Ep7 Infuse Some Volunteer Magic At Your Next Event
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Sara Mayer: Hi, everyone. Welcome to this episode of Impact Unleashed, the nonprofit edition. I love talking about events and I'm loving this series on events. And one of the things that comes up often when event planning or nonprofits are trying to put on events is the subject of volunteers. And as you may or may not know, volunteer management is not easy.
Sara Mayer: Actually, managing people is not easy, so it's not just volunteers. Whenever we are trying to do big things and have a lot of moving parts, volunteers and people truly are what makes the [00:01:00] event magic happen. So let's talk a little bit about How do you utilize volunteers best practices and some things to maybe avoid and some things to absolutely do.
Sara Mayer: Now, as I have had a long history of managing large teams of volunteers to achieve fundraising goals to put on events to put on golf tournaments, galas, all those things. And I want to talk a lot about. A lot about how to have a well organized volunteer team. In my experience, many of the nonprofits I've worked with.
Sara Mayer: And spoiler alert, it's like almost all of them. They simply don't have enough staff members or people to put on the events to accomplish the mission that they want to accomplish. That's no secret. So the only way to get these things accomplished. Is to work with volunteers and to inspire and [00:02:00] motivate volunteers so volunteers can be and should be the heartbeat of your nonprofit.
Sara Mayer: Many volunteers are out there who are passionate about your mission and just want to help you so that you can accomplish your goals. And so I think it's really important to start by planning for volunteer success, and you want to think about what are the key roles and responsibilities that a volunteer team can help with?
Sara Mayer: It's important to really set some clear expectations and goals for volunteers. And remember that all volunteers are not created equal. Some volunteers have a lot of time on their hands and a lot of time that they are willing to give other volunteers have a lot of time, but they're giving their time to lots of different places.
Sara Mayer: And then many volunteers are very skilled at high level tasks. And then some volunteers, even though they may be very skilled at high [00:03:00] level tests, they don't want to do those high level tasks. So not every volunteer is created equally. I'll use a prime example. Many times I have people who are accountants or lawyers and they're skilled in those areas.
Sara Mayer: And so Nonprofit organizations assume the lawyers want to help with contracts, and the accountants want to help with finance. That's not always the case. So we need to be careful about putting volunteers in certain buckets, just because of who they are, The other thing that happens is sometimes we assume people are too busy to help us.
Sara Mayer: So we may not be able to handle the load that they have on their plate. So we assume that they can't add anything else to their plate because we might not be able to handle it or we might not want to handle it. But we need to give volunteers the opportunity to say yes or no, and to determine if they have the ability to complete the responsibility.
Sara Mayer: And that's why it's so [00:04:00] key to think about what are the responsibilities in the volunteer team and how can you break those up into manageable chunks? It's real. Nice to think that somebody can handle your entire golf tournament and can lead that. But the reality is they may be able to do that. They may be able to run your entire golf tournament or your gala for one year.
Sara Mayer: They still would have to interact with other people, but they may be able to do that. But year over year, when you rely on just one person or a couple people, you do two things. One you, Take away the opportunity that others may have, because if you're only relying on one person, then that opportunity is not available to everyone.
Sara Mayer: And the other thing is, you're setting yourself up to fail. If all the knowledge and all the resources, if you're watching me on YouTube, you see I'm touching my head, if all the knowledge and all the resources in one [00:05:00] person's head, what happens when that person Changes their mind and doesn't want to volunteer anymore, gets burned out and decides to retire or just ghost you or anything worse happens, then you are starting from scratch and you lose all of that.
Sara Mayer: It's super important to really think about the key roles and responsibilities, and it's also important to outline the. Onboarding and training that volunteers may need before the event. Now, some volunteers you may have somebody directing traffic, welcoming guests at a gala or an event. Some volunteers aren't going to need a lot of orientation or training, but.
Sara Mayer: I don't know about you. I'm a grown adult, but even when I go to something that I'm not familiar with, if I don't know anyone, or I don't know what to expect, or I don't know where to go, and it's my first experience with an organization, I'm nervous. I [00:06:00] walk up, I'm like, Ooh, meeting new people, trying to figure out what to do.
Sara Mayer: So the more that you can outline what they will be doing during the event, the better. And giving them maybe a 1 sheeter. I always love like a 1 sheeter. Some organizations have done a name tag with a 1 sheeter on the inside and making sure that when you have volunteers sign up, you have descriptions about what they would be doing.
Sara Mayer: It's super important to set clear goals and expectations for volunteers. So I'll use this as an example. I have an event that I run every year. It's a golf tournament and we put right on our emails on everything. You may be sitting outside for long periods of time in the sun and you may not have the opportunity to go to the restroom every five minutes because it may be far from the hole that you're at.
Sara Mayer: So it may take you a little bit to go back and forth. And so that allows volunteers to [00:07:00] prepare. We also give them a list of suggested items, a portable fan. Some sunscreen, a hat, a comfortable chair. The other thing is sometimes they're in the shade and they're cold, a jacket that you might want to put on layers of clothes.
Sara Mayer: So that allows volunteers to come prepared and to be happy. We also suggest they bring snacks because yes, we're going to feed them, feed your volunteers. That's a pro tip. You don't need to feed them the steak dinner. Maybe you can if you can afford that, but maybe that's not feasible either. Maybe it's pizza.
Sara Mayer: Maybe it's something else, but make sure you feed your volunteers. Give them snacks. But we always tell people bring snacks because they may be stuck out on a hole for a little bit on a golf course and may not see. Someone to bring them food or anything like that at the time that they really need it.
Sara Mayer: And we don't want our volunteers sitting out there without water either. So we provide a lot of water. So it's important [00:08:00] to really set clear expectations. And it's also important to try and think about. How you're bringing in new volunteers, maybe pairing up volunteers that have volunteered for a long time, and maybe they've always run your auction or your event and then pairing them up with a new person.
Sara Mayer: So there's that transfer of knowledge and. And then it's really important to discuss with volunteers what their training is. Sometimes it's a one cheater. Sometimes it's a short little meeting before the shift and making sure that they are included in the events communications. I love if we're talking about communications, which we're going to talk about now, I love to send a document called the know before you go.
Sara Mayer: And we send that to all attendees, but we also send that to our volunteers. So they know what to expect before they go to the event, and they know what to do before they go to the event. And I think that's really [00:09:00] critical. And you want to also tell them. About tools they may need if they need a calculator, if they need a pen, a pencil, if you're working at an event where they may be helping light candles, they may need a lighter, or you might want to provide that.
Sara Mayer: So think about those types of things. And when we're working with volunteers, it's really important that they have a point of contact. And I'm going to say this. It shouldn't be the event chair because they are the person that everybody is going to the day of the event. So there should be somebody, a volunteer check in person, somebody there specifically to check in volunteers and in that communication that you're sending out, you want to say who they're checking in with what time they need to be there.
Sara Mayer: You also want to cover parking. Is there parking close? Do they need to park far away? Do they need to. Walk up, do they need to pay for parking? The questions that people are going to ask, [00:10:00] how long do they need to allow to go from the parking lot to the place? So for example, at the golf tournament, we want them to check in at a certain time in the morning, and then they need to get to their hole by a certain time.
Sara Mayer: So they really cannot be late. It's really important that they're not late. Also include in your communication who they should contact if they are running late or any unforeseen issues. When you are creating the volunteer needs like schedule for sign up or anything like that, always overestimate because you will have people that will have an emergency.
Sara Mayer: Something comes up, they're running late. So if you really need two people to sit on a hole for a golf course, try and schedule three. And then if you have extra people, great. Or alternatively, you could schedule some filler shifts, like swing shifts, where people aren't. Put into a specific thing, but they're the backups and then they go and do that if somebody doesn't show up.
Sara Mayer: So it's really important to have people check [00:11:00] in with a volunteer coordinator and the volunteer coordinator has a way for them to get to whoever their leader is. For example, if they're showing up to work an event, like a gala, and they're helping with auction set up, they check in with the volunteer coordinator.
Sara Mayer: The volunteer coordinator would either escort them or tell them where to go to meet up with the auction lead. And I love a good name tag on the, like one of those little plastic name tags. They can take them off during the event, but during setup, that's great. A name tag with a little insert that has maybe the schedule for the day and the point of contact should they have any issues.
Sara Mayer: That's super important. Now, when volunteers come to the event, again, having them check in at a volunteer table is super key. Please tell them what to wear. That's the number one question. Where do I go and what do I wear? I cannot tell you how many times I have worked with volunteers and we sent out what to wear and they [00:12:00] showed up to a gala in a t shirt and they were so embarrassed.
Sara Mayer: because they didn't see that part of it. So just please make sure they know what to wear. Say that multiple times because they don't want, we don't want to be embarrassed. They don't want to be embarrassed. And we can't have somebody in a t shirt working a gala, at least not at this type of event. We figured out a different role for them so they could still serve.
Sara Mayer: One of the things that I would really stress is that many times you're getting volunteers who are already passionate about your mission, but often they do have friends that may want to volunteer with them, encourage volunteers to help recruit other volunteers. It's a great way to ensure that you have enough people to run your event.
Sara Mayer: Now, I will remind you that you're there putting on an event for a cause and everybody coming is a guest. And so their job is volunteers are to surprise and delight guests. So you want to give them as many [00:13:00] tools as possible in order to be able to do that. They want to be able to do a good job. Nobody shows up to a volunteer shift.
Sara Mayer: Saying I want to do the worst possible job for this nonprofit, so give them the tools they need. Tell them how to answer the most common questions. Tell them who they can direct guests to. Should they have any questions and then most importantly, make sure you share the impact that they are making on the day.
Sara Mayer: For example, at the beginning of the morning, say thank you in advance. Say, just so you know, last year at this event, we raised this amount of money and this is the impact it made on the organization. And today you as a volunteer are going to have the opportunity to surprise and delight our guests.
Sara Mayer: And we could not be more excited that you are here. Do that as many times as you can. Throughout the day, and then it's really important to recognize and appreciate the volunteers, making sure that lead say, thank you, [00:14:00] making sure that leads are telling people. Thank you. At the end of the day, showing appreciation.
Sara Mayer: I know many of you don't have big budgets to give volunteers gifts, or if you did, you wouldn't even. It's not something that you normally would spend money on, but you can write a handwritten card for volunteers. You can thank them with that. Give them awards recognition somehow and really making sure that you express your gratitude in the program, but also the audibly in the program, but if you can't even put it in the printed program, that's amazing.
Sara Mayer: There's a lot of success stories that you can have with volunteers. And many times it's truly about finding and tapping into great people who want to help you out. Now, I will give you some tips and tricks. So first off, when you're planning your volunteer schedule, Really think about if you're doing a day long event or something that's [00:15:00] over, 4 or 5 hours that you probably want to split it up.
Sara Mayer: For example, our golf tournament we split that up because. We need to make sure that people are able to do what they need to do. So anyway, make sure you split that up and think about making sure that the shifts if 1 time goes from 8 in the morning to noon, the next shift doesn't come in at noon.
Sara Mayer: They come in at 1130 or 12 or 11. If. They need to travel to their spot so that way there's a little transition time between the 2 and it allows for an easier handoff of the baton, if you will. That's tip number 1 tip number 2 when working with volunteers. Know that no one is going to care about your event more than you need to say it, but no one is going to care about your event more than you.
Sara Mayer: If something comes up in their life, if something comes up in their work, they're not getting paid [00:16:00] and unfortunately, they may not come. Just know that in advance. Over staff for it, and then maybe not count on that person for the next time. If they have a habit of doing that, make them a backup or put them in a role.
Sara Mayer: Another tip is when you have people sign up for volunteer shifts put on there, we reserve the right to change this as needed. Ideally, you're going to have every volunteer slot full and you may have greeters at an event. You may have auction people you may. And some of those positions are more critical than others.
Sara Mayer: And so if you have five greeters show up, but two of your auction people don't show up, you may need to pull a greeter. So I always like to put a disclaimer that we may change your role based on the organization need, but we won't change your time. So I'm never going to have somebody who signed up eight to 12.
Sara Mayer: I'm never going to switch [00:17:00] them to a one to five shift because that's just. Or opportunity some people come opportunities and do like that. Just know that put that little disclaimer on and. I think what's really cool is that we have a lot of people out there that love volunteering and so there's a lot of trends in that.
Sara Mayer: And. I think just making the things very meaningful and very well organized. That's the other thing is that people want to be a part of a well run organization. The more organized, you can be the better and. I cannot stress enough do not have the point of contact on the day of be the chair. So many people are asking that person questions have the volunteers go to a volunteer coordinator, a volunteer lead and let that person deal with all the volunteers checking in, make that a central location, maybe even put a balloon on the table, check in at the big [00:18:00] balloon, whatever. That's always really helpful. I love working with volunteers and I love after a volunteer event, sending a little. Thank you. Keeping a little. Email out there and then every year re inviting them to participate in the event the next year.
Sara Mayer: That's a great way to build your volunteer base. You don't need to give everybody a full time job. Sometimes people just need a one off event based volunteer experience and to have a really great time. I've seen volunteer teams that have same colored shirts, or if it's at a gala, they give them a tie that's all the same color.
Sara Mayer: You can do all that fun stuff. You don't need to do that though. Volunteers just want to know that they're making an impact. So the more you can share how their time that they spent at your event makes an impact on your mission, the better and make it fun. Let them have a good time. All right. It's [00:19:00] time to get out there.
Sara Mayer: Recruit some volunteers to make your events successful. I love sharing lots of tips about volunteer management, and I hope that you will engage some volunteers this year.
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