Finding people willing to commit to investing their time into fighting for a cause with no financial reward can be challenging. Recruiting volunteers requires a strategic approach, careful planning, and diverse outreach channels.
We have already covered tips for planning your recruitment grassroots campaign in this article: Recruitment Campaigns: Strategic Approach to Attracting Volunteers
In Qela we are always looking for ways to help our clients improve their recruitment tactics and increase volunteer retention. Let’s explore why it is essential to diversify your recruitment outreach and what worthwhile but often overlooked channels volunteer coordinators should use to expand their outreach and attract more supporters.
Importance of Outreach Channels Diversification
Utilizing various communication channels, such as social media, email marketing, campaign events, local media, and partnerships with other organizations, will ensure your recruitment efforts cover a wider audience with diverse demographics.
However, it is important to target your outreach to the specific social groups you want to attract for cost- and time-efficiency. But it is essential to not invest all your energy into one or two channels as that might mean you will not attract as many people as you can. Diversification ensures you reach and engage with potential volunteers across different platforms and demographics. It also enhances your visibility as a movement which might come in handy for increasing your credibility, media coverage, and aiding fundraising efforts.
Useful Recruitment Channels to Consider
Your Existing Community
Your existing volunteers are the best advocates for your cause — especially if they are deeply engaged in your movement. If you invest in your supporters' education about the social issues your organization stands for and increase their involvement in its development, they will naturally become your movement’s promoters. You can even take it up a notch by creating a separate role of a volunteer ambassador or a referral system rewarding those supporters who brought in more people.
When a trusted individual recommends your organization to a potential volunteer, it significantly boosts its credibility in their eyes. However, it is essential to brief your supporters on how to present you to their circles. You can equip them with success stories and other content they can share with their friends.
In Qela, you can create a specific quest for that so that your supporters can get extra benefits by sharing information about you with their communities either through social media or by word of mouth. Learn more about our current deals here: https://www.qela.app/
LinkedIn is often overlooked as a volunteer recruitment method. However, it can be very effective, especially when looking for supporters with specific skills or professional backgrounds.
Create a profile for your organization, filling it with short information about it, its mission, and values. Make sure to add information about your current campaigns and about your past victories, so that potential volunteers see what they might get involved with. It might also be beneficial to include some stories of your current community members with their pictures to make your movement seem more relatable. After that, add your volunteer listings to the volunteer opportunities section with brief descriptions of the roles you are trying to fill.
You can also look for supporters on LinkedIn by using their “Jobs” section. There, create a listing for specific roles for which you’re looking to find volunteers. Make sure you indicate that the positions are voluntary to avoid any confusion.
Local Businesses
Businesses often look for opportunities to expand their corporate social responsibility. In the case of local enterprises, one of the easiest ways to give back to their communities is to collaborate with local grassroots organizations.
There are multiple ways to do it. You can establish a more formal partnership involving sponsorship, mutual aid, etc. Another way to do it is to involve the employees of your local businesses in your organization by organizing special volunteer days for them. This might not only help your recruitment efforts but also serve as a team-building activity for them — this way everyone wins!
To establish relationships with your local businesses send them emails or visit their offices to discuss potential collaborations. Make sure to have the plan, your recruitment campaign goals, and a presentation of your prior programs at the ready, so that your potential partners know who they are dealing with.
Conclusion
Many movements and organizations are trying to recruit volunteers at any given time. That is why, as a volunteer coordinator, you need to be flexible and find unusual outreach channels to secure the growth and development of your community. Having multiple recruitment channels ensures that you present your movement to as many potential supporters as possible.
In Qela we gladly help our clients not only recruit community members but also secure relationships with them, so they stay in the organization for the long run. Explore our subscription options (with a 30-day free trial) here: https://www.qela.app/register
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