Ways to say Thank You to Volunteers

Letting volunteers know they are appreciated can keep them engaged and continuing to volunteer. Here are a few ways to show appreciation.

• Directly say to the volunteer, “Thanks for volunteering today.”
• Print a set of business cards for the volunteer.
• Greet them by name.
• Send out volunteer e-Cards.
• Commemorate milestones of service such as one month, one year, five years, etc.
• Mention the volunteer in a newsletter, Facebook, or Twitter.
• Publish an article about the person on the blog.

More suggestions? Let us know your favorite by using Comments.

Best Practices for Volunteer Orientation

Why doesn’t a volunteer persist? Shawn Kindrick of Volunteer Hub offers several activities that can help the volunteer stay.

• Start with a personal discussion where one discovers what the volunteer wants from their activity.

• Give the volunteer a handbook that discusses the organization’s procedures and policies.

• Provide a mentor.

• Offer feedback on their performance.

Read the complete discussion here.

Maximize Your Volunteers

Author Susan J. Ellis, in her book titled From the Top Down: The Executive Role in Volunteer Program Success, sets out nine aspects of volunteers that can help the organization grow. Several of the aspects are given below.

The volunteers can:

• Bring other spheres of influence.

• Focus on a single issue.

• Be more frank about the organization.

• Be powerful advocates with elected officials and the media.

• Allow a nonprofit to experiment with new ideas, programs, and service models.

Read more here.

Volunteer Connect at the Bend Fall Festival

We set up our booth at the Fall festival about 8:30 a.m. on October 5th. It was a chilly morning with the sun warming it up by 1 p.m.

About 300 people visited the booth, giving us a chance to hand out info on Volunteer Connect. In addition, 34 people signed up to receive the newsletter.

Volunteers that helped Betsy included Sue, Dana, David and Tom. Sue, Tom and Betsy are shown in the photo.