11 Ways to Increase Volunteer Engagement for Fundraising Events

Sometimes the real challenge is not recruiting volunteers, but it's keeping them engaged, happy, and willing to come back. Most volunteers start excited, but the excitement soon fades and eventually affects their performance. 

This diminished spirit results from volunteers' dying expectations. When a volunteer disengages, they rarely come back because they contribute their valuable time and energy to help nonprofit organizations thrive.

Many nonprofit organizations have difficulties engaging their volunteers effectively, eventually leading to volunteer attrition. 

This article lists some simple ways to increase your volunteer engagement successfully and reap the full benefits of their service.

#1 Understand Volunteers' Goals and Motivations

Although volunteers are there to help your nonprofit organization reach its mission, all of them are volunteering for various other reasons. It's important to understand what drives and motivates your volunteers to help your organization if you want to engage them better. 

Explore their goals and motivations from the start and determine what drew them to volunteer at your organization. Some volunteers may look for a change in their daily routine, while some want to gain experience in marketing or accounting. 

You can find many individuals just looking for ways to enjoy their hobbies, simply form a network, or gain experience for their resume. 

These driving factors act as a motivation for your volunteers, and gaining insight about them can help you assign tasks to them they are good at. These are the minor details that will make your volunteers come back to your organization repeatedly. 

#2 Segment Volunteers for Tailored Engagement

Segmenting volunteers is important because your volunteers can be leaders, staff, board members, or students. Each volunteer is unique, and assigning tasks according to their skill set and experience can benefit your organization and help them engage better. 

Of course, there will also be volunteers who just want to sign up and assist with whatever task they are assigned. However, some might be interested in organizing the entire event, whereas others are motivated to raise funds through social media marketing. 

If you give each of your volunteers the chance to work on tasks with people who share their passions and skills, you can increase their engagement. 

Segmenting your volunteers can make them connect with like-minded people, and they will be happier to spend time with your organization. This can also cause them to return when another opportunity opens up. 

#3 Use Tools for Effective Communication

Communicating with your volunteers is as important as every other aspect of your work and life. Try using tools to maintain an effective communication flow and ensure your volunteers know all about their schedules, events, and tasks.

There are a variety of communication channels with useful tools that can help you create effective communication with your volunteers. You can also ask your volunteers their preferred method of communication, such as phone, text, or email. 

You can also turn to software and fundraising platforms for automated communications, which can help you save time and create consistent communication. These tools can help you avoid wasting time manually sending hundreds of reminders or check-in emails.

Effective communication will also help you build long-lasting relationships with your volunteers. 

#4 Offer Training Sessions

Training sessions are important for the volunteers to learn and adapt to your organization’s norms. People expect a nonprofit to be professional and organized, which includes a properly planned orientation followed by training sessions. 

You can create and distribute a guidebook of your organization’s policies and a detailed outline of the volunteering duties. You can also make training sessions simple by pairing up new volunteers with more experienced ones so they can ease them into their tasks.

#5 Encourage Peer-to-Peer Campaigns

Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns are great for engaging your volunteers before the big event. These campaigns also motivate them since they host an event they and the attendees enjoy. 

Through these peer-to-peer campaigns, you can allow your volunteers to play a vital role in the fundraising effort leading to your next event by turning them into volunteer fundraisers.

Your volunteers can create personalized donation pages to express their support for the organization and the cause. They can also encourage people in their networks, such as family, friends, and social media connections, to do the same. 

Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns are simple; supporters can donate on the organization’s online page or the volunteer personalized fundraisers’ pages. In both ways, your organization will receive all the donations. 

It's a win-win scenario where your volunteers feel connected, and your organization raises funds. 

#6 Offer Volunteer Opportunities to Donors

Organizations often make the mistake of viewing volunteers as separate entities from donors. However, most donors end up volunteering for organizations they donate to. 

According to the Fidelity Charitable study, 87% of respondents overlapped between where they volunteer and where they give, which suggests that organizations should not shy away from introducing their donors to volunteer opportunities at their events.

Your donors are connected with the organization's goals and mission, which is why they make great volunteers since they already feel connected with your fundraising cause. 

#7 Accommodate On an Availability Basis

Volunteers also have busy lives and responsibilities, as we all do. Therefore, respecting their schedules is very important if you want to increase your volunteering engagements.

Connect with your volunteers and try to hold meetings when they are free from other life responsibilities. Accommodating volunteers on their availability basis can help them understand they are an important part of your organization as other team members. 

Meetings are important to build effective communication but refrain from holding unnecessary meetings or wandering off your agenda to respect the volunteers’ time.

#8 Be Transparent About Fundraising Goals

The most important strategy any organization can use is being transparent about its goals. It's important to keep the focus on your fundraising mission and goals. Let your volunteers know about your fundraising goals so they are aligned with the overall cause and mission.

Stating your organization’s expectations on how every volunteer program and event can help support its mission is crucial for motivating your volunteers to keep doing their best.

The volunteer guidebook and training sessions are the perfect places to emphasize the organization's goals. You can also include your volunteer work toward reaching the overall mission.  

Transparency will ensure that your volunteers stay motivated and connected to working for your fundraising goals. 

#9 Share Stories of Fundraising Impact

Sharing the impactful success stories of your previous fundraisers to let your volunteers know their hard work makes a real positive difference in the world.

This is where storytelling becomes useful, using the power of social media or sending out personalized emails to let your volunteers know about the impact that your fundraisers have made. 

This will let your volunteers realize how their hard work has positively impacted their community. Include as many details as possible and give stats on the number of individuals you have helped. 

#10 Say a Heartfelt Thank You to Volunteers

Volunteers dedicate their time and efforts to the success of your fundraisers. Just like donors, they also deserve to feel appreciated and thanked for their hard work for your organization. 

Volunteers show their connection and passion for your cause through their hard work, and you should make the same efforts to make them feel appreciated. Let your volunteers know how much you appreciate their work and valuable time. 

Don't just rely on verbal communication; go all out and send personalized thank-you emails to your volunteers. Expressing how much each volunteer means to you will increase the likelihood of them coming back.

There are several ways to appreciate your volunteers, such as a simple thank-you message or a small reward after every fundraising event. Some organizations also go beyond and give recognition awards to their volunteers for outstanding performance. 

#11 Ask for Feedback From Volunteers

Communication is really important to build a long-lasting relationship with your volunteers, and this includes feedback. The easiest way to connect with your volunteers is by asking them for feedback.

This allows them to state their opinions, making them feel heard and a valuable part of your organization. The creative opinions and ideas they provide you with will surprise you. 

Taking their feedback into account and making changes where possible to improve your fundraising efforts and their volunteering experience is a great way to make them feel included. 

Not being open to volunteers’ feedback when necessary can chase away your volunteers and cause them to disengage.

Conclusion

Volunteers who lead and contribute to a nonprofit feel more involved and invested in the organization’s overall mission. This connection results from effective volunteer engagement strategies, which help them stay motivated.

These practices include fully understanding your volunteers’ interests and skills and making them feel as involved in the fundraiser events as possible. 

Moreover, it's also important to keep the volunteers engaged through effective communication and making them feel appreciated for their efforts. 

Your organization should work on leveraging the time, skills, networks, and valuable feedback of your volunteers to make them feel engaged and keep them for the long term. 

You can also sign up for fundraising platforms like BetterWorld to gain access to our useful online tools.