General Volunteer Program Management Resources

General Management Tools

•  The Center for Nonprofit Excellence Volunteer Management Resources, the Nonprofit Works Resources, and True North Services Volunteer Management Resources are three great one-stop shops for resources for the experienced volunteer-engagement professional or the person just starting out.
• Wild Apricot Top Fifteen Free and Inexpensive Volunteer Management Solutions
• Read the 2021 VolunteerPro/Tobi Johnson & Associates Volunteer Management Progress Reports to find out how the industry is faring during COVID19; you can also review industry progress reports from 2016-2020.
• Specifically for faith- and community-based services, the Successful Strategies for Recruiting, Training, and Utilizing Volunteers handbook focuses on maximizing volunteers’ skills, expanding services, and enhancing effectiveness.
• 12 Amazing Volunteer Management Tools for Nonprofits from Double the Donations features overviews of management tools and platforms with reviews and pricing.
• See this post for a timely guide to resources for volunteer management amid COVID-19.
• The Energize A-Z Volunteer Management Library covers diverse topics in volunteer management with links to websites, articles, reports, tips, and more.
• Minnesota Nonprofits offers Volunteer Management, 17 tips on engagement, recruitment/screening, and engagement.
• American Association for Museum Volunteers’ Standards and Best Practices for Museum Volunteer Programs is a good guide specific to museum programs.

Other Resources:

• Local Associations National Directory
• AL!VE Academy
• AL!VE Better Impact & Hybrid Conference
• AL!VE's Presenter Bootcamp
• AL!VE Community of Practice
• AL!VE Emerging Leaders Mentor Program
• AL!VE Local Associations Mentor Program
• AL!VE Professional Standards
• Newsletter Archive
• Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion Resources
• Advocacy, Ethics, and Trends

Before You Begin/Strategic Planning

• Before you start, take a look at this Volunteer Engagement Cycle from the Red Cross.
• Why develop a strategic plan?  This post from VolunteerHub looks at some of the reasons.
• Behind every successful volunteer program is a thoughtful strategic plan.  Start here with Authenticity Consultings’ Framework for Basic Strategic Plan Document for a Nonprofit.
• Determine how you want your volunteer program to function and what needs it should meet within your organization with United Way’s Volunteer Program Management Guide.
• Pre-recruitment conversations matter.  Decide internally who will recruit, what needs will be met, the number of volunteers needed, and more with Wild Apricot’s comprehensive blog post, How to Recruit Volunteers.
• The Free Management Library brings you a step-by-step guide to Developing and Managing Volunteer Programs (including topics you haven’t thought of!)
• Performing this Community Needs Assessment, brought to you by Impact Community Action, will give you a concrete idea of the programming needs and spaces to be filled in the work your organization does.
• United Way offers this useful needs assessment form worksheet, but you may prefer VolunteerMatch’s more free-form approach.  
• Nonprofit Times explains the importance of volunteer placement in the organization with The Organizational Chart, while LucidChart examines 7 Types of Organizational Structures.
• Consider using an organizational chart to illustrate volunteer placement in your own organization’s community.  OrgCharting defines, illustrates, and explains the purpose of an org chart, while WholeWhale provides some templates of sample nonprofit org charts, and TemplateNet provides some more.
• Refer to this eVolunteerism journal for a guide to Moving Beyond Program: Developing a Volunteer Engagement Strategic Plan.

Recruitment

• Unsure how to begin recruitment?  Galaxy Digital provides an all-in-one volunteer recruitment strategy as well as a free downloadable e-book in Volunteer Recruitment: How to Get the Volunteers You Need.
• The VolunteerMatch Recruitment Network is an invaluable resource for organizations beginning to seek volunteers.
• WholeWhale Tips provides some tips on where to start when Posting Volunteer Opportunities 
• Check out these invaluable volunteer recruitment tips from VolunteerHub. 
• CauseVox suggests five ways to recruit more volunteers.  
• Neon One suggests recruiting with retention in mind in this blog post about recruiting and retaining volunteers.  
• Make your online volunteer search easier and more effective by reading VolunteerPro’s article How To Recruit Volunteers Online with Powerful Calls to Action.

Job Descriptions

• This article from JobHero explains the reasoning behind and the necessity for volunteer job descriptions.
• Having trouble getting started?  Check out this sample volunteer job description from Indiana Nonprofit Resource Network, or use these template volunteer job descriptions from BetterTeam, or use these tips from Americorps and this template for some ideas.
• Starting from scratch?  Some additional tips from Mission Box Global Network can give you some ideas for writing your volunteer job descriptions.
• Is your organization seeking skills-based volunteers?  According to Americorps, Skills-based volunteering means leveraging the specialized skills and talents of individuals to strengthen the infrastructure of nonprofits, helping them build and sustain their capacity to successfully achieve their missions. 
  • The New Volunteer Workforce, from the Stanford Social Innovation Review, makes the case for having a strategic plan in place so that organizations can manage their skills-based volunteers effectively.
  • Common Impact provides their Nonprofit Skills-Based Volunteering Toolkit, specifically determining the organization’s readiness, scope, recruitment, management, and evaluation for skills-based volunteers; as well, their needs-based volunteering assessment toolkit from Common Impact walks you through each category to consider when attempting to recruit for your dream volunteer role.

Volunteer Applications

• Applications for volunteer staff are as important as applications for paid staff.  Read Basics of a Volunteer Application from The Balance Small Business for tips on writing a volunteer application to protect your organization.
• Use this Volunteer Application Template to provide a guide to developing your organization’s volunteer application.
• Use this step-by-step guide to quickly set up a volunteer application in WordPress.

Volunteer Interview Process

• If you ask prospective volunteers nothing else, ask them Idealist’s Five Interview Questions to Ask Prospective Volunteers.
• For a different take (or use them both!), here are BetterTeam’s five must-ask Volunteer Interview Questions.
• These insightful General Interview Questions from the Society for Human Resource Management can lead to a closer-to-360 understanding of your candidates.
• If you’d like more choice, here are 25 Volunteer Interview Questions from MockQuestions, with multiple sample answers provided.
• Galaxy Digital’s guide to the Volunteer Interview Process walks first-time interviewers through the process, while providing plenty of insight and suggestions for seasoned volunteer-engagement interviewers. 
• Still nervous about interviewing prospective volunteers?  Ohio State University Extension’s Guide to Conducting Volunteer Interviews provides a step-by-step look at the process.

Volunteer Screening

• You’ve gotten the application, you’ve conducted the interview--now it’s time for the screening.  For a basic walk-through of a thoughtful screening process, refer to Volunteerhub’s Guide to Volunteer Screening Best Practices
• Screening doesn’t stop with the application.  Read the Best Practice Guidelines for Screening Volunteers from Public Safety Canada.
• Refer to Verified Volunteers’ 2018 Volunteer Screening Trends and Best Practices Report 2018 to ensure your organization is up-to-date on meeting its volunteer recruitment goals and challenges.
• Finding the right volunteers for your organization starts with asking applicants the right questions.  Check out the helpful Screening and Retention Tips from VolunteerPro for a guide to developing useful interview methods.
• For a short and sweet breakdown of volunteer screening best practices, check out West Bend Insurance’s Volunteer Screening Best Practices.
• If you’re looking for a template to follow, refer to Sterling Volunteers’ Volunteer Background Check Policy.
• No one wants to discover negative information, but sometimes it happens.  Read about how to handle it in West Bend Insurance’s risk management guide in  How to Handle Discovery of Charges/Convictions, and consider dispensing with the conviction question altogether after reading about the Ban The Box campaign.
• Before investing in your program with a background check provider, read NonprofitRisk’s article about risks associated with free/cheap background check resources.
• Points of Light reports on the top three volunteer screening trends as of 2018.
• Check out Volunteermatch’s eight common background checks for volunteers in a guest blog post from Verified Volunteers,
• Some volunteer-management software integrates with background-screening software.  Popular VMS and background-screen combinations include the following:
  • Galaxy Digital Suite integrates with background-screening organization Verified Volunteers (now Sterling Volunteers),
  • Volgistics integrates with background-screening organization Verified First.
  • Samaritan Technologies integrates with Universal Background Screening.

Onboarding

• What is the significance of a volunteer onboarding process?  What does it aid?  Wild Apricot explains in 4 Reasons You Need An Onboarding Process.
• ProInspire’s founder and CEO, Monisha Kapila, explains why Onboarding is More Than Orientation in this valuable blog post.
• Arguably the most important point in volunteer retention, the importance of orienting volunteers is examined in Tobi Johnson’s Volunteer Onboarding Process.
• Get started by taking a look at these sample volunteer handbooks--these handbooks are offered for reference only, are the property of their individual organizations, and should not be copied in whole or in part.
  • Any good volunteer program needs a reliable, thorough, and easy-to-navigate volunteer handbook.  Refer to Tobi Johnson’s Volunteer Handbook Sample blog post for an example.
  • If you are looking for inspiration, here is a guide to compiling a volunteer handbook, compiled by TrackItForward.
  • Nonprofit Risk’s article on What to Include (and Not to Include) in Your Nonprofit Employee Handbook, although it is written with paid staff in mind, contains lots of excellent principles for handbooks for volunteers as well.
  • For some examples of great volunteer handbooks, please refer to the National Wildlife Federation Volunteer Handbook, the Mainstream Nonprofit Solutions sample Volunteer Handbooks for Nonprofit Organizations, the American Red Cross Volunteer Handbook, and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park Volunteer Handbook.  
• All about volunteer agreements--specific organizations’ agreements are offered for reference only, are the property of their individual organizations, and should not be copied in whole or in part.
  • Keep your organization and your volunteers safe using Nolo’s blog post addressing how to draft a volunteer agreement.
  • Make your dream work conditions clear and easy to achieve using one of these 10 Free Volunteer Agreement Templates from TrackItForward.
  • Use NH.gov’s example Volunteer Agreement to make the volunteer relationship crystal-clear among all parties.
  • Bilingual volunteer onboarding materials can be invaluable.  This sample volunteer agreement from San Mateo County, CA Parks Volunteer Agreement is available in English and Spanish.
• Code of conduct are as important as volunteer agreements to a successful volunteer program.  We’ve compiled a number of samples for you to browse.  These codes are offered for reference only, are the property of their individual organizations, and should not be copied in whole or in part.
  • Habitat for Humanity Code of Conduct
  • UCBerkeley Code of Conduct in Working With Minors
  • NonprofitRisk.org Sample Code of Conduct
  • VolunteerNow Trustee Code of Conduct
  • California Association of Museums’ Code of Conduct
  • Don’t forget social media!  Check out the Seashore Trolley Museum’s Social Media Code of Conduct for Volunteers and Employees

Training

• Particularly helpful during COVID, Points of Light walks you through the step-by-step process of developing, training, and retaining virtual volunteers in Starting a Virtual Volunteer Program.
• In this age of increasingly-common remote work, make the move to online volunteer training seamless with VolunteerPro’s article Training Volunteers Online: How Your Nonprofit Can Keep Your Volunteers Up To Speed.
• Looking for an efficient online training program?  Try Democracy Labs’ Five Free Online Training Programs or Adam Enfroy’s 17 Best Online Course Platforms
• Want to develop your own training program?  LearnDash has some tips on creating your own volunteer-training courses.
• While you want to develop a training program unique to your organization’s needs, values, and desired impact, some types of training are mandatory.  See these references for guidance, and be sure to check employment law in your state and industry.
  • From OpenSesame, State-Specific Sexual Harassment Training Requirements 2021 
  • From Inspired eLearning, State-By-State Sexual Harassment Training Requirements 
  • From the Society for Human Resource Management, What Training Must Employers Provide Employees?

Cultivation & Stewardship

Problem-Solving

• Problem solving is an important part of risk management.  Find out how to handle some common issues with Optimy’s 5 Biggest Challenges to Corporate Volunteering.
• Read Top Nonprofits’ 5 Fatal Volunteer Management Mistakes to avoid making them yourself.
• Having a problem-solving policy already in place makes an enormous difference in a crisis.  Surrey Wildlife Trust’s Problem Solving Procedures provides a useful template, or refer to the Bruce Trail Conservancy’s Dealing With Difficult Volunteers.
• We’re all here to serve the mission, but that doesn’t mean a conflict-free existence, even among like minds.  In case of the inevitable, check out the University of California Agricultural and Natural Resources’ Volunteer Conflict Resolution Manual for suggestions as to how to address conflict in your organization.

Ethical Decision-Making

• Use the Center for Ethical Practice’s Ethical Decision-Making Model to help guide you in difficult management situations.
• Refer to the Ethics and Compliance Initiative’s free Ethics and Compliance Toolkit for practical basics, and their Ethical Decision-Making Model for step-by-step assistance in specific situations.
• Pro Bono Australia explores the necessity for ethical decision-making in volunteer engagement in Ethics in Volunteer Leadership: Hidden in Plain Sight.
• Tobi Johnson’s  Volunteer Ethics and Risk Management explores the ethics involved in working with volunteers during a pandemic.
• Explore how ethics guide the work you do with VolunteerMatch’s slideshow, What’s Ethics Got to Do With This?

Retention, recognition, and appreciation

• Volunteer Appreciation Week is the third week of April (and the month of April is National Volunteer Appreciation Month).  Read President Biden’s proclamation for Volunteer Week 2021, and check out these great ideas from DonorBox for celebrating National Volunteer Week (and Month!) with your team.
• VolunteerHub brings us two articles on effective volunteer retention: Increase Volunteer Retention with Rewards and Recognition, and 4 Tips for Volunteer Retention.
• Volgistics brings us more ideas with Best Ways to Reward Volunteers.
• Read this VolunteerMatch article for a list of great suggestions to recognize your volunteers’ contributions and show your appreciation!  7 Reward Systems for Recognizing Volunteers.
• Keep your volunteers engaged!  United Way offers a comprehensive practical guide, full of resources for further reading, in its 501 Commons Guide to Volunteer Management Best Practices.
• Recruiting is only half the battle--retention ensures a successful program with continuity and stability.  Read the Urban Institute’s Volunteer Management Retention Best Practices report for some common-sense tips on retention.
• Relationships between paid staff and volunteers seem like they would be a natural fit, but there can be tension.  Read Energize’s Satisfy Staff First, an article analyzing the complexities of the relationship between volunteer and paid employees.
• High volunteer turnover is not inevitable!  Read the Energ!ze article discussing volunteer programs, assumptions about turnover and why it’s preventable.
• Read ALIVE’s Strategic Volunteer Engagement (2009), a comprehensive guide to volunteer engagement.
• CallHub offers these 5 tips for your nonprofit’s volunteer engagement strategies. 
• The Pennsylvania Department of Aging’s Volunteer Engagement Toolkit provides templates, recruitment tips, onboarding advice, resourcing/supervision recommendations, evaluation suggestions, and partnership development opportunities.
• Virginia Service offers reports on three hot topics: the surge of skills-based and pro bono volunteering, the onset of self-directed teams, and calculation of the true return on volunteer investment in Volunteer Engagement Today

Risk Management

• Risk management is an important part of any volunteer program. Nonprofit Risk Management Center is here to help.
• Volunteer liability waivers protect your organization from liability in the event of an accident involving any of your volunteers.  Visit this page from Galaxy Digital to learn more and research some templates.
• For an interesting case study in ethics, ready the AMA Journal of Ethics article Good Samaritan Statute--Are Medical Volunteers Protected?
• This Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) Volunteer Protection Acts and Good Samaritan Laws Fact Sheet | State Public Health is an invaluable quick resource.
• Nonprofit Risk addresses the question of liability for Board members with the article Our board members can be indemnified and since they are volunteers they are covered by charitable immunity. Do we need Directors and Officers' Liability Insurance?

Evaluation

• Once you have recruited and trained your volunteers, how do you track their successes?  Refer to VQ Volunteer Strategies’ Volunteer Performance Evaluations for some failsafe ways to provide feedback.  A great source for templates!
• More sample volunteer evaluation forms from SampleForms.com.
• Volunteer Hub offers some tips regarding evaluating your volunteer program.
• What standards do you use to evaluate your volunteer program?  Tobi Johnson suggests 3 Volunteer Program Metrics to aid you, while WholeWhale walks you step-by-step through measuring volunteer impact.
• Read this article from VolunteerPro to determine how you will measure volunteer impact.
• Looking for concrete metrics?  International Journal of Volunteer Administration (IJOVA) brings you seven arenas of measurement in volunteer administration, and Salesforce walks you through the experience of measuring volunteer impact
• 6 Freebies to Track, Report, & Improve Volunteer Impact from VolPro, an overview of management tools/platforms and links to resources

Termination & Offboarding

• This Associations Now article makes an excellent case for the importance of offboarding both paid staff and volunteers.
• You know that a good onboarding process is critical to maintaining the health of your volunteer corps, but why does offboarding matter?  Read this article from Jungo HR to  find out.
• Offboarding is a natural part of the volunteer lifecycle and should be managed  with as much thoughtfulness as your onboarding process.  The EU Manual of Volunteerism, an excellent overall guide to managing volunteers, includes a comprehensive section on offboarding, beginning on page 52.
• This article from 4Imprint offers useful tips for offboarding and succession planning for your departing Board members.
• A good volunteer-termination letter can make all the difference in the involuntary termination process.  Read this article from GreatSampleResume for a good example.
• This post from BambooHR, although focused on paid-staff offloading, provides a useful checklist for all terminations--paid staff or volunteer, voluntary or involuntary.
• Make sure you are covering all the bases with the HR Resource Center’s Offboarding Checklist and Downloadable Template