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How to boost your volunteering in 2023
12 Apr 2023by Laura Stanley
We explore how charities can get the most out of their volunteering, from attracting new volunteers to managing existing ones
The charity sector would be nothing without its volunteers. Volunteers bring an increased level of expertise, skills, enthusiasm, and advocacy to your cause, helping charities to continue delivering services even, if not especially, during times of financial hardship.
However, with the cost-of-living crisis adding extra pressure to the UK public, it may become more difficult for charities to attract and retain volunteers, despite the rise in demand for their services. Between 2019 and 2021, the number of people over the age of 16 who volunteered at least once a month for a formal organisation decreased from 23% to 17%, while those who volunteered at least once a year fell seven percentage points to 30%.
In order to keep volunteers returning regularly, charities must keep them engaged. Highly engaged volunteers are not only more likely to return, but they are also more likely to recommend you to others too. Supporting existing volunteers and offering new ways to bring new ones on board are processes that charities must revisit, as circumstances change and the sector innovates.
Below, we explore ways that charities can continue to support their volunteers and boost their numbers in 2023.
How to boost your volunteering
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Offer different opportunities
When it comes to volunteering opportunities, people often think of frontline services. Frontline support is vital for many charities, but it is not the only help that volunteers can offer. Volunteers come from a range of different backgrounds and boast a range of different skillsets, including the digital skills that the charity sector often lacks. For example, you might be able to recruit a writer for your newsletters or a social media savant for your Instagram.
Being able to offer a wider range of opportunities leads opens your charity up to a greater pool of volunteers and allows you to be more flexible, since these tasks may be accomplished remotely. During COVID-19, the number of volunteer roles that could be done remotely increased in 39% of organisations, while more than a quarter of charities found it necessary to recruit volunteers with different skill sets to their usual volunteers.
Though these changes were in some part due to lockdown and social distancing restrictions, offering remote volunteering and taking on short-term volunteers remains an excellent tactic for charities looking to expand their volunteering base in 2023.
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Advertise widely
Recruiting volunteers is not a finite process. Charities must constantly evolve how they reach new audiences and new pools of potential volunteers, whether this means advertising opportunities in new places or partnering with corporates that align with their values to bring their workforce on board.
Again, there are great lessons that can be learned from volunteer recruitment during COVID-19. The pandemic caused many charities to experiment with recruitment strategies, as the number of volunteers decreased and demand for services increased.
A 2021 report from the Centre of People, Work, and Organisational Practice, in conjunction with Sheffield Hallam University and the National Council of Voluntary Organisations, stated that “Some organisations used digital mediums for the first time as a way of promoting opportunities to volunteer, and were also able to use other channels, such as local radio, as a way of connecting with potential volunteers”.
The report added: “Organisations have experimented with various strategies to keep volunteers connected and engaged, from training sessions to activities like murder mystery sessions for people to connect with each other and feel part of the group.”
The lesson here is to adapt your recruitment strategy as circumstances change, continuously assess the efficacy of where you post volunteering opportunities, and think outside of the box for ways of reaching new people in better ways.
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Improve your volunteer journey
When it comes to engaging donors, charities have long understood the importance of the donor journey, helping supporters give to their organisation in ways that are convenient to them. What makes a good donor journey – from the initial expression of interest to the post-donation thank you – are the same factors that lead to increased support in the future: excellent communication, thoughtful stewardship, and an emphasis on reward, whether that is charitable impact or how easy it is to donate.
The same levels of communication, stewardship, and convenience are just as important to volunteers as they are to donors. Both audiences want to know that the contributions or money they are offering will deliver charitable impact and both want to know that your organisation will use those resources responsibly. Transparency is essential.
In order to achieve that transparency, charities must invest in how they manage their volunteer experience and ensure that all your volunteers feel valued, informed, and supported at all times. One way to invest is with a volunteer management system.
Just as a CRM system helps keep track of where donors are in their journey, volunteer management software helps charities communicate more effectively with volunteers, co-ordinate schedules, and support onboarding processes.
Volunteer management systems can streamline processes, help organisations match skills needed to volunteers, keep track of relevant documentation, and provide easy-to-access portals for volunteers to access information.
Epilepsy Action, a charity that provides advice and support to people with epilepsy, is already using a volunteer management system and reports that it has improved transparency, allowed volunteers to connect with one another, and made it easier to promote events and activities.
“In the past volunteers were managed by different departments who each had their own way of supporting volunteers and although there was a lot of good practises in there, it wasn’t consistent across the organisation,” says Kathryn Hughes, Volunteer Programme Manager at Epilepsy Action. “We want to make sure when somebody volunteers with us, they get the same experience, the same opportunity for training, the same recognition regardless of what role they’re in.”
Volunteering is a people business – it’s about helping people dedicate their time and effort to your cause in practical ways. Implementing a volunteer management system can be difficult, but when used, they can revolutionise the volunteer experience and repay the dedication of your volunteers with transparency, organisation, and, most importantly, support.
Charities looking to find out more about volunteer management systems can do so on Tuesday 21 March with volunteer management experts Assemble’s webinar, "How to prepare for a volunteer management system". You can sign up below.
Watch the webinar to discover how to prepare for a volunteer management system
Click above to discover more about volunteer management systems and how you can prepare for them with Assemble
Laura Stanley
Laura Stanley
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