Retain volunteers – Going solo
Do the following activities to develop your knowledge and skills to retain volunteers. Work through the activities in the suggested order, or go straight to the activity you need to do.
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Research strategies to recognise volunteers How do you show your volunteers that you appreciate their contribution and value the role they play in the event? Research ways to provide tangible and intangible rewards to volunteers and develop a ‘Volunteer rewards ideas box’ to record your ideas. |
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Support for volunteers begins with taking into account the volunteer’s interests and skills and ensuring the role they are given is appropriate. It also extends to supporting volunteers once they are on the job so that they perform well. Consider two volunteer roles for a community festival and suggest support strategies for volunteers in these roles. |
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Inducting your volunteers is essential to communicate vital information such as safety requirements, as well as how to do the job and get the most out of their volunteering role. Find out about methods organisations use to induct large numbers of volunteers and plan inductions for volunteers for a charity event. |
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It is your responsibility to ensure that volunteering is a positive experience. This means being constantly alert to volunteers’ performance and concerns. Once you have identified the factors triggering negative emotions, you will need to then consider the action you would need to take. |
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There are many ways you can gather feedback from your volunteers — before, during or after an event. A feedback survey is a popular tool which can be designed for face to face or online dissemination. The questions need to be carefully designed if it is to be an effective tool that elicits useful feedback. Have a practice at designing a feedback survey. |