In celebration of volunteer week, we wanted to share a few tips on how to show your volunteers appreciation and keep them engaged.
Volunteer recruitment is no easy task, so it makes sense to ensure that your recruited volunteers are looked after and retained for as long as possible.
It’s sometimes a little harder to motivate your current volunteers than it is to motivate your employees. This is down to employees typically operating in the same culture, having the same professional goals and being financially rewarded.
Volunteers on the other hand are working because of their love and passion for a cause. People volunteer for different reasons, there are those who want to gain experience and new skills, then some people who want to give back and enjoy an act of kindness, then there are those who want to meet people and the list goes on.
In short, you’ve got to tune in to why people want to volunteer if we want to keep them motivated. However, an easy way to keep them engaged is showing appreciation, it goes a long way.
When is Volunteers Week 2022?
Between the 1st and 7th of June, Volunteers Week takes place. This week is dedicated to all the people who give their time to organisations. Volunteers play a massive role in a lot of organisations, not to mention, our local communities. So, it’s of the utmost importance that we show appreciation, thank them, and recognise where we would be without them. From speaking to our volunteers, here is what we believe can motivate them and show how much your organisation cares.
- A personal Thank You Note
Being acknowledged gives people a huge sense of satisfaction. Those volunteers are giving their time and all they want to hear is that they made the difference they set out to make.
Nothing does that better than a personal note highlighting why this volunteer was special. This could be an email, or a phone call to thank the person but even better, and if you have the time a handwritten note always makes the most impact. If you manage a large number of volunteers then select a few that you feel make the most impact and write to them.
- Use Data to Show the Impact Made by Volunteers
Volunteers’ biggest reward is to know they made an impact, if you can capture data on the impact your volunteers made and publish it on your social media or email it to them it’ll really motivate and drive them
- Little Gifts to Put a Smile On Their Face
We all love a gift, so why don’t you get your suppliers or your donors to donate things that you can pass on to volunteers, things like tickets to shows, vouchers, sports events tickets, and so on? Some charities say they don’t want to single out a volunteer which is totally understandable, in that case just put all the names of those who volunteered in recent months and pull names out of a hat.
We all love being appreciated so take out some time of your busy diaries and show those amazing people they are appreciated.