10 Tips for Motivating Corporate Volunteers

The worst thing any nonprofit organization can do to its volunteers is to give them meaningless tasks. Volunteers, especially corporate volunteers, want to make a difference with their time. Here are 10 ways to motivate corporate volunteers.

1. Have a yearly volunteer recruitment and satisfaction plan, and look at it regularly.
2. Make it as easy as possible to volunteer.
3. Use every opportunity to recruit, and be conscious of how you communicate the need.
4. When screening volunteers, consider what you are going to do with the information you ask for.
5. Your database is your greatest tool. Be aware of how you keep volunteer information, and make it as easy as possible to scan.
6. When training volunteers, be aware of their time, what they need to know and what they want to know.
7. Recognizing volunteers with things is less memorable than experiences.
8. Volunteers want to feel listened to. If you ask for feedback, be prepared to act on it (or not) as appropriate.
9. Tracking volunteer statistics gives you graphs that clearly illustrate the value and contribution that volunteers make. These are fun to share with not just your board and supporters, but with volunteers too!
10. Be creative! Share creative ideas! Encourage creativity!