This guest blog is a contribution from Ashely Staines, co-founder of Volunteero, a new App that reduces time spent managing volunteers, while gaining oversight of all volunteering activity.

The voluntary sector has gone through as much change as any over the last few years. I think before diving into the purpose of this blog, it is worth making a few observations about the landscape. Evidence for this article has come in large part from our thousands of hours of conversations with charities and volunteers:

Volunteering demographics are changing - Older volunteers stopped volunteering due to covid fears, many have not restarted. Your future volunteer force will look a lot different to how it did pre 2019. How can your volunteering programs remain exciting and competitive given the change in volunteer demographics?

Covid forced people to embrace technology - Use of Zoom jumped 30 times in April 2020 compared to April of the previous year. There is a greater level of comfort using new technology and this is seen through all demographics. How could this fact help you improve your volunteering programs?

Charity funding took a hit - Although donations appear to be rebounding and there is plenty of government funding in the space, times are unfortunately tight for charities. Think about how to do more with less.

Please keep these in mind when thinking about your volunteering strategy. Things that worked 10 years ago simply may not work today.

In light of these changes in the third sector landscape, we provide some tips around how best to acquire, onboard, engage and retain your volunteers.

Assess how you communicate

Communication is more than just an email newsletter - If you are heavily reliant on your email newsletter I would suggest changing tact. You receive countless emails both work and personal, how many do you open and how many do you truly pay attention to? The issue with email is that we get too many and that they are not collaborative. It may be time to think of other means of communication. This could include instant messaging, forums and social media.

Change the tone - There has been a shift away from formal to informal tone in the way the private sector businesses communicate with customers and users. We’d recommend doing the same with volunteers. If they feel like they are friends of the charity you may see improved levels of engagement. This means asking them what they got up to at the weekend, knowing about their hobbies and maybe throwing in an emoji here or there 😋

Diversify your opportunities

Micro volunteering - The NHS responder program, which offered micro volunteering opportunities to help others through lockdown, saw 750k sign ups. This showed the appetite for flexible and accessible volunteering opportunities. Try figuring out how such opportunities could fit into your volunteering programs.

Skills based volunteering - I will bet my tiny London apartment on the fact you have nigh on every skill set going within your volunteer base. Try to make use of this. Firstly you can bring down costs in areas like legal and marketing but also people love putting their hard earned skills to work. Start this by asking volunteers to make you some content, write a blog or give you 10 mins of advice.

Scrap roles, make things fluid - Is it easy for your fundraising volunteers to get involved with your service based volunteering and vice versa? It should be! Variety is the spice of life. Try to ensure everyone has access to see and take part in opportunities outside of their immediate interest. Your volunteers will do more and stay with you longer.

Reduce friction

Onboarding - If your expression of interest form asks more than 5 questions, you’re doing it wrong. We can now sign up for a bank account in minutes on our phone. Yet for some, even expressing interest in becoming a volunteer can be like applying for a job at MI5. Reduce that initial friction and get a chance to speak to them, build a relationship and sell the person on the amazing things your charity does! In short, try to streamline and shorten the whole onboarding process.

Reporting back - Nothing should require printing and filling things out by hand. We are not saying this shouldn't be an option but it shouldn't be the requirement. Make the process of logging time, feedback and submitting expenses as easy as possible. You know yourself, if something is arduous, you’re unlikely to do it. Humans love the path of least resistance.

Be visible

Social media - I hate writing those two words, it seems to dominate every aspect of our lives now. BUT it is for exactly that reason that you need to take it seriously. This one is big so I give some tangible steps below:

• Make sure to have a visible social media account for all platforms, yes… even TikTok 🙈 Post regularly and make sure it shows the wonderful impact you’re having.

• Follow all your volunteers and donors so they follow you back.

• Ask clients, volunteers and donors to post and tag you.

• Follow anyone and everyone in the community, to do this find a local business page that is popular, go through their followers and follow everyone!

• Engage with people and local businesses, comments, likes and tags.

Trust me the benefits can be vast, more volunteers, more engagement and more donations!

In person - There is no better way of spreading the word than quite literally spreading the word. Why not have volunteers throw on a T-shirt and go out into the local town centre just to chat. That last bit is key, people swerve people in branded clothing to avoid being sold to… but most are totally up for a chin wag. Make it very clear that you just want to chat and make this separate from your fundraising drives.

Appreciation

Everyone wants to feel loved and appreciated. Volunteers are no different. This particular point should be considered throughout your entire strategy from communication to onboarding. Here are some easy ideas to make people feel the love ❤️

• Onboarding - Express your gratitude on your application form for example. “Without volunteers we couldn’t do what we do, thank you so much for your interest”.

• Jump on the phone - If a volunteer did something for you, pick up the phone just to tell them how awesome they are and the impact it had.

• Shout out volunteers - Tell the world about your volunteers through email, your website, your social and any other way you can big them up!

• Rewards - This can raise some eyebrows but speak to local businesses, see if they’d chip in a few free coffee vouchers and send them out to your weekly top volunteers. Little gestures mean the world.

If you find even one or two tangible action items from this blog then I am chuffed, please do let me know by dropping me an email at ash@volunteero.org. Volunteering is my passion and it is for this reason we built Volunteero, a volunteer management platform to help charities save countless hours managing volunteers whilst also increasing engagement. If you’d like to know more about us, please get in touch.