This is a talk by Stormy Peters & Avni Khatri Most nonprofit organizations depend on volunteers. And most volunteer organizations are asked how in the world they recruit and keep volunteers. While not every organization is the same, there are definitely some best practices that many open source software projects have discovered and evolved. The keys to a successful volunteer organization include recognizing the leadership talents in others, helping people identify their passions, and enabling them to get things done while creating a strong sense of vision and direction. It also involves good organizational and cultural practices for recognizing contributions, making decisions, and even letting people move on. I’d like to share what I’ve learned about encouraging and growing other people’s passions and interests with examples from GNOME, Mozilla, and Kids on Computers. Explore what motivates volunteers, and how successful organizations grow leaders, make decisions, and get things done. After the talk, I hope you’ll share your examples with @storming.

1. Growing an Organization by
Planting Volunteers
Avni Khatri
&
Stormy Peters

3. 1 out of 3 volunteers do not
return the next year
http://www.nationalservice.
gov/sites/default/files/documents/via_brief_retentio
n.pdf

4. Does open source software
do it better?

5. CRAZY?!?!

6. Photo by OSkarN

8. Pat yourself on the back

13. 1st
Pycon

14. Hard to walk up and introduce yoruself

15. Remember the intro points

19. 3 things today
• Growing community
• Keeping the web open
• Helping people be responsible

20. Why?

23. Photo by ncheng93

26. What motivates you?

31. 3 things today
• Growing community
• Keeping the web open
• Helping people be responsible

32. Photo by maplesbranch

33. Make it easy
Photo by*Psycho Delia*

35. Answer quickly
Photo by Norma Desmond

36. Vision & Direction

37. Clear processes

38. Make it clear what projects your
org has going on and what
current volunteer needs are

39. Grow Leaders

40. Enable & Empower

41. Value Contributions

44. Extrinsic
Photo by Penn State Beaver

45. 3 things today
• Growing community
• Keeping the web open
• Helping people be responsible

53. Avni Khatri
@avni321
Stormy Peters
@storming

54. Backup/temp Slides

57. Why?

58. Bounties

59. Need
Photo by Brent and
MariLynn

60. Skills
Photoe by
Chattanooga Public Library

61. Photo by www.flazingo.com

64. Creative

65. Interesting

67. Community

71. 3 things today
• Growing community
• Keeping the web open
• Helping people be responsible

75. Mentorship

76. Identify Passions
Photo by carf2

78. 3 things today
• Growing community
• Keeping the web open
• Helping people be responsible

79. What can
possibly
go wrong?

80. Not sharing what you are doing

81. Not being open
Photo by Clive Reid

82. Not helping new
people

83. Not enough time

84. Not empowering
Photo by torbakhopper
Photo by Darrel J. Rohl

85. Founders syndrome

86. Expanding your culture

87. Join whatever, stay culture

88. You get what you measure, show
impact
Photo by Martin Fisch

89. Grow community by:
● Understanding motivations
● Finding passion
● Enabling it

90. Stormy Peters
stormy@stormyscorner.com
@storming