Some volunteering is perceived as controversial, such as providing
water stations in the dessert for people entering a country illegally
and can die from dehydration, or defending a women's health clinic
patients from protesters, or various protest and activism roles.
Difficult, dangerous and/or controversial roles actually appeal to
many people who want to volunteer: they feel strongly about the cause,
or they want to do something substantial and challenging. But other
roles may seem too intimidating to new recruits, like mentoring a
young person going through the foster care system, working with young
people in the juvenile justice system, working with people with
intellectual disabilities, or working with seniors.
How do you recruit for roles that might seem difficult, dangerous,
even controversial? How do you recruit for a subject area or role
that might provoke an initial reaction of fear among potential
volunteers?
Advice:
- First, realize that there are elements of the volunteer role that
are appealing to potential volunteers. Many people want a
challenge, they want something that's going to require a significant
investment because they want an experience that's going to make a
real impact, a real difference, not just be a vanity volunteering
photo of Instagram or a number of volunteering hours on a university
application. Think about recruitment images, text and other
messaging that might appeal to a person looking for that kind of
challenge or experience.
- Emphasize and detail all of the training and support volunteers in
these roles get, before and during their volunteer service. Do new
volunteers get mentored and coached by veteran volunteers? Do
volunteers get to take a break? Is all of this information on your
web site about volunteering with your program, and do you talk about
this in meetings with potential volunteers?
- Pitch the idea of doing a story about these volunteers to a local
television station. Local TV stations are always hungry for human
interest stories, especially if you line up everyone you want to
speak already, schedule the day and time the interviews will take
place and have lots of ideas for things they could film while they
are at your location, so they can put together a visual story.
- Consider interviewing people who have benefited from your program,
talking about the difference these volunteers have made for them.
Recruiting volunteers to record such interviews and splice them
together in a snazzy video is as easy as posting a recruitment
message specifically to VolunteerMatch
or some other recruitment platform for such. In fact, I could do it
with just my smart phone or a conversation with clients on a web
conferencing platform I could use to record, like Zoom. Such a video
will not only help you recruit volunteers but can also reinvigorate
employees and current volunteers about their work for your
organization. Share that video on your website, on YouTube, and at
all speaking engagements and open houses.
- Create and share a video of volunteers talking about why they
volunteer and the benefits they receive from doing so. Share that
video on your website, on YouTube, and at all speaking engagements
and open houses.
- Encourage volunteers to blog about their experiences, and
regularly profile these volunteers and thank them on your web site
and on social media.
- Offer to speak at meetings of Rotary Clubs, Kiwanis, or any other
benevolent societies, as well as social groups and communities of
faith. You could show a video of volunteers talking about their
experience, or clients talking about their experience. You may want
your educational program to specifically combat fear about your work
or your clients.
- Meet with a city council member and play your short video for that
person. Ask if there is a city council meeting where you could give
official testimony and show your short video as a part of the
official agenda of the meeting. If you can present the video and a
short speech during a city council meeting, that introduces all of
the city council members, many key members of city staff and local
reporters to your work. Do the same with a representative of your
county government.
- Think about professions or university degrees that attract the
kind of people you think would make good candidates for these
volunteering roles. Is there a way to connect with people in those
professions, or people retired from those professions, about this
volunteering opportunity?
- Have an open house or a meeting-our-people-on-the-front-lines
event, where people can meet and talk with current volunteers
firsthand. It doesn't have to be called a recruitment event - you
can call it a celebration - but a recruitment event is what it is as
well: an event meant to bring people in who might end up wanting to
volunteer themselves. Encourage volunteers to invite family, friends
of family members and their own friends to such an event. Volunteers
can absolutely talk about difficulties, but should emphasize why
they volunteer and the benefits they receive from doing so.
- Remember that volunteers at your organization already in
non-intensive, not-so-difficult roles might eventually "graduate" to
these more difficult roles. Let them know, regularly, that this is
an option for them to explore.
- Are volunteers allowed to take breaks? Can they volunteer in such
an intensive role for a certain number of months and then take a
mental health break, not volunteering at all for a while or
volunteering in something not-so-intensive?
- Invite potential volunteers to no-obligation ask-us-anything
meetings where they can ask absolutely any question about the
program, where you openly discuss the very best, and very worst,
that can happen, where you discuss how new volunteers are supported
and guided, how all volunteers are supported and guided, how
problems are addressed, etc.
- Train all board members and all staff on how to recruit for these
positions specifically. They should know how to talk about these
programs in a way that is encouraging, clear and accurate. Don't
just tell them to recruit for these positions: make sure they have
sat through the same pitch you make to benevolent societies, social
groups, communities of faith, etc.
And, as with any volunteering tasks, intense or not, there is certain
information about volunteering at your organization that MUST be on
your web site if you want to attract volunteers and keep them.
Also see: