How to Maintain Good Volunteers

Keeping Volunteers Happy & Content

Volunteers are the lifeblood of many organizations - schools, libraries, nonprofit agencies, community gardens, youth programs, hospitals - if there is an organization in your community providing a service or program, chances are volunteers are helping to keep the doors open. As citizens, we are drawn to helping out and giving of our time and energy to help those in our community. Unfortunately, we don’t always feel welcome or needed and we may find volunteering isn’t exactly what we thought it would be. 

There are several things volunteer coordinators, school administrators and others who rely on volunteer labor and expertise can do to make the best use of volunteers and make them feel welcome, necessary and appreciated. After all, a volunteer who contributes five hours of time a week, would cost an organization around $15,000 a year in personnel expense if he or she was a paid employee. That’s a lot of value from one well-meaning individual! 

Before signing up a single volunteer, it pays to be prepared. One of the common complaints of frustrated volunteers is that there is nothing useful for them to do. Just as if you were hiring an employee, prepare a job description and decide how each volunteer will be oriented, trained and integrated into operations. Make sure there is a clear “chain of command” and if, possible, have the volunteer answer to one person instead of “supervision by committee.” Gone are the days of housewives or seniors with plenty of time to spare as volunteers - people who volunteer are often very busy and lead full, energetic lives. They do not want to waste time where they do not feel as though they are making an impact. Make sure that calls and emails are answered promptly; set up an opportunity to visit or conduct an “interview” as soon as possible. If you don’t, you may lose a volunteer who is shopping for somewhere to devote energy.