 Call to Action |
| Find New Volunteers This Thanksgiving |
| By Shannon Boren, VolunteerMatch Communications Intern |
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| Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and once again we're reminded that the holiday season isn't just about spending time with friends and family. For many Americans, it's also about giving time and resources to help others who are in need. |
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| Whether the task is collecting toys or feeding the hungry, lots of families and individuals look for new ways to bring meaning and value to the holiday season, which for many people formally gets underway just before Thanksgiving. |
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| New for this year is an increasing awareness of the importance of change and restoration, and nonprofits can take advantage of the spirit of the day by expanding and targeting their volunteer programs to help forge new connections with committed members of the community. |
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Start your holiday volunteer recruitment project at www.volunteermatch.org. By updating your Organization Detail page, adding new volunteer listings, and finding interesting ways to describe the opportunities at your organization, you can help inspire a relationship that will last far beyond New Year's. |
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| Think about creating new listings based off your holiday needs. Because each organization is unique, consider what changes or challenges you face during the holiday season, and create opportunities that can help in these areas. And remember to keep up with your regular opportunities, as well, in order to cultivate year-round support from those who first came to you during the holidays. |
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| This could be a big year for Thanksgiving volunteering -- make sure your organization is ready. Let the giving begin today at VolunteerMatch: Log in and update your account! |
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| Family Volunteer Day |
| 6 Secrets to Great Recruiting |
| Family Volunteer Day, takes place on Saturday, November 22. The event is promoted by HandsOn Network, Disney, and Points of Light Institute, which means millions of American hear about it. |
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| So this is a great time of the year to dig into your VolunteerMatch account and make sure your listings are updated and "optimized" for this specialized audience. Here are a few tips: |
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Flaunt It if You Got It!
Parents will be combing your listings looking for any indication your program is a good choice for families who want to make a difference. Make sure they find some evidence. If you have a track record of successful age-specific children's programs, say so! |
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Show You Care
Think about the special needs of parents who are concerned about their child's well-being. They'll want to know their child is safe, secure, and having fun -- plus making a difference. Your job is to demonstrate that those basic needs are going to be met. |
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Keywords Are Key
To research effectively, parents will be looking for words like "child," "kids," "family" and "groups" in their search parameters. Not including similar words in your descriptions is a common mistake! And be sure to utilize the "Great for Kids" and "Great for Groups" check boxes so your listings can be filtered in Advanced Search. |
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Be Educational
Think about how you can layer an educational component on top of your opportunities. One idea: invite a guest expert to provide age-appropriate teaching on background issues. Or encourage families to read up about the issues beforehand. |
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Demonstrate Responsibility
If possible, see if you can arrange to have a supervisor on site who has education or childcare credentials. This will make a huge difference for many parents, even if they don't plan on leaving their child alone. |
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Invite Screening
Ask your best current volunteers to be available as a reference for other parents who want to screen your organization. And definitely make sure your Web site is updated to match what you are saying at VolunteerMatch. |
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| Finally, don't sweat it if you aren't family friendly. It's not for every nonprofit. But if you want to give it a try, now's the time! |
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| Engaging Boomers |
| Capitalizing on Boomer Characteristics, Expectations |
| By Jill Friedman Fixler & Sandie Eichberg |
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This summer, VolunteerMatch released a step-by-step guide to help charities collaborate with 78 million retiring baby boomers. Boomer Volunteer Engagement: Collaborate Today, Thrive Tomorrow, by Jill Friedman Fixler and Sandie Eichberg, provides specific tools for tapping the skills and experiences of boomers. We’ve invited the authors to highlight their ideas.
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| Volunteer leaders who adhere to traditional volunteer management models may think boomers will reject traditional volunteer roles. In truth, most boomers drop out because their expectations don’t match the realities of the current volunteer workplace. |
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| Boomers are busy and need flexibility when volunteering. They want to use their workplace skills, see impact, participate on high functioning teams, and enjoy collegial relationships with staff and other volunteers -- all difficult things to do in the traditional way. |
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| To capitalize on boomer skills, nonprofits must innovate. Only then will you be able to successfully engage and retain boomers. Below are a few ideas to get you started -- not surprisingly, they sound very much like trends that are emerging in the employment world today. |
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Create flexible work schedules -- A busy boomer may not be able to work one hour each week for a year, but he or she can give 52 hours in a twelve-month period. |
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Develop volunteer career ladders -- Retirement for boomers is a process, not an event. Small volunteer commitments build allegiance to a cause during the period when Boomers are still employed and considering their next act. |
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Maintain a collaborative administration -- Boomers want to feel productive, partner with staff, and see results. They want autonomy and choices. |
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Tell the story of volunteer successes -- Boomers are passionate about causes and want to know how their volunteer work will impact clients and beneficiaries. Share case histories of how volunteers interact with clients to better their lives. |
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| How to Dig Deeper |
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| You can dig deeper into the ideas by downloading the free PDF worksheets available as part of the Boomer Volunteer Engagement tool set at www.boomervolunteerengagement.org. |
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| In addition, please join VolunteerMatch on Wednesday, 11/19, at 12:00 PM Pacific, for a free Webinar on engaging boomer volunteers. Click here register: |
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| https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/444728488. |
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| Nonprofit Spotlight |
| Jean & Brian Schieman, American Cancer Society |
| When Jean Schieman arrived for her first day of work at the American Cancer Society, she was met with a disheveled stack of hand-drawn maps and a half-entered list of contact information. |
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| For most of us in the nonprofit world, this would have been a cue to exit. But Schieman, undeterred, was out to make big changes in a program she felt could make a real difference in the lives of those with cancer – and she wasn't going to let anything stop her. |
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| Jean and her husband Brian took over the Allegheny County (Pa.) branch of the American Cancer Society's Road to Recovery program, which organizes volunteer drivers to help transport cancer patients to and from important medical appointments. |
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| In the two years since, the Schieman's chapter of Road to Recovery has blossomed from a service that consisted of just eight drivers (and zero coordinators) into a success story with nearly triple the number of volunteers. |
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| "Our favorite part of working with The American Cancer Society is knowing that we are adding a little support to people who are in need of it," Jean said. "Anything we can do to remove some of the stresses of having cancer, we will do." |
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| One of the Schieman's key projects has been implementing MapPoint, a Microsoft program that maps out the locations of existing drivers and cancer centers. Now when a rider request is received, Jean simply enters the address and the system tells her who is the closest driver, as well as directions from the patient's home to and from their medical appointment. |
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| Volunteers are the key to the success of the American Cancer Society. With almost 300 volunteers to one staff person, the information and programs they provide would not be available without the help of people like Jean and Brian. |
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| "VolunteerMatch has served as a crucial step in transforming our program from a small operation to an outstanding service," Jean said. "The challenge with Road to Recovery now is that it is growing and we need more volunteers in every corner of Allegheny County to keep up with the demand!" |
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| At VolunteerMatch, we're proud to support Jean and Brian Schieman in their work with the American Cancer Society's Road to Recovery Program. We can help you too! Update your VolunteerMatch account today! |
