Trying to find and keep volunteers for community groups

I have been talking to a few people this week who are involved community groups. I asked each "do you have trouble finding people to volunteer?". They all said yes and are having issues finding volunteers. In my group I have taken the approach of trying 100 things with the idea that two or three will work.

So are your groups, friends ,etc have similar issues?

Is it the problem is the solution or problems are the solutions?

In Australia there is a similar issue, and I wonder if the reasons have been tested anywhere?
In Victoria, we had the worlds biggest volunteer group, the Country Fire Authority, with 69,000 members.
Started, built and financed by volunteers since about 1939.
In the last few years, attitudes changed and the organisation, started employing some staff in urban areas, they argued with others,
did a political deal no one has seen publicly and took over plant, equipment and stations.
And treated experienced volunteer people who lived in the landscape with contempt.
So far in about 3 years 25,000 have left the group.

With increasing fire risk, there are concerns the CFA will not be able to fight country fires in many places through lack of numbers, local knowledge and experience.

T said, "They all said yes and are having issues finding volunteers.

Did you ask them what they had been doing to attract volunteers?

To me, trying to find and keep volunteers for community groups is not easy unless someone does something to keep them interested.

Fundraisers might help to bring in more volunteers due to awareness and keep current volunteers occupied.

T said, "In my group I have taken the approach of trying 100 things with the idea that two or three will work.

Did you share these 100 things with the other folks that you asked?

Of the 100 things, what two worked the best?

This probably won’t be much help, but I will give it a try. Dealing with volunteers is a specialized area of management.  Therefore, the person you have as the primary contact person for the volunteers is probably more important than the volunteers themselves.This person, even if it is you, has the power to chase volunteers away as much as he/she has the power to attract them.  

Volunteers are not financially committed. They can fail to show up or show up late. If you fire them, you lose a volunteer. They gain time.

Normally, to encourage volunteers one needs to think in terms of what will bind them to your cause both long and short term.  As in get them in the door and to keep them there.

If the volunteer is not seeking money, what are they seeking?  In no particular order, they want to be part of a greater cause. They want recognition. They want companionship. They want to learn. You need to provide heavy feedings in all these area. Oh yea, speaking of feedings …. Food helps.

So having breakfast for perspective volunteers may be a way for them to test the waters. If you do, make certain to consider the factors I listed.  Make the occasion fun, try to stress how important volunteers are, try to get a few community leaders present. Make certain that each key person in the organization has a conversation with each perspective volunteer present.

To get a decent idea, explore this Permie site, which is largely a volunteer organization.

As others have indicated, it is difficult to get good volunteers.  I took over an org once that has a workforce of probably 35% volunteers.  I ended up getting rid of all of them.   They would politely listen to their supervisors and do as they felt. We spent too much time undoing the damage they created both in terms of physical damage (misuse of equipment) and public relations damage.  Repeated retraining did little good.

Volunteers respond well to recognition and positive feedback.

Small things, like volunteer appreciation event, perhaps with certificates of appreciation presented for xx hours, matter a great deal.

Getting their name and photo in the local newspaper matters even more (yes, these still exist). For example, consider a group photo published at completion of a milestone project.

I suppose it can be done on social media as well, though it seems more impersonal and transitory (to me).

(Edit: While I was typing, John F. D. posted comments along the same lines. I quite agree.)

Anne Miller wrote:
Did you ask them what they had been doing to attract volunteers?
To me, trying to find and keep volunteers for community groups is not easy unless someone does something to keep them interested.
Fundraisers might help to bring in more volunteers due to awareness and keep current volunteers occupied.
Did you share these 100 things with the other folks that you asked?
Of the 100 things, what two worked the best?

I did not ask but I will next time.

I am still working on 100 things to try. I just need to find 95 more things to try.

1. I asked my group to start looking for more volunteers.

2. Asked the group for ideas on getting more people.

3. Started working with other in my group on social media and how to get better at it.

4. Posted out on a community group on Facebook about the issue. I have had two people ask me about the group and how to volunteer. Had a meeting two nights ago and a person from the community showed up. They talked about how there church wants to get into community projects. This was came about from the post on the community group on Facebook.

5. Said many time "I want to try 100 different things and see what sticks to the wall."

To me this a process that will take time and failure is an option. Out of the failures come wisdom.

John F Dean wrote:
If the volunteer is not seeking money, what are they seeking?

Good point, I will explore that point with my group next time we meet.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Volunteers respond well to recognition and positive feedback.

Another good point. How does our group acknowledge good volunteers?

To recognize volunteers, have the leadership of the organization speak to them ….. daily if possible….certainly weekly.   Put pictures on the net and in newspapers.   Seek their input, use their input ( even a small piece of it).  Recognize the person who provided the input.  Have volunteer training….it doesn’t have to be long. Be sure to provide a certificate afterward. Recognize volunteer hours ….10 hours …. 100 hours ….whatever works .   Have an annual dinner if possible honoring the volunteers.

Just read a bit in Permaculture magazine issue 113 about "The gentle art of volunteering". The last bit was called "Volunteering is an Exchange-It's Not Free" page 15. If you can find the issue this bit is a good read!

I volunteer locally with scouts and our local PTA.

We have consistently had issues recruiting volunteers.

What struck me is that a lot of volunteer work is exceptionally low value. If I give up a day of my time I want to feel like my contribution is significant to your organisation.

We recently ran an event for the scouts. We raised £1000 in a morning. The same events in previous years raised around £200. We made some changes and had much greater impact. I suspect it will be easier to recruit for that event next year, because people will be able to see how significant it was this time round.

On the other hand, when we ran school events, including a large fair, some of the stalls proved to be exceptionally low value. People gave up their time to man a stall that raised less than £20 over 6 hours. Given a choice I’d rather put £20 in the tin and have that time to enjoy myself.  In general we find it exceptionally hard to recruit for the school fair events.

Anyway, I guess my point is that people feel their contribution is valuable and valued when they are given meaningful and worthwhile tasks. If recruiting, are the tasks you want done worth doing?

For me, sometimes it's about expectations.    For example,  I volunteered to an ad for gardening help for a women's shelter to set up a community garden, learn to grow food.   It was unspecified hours and duties. We met and went over some possible goals, toured the space, etc.  

Then they signed me up to organize a "fun party" on a weekend.   That's not my cup of tea or my availability.   Fun event organizer wasn't what I looking for or wanted to dedicate my time to.   It's fine that's what they wanted,  but it was a frustrating miscommunication.  

I sent them a clearer list of my availability (two weekdays and every other Sunday) that I could 100% dedicate to helping with garden work and teaching, and never heard back from them.   It was disappointing for BOTH of us I suspect.    

If it had been a clearly thought out task, time frame, and commitment ask,   it could have saved the wasted time and frustration for everyone.  

Other times,  when I've volunteered for industry organizations or rescue work,  sometimes the feedback has been ALL corrections and criticisms.   No one does volunteer work for that pay.  Usually for not knowing something we were never told or trained.    Yuck.  

So I guess 1) be clear about the what/when/how/ for how long when looking for recruits,   and 2) be appreciative of work/time given to retain.

Some observations from personal experience on both sides of the volunteer coin:

If you have the type of outfit for which drop-in volunteering is appropriate, for at least some aspects of your needs, make that information abundantly clear and available, on your website, community pages and/or in any outreach material you provide; Stating that "drop-in opportunities to meal-prep, organize donations, clean grounds, etc etc, between the hours of ____ on ___ days per week" along with a contact can be a great way for those who a. find themselves with some free time and a desire to help out, b. are nervous about committing to a new unknown thing c. are interested in your org but are unfamiliar to dip their toe into the water. Having a category of tasks that are appropriate for this group, but that can funnel interested volunteers into more specific and specialized roles can also be a low expectations way to attract new help without attrition being an awkward thing for everyone.

Set project based goals for volunteers, allowing them to commit to a specific project for a specific and limited time period. This is for more specialized volunteers and can include more intensive orientation and training if needed but with a sell-by date so that volunteers don't feel like they have to commit forever or that if they aren't working out in that role, it will be awkward to make changes. This also allows highly skilled volunteers to offer something of great value for a shorter period of time as their schedule allows (running a course or training session, creating a fundraiser, building something etc).

As much as possible, get to know your volunteers, their motivation and skill sets in coming to offer their time and energy. It is disheartening as a volunteer to have one's ideas dismissed peremptorily or to meet a brick wall of "this is how we have always done things" with no room for one's input to be valued. Feeling like you're just a warm body to be bossed around is demotivating and can lead to highly skilled volunteers taking said skills elsewhere. Getting to know someone enough to see where their skills can best be utilized is a benefit for the org and gives the volunteer the sense that their contribution is valued.