I read an article online the other day that discussed how the number of people volunteering for charities in the USA had pretty much stood up to the test of the difficulties brought on by the recession. At least, this was according to this piece of 2010 research.
It made me wonder about how we in the UK are going to fare in the light of government cuts, the Big Society, rising energy prices and everything else we are expected to bear?
When it comes to recruiting volunteers there never seems to be a clear picture of how difficult or not it is! There's quite some disparity between different charities and other voluntary organisations according to the cause! It's the children, animals, disability, health, local, national challenge.
It truly is a strange situation as one day I'll be speaking with someone that has a surfeit of volunteers and not enough roles for them, and then later to someone with the exact opposite problem.
The UK Government has toyed with schemes to get the unemployed doing voluntary work but pretty much every charity will tell you they want volunteers that want to work for them! Not people that have been press-ganged!
I guess with the amount of people that have been made redundant this year there should be plenty of willing volunteers. But do they know where to look?
I run a scheme called Launchpad at Chelmsford Star Co-operative Society - http://www.chelmsfordstar.co.uk/common/pdf/braintree-launchpad.pdf - with the aim of helping unemployed individuals get their lives back on track. I always strongly advocate voluntary work. It is a way for individuals to get some purpose back in to their lives, a reason to get up and out in the morning. And who knows, they may even find they like it and want to move in to the charity sector.
But most people I speak to have no idea where to look for these volunteering opportunities. That is until I point them in the direction of http://www.do-it.org.uk/ which is a searchable database of volunteering opportunities throughout the UK. They are always amazed just how many opportunities there are, and generally within a few miles of where they live!
So, why are some charities better than others at attracting volunteers? There are obviously cause-related differences, there are geographical differences, and there are demographics!
But, I believe it is all about communication. Communicating with existing volunteers, communicating with prospective volunteers, going out of your way to develop, and I'll use a sales word here, a pipeline of volunteers.
Too many organisations assume their existing volunteers are going to be there forever. But they are getting older and one day they'll not be there for them!
I generally find that the organisations with a steady flow of volunteers tend to be those that get out to local events, engage with local employers, attend local networking events and are generally very active in their community.
And they communicate regularly with their volunteers!
With the onset of social media tools it has never been easier to keep in touch with volunteers. So, my message to charities is - do it! Before they lose their motivation!
I believe if charities step up their approach to volunteers (and many already have) then there will be a steady supply of very experienced and very willing volunteers. But the charities have to welcome them and not take them for granted.
Remember, you have to use every tool in your tool-kit to get people aware of your cause, passionate about your cause, and motivated enough to do something about it.
Keith Grinsted
The Go-To-Guy For Charities