Making it Meaningful

By Peggy Vinson

All of us on the Donor By Design Team have spent a lot of time reflecting on the role of volunteers in our most recent posts. I remember in the beginning of my career, recruiting volunteers was an add-on to my job I really didn’t have time for or desire to do.  But, as I progressed in my career and in my involvement with strong volunteers, my time spent with them became the most rewarding part of my job.

It has always amazed me how much time volunteers were willing to give. I was in awe of what they were willing to do in their “spare time.”   They were genuinely excited to help! They were excited to be asked!  Wow!  I would watch them spend breakfast, lunch, dinner, weekends helping out because they believed so much in our mission.

Taking time to really stop and think about what my volunteers were doing for my organization made me want to begin to take care of them in a different and meaningful way.  So, here’s some things I found myself doing:

• Spending time on the phone or in person with them when they were in the building each and every week.
• Sending thank you notes after projects had been completed.
• Asking them to lunch throughout the year.  I really enjoyed being with them!
• ASKING THEIR OPINION on something I was working on.
• Keeping them informed of progress on anything they were involved in – annual campaign weekly progress reports, building projects, anything that I knew interested them.
• Checking their progress for the annual campaign. If they were lagging, giving them a call to see if I could help out in any way.
• Making sure they were successful in any volunteer project they agreed to help with.
• Making sure every meeting they attended was worth their time and energy.

So what began as a feeling that I was bugging people by asking them to help quickly became a realization that I was offering an opportunity to help – and they were excited to be included!  What began as a requirement of my job, soon became an opportunity to be involved with some of the most amazing people I’ve ever known.

As I begin to volunteer for various organizations, I don’t think I’ll ever measure up to many of the volunteers I’ve known in the past.  They have my deepest admiration and respect and I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked with them.

What about you? How do you meaningfully engage your volunteers?

Comments RSS You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.