Seven Ways To Increase Volunteer Engagement 

Is your association wondering how to increase volunteer engagement? Perhaps your volunteer program has plenty of recruits, but you’re looking for strategies to create meaningful member experiences?    

When you prioritize volunteer engagement, both your volunteer program and your organization’s bottom line benefit. Volunteers have the power to save your association time and money. An Independent Sector Study found that volunteers can save organizations $31.80 an hour.  

Unfortunately, not all association members recognize the value of volunteering at their association. Momentive Software research found just 19% of association members volunteered at an event. And only one in five association members plans to volunteer in the next 12 months. 

It’s crucial to invest in your volunteer engagement strategy and keep volunteers happy, motivated, and committed to the work they do for your organization. Ultimately, the level of volunteer engagement will impact your association’s ability to retain and develop volunteers. 

Here are some tips on how to increase volunteer engagement today. 

What Is An Effective Volunteer Engagement Strategy? 

To create a successful volunteer engagement strategy and foster worthwhile volunteer opportunities, you’ll want to prioritize collaboration between your volunteers and staff. These volunteer opportunities will not only positively impact your association, but they’ll benefit your profession and industry. When developing your volunteer engagement strategy, attempt to match your volunteers with opportunities that provide valuable experiences.  

Your association should strive to develop a volunteer engagement strategy that keeps volunteers connected and committed to your mission and goals. A successful volunteer engagement strategy will not only keep existing volunteers engaged but also recruit new volunteers to previously undiscovered opportunities. 

How Can Technology Boost Volunteer Engagement? 

Having the right tools can make volunteer engagement easy. If your organization wants to create a successful volunteer experience, you’ll want to adopt modern association management software (AMS). 

Look for an AMS that makes it simple for members to browse and apply for volunteer opportunities. Modern technology should make it easy to set up a volunteer site, allowing you to configure your page with point-and-click actions that match your organization’s theme and branding. The right AMS will also help streamline the management of volunteer jobs and shifts, so members can easily see how much they’ve contributed to a volunteer project or team.  

How To Increase Volunteer Engagement 

Now that you know why a volunteer engagement strategy is crucial to maintaining your volunteer program, it’s time to get started offering valuable member experiences. 

Here are seven strategies for increasing volunteer engagement:  

1. Survey Your Volunteers 

To provide a worthwhile experience for your volunteers and begin implementing your volunteer engagement strategy, you’ll need to seek member feedback. The easiest way is to conduct a survey. With a volunteer survey, you can gain statistically beneficial answers while simultaneously empowering members and bolstering your retention efforts.    

With a good survey, you can impact the effectiveness of volunteer orientation, training, recruitment, and retention. Before you create your survey, consider how you’ll get volunteers to participate. 

Try these methods to increase survey responses from your volunteers:  

• Explain the benefits. In the survey introduction, share how it will help the volunteer program provide better opportunities for its participants. Explain that when volunteers offer honest feedback, you’ll be able to match them in the perfect experience. 
     

• Make the survey anonymous. To ensure your volunteer’s honesty, consider making the survey anonymous. You’re less likely to get their authentic feedback if you make them submit their names.  
    

• Offer an incentive. Consider purchasing a small gift card and randomly selecting a winner from those who complete the survey. 
    

• Build hype. Promote your survey in multiple locations – through emails, on your association website, and on social media. Always include a call to action, which features a link to the survey location. 
    

• Keep it short. While you may have many questions for your volunteers, it is best practice to keep your surveys concise. You can always conduct a follow-up survey in the future.   

Questions to Include in Your Survey 

When compiling your first volunteer survey, consider starting with basic demographic data to provide a helpful foundation before delving into the main content of your survey. Try including the following:   

• Demographic data 

• Availability and scheduling 

• What skills do you have? 

• What are your interests? 

• Why did you originally want to volunteer at the association? 

• What motivates you to volunteer with our association? 

Because your association wants volunteer engagement, the primary focus of the remaining survey should be on volunteer motivation. Consider asking questions like:   

• How would you rate your current volunteer experience, on a scale of 1 to 10?   

• Do you find your volunteer work at the association impactful?     

• Do you feel like a valued member of our association? Could we make you feel more appreciated?   

• Do we offer sufficient training opportunities, and was our orientation process thorough enough to ensure you feel prepared to fulfill your volunteer duties?   

• Are there volunteer opportunities we don’t currently offer, but you’d want to participate in?   

• What is the most critical work you do for our community through our association?   

• Are there any needs in our community that our association can work to address?   

• Has your work contributed to any noticeable results?    

Once you gather your results and analyze the data, you’ll have a keen sense of what motivates your volunteers. You’ll also understand how your association can better support your volunteers.    

2. Understand Volunteer Motivation 

Once you get the results from your survey, you’ll have a clearer sense of why your volunteers choose to work. Analyze the survey results and listen to your volunteers’ feedback. Review the survey results to determine if you can match your volunteers’ interests with available opportunities within your association. Doing so will ensure volunteer engagement.   

At a most basic level, volunteers give their time because they were asked and/or they want to contribute to the good of the community. In the volunteer survey, your members will provide additional reasons for giving their time. These reasons can be categorized into two main areas: professional motivations and personal motivations.   

Professional Motivations 

If you have volunteers who are motivated by professional causes, these reasons will likely influence why they donate their time:   

• To give back to their industry/profession   

• To network with their professional community   

• To play a larger role in legislative, regulatory, & professional advocacy 

• To advance their career 

• To gain deeper industry information 

• To diversify their current skillset       

Personal Motivations 

If personal motivations move your volunteers, they’ll likely be influenced by the following reasons:   

• To serve their local community   

• To increase personal visibility  

• To do something different from their job   

• To show commitment to an organization’s mission   

• To be part of something bigger than themselves  

3. Create a Volunteer Perk Program 

Jumpstart volunteer recruitment and maximize engagement by granting your volunteers professional and personal perks. Consider offering the following benefits to your association volunteers:   

 Professional Perks 

• Let volunteers promote their company at events   

• Allow qualified volunteers to speak at conference sessions and webinars    

• Have a volunteer take over your social media once a month   

• Allow volunteers to share program updates at a member town hall  

• Let qualified volunteers teach professional development sessions  

Personal Perks 

• Provide food and drinks during volunteer hours   

• Reimburse travel costs    

• Create and provide volunteer t-shirts   

• Offer mentor/mentee volunteer programs   

• Provide an unforgettable experience that impacts your volunteers  

Offering a perk program can provide another reason for volunteers to work at your association and stay engaged. Providing volunteers with face time at member events may also serve as an effective recruitment technique.   

4. Provide Volunteer Orientation 

Volunteer orientation is all about educating your members about the mission and goals of your association. The emphasis of orientation should be on helping your volunteers learn more about your organization and understand their role within it. If a volunteer has a clear sense of their role, it’s easier to foster a member’s excitement and maximize volunteer engagement.   

Follow these tips to create a meaningful volunteer orientation and drive member engagement:  

• Design an orientation program. Determine how you want to conduct your volunteer orientation. Having an in-person orientation is a great way for volunteers to meet and bond, but virtual options are flexible and easy to access for busy volunteers. 
    

• Create an orientation manual. Creating a manual will further solidify your orientation information and compile all presented information in one location. 

Consider including the following components in your manual:   

• Association mission statement   

• List of goals and summary of the long-term plan   

• Staff and volunteer directory   

• List of Board of Directors and members of other important committees    

• Association rules, procedures, and expectations for volunteers   

• Volunteer check-in system 

• Reimbursement policy 

• Termination policy   

• Make it memorable. To immediately engage your recruits at the start of orientation, try making your approach appealing to all learning styles. 

Try out these formats in your orientation:   

• Use PowerPoint or a similar slide deck to serve as a visual outline of the information you need to cover during your orientation.    

• Consider incorporating gamification to enhance engagement among your volunteers during the orientation process.    

• Include times of discussion and allow your volunteers to ask questions.   

• Add role-playing and group activities that allow for team building and the formation of friendships.   

• Provide testimonials about your volunteer program. Bring in veteran volunteers and have them share their experiences.   

Make sure you follow up with your volunteers after orientation. Survey members to gauge their impressions of the experience and identify areas for improvement. Additionally, you’ll want to provide next-step information on where volunteers should report for training.   

5. Train Your Volunteers 

Training your volunteers refers to providing them with the role-specific details of their work. If your volunteers are assisting staff in their roles, consider having staff train them directly. 

Ensure training includes the following:   

• How the volunteers should handle their specific tasks   

• What they should do in an emergency   

• What are the goals for their position   

• What equipment is required for their role   

• A general walkthrough of their tasks   

To elevate your training process, consider converting your volunteer training to online videos or modules, ensuring easy access for recruits.    

Training can also refer to professional development opportunities within the volunteer program at your association. Whether it’s leadership training or learning a new skill, your volunteers may be motivated to give their time to advance their skill set. Consider offering professional development sessions to help your volunteers earn continuing education credits.   

6. Leverage an Online Member Community 

It can be a challenge to keep your volunteers engaged outside of their prearranged volunteer hours. Some will only participate in their volunteer hours, while others will choose to engage in additional member programming. By providing volunteers with an online community platform, members are more likely to remain engaged. 

Here’s how to design your online community to boost volunteer engagement:    

If your association already has an online member community, consider creating different channels or subgroups for your volunteers. Ask the following questions as you build your online community:   

• Who will manage the community? Does your association have a manager to oversee your online community platform? Try selecting one staff member to create and manage community groups. Within the groups themselves, consider selecting a volunteer to lead or manage discussions. 
    

• Do you need to create group descriptions or ground rules? It’s always wise to have reminders of the community’s purpose and reminders to be polite and respectful. 
    

• Who else should be aware of the online community? Chances are that you’ll receive numerous positive testimonials from your online volunteer group, resulting in excellent marketing material. If your volunteers are okay with you sharing their stories, consider keeping your entire association informed about the latest volunteer projects and successes.    

To foster your online community, consider creating some basic content to get the discussion going. From there, your volunteers will take over. Here’s how:  

• Mix up the content. Try creating a schedule of content and posting different types depending on the day. Be sure to post other content formats to the online communities, such as videos, GIFs, and pictures.  
    

• Promote your online communities. Ensure you invite your volunteers to the online community through email and text. Promote your online community on social media too. 
    

• Connect veterans and new volunteers—Foster community within your volunteer program by pairing experienced and new volunteers in a mentoring relationship. Within your online community, create a separate subgroup of veterans and new volunteers to encourage the discussion of personal volunteer experiences and the exchange of ideas for ongoing success.   

7. Recognize Your Volunteers and Their Accomplishments 

Always give your volunteers recognition amongst your members. Never assume a volunteer knows you appreciate their hard work.  

Here’s how to show your member volunteers that you care:  

• Send thank yous. Say “Thank You” each time your volunteers dedicate their time to an event or have a weekend board meeting. Say it in person and follow up with a handwritten note or a virtual thank-you. 
    

• Recognize volunteer milestones. You can also recognize your volunteers by celebrating essential milestones within your volunteer program. For example, acknowledge your volunteers when they’ve volunteered for six months or hit 100 hours of service. Consider recognizing these milestones at your association’s volunteer thank you party, in association publications, or at member town hall meetings.  
    

• Host a thank-you party. Recognize your volunteers formally by hosting an annual party to celebrate their efforts. Provide a meal and consider purchasing gifts to express your gratitude to your volunteers for their dedication. During the event, allow volunteers to share their favorite memories from their experiences. Have higher-level staff express their thanks to the volunteer group. 
    

• Send birthday greetings. Acknowledge your volunteers by sending birthday greetings. This is an effortless approach to personalizing the volunteer experience at your association. On a volunteer’s birthday, send a handwritten card or personalized email.