Choosing the Right Volunteers

Nonprofits—particularly new ones—are often happy to take any volunteers they can get. If you simply accept anyone who offers to volunteer without utilizing a selection process, you can run into two problems. First, a lot of volunteers want to do things that don’t require a long-term commitment (such as sorting cans at a food bank). If you need other things done, it can be harder to find volunteers willing to do those things. Second, volunteers represent your nonprofit, and you can be held liable for any mistakes they make. Therefore, it is important to find volunteers who will represent you well and who are willing to do a variety of things for you.
Finding such volunteers is a lot like the hiring process. You ask for volunteers to apply first, using a questionnaire carefully designed to weed out less committed applicants. A well-prepared application can weed out enough noncommittal people that you can simply accept everyone who finishes one. The best application will ask questions like, “How much time are you willing to put in for us?” or, “We need motivated people who know how to paint. Does this describe you?” Such questions help encourage self-selection and get you the volunteers you need the most. Then, you can review the applications to find the best volunteers for particular tasks and choose the right number for your needs.
Keep in mind that tuning potential volunteers away is a risky matter and that many of the same laws regarding nondiscrimination and illegal questions apply to volunteer applications that apply to employee applications. Rather than turning them away completely, try to find something small for them to do that will leave them feeling satisfied.

Compensating Your Volunteers

By definition, a volunteer is an unpaid helper in your organization. However, this does not mean that you don’t compensate them. Feelings of altruism are seldom enough to keep volunteers motivated and encourage them to come back. People volunteer because the benefits of volunteering outweigh the costs. Compensating your volunteers with benefits can be quite challenging because each volunteer will be looking for something different. Some tried and true methods include:

. Partnering with for-profits to give the employees paid-time off or similar benefits for serving

. Ensuring that all volunteers see some of the results of their service

. Recognizing them for their service in an awards ceremony

. Providing them meals on occasion and/or giving out promotional items (such as shirts or mugs)

. Giving them transferrable experience in their service efforts

The last item above, providing transferrable experience, is a particularly good method of compensation. Too many people are stuck in careers that they have little interest in. Many wish they had learned different skills in order to qualify for a better career. If you can give volunteers opportunities to develop new skills in their service efforts, you may help them prepare for a better job.
Providing meals and awards for volunteers is expensive but important. Neither form of compensation violates the principles of tax exemption as long as it remains a minor expense on a nonprofit’s accounting books. Both of these compensation methods encourage volunteers to come back. Forming partnerships with for-profit organizations is also important in maintaining a solid volunteer base. For-profits can provide additional benefits for volunteering that are beyond your power, and they can also give your nonprofit needed publicity. And above all else, make certain that volunteers who are normally distanced from the service recipients get a chance to see the results of their efforts.

Measuring Volunteers’ Work

It may seem daunting to take detailed records of all your volunteers do, but the more information you have, the more efficient you can be. Therefore, you want to keep records of:

1. What tasks you assign each volunteer
2. How long it takes the volunteer to complete the task
3. What the quality of their work was

The volunteers themselves can track the first two items. Just have them fill out a small job form and keep track of the time they work. The third item, however, must be completed by an employee or another volunteer to double-check the effort. Too many nonprofits have ended up offending their service recipients due to poor work done by some volunteers.
With this data, you can start assigning your volunteers to the tasks they are most efficient at. Keep in mind, however, that they are not employees and that you should rotate them between multiple tasks. Many volunteers will not stay motivated and engaged if you have them do the same thing every time, but they will return to volunteer again if you change things up.

Volunteer Leadership

Nonprofits are led by a volunteer Board of Directors. Often, the Board can be excellent in assisting with volunteer management. As volunteers themselves, they have a good idea of what volunteers want in return for their efforts. Let your Board be involved in the effort to provide meaningful service opportunities for your volunteers, bringing vitality to your nonprofit and enabling you to accomplish your mission.

Volunteers are an important asset to you that must be managed carefully. Without them, your charitable mission is likely to fall apart. Most charities offer free services to their target audience—or at least services at a greatly reduced price—and then depend on donations to meet the expenses of offering those services. Volunteers either directly provide those services or else work in support roles to enable those services to be offered.

You need to have the best volunteers you can get. You will always get more out of your volunteer workforce if you match skills they already possess with the tasks you need accomplished. However, ensuring a good fit between potential volunteers and the tasks you need volunteers for takes time and effort that you may not have. Sometimes you can have a dozen volunteers express interest in one volunteer opening, and you don’t want to turn any away for fear of how it will make you look. Potential volunteers will tell your friends about you—if they have a positive experience, they will refer their friends. If they have a negative experience or are turned away, they will probably turn their friends away from you. That makes it very important for you to provide them with the best experience possible.

Internship Description:
He or she will provide support and coordination for the volunteers of Grassroots.org. Everyday tasks include ensuring all volunteer groups are operational and reporting their activities on a regular basis, evaluating performance of volunteers, and being the first point of contact for people who wish to do volunteer work. The applicant should be in school and have a commitment to grassroots organizations. The position is open until filled. Please note that this is an unpaid position.

Internship Description:
He or she will help in the development of web pages for Grassroots.org. An understanding of web-based applications and alternative design approaches is necessary. The applicant should be in school and have a commitment to grassroots organizations. The position is open until filled. Please note that this is an unpaid position.

Internship Description:
He or she will submit grants on behalf of Grassroots.org. Everyday tasks include foundation and grant research, establishing areas of need for grant proposals, research and development for appropriate grant submission. The applicant should be in school and have a commitment to grassroots organizations. The position is open until filled. Please note that this is an unpaid position.

The short answer no. I’ve never seen any value in putting what your objective is.

Reality check: Nobody cares what your objective is. Most companies only care what their objective is. Translation: when they read your resume they want to see what you are going to do for them. So how do you achieve this?

Only include information on your resume if it adds value. The only way to know if it adds value is to know what they are looking for by doing some research online, over the phone, etc.

As an example check out a potential job description:

Company X is looking for a Technical Support Specialist. Qualified candidates must have performed network administration with multiple client servers. The successful candidate will also have knowledge of hardware and the ability to troubleshoot hardware and network problems. Most importantly the successful candidate will be able to complete the required tasks with a customer service focus. Some “soft” sales background is a plus with the idea that as you service the end client you will be able to bring in more business through referrals.

One simple way to add value at the beginning of your resume is to replace your objective section with what I call the position specific section. Take details from the job description and create a relevant work history.

Here’s what it may look like:

Technical Support Specialist

• Customer service focus – 4 years experience 90% positive reviews from end user
• Network Administration – 5 years experience handling up to 30 servers at a time
• Sales background – 2 years experience building client base by 20% for local IT company

Wow! Do you think this guy will get the job? Put aside the fact that this guy seems to be a perfect fit and ask why he appears to be a perfect fit. Instead of letting the employer sift through the overload of information on his resume, he simply looked at what the employer posted in the job description. First, the resume has the job title. Next, it has bullet points that outline experience that specifically matches the job description. Yes, it can be that simple.

If you leave it up to a recruiter to determine if you’re the perfect match, it won’t always happen. Take control of your resume and show them that you are a perfect match.

1. Using power statements

2. Practicing questions

3. Shopping around

It’s tough to be prepared for every scenario in an interview, but these three tips usually help to prevent sweaty palms.

1. Power statements were designed by a board of business men for a non-profit organization’s efforts to help their members find employment. A power statement is a poignant expression of your past work.

e.g. I am a hard worker. When I worked at [company name here] I spear-headed a project focused on transitioning our companies operations. I was able to finish the project six months ahead of schedule and as a result saved the company over $250,000.

The main components are as follows:

• Present your professional quality and strength (such as being a hard worker)

• Give an example of the time you exemplified the quality

• Reveal real results from utilizing your strength—quantify your results (e.g. saved the company $250,000)

Review all your past experiences and write down several of these statements so that you can practice them before hand.

2. Practice answering several of the standard questions that are asked in an interview. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve interviewed, anyone can get a little rusty.

3. Shopping around will keep you cool. Just like dating, you will never sweat when the worst thing that could happen is that you get the girl. The only way to be in that situation is to have more than one option that you are seriously interested in and vice versa.

Remember, you already scored an interview with the company so you know they are interested in what you have to offer. Use your interview to solidify their interest in you.

Put your ego aside and do what a consultant does: appease the client by talking to them in their language. That does not necessarily mean you are being fake or someone you’re not. When I lived in Brazil I spoke Portuguese, my true personality still came through. If it can be done across languages it can be done across company culture.

Customize your resume for each position

When you have a skill set that you have only developed over a few years the opportunities tend to be limited. The more niche your skill set, the more limited the opportunities are in most cases. Therefore, you must take the time to review the job description and tailor your resume accordingly. No matter how much experience you have, I guarantee you will increase the response rate on your resume by customizing it.

A few suggestions

Have a “relevant experience” section. In this section detail your accomplishments for each position that you’ve held which relates specifically to the job for which you’re applying. Get specific here. Think of your past relevant experiences and extract your accomplishments and duties for each position to match the requirements and job duties from the job description. Again, get specific and quantify your achievements.

Another useful section is a general work timeline section, including the company name, your title at that company and dates (specify years only). This section allows you to list your experience chronologically in case there are gaps in the “relevant experience” section.

Take it a step further

Go to their website, call one of their sales guys, or interview the receptionist so that you can learn the terminology and culture of the company. Many companies use spyder tools that scan your resume; so the more your resume matches their language the more likely it will be found by the “spyder” (or by a recruiter for that matter).

This extra step may take you out of your comfort zone and it will set you apart from the competition. Because you talk their language, you can arrive for the interview and already feel like a match for the company.

Internship Description:
He or she will provide support for the Program Manager and the Outreach Coordinator. Everyday tasks include client request management, volunteer-client coordination, Update member and volunteer databases, assist with setup and execution of outreach initiatives. The applicant should be in school and have a commitment to grassroots organizations. The position is open until filled. Please note that this is an unpaid position.

Internship Description:
He or she will provide support for the development department of Grassroots.org. Everyday tasks include foundation and grant research, donor outreach, updating the member and donor databases, assisting with setup and execution of fundraising initiatives and helping to keep up online fundraising & communications efforts (such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn). The applicant should be in school and have a commitment to grassroots organizations. The position is open until filled. Please note that this is an unpaid position.