Volunteers: Love Them or Leave Them

According to Score.org, it is important to provide volunteers with the right motivation by rewarding and recognizing them. Freelance writer Natalie Bracco believes the values of respect and flexibility and leading by example are factors to success. Robin Toal at Funds for NGOs says one must understand volunteers and make them feel valued. She notes that a happy volunteer is a motivated volunteer.

The volunteer experience starts at recruitment. If you recruit someone for the right reasons and you see joy in his or her face, the "good" process begins. If you have to force someone to volunteer, the "bad" process begins.

You need to thoroughly explain what the volunteer will experience. It is helpful to have this information in writing and clearly denote expectations of time. Do not play shell games with volunteers. You will lose every time.

So many organizations carry volunteers who are burned out, tuned out and left the organization mentally some time ago. You need to say goodbye to them with grace and praise, plus begin to recruit fresh blood ASAP. You also must do everything possible to love your volunteers and know each person well enough to understand each individual's needs and wants.

Always emphasize recruitment, orientation and training with clarity of purpose. And always engage volunteers — they are important community ambassadors for your organization. The ultimate goal is to make the volunteer experience one to remember for all the right reasons!