volunteersThis post follows on from a previous post which looks at how to make the most of your volunteers efforts to support the organisation.

To get value from your volunteers it is important for the organisation to respect their role and the contribution that they can make.

As such, if you are going to utilise and encourage volunteers to participate in your organisation then there are some key steps that can be followed.  These include:

  • Be clear about the expectations in relation to the role they will be doing
  • Ensure they receive appropriate training
  • As with paid staff encourage their input and ideas
  • When you have staff or team meetings ensure they are invited to attend
  • If appropriate groom them to undertake larger and more responsible roles
  • Acknowledge their contribution on an ongoing basis and not just through events such as National Volunteer Week  

Another important issue with volunteers is to ensure they have proper facilities that are required for their role that may include a desk, a computer and a telephone.  Furthermore, to have a successful volunteer program ensure you also support the person who will be responsible for supervising the volunteer.  This role of the supervisor should not add extra or additional tasks onto their existing workload but it should be incorporated into their role.  The other important reason for doing this is that is allows effective management of the volunteers to occur and this may include the use of performance plans to monitor progress.  Another benefit  is that if a paid position comes up you might consider offering the role to the volunteer who has an established track record.

If your not for profit is lucky enough to have people ready and willing to support you, give them the satisfaction of being able to make a real difference.