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How to Start a Volunteer Program: 12 Steps for Success
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Updated - 04/02/2025
Has your nonprofit identified an unaddressed need within your community? Need more help running your current programs? Or could your next event benefit from a bigger team? If so, you may be interested in starting a volunteer program.
Volunteers provide nonprofits with the on-the-ground support they need to further their missions, whether that means building homes, providing meals for food-insecure families, mentoring local youths, or cleaning up trash at local parks.
To help your nonprofit build a sustainable volunteer program, this guide walks through each essential step:
- Conduct a community needs assessment.
- Set goals for your volunteer program.
- Craft a mission statement.
- Create a leadership team.
- Define your volunteer roles.
- Invest in the right software.
- Develop your volunteer schedule.
- Promote your program to recruit volunteers.
- Train volunteers.
- Streamline ongoing volunteer management and communication.
- Show appreciation to volunteers.
- Evaluate your volunteer program.
Once you’ve completed these steps, you’ll create a volunteer management process that allows you to recruit, engage, and retain volunteers now and into the future. Let’s take a closer look at each step of the process.
1. Conduct a community needs assessment.
The first step in building your new volunteer program is analyzing your current programs and re-assessing your community’s needs.
For example, perhaps your nonprofit’s mission is to clean up and revitalize a local community park. You would conduct a community needs assessment by:
- Establishing your community. Who is in your community? This can be a specific population, residents in a geographic area, or any other factors related to your issue. For a community park revitalization effort, the community would be the citizens of the city where the park is located. Additionally, brainstorm specific individuals to speak with who represent your community. In our example, this might be the principal of a local school, the head of any local parks and recreation groups, and your city council members.
- Surveying community members. Reach out to community members to ask questions about their experiences with and thoughts on your target issue. Your survey should contain a mix of quantitative and qualitative questions, such as asking how often individuals visit the park, if they feel safe in the park, and what changes would make the park a better place. Consider also asking surveyees what they think is the root cause of problems they identify. You may get conflicting responses, but these should inform you what your community values and the concerns your nonprofit will need to address moving forward.
- Determining your resources. What assets does your nonprofit have to resolve the issues your community is facing? In our example, the nonprofit might determine they have sufficient funds to purchase new playground equipment and fix up a garden area but lack the labor force needed to start the revitalization process.
- Creating a plan. With the data gathered, a nonprofit can chart what their community needs and what resources they have to resolve those issues to put those factors together to create an action plan. Our parks nonprofit might focus on recruiting volunteers to fix up the park and oversee its continued maintenance.
For your volunteer program, consider where volunteers fit into your plan. How many volunteers do you need? What skills do you need? Will you need volunteers for a specific project or continuously?
Identify the organizations in your community (if any) that are already working to solve this issue. Determine what makes your volunteer program’s approach different and why your services are necessary for the community. This can help you promote your program more effectively down the line.
2. Set goals for your volunteer program.
Your goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
Here are a few volunteer program goal examples:
- We want to plant 10,000 trees in our community by 2025.
- We want to find homes for 70% more pets than we did last year.
- We want to create 400 meal kits per week for families in need.
These goals are specific and have a clear timeline for completion, giving your team a clear and attainable benchmark to strive for. Use your goals to make decisions about your volunteer program, such as how many volunteers you need to bring on board or what work they should prioritize.
3. Craft a mission statement.
Your mission statement acts as your team’s guiding principle and can be used to promote your volunteer program and set priorities. Your volunteer program’s mission statement should align with your nonprofit’s overall mission statement to show how your program fits into your larger efforts.
Base this statement on your program’s goal. For example, an animal advocacy organization might have a mission statement like: “We work to reduce the number of homeless pets in the community by offering free rescue services and housing animals with volunteer foster homes.” As a result, their volunteer program’s goal would be to home more pets than they did the previous year.
A strong mission statement can boost your marketing efforts by telling prospective volunteers what they can expect from working with your organization.
4. Create a leadership team.
Create a team that will oversee and coordinate various aspects of your program. Depending on the size of your program, your team may consist of the following roles:
- Volunteer manager/coordinator
- Volunteer onboarding/training specialist
- Volunteer program marketing coordinator
- Community outreach coordinator
If you have a small team, one person may take on many (or all) of these responsibilities. Additionally, some of these roles may be filled by qualified volunteers rather than paid nonprofit staff members, such as experienced volunteers overseeing groups of new ones.
Make sure each team member knows their responsibilities and when they will be asked to share data or reports relevant to their roles.
5. Define your volunteer roles.
The first stage of the volunteer recruitment process involves determining what roles you need to fill.
Develop clear volunteer role descriptions that explain what qualifications potential volunteers should have. These explanations should include the following:
- Role titles: Use a descriptive, self-explanatory title that is easily understood by your volunteers and staff.
- Role information: Include a high-level description that explains what the role is and the tasks they will perform.
- Skill qualifications: Describe the skills and qualifications required to do the tasks.
- Certifications: Don’t forget to list any necessary certifications, background checks, or other requirements that volunteers will need to work in their role.
After creating your volunteer role descriptions, you can create your registration form. Add skill and certification-based questions to streamline your volunteer onboarding and scheduling process.
6. Invest in the right software.
Volunteer management software brings all essential volunteer management activities under one roof, making it easy to recruit, engage, and retain volunteers while also tracking progress made toward your program goals.
Look for volunteer management software that offers features like:
- The ability to customize recruitment, scheduling, and administrative settings based on your program’s needs.
- Recruitment workflows that streamline the volunteer application process and make it easy to collect important documents like waivers and background checks.
- A scheduling tool that allows you to track attendance and send shift confirmations and notifications.
- Self-serve options for volunteers to choose the shifts that align with their preferences.
- End-to-end reporting that syncs with your CRM to provide a comprehensive view of your volunteers.
It’s also helpful to invest in volunteer management software that comes with a mobile app. This lets you stay in touch with volunteers to provide critical information and updates whenever needed.
Additionally, consider volunteer grant management tools. Also called Dollars for Doers, volunteer grants are a type of corporate philanthropy some companies offer their employee volunteers.
In these programs, businesses provide the nonprofits their employees volunteer with funding based on the number of hours volunteered. For example, Microsoft’s volunteer grant program provides eligible nonprofits $25 for every hour an employee volunteers.
However, participation in these programs is low, sitting at an abysmal 3% for eligible employees. This is often due to a lack of awareness of these initiatives.
Improve your volunteers’ participation rate and earn more funding for your nonprofit by helping supporters research and identify their volunteer grant eligibility. Volunteers can check if they qualify and fill out any necessary forms themselves, but a volunteer grant database can significantly speed up the process by providing the information they need with just a quick search of their employer’s name.
7. Develop your volunteer schedule.
Keeping your volunteer schedule organized is key to reaching your program goals. Develop your schedule by:
- Determining the types of shifts you will offer. Fill your calendar with various recurring and one-time opportunities based on your program’s needs. You may also consider offering micro-volunteer opportunities (typically between 1-2 hours) or virtual volunteer opportunities for volunteers with busy schedules, mobility issues, or transportation restrictions.
- Being clear about shift times and locations. Use your volunteer calendar or communications platform to share event logistics like the start and end times for each opportunity, their locations, and who volunteers should report to. You may also want to include parking information such as if they must pay to park or if the parking lot is tricky to find.
- Sending volunteers scheduling reminders. Send shift reminders 24 hours in advance to help reduce no-shows. You can also use your volunteer software’s mobile app to send alerts when there are only a few spots left in a shift or when you urgently need assistance for a specific shift.
Try offering volunteers the opportunity to self schedule and select the shifts that appeal to them. Doing so allows them to pick the times that best fit their interests and availability, while also reducing your leadership team’s administrative work. You can also send messages to specific volunteers when you schedule opportunities that are relevant to their skills or interests.
8. Promote your program to recruit volunteers.
Once you’ve finalized your volunteer roles and schedule, it’s time to start promoting your opportunities. Use the following strategies to connect with a broad group of prospective volunteers:
- Craft an easy-to-use online registration form. Make sure your volunteer registration page only asks for necessary information so that it’s easy and fast to fill out. Follow online accessibility and mobile-friendly best practices. Include a link to the form on your volunteer landing webpage.
- Spread the word on social media. Launch campaigns on social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram. Share the link to your registration page and highlight the benefits of getting involved. For example, you might promote the social or networking aspect of your volunteer opportunities.
- Personally invite current volunteers. If you already have a list of active volunteers, make them feel appreciated by giving them the first choice when new positions become available. Encourage them to invite their family and friends to get involved, too. You can even offer incentives to do so, such as free merchandise.
Your nonprofit’s donors can also be a great resource for finding potential volunteers. These individuals have already shown their support for your cause and may be interested in getting involved in a hands-on way.
9. Train volunteers.
Volunteers will feel more comfortable and have a better experience when you equip them with the information and resources they need to perform their tasks.
Your training and orientation processes should be thorough and hands-on. Follow these guidelines for a successful training experience:
- Set clear expectations. Communicate expectations such as your code of conduct and the chain of command. You will also need to clearly communicate what training courses, lessons, and forms each volunteer needs to complete before their shift.
- Make the training accessible. The more training options there are, the better because you can open your opportunities to more people. Consider offering online courses or live streaming your training lessons for those who can’t make it to in-person training. In addition, ensure your training materials are accessible for people with disabilities, whether that means including captions for training videos, large-font printed materials, or making images screen-reader-friendly. Also, consider offering training manuals in multiple languages.
- Track progress. Use your volunteer management software to track where each volunteer is in the training process and identify volunteers who are fully onboarded and ready to start participating. This allows you to get these newly onboarded volunteers up and running quickly.
Your training sets the tone for your volunteer relationships, so make a good first impression with an organized, practical onboarding experience.
10. Streamline ongoing volunteer management and communication.
Effective ongoing volunteer management is essential for ensuring everything runs smoothly and delivering a positive volunteer experience. The better the experience your volunteers have, the more likely they are to return.
At this point, your volunteers have been given the training and information they need to do a great job. Now, it’s up to your team supervisors to help your volunteers excel by offering them support whenever they need it. Here are a few volunteer management tips to ensure everything runs smoothly:
- Optimize your check-in process. Ensure your supervisors check in volunteers right when they arrive. Some volunteer management platforms allow coordinators to use their phones as mobile check-in kiosks, speeding up the process. This will allow you to manage no-shows and late volunteers throughout the day in real time and review volunteer performance later. Plus, it will help you record your volunteer hour logs with ease.
- Maintain open communication. Keep your teams informed throughout the day about any sudden changes. Communicate through your mobile app to individuals or teams to ensure that they can respond quickly to developing situations.
- Offer ongoing support. During any volunteer event, make sure volunteers have the contact information for the go-to staff member who can answer any questions. Facilitate a positive experience by planning breaks during longer opportunities and offering water and snacks to help maintain high energy.
By streamlining your volunteer program’s logistics, you show volunteers you value their time. Volunteers should feel like they’re a central part of your nonprofit (because they are!). By offering positive experiences and ongoing engagement, you can develop deeper relationships with volunteers that lead to long-term support.
11. Show appreciation to volunteers.
When it comes to volunteer retention, appreciation is the golden ticket. Whether it is a simple thank you as your volunteers leave, a gift such as a free t-shirt or water bottle, or a more significant statement of gratitude like a personal phone call, appreciation efforts make a difference to your volunteers.
No matter what type of thank you message you send volunteers, make sure it’s personal and specific. Don’t just say “Dear volunteer, thank you for your ongoing support.” Tailor thank yous to each volunteer with messages like, “Dear Vanessa, thank you for volunteering at our Run4Good 5K event. Because of your support, we were able to raise $10,000 for local elementary schools and host a safe, fun event for the community.”
12. Evaluate your volunteer program.
The final stage in the volunteer management process is to evaluate and optimize your existing plans to see even better results for future opportunities. When you understand how your volunteers discovered your organization, which opportunities they’re most interested in, and their preferred communication platforms, you can tailor your marketing efforts and opportunities to be more appealing in the future.
Two of the most effective ways to assess the success of your volunteer program are running reports and asking volunteers for feedback.
Pull reports
Harness the data in your volunteer management software to run reports on data points like:
- Volunteer attendance: This will give you a good idea of how many volunteers show up to shifts they’ve claimed and what your no-show rate is. This gives you a chance to adjust and improve those problem areas.
- Total hours worked: Using this report, you can measure the average number of volunteer hours worked and then calculate the value of an average volunteer. This data is useful for planning and can also be used in grant applications.
- Communications: Tracking your messages with your volunteers provides insight into how much communication is required to ensure they are engaged and likely to volunteer again in the future. You can also determine which platforms see the highest response rates.
- Volunteer performance: Have supervisors evaluate your volunteers’ performances. You can then pull a report to identify particularly effective volunteers and craft personalized thank you messages for those individuals or even consider expanding their responsibilities if they desire.
- Volunteer experience: When you maintain information on your supporters’ volunteer history, you can invite them to work similar shifts in the future.
Talk to volunteers
When asking for volunteer feedback, supplement your quantitative data with qualitative information about volunteer satisfaction levels. Once they have finished working a shift, or at the end of an event or program, consider sending your volunteers a survey.
Ask volunteers questions like:
- What was your favorite aspect of the volunteer opportunity and why?
- What was your least favorite aspect and why?
- Did you feel the volunteer training was sufficient?
- What could we have done to make the experience more rewarding?
- Would you volunteer with our organization again?
- Would you recommend our volunteer opportunities to a friend?
With this feedback, you can then make changes to your volunteer management process based on volunteers’ comments, ensuring that you continually improve your process to provide the best experience possible.
Wrapping up
These essential steps can help you at any stage of developing your volunteer program, whether you’re creating a new program from scratch or reviewing your current program to identify gaps in your strategy.
Every minute you invest in planning an effective volunteer management process is well worth the effort to ensure that your organization can recruit, engage, and retain more volunteers, transforming them into long-term supporters.
Make Volunteer Management Easier for You and Your Volunteers!
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