This document provides an overview of online volunteer recruitment. It discusses the benefits of virtual recruitment such as lower costs, expanded reach, increased efficiency, and standardized volunteer expectations and application processes. Potential online functions for recruitment include matching volunteers with opportunities, scheduling, tracking volunteer hours and activities, and reporting. The presentation recommends starting with local volunteer centers and exploring national volunteer portals. It encourages organizations to register on sites like VolunteerMatch.org and HandsOnConnect.org to post volunteer opportunities and recruit virtually.
2. Connect with us on facebook
Volunteer Centers of Michigan Michigan Community Service
Commission
Provides resources to volunteer The state’s lead agency on
centers across the state in volunteerism working to build a
their efforts to address key culture of service by providing
community issues. vision and resources to
strength communities through
www.mivolunteers.org volunteerism
www.mnaonline.org www.michigan.gov/mcsc
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13. FEATURES TO CONSIDER
techsoup.org
• Volunteer Profile
– Contact Information, skills, interests, availability,
etc.
• Activity Tracking
– What they do and when they do it
• Scheduling
– The major feature—the ability to connect the right
volunteer with the right opportunity or event.
• Communication
– Email, print
14. • Online Features-
– Applications, on-line orientations, ability to edit
profiles, team registrations, etc.
• Online Reports & Exporting
– Who, what, when. Ability to link to donor data base??
• Customization
– Ability to add questions (in example T-shirt size)
• Ease of Use
– Can information be added repeatedly with little time
• Pricing and Support
18. Organization Information
• Name
• Employer Identification Number
• Mission
• Contact Information—administrator
• Location
• Primary Impact Area
• Logo
• Picture (optional, but recommended)
20. POLL
What roadblocks or issues prevent your
organization from using online volunteer
management software?
• Lack of time
• Lack of knowledge
• None
• Other (please type examples in chat box)
24. Include the following. . .
• Short, descriptive title
• 100 word or less description listing duties
and anticipated impact.
• Think keyword search
• Avoid Acronyms and Jargon
• Dates, time, length and location of service
• Contact information, website, etc.
• How to apply
26. Craft a powerful message
THREE PARTS
THE
STATEMENT HOW THE
BENEFITS
OF CLIENT VOLUNTEER
TO THE
NEED CAN HELP
VOLUNTEER
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27. EXAMPLE
STATEMENT OF CLIENT NEED
They have gloves, bats and softballs, but no coach. Seventy-five mentally-challenged
boys and girls are waiting for a coach. They’re waiting for you.
HOW TO HELP
Don’t let them strike out. Join our Special Olympics Team. Call 1-800-Gold Today
BENEFITS
You’ll never feel more appreciated (and you’ll get some exercise too!)
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30. Online—Just One Strategy
2. Identify 3. Craft a 4. Design a
1. Target Your Benefits and Powerful Communication
Market Features Message Strategy
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31. Thank You
for your participation
• Questions & Sharing to follow
• Please complete the evaluation that will be
emailed to you. (NOTE ON SCORING—5 is
high, 1 is low)
• Your input is appreciated.
Next webinar— July 26
Volunteer Management—The Cliff Notes
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Welcome to On-line volunteer recruitment. This is designed to be a shorter presentation with question and sharing time at the end. The actual presentation will provide a broad overview of volunteer recruitment software options and general tips for use. I am, Sandra Miller, and serve as a consultant and trainer with volunteer centers of Mi. Also on the webinar, acting as organizer, is Chelsea Martin. You are all entering the webinar on mute. You should see a control panel with a chat box and a “hand”. We’ll be asking you to respond to questions as a part of the webinar. You can use the chat box to provide more specific responses or to make comments or ask questions at any point in time.
This training is offered by the Volunteer Centers of Michigan in Partnership with the Michigan Community Service Commission and is funded through the Volunteer Generation Fund Grant. Volunteer Centers of Michigan (VCM) supports the broad network of Volunteer Centers across the state as these centers work with their local nonprofits to mobilize people and resources to address community issues. Volunteer Centers of Michigan is an affiliate of the Michigan Nonprofit Association and receives support from the Michigan Community Service Commission. All 3 organizations offer a variety of valuable resources and services. To learn more and to access resources, visit the organization’s websites.
Quick access to larger number of volunteers. Many allow for registration by teams, corporate sign ups, automatic generation of emails, mass emailing, etc. More individuals and more nonprofits are accessing opportunities through online volunteer registration sites.
Matching—organization needs to volunteer skills, interests, and availability. Scheduling—register volunteers for particular events, time slots, etc. Create sign in forms. Tracking—volunteer information, service hours and events. Reporting—demographics, number of volunteers by event, opportunity, and/ or organization
Most volunteer centers provide online volunteer registration software.Find your local center through the “member volunteer centers” tab at mivolunteer.org
Both the Michigan community Service Commission and Volunteer Centers of Michigan’s websites have HandsOn Connect widgets which allows individuals to do a site for posted opportunities from the organization’s website. Many volunteer registration software programs feed opportunities into the national allforgood.org & idealist.org.
A product offered through HandsOn Network and available to member of HandsOn Network. HandsOn Connect is a full lifecycle volunteer management platform that expands your capability to manage, track, and report on people, programs, trainings and volunteer opportunities in real time. Uses Salesforce platform.
Volunteer Solutions now Truist.com is frequently used by United Way Organizations. No longer has a free subscription. Does have a free trial. Pricing is only available by contacting a salesperson.
Volunteer Match is a nonprofit organization that provides volunteer recruitment software at 3 levels. Third level—National Organizations such as Red Cross and Senior Corp organizations and others can post through the “Preferred Partnership” progarm.
When deciding which software to use. The features are listed from the most common to the least common. Most will have the ability to do the first 3. The more expensive in terms of licenses provide additional functions such as automated and customizable communication tools, additional abilities and features such as online application forms requesting detailed information, video orientations, etc. Then, reporting ability is increased as database storage is increased.
Other features include online options such as the ability to add forms that can be completed by the volunteer and submitted electronically, links to on-line volunteer orientations, , etc. The ability to create and export standard and customizable reports is a consideration. In example—how many young professionals and young adults apply for your opportunities, which tend to be the most popular with that group of individuals? Customizable would include the ability to identify fields to be added to reports or questions to be added to the volunteer information being collected by the site. Most importantly is probably ease of use, cost, and amount of support provided as a part of the fees. Idealist.org has a report available that provides more details and actually does a comparison of a variety of volunteer management software. The document provides other resources such as a blog by wildapricot that provide additional information and comparisons.
The first step is to register your organization with the site. Some sites assess a fee. Others such as your volunteer center offer this as a free service.
Every software will require that you register your organization and provide some basic information.
Most will require that you provide information about your organization, the primary contact person who will generally also act as the opportunity administrator. So, don’t name your executive director if that is not the person who will be actually posting, editing, and managing the volunteer opportunities.
We are providing a worksheet as a part of this presentation’s toolkit that will be emailed to you. The worksheet includes the general information requested when an organization registers and when opportunities are posted. The EIN number will be used to verify the organization’s nonprofit status. For profit organizations are generally screened out. Pictures that tell the story can serve to make the connection between potential volunteers and organization’s mission. Picture of the building or a google map can help volunteers identify location.
The organization that holds the license for the software will email login information (User Name & Password) to the organization’s contact. Most sites will allow creation of additional logins with a variety of rights for website use granted to each. In example, a volunteer might be provided with login information that allows his/her rights to post opportunities and view signups, but nothing else.
Post opportunities. Generally not recommended to post the entire volunteer position description which tend to be about one page.
Each online site will have tools and resources that will provide instructions for the site’s functions and resources. When posting volunteer opportunities most sites will have a “Wizard” that provides step-by-step pages and forms that will walk you through the process. The amount of detail and specifics will vary from
This is your chance to make the connection. You are essentially marketing the opportunity AND your organization. Volunteers will “self screen” on the basis of the information provided. Or they will seek information. It’s ideal to provide a link to a more detailed volunteer position description which might be posted to your organization’s website.
Quick review from the Recruitment webinar--
Example provided by the Volunteer Center of Greater Kalamazoo. What type of individual might this appeal to?
As review from the recruitment toolkit. Most volunteers are looking for time or project specific opportunities. Meaning there’s a definite start and end point. This is an example. Note that the title indicates both the skills needed and the intended impact of the work.
Avoid opportunities without endings or with a broad focus. (1) These opportunities tend to sound like a job (2) Most individuals are reluctant to become involved in something that looks to require a major time commitment.
Finally--Don’t rely just on online recruitment software.Think about where your volunteers can be found. What’s your target market—young professionals, retirees, families, individuals interest in the environment or those with good listening skills, etc.? Where can be they be found. What will appeal to those types of individuals. Then define a strategy specific to that group. Consider other marketing strategies such as church bulletins, your organization’s website and newsletters, include the “ask” in any organization event, etc.