Recruiting New Volunteers

[Lori Horstman]

I am a fairly new Volunteer Coordinator. I am also a RN so this role is a little different for me. My main difficulty is volunteer recruitment. I started out with only a few volunteers and have increased the numbers but it has been very difficult. Our agency still has more needs. Any ideas from anyone who has had this problem and has made it through it?

[Anne]

Lori - Does Craigslist serve your area? They have been a great resource for me. Also Volunteer Match and nonprofit email networks/digests are good too. I am in a moderately big city so outreach is by email primarily, things like e-bulletin boards.

[Pam Hess]

Our community hasa very active United Way. They have a volunteer referral website that people who want to volunteer can go and see what opportunities are available. I always get a couple from there also. These are all great suggestions.

[ocean (driver) sharp]

Church bulletins are great and if they have an information center that works too. What about talking to a men's or women's group at churches and dont stop there! VFW's, legions, clubs and their auxillaries are great too. Banks in small towns always have bulletin boards and most smaller grocery stores do as well. If you know any school teachers ask them to put a flyer up in their break room.....most will at the very least volunteer during the summer. There there are the more expensive avenues...newspaper ads, community sections on the radio (those are usually free if you are Non Profit), renting a sign etc. Another good place is libraries!
We serve a lot of rural counties so it can be difficult reaching those areas, sometimes I just call some of their hole in the wall eateries and ask if I can hang a flyer up, some hair and nail salons will let you too.
Ok now that I have rambled all that off at you, let me know if you need any advice or help!
[e-mail]
Blessings,
Ocean

[Kathy Jo Eichstaedt]

Lori,

I'm currently in my 2nd year of service with Marquardt Hospice and I've found that posting bulletins "requesting volunteer" in all the local Churchs in your area can bring about some of the most valuable volunteers. So far, so good...

Kathy Eichstaedt

[Greg Schneider]

Hi Lori,
HVA is going to launch a free volunteer referral service (Volunteer Referral Network) for its member hospices. We frequently receive requests from individuals wanting to know where to volunteer. This new service, which should be available by August 1st, will automatically refer such individuals to our member hospices when they come to our website.
Greg
P.S. Your Patient Data Vault is ready for use!