IdeaEncore: Bringing volunteers on board with your organization

Build and strengthen the nonprofit sector by sharing and re-using proven resources. Share your invaluable experience by uploading a file or adding a link to a resource you use. It might be the best gift you could give to another nonprofit this holiday season.

Bringing volunteers on board with your organization

Finding and training the best volunteers Volunteers play a vital role in the nonprofit sector community: supporting programs  and fundraisers, and helping to spread your organization's mission. But first you need to find the right volunteers, sometimes you need to build their skills and, always, you must give them clear directions about you expect them to do. Finding the right people to volunteer at your organization is just as important as hiring the right people to work at your organization. Social Enterprise Associates has shared their free Tip Sheet: NGO Board Member and Professional Volunteer Recruitment that includes a list of "Dos and Don'ts." Volunteer Centres Ireland has shared a wealth of volunteer resources, including Designing a Successful Volunteer Recruitment Advertisement that explains the necessary components of a volunteer advertisement. Vantage Point's Volunteer Engagement Pack ($6.99) includes almost everything you need to bring volunteers on board, including interview questions, a letter of agreement and more. Once you've found the right volunteers for your organization, training and orientation are fundamental to sustained volunteer involvement. The City of Bloomington has shared Volunteer Training Tips, a one-sheet of helpful advice for training volunteers. The Four Hour Volunteer Development Process ($5) from Nonprofit Management Services will help you set up a volunteer recruitment and training process in an little as a day. VolunteerMatch has created a resource library to help support your ongoing search for resource. Check out the Volunteer Match Resource Library for more tools, examples and articles on finding and training volunteers. Share your volunteer applications, manuals and training workshops on IdeaEncore.

Encores of the Week

What's the Story Behind the Number? A Grant Maker's Guide to Understanding Nonprofit Audits Shared by Edelstein & Company LLP (Free) Ensuring the Rights of Study Participants: Resource Documents and Toolkit for Philanthropic Organizations Shared by BTW Consultants, Inc. (Free) Benchmark Against Leading Practice: Fund Development Checklist Shared by San Diego Social Venture Partners ($10)      Program Related Investments - Social Investments Shared by interSector Partners, LC3 and Created by Annie E. Casey Foundation Financial Internal Audit Shared by Nonprofit Management Services, LLC (Free)