The Modern Robin Hood

Yes, I’m thinking about National Volunteer Week, April 10-16. When someone volunteers to help your organization instead of staying late at work, or having drinks with their friends, or playing with their kids, or just vegging out on the weekend– what a gift!  And, of course, volunteers are also your ambassadors to their family, friends, and social networks, helping you generate new donors much better than you could on your own.

But you knew all this, right?  In fact, if your nonprofit had an ego, it would get a big boost from all this.  You rate pretty high up on your volunteers’ priority lists.  Take a moment.  Feel the love.

Errrr, that’s enough, now.  Don’t get cocky, tiger.  Like any good relationship, you have to show some appreciation if you want to keep the flame burning.  You are likely all finished with gifts, notes, maybe even an event this week.  Great!  But don’t be that guy who orders roses on Valentine’s Day but forgets to be thoughtful every other day of the year. (That guy is a real jerk.)

Here are a few great resources to review as you consider how to let your volunteers know how much they mean to you all year ’round.

Volunteer Match Learning Center

A Shangri-La of free webinars about inspiring and appreciating your volunteers.  This center has a huge range of topics, and they thoughtfully repeat the topics several times over the year, so you don’t need to worry if you miss one!  Whether you are looking to learn more about how to maximize your volunteer recruitment on the site, need some help writing a volunteer handbook, or  want to get your whole organization working to recruit and manage volunteers, you will find it here.  There is also a very cool area with webinars specializing in Boomer Volunteers.

Microvolunteering: Why It’s Better Than Sliced Bread

This is a link to the transcript of one of the most interesting discussion I have found on linking your social networking and volunteer strategies without creating a management nightmare and overwhelming work for staff.  Definitely worth the free registration to take a look! (In fact, if you don’t yet have a free registration to Network For Good, why don’t you??)

Best Practices (from Volunteer Canada)

Yes, Volunteer USA probably has something like this, but I really like the .ca version.  To the point, and on point.

HuffPost Volunteer Page

If you want some news, ideas, or thoughtful discussion on volunteering, this catch-all at the Huffington Post is the perfect place to start.

Volunteers for More Birthdays

This link will inspire you.  It will make you grin and say, DANG, I wish I thought of that.  And it will make you realize that there is no reason that social networking can’t be incorporated into your own storytelling.  This brilliantly named American Cancer Society campaign lets volunteers tell their own stories, and nothing is more powerful than that.