Yay! You have new volunteers! Now what? Well, just as onboarding new members is an essential part of the association management process, so is onboarding new volunteers.
You’ll want to start by sending your new volunteers a warm welcome message. A personalized email is good, but a quick one-on-one call is better. That being said, if you have a lot of new volunteers and can’t call them all individually, you can easily send them a personalized email using an association management system. An AMS can integrate with your organization’s database, allowing you to pull any of the information you’re tracking into a clean and personalized email. Plus, you can automate those emails to go out at any time – immediately after a member signs up to volunteer, before a big event, etc.
In addition to sending out a warm welcome, it’s important to have some type of orientation process in place. This is ultimately the best way to bring your new volunteers up to speed. Now depending on your organization and the type of volunteer work at hand, this could either be an in-person session or a simple orientation packet. But regardless of the format, your orientation should include:
- An overview of your organization, including its mission, vision and values.
- A who’s who for your organization, including key staff members and leadership volunteers.
- A general overview of the types of volunteer jobs performed at your organization.
- An overview of policies, rules, and procedures.
Want more tips for recruiting, onboarding, and retaining your organization’s volunteers? Check out our free Volunteer Management Guide below!
