Volunteering - Pet Conference St. Louis
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Transcript of Volunteering - Pet Conference St. Louis
Increasing Your Use of Volunteers
Step-by-step tips and tools.
Create structure and supervision for a successful volunteer program &
build it one step at a time.
“Establish a budget for the volunteer program that reflects the real costs associated with its operation..
…including items such as copying and printing, advertising, events, recognition and appreciation, technology tools like databases or websites for recruiting, and ongoing training for the volunteer manager.
The return on investment in terms of hours of service and quality of care for the animals, as well as the benefits to the public, will be well worth the effort, and most volunteer programs really can be run on a relatively small budget.”
– Megan WebbCommunity outreach program director Oakland Animal Services, California
What are your needs?• Involve your group’s current staff/officers• Select a Volunteer Manager or Coordinator• Write volunteer job descriptions• Multi-level approach to volunteer training and positions• Separation from staff/officers roles and volunteer roles • Set budget
Screening & Expectations
• Interview volunteers, choose those that are the best fit
• Explain minimum time commitments & scheduling
• Provide volunteer ‘job’ descriptions to match skills to positions
• Ask volunteers complete Skills Checklist of knowledge & physical requirements
Sample checklist chart at animalsheltering.org/volunteer_skills
Orientation
• introduce staff, current volunteers
• review your programs, policies/rules, history, mission, and goals
• distribute volunteer handbook – can be projected and then emailed to avoid printing costs
• give a tour
*This can all be done online for online volunteers too!
Training• Schedule specific or group
training sessions• Cover the 3 types of learners:
hear, read, hands-on• AFTER training, volunteers are
given their assignments – not all volunteers will be matched for there area of interest
• Necessary liability releases• Volunteers under 18?
Communication
• Keep volunteers informed • Volunteer Manager should
have available voicemail and email
• Positive word of mouth will expand all your programs
• Encourage volunteer feedback for ideas, growth & change
Top Level Volunteers
• How many people can 1 person manage - 10? 20?
• Create a Top Level team of your experienced, people-oriented volunteers
• Invite them to lead & organize volunteer training, orientations, events
Recognition• Recognize and reward good
volunteers• If you can’t afford to buy your
regular volunteers t-shirts, offer logo/volunteer-branded t-shirts for volunteers to purchase through Zazzle.com or Cafepress.com
• Keep it simple – a handwritten note, a handshake, a personal thank you email
• Contact volunteers that don’t show up for a shift
Using the .
Volunteer ToolConnect with local volunteers who’ve registered to help you
Adopt-a-Pet.com
Volunteer Tool
Search 1
Search 2
V search results
Mouse over volunteer name
Top of volnteer detail
Bottom of volunteer detail
Three National Animal Welfare Volunteer
Studies#1
by Steven G. Rogelberg, PhD, Univ of North Carolina
Charlotte & Betsy McFarland, HSUS
- Surveyed 270 animal welfare employees- 80.6% worked 30 hours a week or more (i.e. fulltime employees).
Q: What practices do you think are important for creating positive experiences with and retaining volunteers?
Study #2: Stickiness(volunteer retention practices)
By Adrian Goh and Steven Rogelberg
• Surveyed 72 Volunteer Managers • Surveyed 4139 volunteers• On average, the surveyed shelters had
– 226 Volunteers– 27 Full time employees– 7 Part time employees
19 Stickiness Practices
1. Provides volunteers with the tools and supplies needed to do their volunteer service. (70.4%)
2. Allows volunteers to use services provided by the organization for free or at a highly discounted rate. (33.8%)
3. Has defined policies for dealing with conflict and concerns between staff and volunteers (e.g. writing up staff and volunteers for inappropriate behavior). (21.1%)
4. Provides an anonymous way (e.g., suggestion/concern box) of addressing problems that volunteers are too uncomfortable to bring to the attention of staff directly. (18.3%)
5. Organization has calendars showing staff when they will have volunteers in their area. (35.2%)
6. Organization formally advertises a need for volunteers to the general public (e.g. flyers, ads in the paper, etc.). (56.3%)
7. Impromptu orientations (i.e. tour of the organization and brief discussion of essential policies) for volunteers who are eager to start volunteering before the formal orientation meeting. (39.4%)
8. A regularly updated calendar that volunteers can access so they know when they are needed and can sign up for those times. (42.9%)
9. Contact volunteers when they do not make their scheduled volunteer appointment. (27.1%)
10. Supervisors identify specific volunteer job assignments that can be completed in 2-3 hour blocks of time. (38.6%)
11. Regularly meet with employees to encourage them to thank volunteers for good work. (24.3%)
12. Regularly survey volunteers on level of satisfaction, quality of experiences, desire to continue volunteering, level of stress related to volunteering. (12.7%)
13. Regularly survey employees concerning their relationships with volunteers, the volunteer program, and related issues. (13.2%)
14. Formal interviews before accepting potential volunteers. (18.3%)
15. Social events for volunteers to reward their efforts. (63.4%)
Thank you!Jennifer Warner
Director of Shelter [email protected]
RESOURCES and VIRTUAL HELP
Service Leader (Virtual Volunteering Guide Book): http://www.serviceleader.org/new/documents/vvguide.pdf Association for Volunteer Administrators: www.avaintl.org
CompuMentor: www.compumentor.org (nonprofit technology portal) Cyber Speaker: www.cyberspeaker.com/sevensteps.html
Energize Inc.: www.energizeinc.com (general VPM resource) Net Aid: www.1-800-Volunteer.org.org/ov/index_html
TechSoup: www.techsoup.org (nonprofit technology portal) Volunteer Today: www.volunteertoday.com (VPM monthly e-gazette)
Netiquette: www.dtcc.edu/cs/rfc1855.htmlwww.volunteermatch.org/nonprofits/learningcenter/
Free downloadable book: http://www.humanesociety.org/assets/pdfs/hsp/volunteer.pdf