SACS ’09

Volunteer Retention and Development: Notes

Presenter: Paula Raye O’Sullivan

Contact: posullivan@americanprogress.org

Two Big Questions:

1. Why volunteers come?
2. How do we keep them?

Small group breakout discussion:

1. What got you involved?

• To form relationships with people with similar interests

• To be a part of something
• To be cool
• Impact others
• Scholarships
• Jobs
• Professional development
• Was invited
• Engaged in issues/being part of a movement/make things better
• Sharing knowledge with others
• Get new ideas

Note-taker Report:
• Friends
• Passion
• Impact
• Involved in issues/root of issues

What points translate to recruitment? Cool, scholarships, jobs

Your passion must translate to an attractive option to

a wider audience.

Where were you getting the message to volunteer/what are good resources?
• Word of mouth
 • Friends/someone you know
• Follow up and constant check in
• Posters and emails on campus (sometimes effective) with connection to website
o Depends on size of campus
o Distance/convenience
• Websites
• Class Raps: first five minutes of class to talk about event, issue, opportunity, etc.
• Professors: they talk to everybody
o Email, flyers in professor’s mailbox
o Can offer extra credit for participating
o Have placements for field service, internships, etc.
• Chalking on sidewalks
• Tabling
o Dependent on location
o Timing
• Work study options (money talks)
• Incentives: movie tickets, coupons, etc.
• Have celebrities/cool people talk up your event/issue
• Food
• Conscripted participants (people that got into trouble)
• RA’s: big conduits to participants. Info sessions in dorms.
• Dorm storms: knock on doors/flyer the dorms
• Admissions office
o orientation

So now you’ve hooked them, how do you get them to stick around?
Types of strategies used:
• Deposits or contracts (Alternative Breaks)
• School requirements & enforcement for service
o Connected to specific classes sometimes
• Common identified goal
• Team agreements/expectations set out at beginning
• Have varying time commitments and other activities
• Continuity in timing/steady schedule
• Targeting populations/specific demographics by interest
• Democratic goal setting
• Assign jobs for accountability
o Leadership roles
• Personalize experience/make team connections/team-building
• Collaboration/flexibility

Leader Ladder:
Can plug retention strategies into leader ladder to determine which activities will keep
different people around.

Level 3 (core volunteers)

• Democratic goal setting
• Democratic elections
Level 2 (middle commitment)
• Delegating projects
• Collaboration/flexibility
Level 1 (least commitment-incentives)
• Bonding
• Requirement/enforcement
• Activities
• Fixed schedule
• Cool people
• Personalizing issue/personal attention

Burnout: easy to kill an idea by stressing people out. Paula will send out burnout quiz.