Tools for Volunteer Management

Pre-Exercise: Think for a moment

•  When was the last time you helped to coordinate an activity with more than ten people?

•  What worked well?

•  What are some lessons you learned from that experience?

Tools for Volunteer Management

Volunteer Management

Online Organizing and Community Building

Tools for Volunteer Management

Context in the Curriculum

Divergence Convergence Emergence

Inspiration Ideation Implementation •  Visioning & Sharing

Vision •  Environmental

Scanning & Impacting Environment

•  Social Business Models

•  Prototyping & Assessment

•  Operations & Finance •  Volunteer Management •  Pitching and Friendraising

Tools for Volunteer Management

Start-Ups Need Volunteers, and Fast

• Most start-ups, even for-profit start-ups, leverage “sweat equity” to succeed.

• Start recruiting early. Those first hours will be the most rewarding capital you raise. Build a corps of people who believe your venture should exist.

• Two key elements to keep in mind:

•  WIIFM: “What’s In It for Me?” (Value proposition to the volunteer)

•  “So what can I do?” (Call to action)

Tools for Volunteer Management

Recruiting Volunteers

Connections & Leads

Calls & Coffee dates

Open Houses

Tools for Volunteer Management

Managing Expectations

• Creating specific and reasonable roles

• Specifying time commitments

• Accounting for under-commitment and attrition

Tools for Volunteer Management

What Are Volunteers Looking for?

  Exposure and experience

 Networking opportunities

 Sense of accomplishment & contribution

 A chance to do good for a good cause

What do YOU expect as a volunteer?

Tools for Volunteer Management

Communicating With Volunteers

• Matching volunteers with needs

•  Creating clear expectations or job descriptions

•  Assigning atomic tasks

•  Establishing contracts & check-ins

•  Offering motivations & incentives

•  Sending regular email communication

Tools for Volunteer Management

Take Advantage of Platforms

Find a platform that fits your audience’s needs:

• Wikis help create shared ownership

• Managed sites help centralize ownership

• Formal platforms help professionalize activities

• Social media platforms engage people where they are

Tools for Volunteer Management

Wikis: Shared Ownership

Others: PBworks and Projectmanagementwiki.org

Tools for Volunteer Management

Managed Sites: Directed Focus

Others: Weebly, jimdo, etc.

Tools for Volunteer Management

Formal Platforms: Checking Items Off

Others: Veoproject, Zoho Project, and CentralDesktop

Tools for Volunteer Management

Social Media Platforms: Engagement

Tools for Volunteer Management

Gantter: Manage Tasks and Timelines

Tools for Volunteer Management

Communication is Key: Google Apps

CentralDesktop, Zoho and Zimbra are other great services, too.

•  Nothing says “I’m committed” more than a branded email account. Google Apps allows that, as well as shared docs, etc.

•  Free for nonprofits and small groups.

•  Setting up Google Apps is an easy and quick way to integrate volunteers.

Tools for Volunteer Management

No One App to Rule Them All

• Dozens of project and volunteer management apps come out every day.

• We’ll review a few market leaders in online applications– but take these as a starting-off point for further exploration.

• In the end, the key is to get people to do things. The platform is only a tool, and what might work for one group might not work for another.

Tools for Volunteer Management

Online Applications

• Sparked: set up microvolunteer challenges and find willing people. Lightweight and brandable.

• Idealist: largest reach for gathering volunteers and advertising opportunities.

• VolunteerSpot: tools and scheduling for group volunteering

• HandsOn: a resource for more massive volunteer recruiting and management

Tools for Volunteer Management

Workshop • Discuss the following scenario with your group, or invent a new one that speaks to you:

• You have formed a strong group of volunteers who have helped you test your prototype and seem to be excited about next steps. You named one person the chair of the group as she showed commitment and promise.

• The chair was engaged and responsive for several weeks but now has not returned any calls or emails for 3 weeks straight.

• Further, your other volunteers have not been communicating clearly and there has been duplication of efforts, which is becoming clear to your market.

• What do you do?

Tools for Volunteer Management

In the End, It’s All About the People • Ultimately, people make projects happen

• If you can’t motivate people to be involved, the project will not happen

• If you can’t structure people’s motivation, you won’t have a clear deliverable at the end of the day

• People are a core input to the activities. Leverage them well, and anything can happen.