1. Flip the Pitch
Turning Volunteering into a Real Opportunity
Beth S. Brodovsky
President
Iris Creative Group, Inc.

2. Photo Credit: Dana Berry, Flickr

3. Re-Define Volunteer Jobs
Typical Volunteer Titles
• Chapter President
• Board Chair Big roles with big
• Committee Member time commitments
• Sponsorship Liaison
• Ambassador

4. Re-Define Volunteer Jobs
Consider micro-volunteers
• Stamp envelopes
• An hour or two at most
• Check-in event attendees
• An hour a month
• Stuff gift bags
• A day a month
• Make directional signs
• Weekly work
• Lead a workshop
• Short term project

5. Sample from an
association
member portal.
Technology
provides an easy
way for sorting and
finding what you
want. The Alert Me
feature sends info
so members don’t
even have to come
hunting for it.

6. The detail page
provides “you”
focused information.
Clear descriptions of
the work, specifics
on where and when
in-person meetings
happen, interest
area, and how much
help is needed are
all spelled out in a
member-focused
manner.

7. Why Volunteer?
Learn What Motivates your Volunteers
Duty – because its needed
Desire – because it brings joy
Drive – because it supports a personal goal

8. DUTY PROFILE
Because its needed
• Sense of responsibility
• Part of something important
• It’s the right thing to do
• Like to be needed
• Personal connection

9. DESIRE PROFILE
Because it Brings Joy
• Passionate about the activity
• Share specific skills, talent and knowledge
• Enjoys the people
• Finds participating fun

10. DRIVE PROFILE
Because it Supports a Personal Goal
• Gain experience
• Build a resume
• Like to be in charge

11. Motivation is Complicated
• People can have more than one profile – at the same time
• People can change profiles over time
• People can have different motivations for different
volunteer activities

12. Take Note
• Keep an eye on who is showing up to do what
• Become curious, ask about interests
• Know what you need and what motivations are likely
to want to provide that service

13. Build Better Volunteers
Look at volunteering as a chain that draws members in closer
and identifies the best candidates for critical positions.
• Create job “levels”
• Develop a volunteer training program
• Teach current volunteers to find new volunteers

14. A re-designed
website helped one
of our clients grow
their volunteer base.
By creating smaller
jobs, local projects
and “virtual”
opportunities, people
who were interested
but didn’t think they
could help are now
able to get involved.

15. Lead with Transparency
Avoid the closed circle
• The same people in the same or rotating jobs
• Current volunteers keep to themselves
• Communication near the end or after selection
• Hard to find or hard to decipher information
• No easy way to ask for information

16. Lead with Transparency
…Too vague, too general and too ambiguous.

17. Connect Connect Connect
Onsite, online, in print, email, social…
Provide a variety of ways for prospective volunteers to learn
about how their skills and interests could be put to use in your
organization.

18. Make your website
social…
Big numbers.
Simple navigation.
Personal stories.
More to see and read.
Easy to share.

19. Make your social
track-able.
New Timeline features
allow for bigger
storytelling
At least half the time,
link to content on your
site

20. I volunteer
and you can
too!
Make the most of in-person connections
Use QR codes to send people to specific web pages
Create a mobile site, app or simplify a landing page

21. Change Your Focus
Flipping the pitch to what’s in it for the volunteer:
• Releases you from begging
• Breaks up big jobs to ease the load on your board
• Allows you to draw the more members closer to the
center of your organization
• Develops more satisfied volunteers who attract others

22. Beth S. Brodovsky, President
Iris Creative Group, Inc
Communications Build Community
610-567-2799
Connect at:
beth@iriscreative.com
www.iriscreative.com
www.linkedin.com/in/bethbrodovsky
www.twitter.com/bethbrodovsky
www.facebook.com/iriscreative