Preparing for Volunteers

There are many things to do before you ever recruit the first volunteer.  The resources here discuss the many things that are needed to prepare your organization.

 

See also: Policies

21st-Century Networks, Sarah J. Butler
Barriers to Preventing Abuse, John Patterson with Charles Tremper and Pam Rypkema, Nonprofit Risk Management Center.
Beyond Counting Heads: Measuring the Real Impact of Volunteers, Susan J. Ellis, NTEN Connect
Do You Stick Your Neck Out When Advocating for Volunteers?, Susan J. Ellis
The Domino Effect of Setting Goals for Volunteer Involvement, Susan J. Ellis
The Fair Labor Standards Act and Other Obstacles to Progress, Susan J. Ellis
A Great New Report to Praise, Criticize, and Use, Susan J. Ellis
Helper Triage: Volunteer Management in Emergencies, Susan J. Ellis
Internal Marketing, Izabella Csordas, pp. 97-99, Foundation for Museums and Visitors, Hungary
Lessons Learned About Leading Volunteers From a Volunteering Working Mom, Sheri Wilensky Burke
Letting Volunteers into the Team’s Locker Room, Susan J. Ellis
The Middle Management Barrier, Susan J. Ellis
Mixed Messages: What Do We Really Think about Young Volunteers?, Susan J. Ellis
Retention of Volunteers, Susan J. Ellis and Rob Jackson, Energize, Inc.
The Rise of the Knowledge Philanthropist, Colleen Kelly & Lynda Gerty, pp. 28-29, Vantage Point
Volunteer/Staff Ratios and Relations, Sarah Jane Rehnborg, et. al., pp. 28-30, RGK Center for Philanthropy & Community Service
Volunteering Trend Watch: What Can We Learn from Looking Back?, Cara Thenot
Volunteers as the "Third Branch" of an Organization, Susan J. Ellis
Volunteers? Donors? Let’s Call Them All Supporters!, Sheri Wilensky Burke
The Wall of Executive Indifference, Susan J. Ellis
Why Is It Labor Unions vs. Volunteers?, Susan J. Ellis

The following articles on this topic were published in the Engage journal. Previews and some articles are complementary; full articles are available to paid members.

"Supplementing or Supplanting?" The Mystery of "Volunteer" versus "Paid Employee" Right to Work
Clearing Hurdles on the Volunteer Obstacle Course
Collaboration and Partnership: Using a Process to Facilitate Success
Compensation and the Volunteer Manager
Creating a Strategic Volunteerism Plan: We Did It!
Designing a Strategy for Persuasion
Drop-in Volunteers and the Benefits of Flexibility
Emerging Trends and Issues in Volunteerism and Volunteer Program Management
Exploring the Impact of Volunteer Trends
Facilitating the End of an Era
Flexible Volunteering: One Size Fits All
Generating Funds for Your Volunteer Program: The Mindset and Methods
Highly-skilled Volunteers = High Impact Results!
How Many Supervisors Does It Take to Screw in a Volunteer?
It's Never Over: Ongoing Screening of Volunteers and Paid Staff
Keeping Volunteers Engaged During Organizational Change: A Tool for Successful Transition
Making the Case to Funders to Invest in Volunteer Engagement
Mandated Service - The Future of Volunteering?
Neuroscience and Transformative Volunteering: How Civic Engagement Changes the Brain
One Size Does Not Fit All: Four Models of Involving Volunteers in Small Voluntary Organisations
Organizational Factors Affecting Strategic Volunteer Management
OUR Volunteer Program: The Management TEAM Approach to Enhancing Volunteer Programs
Policy Documents on Volunteering
Representing the Interests of the Community: What Happens When Volunteers Take Their Roles Seriously
Self-disruption: Evolving from traditionally-managed volunteering into full-spectrum programming
Show, Don't Just Tell: Writing to Inspire, Motivate and Recruit Volunteers
The Division of Labour: Volunteers, Employees, Volunteer Management and Unions
The Long, Hard Road to Respect
The No-Apologies Budget: How to Justify the Financial Support a Volunteer Program Deserves
The Professor Is In: Classroom Techniques That Capture Critical Issues in Volunteer Management, Part 1
The Professor Is In: Using Classroom Techniques In Your Volunteering Presentations, Part 2
The Road Not Taken
The Volunteer Impact Program (VIP) Revisited: An Update on an Innovative Approach to Strengthening Volunteer Engagement Capacity
The Volunteer Impact Program (VIP): An Innovative Approach to Strengthen Volunteer Engagement Capacity
The Volunteer Program Assessment: Promoting Nonprofit Organizational Effectiveness
The Year Past, The Year Ahead: What Will Be Your Legacy in 2018?
Training for Organization Leaders: Capitalize on Volunteer Resources During Tough Economic Times
Training Small Nonprofits and Community-Based Groups about Leadership of Volunteers
Volunteer Handbooks: One Size Does Not Fit All
Volunteer Management Lessons Learned from an Organic Vegetable Garden
Volunteering in the UK: It Just Ain’t What It Used to Be!
Volunteers Are Not a 'Program.'
Volunteers with Disabilities: Examining the Real Issues
Volunteers' Most Common Accidents - and How to Avoid Them
What Volunteers Do to Each Other Is Not Always Pretty
What's Unique about Human Resources in the Nonprofit Sector?
When Disaster Strikes: Getting Volunteer Resources to the Right Place at the Right Time
When Should We NOT Involve Volunteers?
Where Do We Belong on the Organizational Chart?
Working with Senior Leadership

CNIB has produced this material for how to create a corporate culture embracing volunteerism. Although focused on serving people with vision loss, the resources are intentionally applicable to any organization and can be downloaded for free in Word to be tailored to individual situations.  Includes the documents "Spirit of Partnership" and "Philosophy of Volunteerism." The manual is accompanied by a Creating a Culture of Volunteerism Training Guide.

, 2017

Produced by the National Centre for Volunteering (UK), this booklet examines how developing the right policies leads to a more diverse volunteer corps.

, 2002, pp. 20

Tobi Johnson of VolunteerPro provides this free guide for the newcomer to volunteer management -- lots of good context and tips.

, 2016, pp. 57

Created as a "A Guide for South Australian Local Government" by the City of Salisbury in SA, this contains many useful tips for determining potential risks in volunteer work, even if the legal issues discussed will not be the same in all locations. Also suggests ways to create volunteer position descriptions from a health and safety perspective.

, 2014, pp. 60
Nonprofit Risk Management Center

Major source of information and publications on all aspects of risk and liability for nonprofit organizations in the U.S. (much is relevant in other countries, too).  Volunteer risk management is one of their featured areas: https://www.nonprofitrisk.org/areas-of-expertise/volunteer-management/.

Print and e-Books in Our Store

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Best of All: The Quick Reference Guide to Effective Volunteer Involvement

A compendium of the best techniques for leading volunteer engagement, proven to work in a myriad of settings.

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Better Safe: Risk Management in Volunteer Programs

Demystifies risk management and sets out in plain language what every volunteer program needs to know about this sometimes scary, always critical subject.

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By Definition: Policies for Volunteer Programs

A walk-through of the importance of developing policies for and about volunteers, with clear examples and templates.

Book cover for From the Top Down

From the Top Down: The Executive Role in Successful Volunteer Involvement

Outlines the key executive decisions necessary to lay the foundation for successful volunteer involvement: policies, budgeting, staffing, employee-volunteer relationships, legal issues, cost and value of volunteers, and more.