Do you find that your volunteers sometimes interrupt you from very important tasks?

Do you find that your volunteers sometimes interrupt you from very

important tasks?

Have you ever had a volunteer who did not show up for a very

important task, educational class, support group, etc.?

Do you find you just don’t have enough time for another volunteer?

Do you have volunteers and just don’t know exactly

how to use them?

Do you find low retention rates among your volunteers to be a

major problem?

Do you want more volunteers but don’t

know all the roles and jobs they can do?

So now that you have volunteers, what are you going to do with them?

“Now That You Have Volunteers, What Do You

Do With Them?”

NAMI Center for Excellence Liz Smith & Jinneh Dyson

June 27, 2013

Team Mission:

To provide technical assistance and develop the resources, tools and education needed by NAMI State Organizations and NAMI Affiliates for excellence in nonprofit and organizational management.

[email protected]@nami.org

www.nami.org/excellence

‘Nita Brown – Vice President, NAMI Colorado Board of Directors

Colleen Duewel – Director, NAMI Education, Training & Peer Support Center

Session Overview

1. Organizational Self-Assessment

2. Volunteer Recruitment Strategies

3. Volunteer Management & Policies

4. Volunteer Retention Practices

A Quick Review:Creating a Successful Volunteer Action Plan for NAMI Affiliates

Key Planning Areas:

Isn’t obligated to work for you,Often works long hours,

Frequently travels long distances,

Doesn’t receive any money, and

May actually spend money on gas, food and office supplies to fulfill their role.

A way to help others; do good deeds

Volunteerism increases self-esteem and competence; training for employment

Studies show that people who volunteer live longer, healthier and happier lives.

Volunteers want to “give back” to organizations like NAMI, who have been there for them.

What are the benefits of volunteering?

Builds organizational capacity

Builds friends

Provides training opportunities

Builds leadership

Decreases current volunteer burn-out

Provides peers with roles and responsibilities

A volunteer program requires organization

Can make you vulnerable - risk management

Demands timely responses and meeting deadlines

Creates new responsibilities

Will need job descriptions and supervision

Volunteers cannot be taken for granted

You must develop real roles with real outcomes and structured time and results

Volunteer Assessment Checklist

Review your Affiliate Annual Action/Strategic Plan.

Review the status of your Goals and Objectives.

Review your yearly Program Activities and Events.

Assess your need to grow your presence in the community.

Assess what you don’t get done and why.

Study how many people currently do how many tasks.

Next: Hold an Affiliate Board/Membership Meeting and complete the Volunteer Needs Assessment Checklist.

Define community stakeholders – traditional & nontraditional partners

Hold community events

Direct mail, print & social media

Radio & broadcast media

NAMI Signature Programs

1. Bring your NAMI Affiliate leaders together.

2. Use the Volunteer Needs Assessment Checklist to prioritize where you need help.

3. Use the Volunteer Project Worksheet to define the task and responsibilities, skills required, and time commitment.

4. Recruit volunteers with a clear and compelling message.

4 Steps to Success:

There is only one thing worse than

training your volunteers and having

them leave, and that's not training

them, and having them stay.

- Unknown

Step 4:

Know the need of your organization◦ Why?◦ What?◦ How?

Develop your vision and mission

Build the foundation◦ Utilize and engage your stakeholders◦ Create policies and procedures◦ Create job descriptions for volunteers

How To Create a Volunteer Management Program…

Step 4:

Tracking and Evaluation◦ How will volunteer information be tracked?◦ How will the success of the program be evaluated?

Training and Orientation◦ Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?

Risk Management◦ How will risks and challenges be addressed?◦ How will they be mitigated?◦ By whom?


Step 4:

Volunteer Recognition and Appreciation◦ Recognizing volunteers leads to retention!◦ How will they be recognized and appreciated?◦ What time frame?◦ Who is responsible?

You make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give.

-- Winston Churchill


Step 4:

About Us

Why a Volunteer Management Program?◦ More volunteers = meeting more affiliate needs

1st step was to assess the needs of our affiliate

2nd step was to determine who do we have in our affiliate to help develop this program

How To Create a Volunteer Management Program—Part 2

Step 4:

Defined Our Vision and Mission

Created an infrastructure ◦ Needs list with job descriptions◦ Application◦ Policies◦ Orientation/training◦ Supervision◦ Database◦ Liability Insurance◦ Track hours◦ Appreciation Event


Developed Process to Engage Volunteers◦ How do we recruit and sustain more volunteers?◦ How will our volunteer program evolve?

Tools We Used◦ Family to Family Classes◦ Meetings ◦ Website◦ Volunteermatch.org


Various Roles of Volunteers◦ Education, Advocacy, and Support (Please see Needs List)

Who is in charge????***Volunteer Coordinator (Yes this is a volunteer position!)

Key to program Engaged with Affiliate and sees the need for the

program Good with people Serious about the responsibility Has the time to commit and is a self-starter Persistent Co-coordinator


And introducing . . .

The NAMI Volunteer Code of Conduct!

Thank you to each and every one of you!

You are Super Stars!

Documents

Do you find that your volunteers sometimes interrupt you from very important tasks?