Flip the Pitch Turning Volunteering into a Real Opportunity

Beth S. Brodovsky President

Iris Creative Group, Inc.

Photo Credit: Dana Berry, Flickr

Re-Define Volunteer Jobs Typical Volunteer Titles

•  Chapter President •  Board Chair •  Committee Member •  Sponsorship Liaison •  Ambassador

Big roles with big time commitments

Re-Define Volunteer Jobs Consider micro-volunteers •  An hour or two at most •  An hour a month •  A day a month •  Weekly work •  Short term project

•  Stamp envelopes •  Check-in event attendees •  Stuff gift bags •  Make directional signs •  Lead a workshop

Sample from an association member portal. Technology provides an easy way for sorting and finding what you want. The Alert Me feature sends info so members don’t even have to come hunting for it.

The detail page provides “you” focused information.

Clear descriptions of the work, specifics on where and when in-person meetings happen, interest area, and how much help is needed are all spelled out in a member-focused manner.

Why Volunteer? Learn What Motivates your Volunteers Duty – because its needed

Desire – because it brings joy

Drive – because it supports a personal goal

DUTY PROFILE Because its needed

•  Sense of responsibility •  Part of something important •  It’s the right thing to do •  Like to be needed •  Personal connection

DESIRE PROFILE Because it Brings Joy

•  Passionate about the activity •  Share specific skills, talent and knowledge •  Enjoys the people •  Finds participating fun

DRIVE PROFILE Because it Supports a Personal Goal

•  Gain experience •  Build a resume •  Like to be in charge

Motivation is Complicated •  People can have more than one profile – at the same time

•  People can change profiles over time

•  People can have different motivations for different volunteer activities

Take Note •  Keep an eye on who is showing up to do what

•  Become curious, ask about interests

•  Know what you need and what motivations are likely to want to provide that service

Build Better Volunteers Look at volunteering as a chain that draws members in closer and identifies the best candidates for critical positions. •  Create job “levels” •  Develop a volunteer training program •  Teach current volunteers to find new volunteers

A re-designed website helped one of our clients grow their volunteer base. By creating smaller jobs, local projects and “virtual” opportunities, people who were interested but didn’t think they could help are now able to get involved.

Lead with Transparency Avoid the closed circle •  The same people in the same or rotating jobs •  Current volunteers keep to themselves •  Communication near the end or after selection •  Hard to find or hard to decipher information •  No easy way to ask for information

Lead with Transparency

…Too vague, too general and too ambiguous.

Connect Connect Connect Onsite, online, in print, email, social…

Provide a variety of ways for prospective volunteers to learn about how their skills and interests could be put to use in your organization.

Make your website social… Big numbers. Simple navigation. Personal stories. More to see and read. Easy to share.

Make your social track-able. New Timeline features allow for bigger storytelling At least half the time, link to content on your site

I volunteer and you can

too!

Make the most of in-person connections Use QR codes to send people to specific web pages Create a mobile site, app or simplify a landing page

Change Your Focus Flipping the pitch to what’s in it for the volunteer:

•  Releases you from begging •  Breaks up big jobs to ease the load on your board •  Allows you to draw the more members closer to the center of your organization •  Develops more satisfied volunteers who attract others

Beth S. Brodovsky, President Iris Creative Group, Inc Communications Build Community 610-567-2799

Connect at: beth@iriscreative.com www.iriscreative.com www.linkedin.com/in/bethbrodovsky www.twitter.com/bethbrodovsky www.facebook.com/iriscreative