Harnessing Volunteer Motivation: Top 10 Best Practices

Volunteers are the backbone of community service. But what motivates someone to donate their time and energy without pay?

In this blog post, we'll explore the driving forces behind volunteerism, offering insights and strategies for nonprofit organizations and community leaders.

From personal fulfillment to social connection, we'll uncover what inspires people to give back and how organizations can make the most of them.

What is the Primary Motivation to Volunteer?

Volunteers are often motivated by a variety of factors. Some examples of volunteer motivation examples include:

• A sense of belonging and accomplishment: Service provides a pathway to connection, purpose, and personal validation through community-oriented work.
• Skills-building and career changes: Volunteering offers strategic opportunities to explore new fields, build skills, and expand professional networks.
• Altruism and activism: Motivated individuals see volunteering as a direct method to create systemic change and inspire collective social progress.

While all of these reasons might inform why someone starts to volunteer, it's up to volunteer managers to make sure that the "fire keeps burning." To do that, it's important to meet volunteer expectations, improve their experience, share impact, show appreciation, and match them to the right position.

Volunteer Motivation: Best Practices

Using the above motivations, volunteer leaders can use a few tried and true retention practices.

Implement a Strong Training Program

Many volunteers don't have a wide set of skills that matches your program. This can make onboarding tough and kill the existing motivation quickly. By arranging high-quality training, though, you can contribute to volunteer productivity and drive volunteer empowerment.

Volunteers who receive appropriate training can feel more engaged while enjoying the impact of contributing to a cause. This can help them maintain high motivation and satisfaction levels.

Design a Volunteer Recognition Program

While volunteers understand that they are working for a cause, they still need to feel appreciated and recognized. That's why volunteer appreciation is an important part of any volunteer program.

By showing volunteers how much you value their work, you aren't just supporting motivation, you are driving engagement, and boosting retention. A simple "thank you" or "good job" can go a long way towards making volunteers feel empowered.

Even if you don't have time to thank each volunteer, you can still create a robust appreciation program using technology. Volunteer management software like Get Connected can help you automate the rewards and recognition process by awarding volunteers based on designated benchmarks.
Learn more about Get Connected's Rewards and Recognition Tools

Volunteer rewards and recognition tactics are similar to what companies and organizations implement for their employees. You need to set clear recognition guidelines for your internal team.

Volunteers should understand exactly what they are being rewarded for and what needs to be done to achieve the same recognition in the future.

Streamline Communication

Studies show that communication has a direct effect on productivity. When volunteers don't know whom to speak to if they encounter problems, they are left feeling unhappy and often lose their connection with the cause

To streamline communication, volunteer leaders should:

• Provide clear communication channels and tools
• Share existing and future placement opportunities
• Provide organization-related updates
• Share information about volunteer networking events
• Consistently ask for feedback

Provide Resources

In a perfect world, nonprofits have enough time to arrange an extensive onboarding process for their volunteers. In reality, your managers and coordinators could be too busy to spend sufficient time on coaching. This can make volunteers feel lost, confused, and disengaged.

An easy way to deal with this problem is to provide your volunteers with all the resources they need to learn more about their organization and their roles in it. From software and safety equipment to on-the-job gear, a volunteer should feel fully equipped to carry out their roles.

Create Belonging

While some volunteer contributions are temporary, many people stay with organizations for years. To keep both kinds motivated, it's important to foster team spirit, which can help you grow your volunteer program. Since 85% of volunteers donate to the organizations they volunteer for, it pays to make them feel happy, motivated, and at home. 

To make your volunteers feel bonded, be sure to:

• Create structured onboarding with team introductions, facility tours, and clear role descriptions.
• Host regular social events and team meetings.
• Give volunteers organization-branded items (shirts, badges) to foster identity and belonging.
• Establish mentor partnerships between experienced and new volunteers.

Offer Skill-Based Volunteerism

Volunteers want roles that match their interests, skills, and passions.

To do this, use onboarding surveys to identify each volunteer’s strengths and motivations. Offer role options that align with their skills (like graphic design, event coordination, or mentoring) and provide room for growth.

Make It Fun and Enjoyable

People are more likely to stay engaged when the experience is enjoyable.

To do this, gamify the experience by offering "badges" for milestones like hours served or tasks completed. Track volunteer impact and hours worked and award the most dedicated supporters (like "most hours volunteered this month").

Show Impact

Whether your volunteers are partaking in furthering your cause because they believe in the mission, are dedicated to activism, or if they just want to belong, showing volunteer impact is essential.

By tracking volunteer hours, measuring progress through custom impact reports, or creating personalized volunteer resumes, nonprofits can show volunteers just how meaningful their contributions are.

Go the Extra Mile

To help your organization, volunteers have to change their plans, take time away from work and families, cut down on free time, and much more. To make sure these issues don't interfere with their motivation, you can try to accommodate volunteer needs.

If a volunteer asks for reassignment or needs more tools to get the job done, try to go the extra mile to do it. Demonstrating care and flexibility can keep volunteers happy with the arrangement, and contribute to productivity and collaboration in the future. 

Create Leadership Opportunities

Helping volunteers become leaders creates a win-win situation. Organizations get dedicated volunteers who stick around longer and bring new ideas and volunteers gain leadership skills they can use in their careers.

Some leadership examples include:

• Forming a volunteer leadership team that meets monthly to share ideas with staff
• Matching new volunteers with experienced ones for 3 months of learning and support
• Putting volunteers in charge of projects with their own budget and goals

Using Volunteer Motivation Tactics to Recruit, Engage, and Retain Volunteers

Figuring out how to motivate volunteers isn't an easy job, especially when volunteers have to dedicate extra time and resources to helping your organization. To make sure volunteers stay engaged, happy, and satisfied with the collaboration, it's important to foster and support motivation.

Motivation management requires access to the right tools. Galaxy Digital's volunteer management tools can help you streamline volunteer relationships and boost motivation with:

• Automated Communication: Keep volunteers informed and engaged with automatic reminders, email updates, and event notifications.
  
  
• Customizable Volunteer Profiles: Track volunteer skills, interests, and availability, allowing for personalized volunteer assignments.
  
  
• Impact Reporting: Provide clear data on volunteer contributions, such as hours served and the impact of their work, helping to boost motivation and satisfaction.
  
  
• Volunteer Recognition Tools: Highlight volunteer achievements with badges, awards, and personalized thank-you messages.
  
  
• Scheduling and Shift Management: Allow volunteers to sign up for shifts that fit their schedules, giving them a sense of control and flexibility.
  
  
• Mobile Access: Enable volunteers to manage their participation via mobile apps, making it easier to stay connected.
  
  
• Volunteer Surveys and Feedback: Gather input from volunteers and demonstrate that their voices matter, which enhances motivation and engagement.
  
  
• Team Volunteering Options: Allow groups to sign up and volunteer together, enhancing the social aspect of volunteering.
  
  
• Easy Onboarding and Training: Provide resources, orientation materials, and training modules within the system to set volunteers up for success.

Find out how Get Connected can help your organization by requesting a free demo today.