Recruiting Volunteers in Forest Grove & Cornelius, Oregon

A free resource for nonprofit organizations, NGOs, civil society organizations,
charities, schools, public sector agencies & other mission-based agencies
by Jayne Cravens
via coyotecommunications.com & coyoteboard.com (same web site)

How to Recruit Volunteers in Forest Grove & Cornelius, Oregon
- for nonprofit organizations, government programs, schools
& communities of faith

FIRST

You should NOT recruit volunteers until you have all of the following information IN WRITING:

Specific dates and times volunteers are needed
Whether or not volunteers must fill out an application, undergo a criminal background check, go through an orientation or training, etc. - as well as specific, exact directions on how to do these activities
If someone can volunteer just once, for a few hours, rather than make an ongoing commitment
If someone can volunteer in a group, and what the requirements are for a group
If someone can bring friends or family along
If childcare is provided
What photo the ID requirements are, if any (driver's license? Green Card? Passport?)
If there is a language requirement (must volunteers be fluent in English?)
If there is a faith-based requirement - or, if you welcome ALL volunteers, including those of different faiths or atheists
A description of what a volunteer will do in a specific role
Exactly how a volunteer should sign up

If you cannot put this information in writing, and have it ready to email out and/or posted on a website, you are NOT ready to involve volunteers, period. If you recruit volunteers before you have this information in writing, you will frustrate volunteers - who will be kept waiting for complete information, or won't understand what the expectations are for volunteers, etc. You will have volunteers dropping out of your program before you even begin.

You also MUST commit to responding to every inquiry and application for volunteering promptly. The number one complaint of people who want to volunteer is that they sign up or express interest and either never get a call back or by the time they get a response they are no longer available. If you cannot make the commitment to get back to people within 48 hours (excluding weekends and holidays) of their expression of interest, your recruitment efforts will fail.

You don't have to do all of the following steps - you might want to do the first three and see what happens, then do the next three, and so forth, until you are recruiting enough volunteers to meet your needs.

If you think you don't have time to do all of the above, as well as the recommendations below, consider recruiting a volunteer to focus ONLY on volunteer recruitment on your behalf.

START RECRUITMENT EARLY & DON'T STOP

You will have better luck starting your recruitment weeks, even months in advance. Trying to scramble to get volunteers to help tonight, or in a few days, is VERY difficult. In addition, don't think one post to a Facebook group is going to pull in volunteers, or the same message posted again and again will attract volunteers. Recruitment is a cultivation process.

WEB SITE

The home page of your organization's web site should have the world volunteer on it, and that word should link to at least a page on your web site (if not an entire section) with COMPLETE information about volunteering at your organization. This page should always be up-to-date. If you don't do this, you will be turning potential volunteers away - they might hear about volunteering with your organization, go and look at your web site, find no information, or incomplete or incorrect information, and go away - and ignore future pleas regarding volunteering with you.

Having all of this information on your web site also makes it much easier to talk about your program to others - you can send everyone to the same place online to get information, rather than having information spread across numerous different emails and Facebook postings.

THIRD PARTY RECRUITMENT WEB SITES

Post your volunteering opportunities to

Do not post one giant volunteer recruitment message; instead, make different posts for different roles. Here's more information on Using Third Party Web Sites Like VolunteerMatch to Recruit Volunteers.

ONLINE GROUPS

You should post announcements about volunteering, with links back to your web site or your information on VolunteerMatch or HandsOn Greater Portland, to:
Forest Grove Facebook Community
Reddit Forest Grove
Reddit Cornelius
Reddit Pacific University (with a message that welcomes Pacific University students specifically)
The volunteering section of Craigslist for Washington County

Create a Facebook event for specific events as well, like an orientation for new volunteers. This allows people to express that they are interested in the event, or that they are going. This can help you get a general headcount, and means each person who has marked the event as "interested" or "going" will receive regular reminders about it in their newsfeed. If you need a different way for people to RSVP, then say so in your description on the Facebook event.

Post more than once to your organization's Facebook page about the volunteering opportunities. Include a photo or graphic if possible.

Be ready to respond to any comments about your event promptly - check in at least once a day to respond to inquiries.

Encourage all staff and volunteers to share this information via their own Facebook accounts as well, and to mark that they are "interested" or "going" to the event as well. This will greatly increase the reach of your Facebook messages about volunteering.

EMAIL

Email information about the volunteering opportunities, with links to your web site, VolunteerMatch or HandsOn Greater Portland, directly to:

The Center for Civic Engagement at Pacific University
The Office of Student Resources at Pacific University
Specific departments or colleges within Pacific University (for instance, would students in the Pacific University College of Health Professions have particular interest in your type of volunteering opportunities?)
Churches, temples and other communities of faith in the area

OTHER COMMUNITIES

If you want to reach even more people nearby, contact similar organizations in Gaston, Hillsboro, Banks and North Plains. If you target Hillsboro, note in your recruitment messages that bus 57 is a frequent service bus and where the nearest stop is to your organization. The Hillsboro bus takes less than 30 minutes to go from the Hillsboro Transit Center to the end of the line in Forest Grove.

If this is a large-scale volunteering event, send the announcement to the CNRG (Community Nonprofit Resource Group) Community Commons

TWITTER

Twitter is better for bragging about your volunteers and recognizing their service than as a recruitment tool, for the most part. If you are going to use it for recruitment, include the words Forest Grove, Oregon and/or Cornelius, Oregon in your tweets. Also include words like volunteers and a word related to the cause: homeless, theater, arts, animals, etc. This will help more people find your information, people who aren’t yet following you on Twitter.

Encourage all staff and volunteers to retweet this information via their own Twitter accounts as well.

INSTAGRAM

If you know how to use Instagram, make a graphic to post to Instagram that has all the basic info: who, what, where, where, and why. In the description, put all of this information as well.

GooglePlus

If you have a GooglePlus account, you should post the information there as well - it will increase your placement on Google when someone looks for your organization or the event. It should link back to your web site with more information.

FLYER

Post a flyer with complete information at the libraries in Forest Grove and Cornelius - and Hillsboro as well, if you want an even bigger crowd. Also post the flyer on the bulletin boards around the student union at Pacific University.

A lot of businesses in Forest Grove and Cornelius will let you put a small poster about volunteering in their windows.

OTHER NONPROFITS & CIVIC GROUPS

Send information about your volunteering opportunities to civic clubs and social groups ask them to let their members know:

And if all of the above activities still don't get you enough volunteers, or if you have one-time, just-show-up volunteering opportunities that don't require criminal background checks or training, you might try contacting nonprofits that are over-run with volunteers and would be willing to refer some to you, as well as nonprofits that have clients that might like to volunteer with you.

Did you know that most Habitat for Humanity chapters turn away more people than they can accept as volunteers? This is because of the large volume of people that contact Habitat for Humanity to volunteer - far more than they can actually involve - and because their volunteering slots fill up so quickly. If you have a need for groups of volunteers and you don't require criminal background checks or long training time for volunteers, contact Willamette West Habitat for Humanity and see if they would be willing to refer volunteers to you that they turn away.

Adelante Mujeres works with Latino women and girls, as well as entire families, and their clients are excellent candidates for volunteering. For instance, it's program for Latina youth, Adelante Chicas, works with more than 400 Latina students, grades three through 12, with the goal of instilling the importance of community leadership and civic engagement, and cultivating their skills for school, for future studies, for careers, and for life. The students, as volunteers, provide tech help at public libraries, pick up trash, plant trees and engage in other activities around the area. Contact Adelante Mujeres and let them know about your volunteering opportunities so they can let their clients know.

Government

Attend a Forest Grove city council meeting and use the citizens' communications time to tell the council about the volunteering opportunities at your organization. You have just two minutes to make your pitch. This makes government officials aware of your organization and its work, as well as anyone in the audience.

MORE?

If you do all of the above (honestly, are you really doing all of it?) and none of it works to get you all of the volunteers you need, contact me and I will do an audit of your efforts and I will make specific recommendations on what else you can do to attract volunteers.

If you think you don't have time to do all of the above, consider recruiting a volunteer to focus ONLY on volunteer recruitment on your behalf.

ALSO SEE:

REQUIRED Volunteer Information on Your Web Site
If your organization or department involves volunteers, or wants to, there are certain things your organization or department must have on its web site - no excuses! To not have this information says that your organization or department takes volunteers for granted, does not value volunteers beyond money saved in salaries, or is not really ready to involve volunteers.

Easy, Effective Ways to Publicize an Event or Activity in Forest Grove, Cornelius, Gales Creek & Gaston, Oregon - especially for nonprofit organizations, government agencies & communities of faith
I think the title says it all.

Finding a Computer/Network Consultant
Staff at mission-based organizations (nonprofits, civil society organizations, and public sector agencies) often have to rely on consultants, either paid or volunteer, for expertise in computer hardware, software and networks. Staff may feel unable to understand, question nor challenge whatever that consultant recommends. What can mission-based organizations do to recruit the "right" consultant for "tech" related issues, one that will not make them feel out-of-the-loop or out-of-control when it comes to tech-related discussions?

Creating One-Time, Short-Term Group Volunteering Activities
Details on not just what groups of volunteers can do in a two-hour, half-day or all-day event, but also just how much an organization or program will need to do to prepare a site for group volunteering. It's an expensive, time-consuming endeavor - are you ready? Is it worth it?

Recruiting Local Volunteers To Increase Diversity Among the Ranks
Having plenty of volunteers usually isn't enough to say a volunteering program is successful. Another indicator of success is if your volunteers represent a variety of ages, education-levels, economic levels and other demographics, or are a reflection of your local community. Most organizations don't want volunteers to be a homogeneous group; they want to reach a variety of people as volunteers (and donors and other supporters, for that matter). This resource will help you think about how to recruit for diversity, or to reach a specific demographic.

Using Third Party Web Sites Like VolunteerMatch to Recruit Volunteers
There are lots and lots of web sites out there to help your organization recruit volunteers. You don't have to use them all, but you do need to make sure you use them correctly in order to get the maximum response to your posts.

Recognizing Online Volunteers & Using the Internet to Honor ALL Volunteers
Recognition helps volunteers stay committed to your organization, and gets the attention of potential volunteers -- and donors -- as well. Organizations need to fully recognize the efforts of remote, online volunteers, as well as those onsite, and not differentiate the value of these two forms of service. Organizations should also incorporate use of the Internet to recognize the efforts of ALL volunteers, both online and onsite. With cyberspace, it's never been easier to show volunteers -- and the world -- that volunteers are a key part of your organization's successes. This new resource provides a long list of suggestions for both honoring online volunteers and using the Internet to recognize ALL volunteers that contribute to your organization.

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