Recruiting Charity Volunteers

It is often very necessary to recruit charity volunteers to help out with your fundraising ideas.

But finding people who are willing to help for free can sometimes be quite difficult!

So here are some methods for boosting your recruitment of charity volunteers...

Two Quick Starting Points:

First thing to remember is that depending on your type of organization or fundraising cause you will find helpers in different forms of people. And you must know who you'll be trying to recruit before you start recruiting...

For example, if you are an individual fundraising for a personal cause then your volunteers will be limited to your friends and family, as you'll struggle to convince a stranger to help you out...

But if you're a charity that helps disabled children then it'll be a lot easier to recruit strangers.

Volunteers - Keep them happy!

The second thing is to know how many volunteers you will need before you start recruiting. Look carefully at what fundraiser/s you will be holding and then decide on how many helpers you will need.

I'd also recommend to you watch this free video on "Working with high level volunteers" before you start recruiting. Extremely valuable.

Always be Prepared:

You must always be prepared to sign up new volunteers. Carry around a clipboard and/or have volunteer forms available all the time. You must be ready to take down contact details from people interested in helping out...

The last thing you want is to look disorganized and unprofessional when someone wants to sign up as a volunteer.

Start with Friends and Family... And Word of Mouth:

Your first most obvious recruitments will be from your friends and family. There'll be no one else who will be happier to help you out...

So start by talking to and recruiting them, and then get them to spread the word on to others.

Use Your Website:

Your website is a great place to advertise your need for charity volunteers. Supporters and others will be visiting your site to see what's happening and how they can help out, so it's the perfect place to post a 'volunteers wanted' advert!

You can have a separate charity volunteers section on your site but just make sure that you advertise it on your homepage so that everyone who visits your site will see your need for volunteers!

Advertise to the Public:

Use posters, fliers, and press releases to advertise your need for volunteers to the public.

Posters and fliers are pretty simple to do, just make sure you have an interesting, attractive and yet simple design.

For press releases it can be a bit more difficult...

Writing a good press release can be a little challenging sometimes as there are certain rules and guidelines you have to follow. The one problem is that those guidelines vary a bit between different newspapers and press release websites.

The best thing to do is to contact the newspaper companies you'll use and request their individual guidelines for press releases.

It'll be a bit easier for online press releases as the websites should have a guidelines page which you can view before submitting your press releases.

Check this website out to see the top 50 online press release websites.

Recruit Through Your Volunteers:

This is one of the best ways of recruiting helpers. But firstly you must make sure that your current volunteers are thoroughly enjoying themselves.

By keeping it fun for your team you will naturally encourage them to spread the word to all their friends and family!

And when you need more helpers they will be happy to ask around for you. In fact they'll be passionate about it... And there’s no better form of advertising than passionate word of mouth!

Recruit During Fundraisers:

What better time to find volunteers than during your fundraisers. People will see the passion and effort you put into your cause and will be encouraged by that to help out!

Advertise your need for volunteers with posters and fliers and even on your current volunteers' T-shirts.

To End Off:

The most important point to take away here is to make sure your current helpers have a lot of fun and really enjoy themselves when they are helping you out...

When other potential volunteers see the how enjoyable it is to be a part of your team they will be more likely to join!

So keep your Fundraisers organized and fun, and you will find all the Charity Volunteers you'll ever need!

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