So, in the context of a charity, do you talk to your volunteer managers and those who interact with volunteers about showing gratitude to your volunteers and how to do it?
We wrote this blog during volunteer week about How To Show Volunteers Appreciation which may be useful. However, I think gratitude is a lot easier to show and its free. It could be a handshake and eye contact at the end of a shift; or a simple note sent to your volunteers.
How do I show my volunteers Gratitude?
It’s simple and free, here are a couple of ideas:
- Actively engage with each volunteer at the end of their shift and say a clear Thank you for helping us today. Personally, I would shake someone’s hand, look them in the eye and say thank you for helping us today. I stress on the personal connection here which doesn’t have to be a handshake but a way to connect with someone.
- Send a handwritten note or a postcard thanking a volunteer for something specific. I know you will say that my volunteer managers are overworked and underpaid but you can make it work your way, perhaps you send one note a week to a volunteer you really want to show gratitude to.
- Listen and get to know your volunteers; understand their motivations and what they would like to gain from volunterring with you, what they enjoy or don’t enjoy doing, then you can find creative and meaninful way to express gratitude and support them.
Digital Gratitude
Charities do send sweet emails telling volunteers they can’t do without them and so on, but these messages do get lost in the noisy world of emails we all have - our inboxes are full of generic messages and boring confirmations so don’t let your gratitude get lost in the digital ether. Also, we all look at generic messages and brush them off.
Many people volunteer to avoid loneliness and build personal connections so showing them gratitude with a personal connection goes a long way.
How Do Volunteers Show vHelp Gratitude and how do we reciprocate?
I talk to volunteers all the time and the thing that strikes me is how grateful they are for having their expenses paid quickly through vHelp. They are the ones traveling, putting the hours in and pouring their heart out yet they are so grateful for such a simple thing, getting their expenses reimbursed quickly and easily.
We show our volunteers gratitude for using our service by always being on the other end of the phone, chat or email. We are so grateful to have those volunteers that we feel it’s our duty to help them with the simplest actions that they get stuck with. We believe in the power of speaking to customers and building relationships, which comes at a price if we compare it to shipping support abroad, but we are proud of this.
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash