3 Creative Volunteer Recruitment Strategies for Nonprofits

Volunteers recruitment is crucial to many aspects of your nonprofit’s operations. Volunteers run your fundraising events. They also advocate for your organization and dedicate their time and energy to completing important projects for your nonprofit. 

To garner this crucial support for your organization, you must implement creative recruitment strategies. In this guide, we’ll cover three creative and cost-effective approaches to attracting volunteers, including:

• Tap Into Existing Supporters
• Promote Your Volunteer Opportunities
• Host A Fun Recruitment Event

Shaking up your recruitment methods can help you reach and engage more supporters. Let’s take a closer look at how you can get started.

Tap Into Existing Supporters

Maybe the volunteers you’re looking for have been right under your nose the whole time. Your existing supporters are a great resource for volunteer help. This is because they already support your cause and may know other people who would, too. Reach out to:

• Recurring donors: Individuals who give monetarily are already doing so much for your cause. But do they know they can boost their support by donating their time? Promote the other ways they can get involved by sharing volunteer opportunities through your regular communication channels. 

• Current volunteers: Those who already volunteer for your organization might have friends or family members who are also interested in getting involved. If every volunteer asks a friend who asks another friend, your reach will grow exponentially. Plus, a recommendation from a friend is much more personal than a random advertisement.

• Staff members: Encourage your staff members to pave the way by volunteering once or twice a month. They can post on social media about their experience. They can also encourage others to get involved. Plus, after staff members have gone through the volunteer process, they’ll have a more genuine appreciation for the contributions these supporters give.

You can also leverage your nonprofit’s databases to narrow down your search during your volunteer recruitment. Your constituent relationship management (CRM) software and event management tools are great places to learn more about supporters who might be willing to volunteer. Plus, when you use software to manage volunteer roles, your supporters will have an even more pleasant experience donating their time and efforts to your cause. 

Promote Your Volunteer Opportunities

To reach an audience outside of your existing supporters, you’ll have to promote the volunteer opportunities that are available. After all, how will people know how to help if you don’t advertise?

There are several ways you can advertise your volunteer opportunities for free, including:

• Flyers and posters: Print out flyers or posters and put them up on local bulletin boards. Then, have your current volunteers hang up the fliers in places they frequent or think might be popular with your future volunteers. To make your posters extra eye-catching, consider having a poster design contest. It’ll give local artists a chance to show off their skills. And you’ll get a striking advertisement.

• Your website: Create a landing page dedicated to volunteer opportunities. Include all the information visitors need to know about getting involved as a volunteer. You can further promote your volunteer page with Google’s Ad Grant program. Eligible nonprofits receive $10,000 in free advertising credits to help promote their web pages.

• Social media channels: Create posts about various volunteer positions on your social media accounts. Use compelling visuals to show what volunteers have accomplished in the past and direct followers to get started by filling out an application on your website. Your post will get even more exposure if current volunteers and supporters share it with their followers.

You can also add a QR code to your physical advertisements so you can link your physical and digital marketing materials. This allows people to easily access your website, more information about the opportunity, and your volunteer application. Make the application easy to use on mobile and desktop, so people can easily sign up.

Host A Fun Recruitment Event

Volunteering shouldn’t be all work and no play. To get more volunteers to sign up, you’ll need to make the invitation fun. Host a local event to help draw more volunteers to your organization, such as:

• Potluck dinner: Invite your staff members and current volunteers to a potluck dinner where they’ll share more information about volunteer opportunities with guests. Open the dinner to the public and have your existing supporters invite their friends. Then, recruit a speaker for the event and put together a quick presentation explaining what the volunteer program is all about.

• Sports tournament: Gather community members for some friendly competition by hosting a sports game, such as a basketball tournament, at a local park. You’ll connect with potential volunteers through camaraderie and can even share some of the flyers about your volunteer program with players at the event.

• Farmer’s market stand: Instead of launching your own event, you could also attend an already-existing event and talk to passersby about your volunteer program. A farmer’s market is a great place to pass out flyers and meet people as they browse various tents.

Colleges and high schools are another great place to engage potential volunteers and host events. Students are often in need of volunteer opportunities to fill out their resumes or apply for scholarships, making them more likely to be interested in your volunteer program. Set up a tent outside of the student center and give away free doughnuts or coffee to attract people to your tent. Then, explain what your organization does and how they can get involved.

Your imagination is the only limitation when it comes to creative volunteer recruitment strategies. 

Instead of sticking to the usual methods, get creative with your strategies to stand out from the crowd and get your name out there. That way, people will be excited about the opportunity to volunteer with your nonprofit! Now, time to get to work on your volunteer recruitment strategies.