How to find volunteers for my NGO?

The desire to set up a non-governmental organization close to your interests has been on your mind for a long time and you have finally decided to realize this goal? If so, you are certainly well aware that you have a long way to go – although the one that undoubtedly provides a sense of fulfillment. To be successful, however, you need the support of team members and volunteers who believe in the same idea. What can you do to attract the best people to your organization? Read on to find out!

How to find volunteers for my NGO? – table of contents:

1. Be specific
2. Focus on a volunteer ad
3. Onboarding
4. Summary

Be specific

As with any job advertisement, people looking for opportunities for development and growth pay attention to the areas in which they would support a particular NGO, and on this basis they make a choice. They want to know right away exactly what they will be involved in, how much commitment these tasks will require of them, and, above all, what they will learn in this way. The opportunity to learn something new is of particular importance for volunteers. They hope to receive some unmeasurable benefits in return for their work, such as the development of soft skills, getting experience or networking opportunities. Therefore, make sure that you include the specifics in your job ad.

Focus on a volunteer ad

Regardless of where you plan to seek help – from family and friends, through social media, at schools or youth organizations – you can be sure that a great deal depends on how you structure your volunteer ad. This type of ad should be written in simple language tailored to the target audience and include:

• what your NGO does,
• why the organization seeks help and to what extent
• what are the goals and results it would like to achieve
• the benefits of the undertaken activities that will arise for the community as a whole or a specific social group
• the benefits that you can gain as a committed volunteer (including experience, hard and soft skills, contact with peers, being a member of the community, networking, etc.)

The volunteer ad is really worth looking into – the success of your recruitment efforts depends on this. After all, it will not always be possible to get help from people you know or with whom you have already worked. When creating an ad, it is therefore worthwhile to use the skills of people who deal with content creation on a daily basis and will be able to structure the ad based on the language of benefits.

Onboarding

There are situations in which NGOs recruit volunteers, only to find out that they have no plans on how to introduce the person to the job. Onboarding is a stage that should definitely be thought through beforehand, because it determines whether a volunteer will feel comfortable in the organization, be motivated and want to stay longer.

For this reason, it is worthwhile to organize training or prepare educational materials for new volunteers. The most important thing, however, is to plan everything in advance – no one likes to wait until they finally get the necessary knowledge and tools to become an effective support for the organization (especially those working for free).

It is also very important to keep in mind the team-building activities that ensure the building of bonds between individuals. For many volunteers, it is crucial to be in an environment where they can not only act for the good of the community, but also establish personal, emotional and professional relationships. For this reason, the integration aspect should also be taken care of as part of onboarding processes.

Summary

Volunteers are undoubtedly the most valuable resource your NGO can acquire. For this reason, it is so important to make every effort to attract people who are ambitious, motivated, willing to help and creative, and above all – who believe in the idea and want to act for the benefit of others without any profit. It should also be remembered that the whole effort does not end with the recruitment processes themselves. It is also important to retain volunteers in the NGO and enjoy the support they provide for a longer period of time.

Recruit volunteers and plan their work more effectively with the help of Firmbee. How to do it? Store a database of all volunteers along with important documents, track recruitment statuses and control the flow of information by giving selected users different levels of authorization. Our project management system is available to NGOs for free. Check out the details.

Read also: Effective ways to run an NGO.

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