How to sign up more volunteers

Website design By BotEap.comI recently hosted an event for my community and signed up 225 volunteers for a two-day fundraiser. I would love to share with you the steps I took to create this success.

Website design By BotEap.comFirst, a note on creating success and building positive relationships, then we’ll get to work. My experience is that you can do all the right things, but if you don’t come from the right energy, you won’t experience positive results.

Website design By BotEap.comThe most common energy I see nonprofits, businesses, and entrepreneurs get stuck in is despair. When this energy is behind all your actions, your actions become less powerful and can be perceived as predatory and commercial. This is never the warm, inviting invitation you want to send to your community or prospects.

Website design By BotEap.comThis means that your first order of business is to get in line. I have other blog posts on how to do this if you’re interested. When you achieve this alignment, then you can come from a plus of trust, win-win and collaboration.

Website design By BotEap.comNow, a quick note on relationships to ensure your next event or venture thrives. Here’s the big secret: It’s all about relationships. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing or what you’re selling, it’s the relationship that matters. Authentically investing in the relationship by genuinely caring about the people you interact with (yes, each individual contact) will allow your business or organization to thrive. In addition to taking care of your contacts, the second part of a relationship is sharing yourself, being vulnerable, open and honest. Even in the professional world, I suggest reviewing your emails, letters, and phone scripts to include space for you to share about yourself and learn more about your prospects.

Website design By BotEap.comOk, and now on to the actual ‘to do’ list for signing up volunteers:

Website design By BotEap.com1. Set up Signup Genius and list all your volunteer shifts in an organized way. Include as many details as possible.
2. Email your event information and the Signup Genius link for your event to your existing volunteer email list.
3. List your volunteer need description on all volunteer sites in your area (you can Google this to find websites in your area). For my area, these are the two most popular, Volunteer Connect and Volunteer Match.
4. List your volunteer work on Craigslist (and any other ‘job seekers’ sites for your community. Be sure to check out Facebook Groups, as most communities have a closed help seeking Facebook Group which you can join.
5. List your volunteer work on the local college job board. You can also reach out to any professor (in your niche) and ask if you can have 5 minutes of your class to talk about your mission and volunteer opportunities, or if they will pass out information to you.
6. Contact organizations in your network (that also have volunteers) and ask them to send an email to your contact list with your volunteer job description.
7. Contact all service clubs (Rotary, Elks, Soroptimist, Kiwanis, etc.) with your request. These groups are often looking for ways to be active in the community. If you plan ahead enough, you can even go and speak at one of their meetings.
8. Depending on your organization’s mission statement, contacting churches can also be a great source for signing up volunteers.
9. Create a poster to sign up volunteers. Make sure your organization’s mission is clear and conveys the feel of your event and clearly explains how volunteers can help. Also, make sure it has your website and contact information.
10. Get a list of the largest businesses in your city (usually available online or at your local library) and contact each business. You can offer additional benefits to your company for signing up to volunteer as a team (like adding them to your website or bragging about them on social media). You can also request that they display a poster in your break room.
11. Join local Facebook groups and then post about your event (including volunteer information) in the group. Often communities have specific groups designed to help others. These are great groups to post to. So far, I have found a ‘Pay it forward’ Facebook group in every community where I have had a business coaching client.
12. Make 2-6 different funny pictures asking for volunteers (example here, here and here) to post on all your social media channels (repeatedly). You can also pay Facebook to promote these posts.
13. Send an email to your contact list and ask them to repost or share previous Facebook posts on their personal and/or professional pages.
14. Create a Facebook event and chat about the event in the discussion area in the days or weeks leading up to the event. This is a great place to share quotes about volunteering, share your mission, or share photos from past events.
15. List the event on every event site in your area. You can google to find the ones in your area. (Here are a few I use for Bend, Oregon) At the bottom of each event listing, make sure you have your volunteer application information and your Sign-up Genius link.
16. Go door to door to smaller businesses in your area and talk to them in person to sign them up to volunteer for your event/fundraiser/organization
17. Everyone loves stories about communities coming together for a cause. Write a press release with this topic as the backbone and send it to local newspapers and bloggers. Be sure to include how community members can get involved as volunteers in your organization.

Website design By BotEap.comBonus Items!

Website design By BotEap.com1. Every time you have a volunteer sign up, send them a quick email thanking them and telling them how excited you are to meet and work with them.
2. Send thank you cards or make thank you phone calls to all of your volunteers after your event. Letters and emails work too, but are less powerful. Be sure to save the contact information for all of your volunteers so you can reach them the next time you need them!
3. Create social media posts publicly acknowledging and thanking your volunteers.

Website design By BotEap.comFeel free to contact me if you have any questions, suggestions, or just to share a story.

Website design By BotEap.comGood luck!