A simple guide for managing charity volunteers

Volunteers are a vital part of the charity ecosystem, helping organisations to deliver services, fundraise, and generally keep operations moving. However, recruiting and retaining volunteers is no mean feat, particularly during a time of heightened demand for services and an uncertain economy. 

Indeed, volunteer recruitment was cited as the biggest challenge for volunteer managers in the charity sector, according to volunteer management experts Assemble. In an era where volunteers have many demands on their time, it is essential that charities make the volunteer experience worthwhile. This means effectively balancing your charity’s needs with those of your volunteers, offering rewarding volunteer opportunities with clear goals and connections to your mission. The right volunteer experiences should be a win-win for everyone – flexible, enriching, and purposeful.  

But recruiting volunteers is only the beginning. Assemble also points to data from the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) that indicates a decline in volunteer retention and satisfaction levels over the last 12 months. Good volunteer management is needed to ensure that volunteers don’t drop off after they’ve applied for the opportunity, minimising friction on matters such as shift scheduling or training.  

“First you need to find people with the right skills and mindset, and who share the organisation’s values, and match them with a suitable role. Then you need to ensure they are well-supported throughout the volunteer journey,” explains Assemble in its guide, “How technology can enhance volunteer management”. 

“Offering a rewarding and engaging volunteer experience requires an understanding of your volunteers’ motivations and expectations. Those who are bored, frustrated and feeling under-valued may drift away, leaving them unfulfilled, meanwhile precious time invested in recruitment, onboarding and training may feel wasted.” 

Assemble’s guide provides charities with practical advice on how to manage volunteers efficiently and effectively, with insights from across the charity sector. The guide takes organisations from advertising a volunteering opportunity to keeping volunteers engaged once they’re on board, and everything in between.  

Below, we share some of the key steps charities can take to optimise their volunteer experience and ensure they return to volunteer with you in the future.

Top tips for enhancing the volunteer experience 

Recognise volunteer contributions 

Volunteers give up a lot of time in order to help an organisation and cause they care about. Charities should acknowledge the hard work of their volunteers, recognising those who go above and beyond to deliver impact for their community.  

Acknowledgement can include anything from a volunteer highlight in a newsletter to a certificate celebrating milestones. The Orders of St John Care Trust (OSJCT) holds an annual awards ceremony to recognise the outstanding work of their volunteers. 

“We know that volunteers can’t always commit to being with an organisation forever,” writes Catherine Semmence, Head of Volunteering at the OSJCT, in Assemble’s guide. “However, a few hours, at a certain point in their life, can make a real difference to the charity’s work as long as they are in a suitable role and are well-supported. Seeing the impact of their efforts and a simple ‘thank-you’ from the organisation are powerful motivators.” 

Being able to track shifts completed, services delivered, years or months spent volunteering, are therefore important for charities to ensure that no volunteer contribution is overlooked. Volunteer management systems (VMS) are a really helpful way of capturing all the data necessary to know who is volunteering most often and when milestones are being reached. Assemble’s analytics, for example, can tell you volunteer hours by role, team, and user, the length of service, and impact delivered such as money raised or sign-ups generated, making it easier to recognise those who are digging in to help your cause.  

Minimise friction 

Volunteering is rewarding but it can also be complicated, even a little bit intimidating. Charities must help volunteers feel comfortable by providing a straightforward volunteering process that minimises complications as much as possible. For example, making it clear how to sign up for a shift, and what will be needed from the volunteer on the day, removes some of the fear from the situation for a first-time volunteer. 

A good VMS supports organisations in this aim by providing consistency and clarity over processes. It can help volunteers choose activities with ease, organise shifts according to their availability and ability, and crucially, help volunteer managers spot any gaps that need to be filled and put a call out for help. As the guide points out, “it can also empower volunteers to work as a team, each doing their bit without it falling on one person every time”. Volunteers are notified when they are assigned a session and are always able to see the latest version of a rota, reducing the risk of missed shifts. 

However, while technology can make the volunteering experience more seamless, charities must also think about digital inclusion, considering all the needs of their volunteers in order to make volunteering more accessible. Tools like Assemble are helpful in terms of keeping all information in one handy place for volunteers, but some users may find the technology daunting, especially if they are less familiar with online systems.  

The guide from Assemble recommends offering training and reassurance to volunteers both new and existing, encouraging volunteers who are confident using technology to support those who are less so. The guide points to the example of one Assemble user who offered a course called "Assemble for the Terrified” to its volunteers. By helping volunteers get to grips with their VMS, charities can create a more diverse base of loyal supporters and advocates for their cause, while delivering more impact on the where it’s needed, too.