If your nonprofit uses volunteers, which it almost certainly does in some capacity, you’ve undoubtedly at times found it difficult to find volunteers. Whether it’s because your regular volunteers had prior engagements, or enrollment is typically low, without volunteers our nonprofit organizations do not go.
That’s why it's importnat to make sure a volunteer has a favorable experience when giving their time to you so they're enticed to come back.
However, recruiting new talent is, of course, also imperative to the lifeblood of an organization. Finding new, fresh talent to come in and energize your nonprofit’s fundraising drives or events can get anyone excited.
You might be wondering: “But where can my nonprofit go to look for this great new talent, we’ve looked everywhere!”
Here are a few places you might not have thought to check:
Encourage current volunteers to recruit
The best spokespeople for your nonprofit are your current volunteers. Almost certainly, each one of your current volunteers has a vast network of friends, family, and co-workers who are perfect potential volunteers. Tapping into that network is the difficult part.
The bottom line is that you have to ask for your volunteers to actively recruit. Ensure they understand exactly what the benefits of volunteering are for not only your nonprofit, but volunteering in general. Them, simply ask your current volunteers to find a few others who might be interested in giving their time for a great cause!
You might be thinking that LinkedIn is only for professional work, and you’re right! At least to some degree. The popular professionally-focused social networking site has empowered millions of people around the world to find new jobs and foster a meaningful relationships. But the site also boasts a robust engine for searching thousands of volunteer opportunities.
Get a listing posted on LinkedIn and see what happens, it never hurts!
Local church bulletins
Running a newspaper ad is never bad idea, but the audience who’s seeing your advertisement could be almost anyone. By focusing part of your search to local churches, you’re refining your search results, and connecting with a specific community.
