Volunteers are vital to your nonprofit’s work, but even nonprofits that rely heavily on volunteer support may not have a solid answer about where these individuals fit into their team. After all, volunteers provide essential support, but they also aren’t paid employees and are free to leave at any time.

To improve your volunteer management practices, this guide will explore HR strategies that you can implement to support your volunteers, ensure they have proper oversight, and make them feel like a valued part of your community.

Develop a Volunteer-Centered Onboarding Experience

For volunteers and employees alike, your onboarding process sets the tone for their relationship with your nonprofit. A structured, welcoming onboarding experience causes volunteers to form a positive first impression of your organization and sets them up for success.

While large nonprofits may have a team dedicated specifically to volunteer management, volunteer organizational responsibilities at small and medium-sized organizations often fall to the HR team. Your HR team should already be familiar with your nonprofit’s values and employee work expectations, but they should work closely with your executive director and other project leaders to create a comprehensive training process for volunteers.

Have your HR team adapt your employee handbook and other relevant materials to fit volunteers’ needs. For example, you might adjust your section about paid time off and sick days to discuss how volunteers should alert their supervisors if they’re unable to come in for their shift.

Additionally, collect feedback from volunteers about their orientation experience to improve your processes over time. Wait until they’ve worked a few shifts so they have the opportunity to apply their training. Send them a survey asking questions about what aspects of your onboarding process were most useful, what was confusing, and what additional information they feel would be helpful after operating as a volunteer.

Define Clear Roles and Responsibilities

If volunteers aren’t sure what their role at your nonprofit is, they will likely have trouble maintaining their enthusiasm for your cause. Prevent this scenario by ensuring your volunteer program has a clear purpose statement.

A purpose statement is a one-to-two-sentence explanation of why your volunteer program exists, who or what it serves, and what impact it aims to have. An example purpose statement for an environmental organization’s volunteer program might read, “Volunteers at Trees4All help our team fight environmental degradation by participating in replanting efforts around the globe.”

With a clear purpose statement, you should be able to:

• Determine what volunteer positions you need to fill. When planning your volunteer program, determine what responsibilities volunteers will take on, how many volunteers you need in each role, and how many hours you expect volunteers to commit to each position. You’ll likely discover you have a mix of opportunities almost anyone can fill, such as setting up a fundraising event venue, and skilled positions you may need to seek out individuals with specific expertise to fill, such as leveraging coding knowledge to create new custom web pages.
• Craft clear volunteer job descriptions. To attract passionate volunteers with the right skills and availability, your nonprofit should treat creating paid employee and volunteer job descriptions with equal gravity. Provide details about your mission, what volunteers will be expected to do, what qualifications they need, what benefits your nonprofit can provide in return, and logistical details like shift times and locations.
• Design a program assessment system. After launching your volunteer program, keep an eye on its data to ensure you’re achieving your goals. For example, you might measure data related to outcomes (beneficiaries helped, trees planted, pets adopted, etc.), hours worked, and volunteer satisfaction.

As your volunteer program grows and your priorities shift, update your volunteer job descriptions accordingly. This helps new volunteers understand what they’re signing up for and provides current volunteers with an up-to-date reference point for their roles.

Consider Volunteer Fit Into Organizational Culture

Volunteers aren’t employees, but they should still feel like an integral part of your team rather than temporary visitors. According to Double the Donation’s volunteer statistics report, 35% of individuals volunteer specifically to socialize, so making these supporters feel like part of the team is often essential for retaining them.

You can create a work culture where volunteers feel valued by:

• Including volunteers in team activities. When you host team meetings, celebrations, and other activities, ensure volunteers are included. This helps them feel like a core part of your nonprofit’s team and gives them opportunities to socialize with employees.
• Showing appreciation. The simplest way to let volunteers know you appreciate their efforts is to thank them. A few easy-to-implement volunteer appreciation ideas include sending thank-you cards, shouting out volunteer accomplishments, and providing small gifts like branded merchandise.
• Creating feedback channels. When volunteers are able to contribute their ideas, express their concerns, and ask questions, they’ll feel like their input matters, solidifying their connection to your nonprofit. Provide multiple feedback channels, such as directing volunteer managers to check in with volunteers regularly or conducting regular surveys.

Additionally, ensure your paid employees are on the same page about how to treat and interact with volunteers. Consider having your HR team host a training session for your staff that goes over how to collaborate with volunteers to boost productivity and create a welcoming environment.

Foster Long-Term Relationships With Growth Opportunities

Recruiting volunteers can be one of the most challenging aspects of running a volunteer program. One solution to this issue is to focus on retaining the volunteers that you have, minimizing the need to find replacements and allowing you to build up a dedicated, knowledgeable support base.

Many of the strategies your nonprofit uses to retain employees will also work well for forging long-term relationships with your volunteers. Astron Solutions’ guide to employee recruitment and retention provides a few engagement tips for nonprofits:

• Provide continuous training and growth opportunities. Volunteers who have been with your nonprofit for a long time will likely be interested in taking on new responsibilities or even stepping into leadership roles. Let volunteers experiment with different roles, have experienced volunteers mentor new ones, and provide training to take on more complex responsibilities.
• Focus on workplace culture. Assess what type of work environment your nonprofit has and consider how you can transform it for the better. Some nonprofits have hectic environments where everyone strives to do more with less, and stressful workplaces may cause volunteers to leave. While you might not be able to change your work culture overnight, consider small steps you can take, such as implementing organized processes for various tasks to improve consistency and reduce chaos.
• Leverage the right tools. Dedicated volunteer software allows you to manage your volunteer program effectively as you scale up. The right tools should allow you to perform all of the essential tasks involved in running your program, such as creating volunteer schedules, recording hours, and messaging volunteers. Additionally, look for platforms with useful data management features that allow you to generate reports on your volunteer program, helping you identify your program’s strengths and areas for improvement.

Volunteers who have been with your nonprofit for long periods of time benefit your nonprofit in a number of ways. With the knowledge they’ve accumulated about your nonprofit, they can pass on tips to new supporters. Plus, these volunteers provide social proof, demonstrating that your nonprofit is a trustworthy organization that treats all team members—including both employees and volunteers—well.

Nonprofit HR professionals have many responsibilities, and volunteer management is often one of the few skills they don’t receive specific training in. Start getting your team up to speed by having your HR professionals meet with program directors to determine what your volunteer program should look like. Then, create a training process that creates a good first impression and work with the rest of your team to build a welcoming environment.

Jennifer C. Loftus is a Founding Partner of and National Director for Astron Solutions, a compensation consulting firm.  Jennifer has 23 years of experience garnered at organizations including the Hay Group, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Eagle Electric Manufacturing Company, and Harcourt General.  

Jennifer has held volunteer leadership roles with SHRM, New York City SHRM, and WorldatWork. She serves as a subject matter expert to the SHRM Learning System and as a SHRM instructor.  Jennifer is a sought-after speaker for local & national conferences and media outlets.

Jennifer has an MBA in Human Resource Management with highest honors from Pace University and a BS in Accounting summa cum laude from Rutgers University.  

Jennifer holds Adjunct Professor roles with Pace University, Long Island University, and LIM College.

Jennifer received the 2014 Gotham Comedy Foundation’s Lifetime Ambassador of Laughter Award.