This is how motivation shapes volunteer recruitement

Photo by Alexis Fauvet on Unsplash

Everyone has personal reasons that drive them toward volunteer work. The most common ones that I have personally come across (and that were also featured in this research), are:

• Demonstrating compassion and the need to give back
• Meeting new people and networking
• Gaining work experience and learning new skills

In our line of work, we hear and read a lot about writing job descriptions for volunteer work. However, before getting to the actual job description, knowing how a candidate’s motivation interacts with the organization and its clients may be one of the keys for a better recruitment process and stronger retention.

I recently came across this “Needs Diagram” in the book Volunteer Management (McCurley and Lynch, 1996), and it put into words some thoughts that were floating in my mind. The diagram shows the interaction between the needs of the Client, the Agency, and the Volunteer.

1. When all the needs align, you have the perfect match. One knows that this is not always a common situation, but it sure happens.
2. When the Volunteer’s needs align with the Agency’s, you still have a good match. What does this interaction suggest? That this volunteer’s relationship relays mostly with the organization, its mission, and its work. The volunteer is satisfied by indirectly affecting the lives of the clients through helping the agency to achieve their mission. To the Volunteer Program Coordinator, it means stating explicitly that the position does not provide direct contact with the clients, but it is supportive of them. And it is also making sure that the volunteer continues to feel that connection throughout their time and work.
3. If the Agency’s and the Client’s needs are aligned but you don’t have a volunteer in that position, there’s a great potential for creating or re-creating positions. Make sure you keep the communication channel with the supervisors open and ask them to think about volunteers creatively and holistically. You can also ask them something in the line of “if you had 5 extra hours every week, what project would you do?” This question can be more enlightening than you’d expect.
4. This is what the book calls “The Danger Zone.” It means that a volunteer has perceived a client’s need that the agency is not fulfilling. It might be the case that it is out of the organization’s scope of work or even that the organization doesn’t have the capacity to fulfill it at this moment for any number of reasons. However, this may incentivize the volunteer to go out of their boundaries, leaving you liable. If you do encounter this interaction, make sure to address it. Vouch for the volunteer that you are either going to provide the service or send the client to a partner that can provide it.

Seeing all this information laid out in a diagram made it more clear to me where the volunteers from the agency I work fall, and how my interaction with them can make their time with us more meaningful. Most of our volunteer positions fall into the second interaction area, and learning that shifted the focus of my efforts to bring the volunteers a sense of accomplishment and connection with our mission and clients.

Which interaction do you encounter more often and how can you use this information to step up your game?

Resources: Giving and Volunteering in the United States (2001) and Volunteer Management (McCurley and Lynch, 1996).