Michele Canning

1
How the Internet Has Changed Volunteering An
Insiders Guide to Recruiting a New Generation of
Volunteers
Michele Canning Director of Volunteer
Services San Francisco, Conservatory of Flowers
September 22, 2005
2
Who are they?
Serena Pahal Volunteer I Have a Dream
3
What are they interested in?
Deirdre Araujo Manager of Volunteer
Services Exploratorium
4
What is so different?
Jeff Jones Program Coordinator MicroMentor
5
So What?
Bryan Connell Volunteer OUTDOOR Exploratorium
Project
6
User Research Study

• December 2003
• 996 random interviews selected from VMs 30,000
  nonprofit user base1
• 1,122 random interviews with active users sampled
  from VMs 1.5 million annual visitors2
• Published in the Journal of Volunteer
  Administration, Volume 22, Number 3, 2004

12 Based on 2003 Numbers
7
Profile

• Overwhelmingly female (84 women, 16 men)
• Highly educated (57 have at least a college
  degree), and of the 39 who do not have a degree,
  half are under age 18
• Young (50 are under age 30, 32 are 40
• Diverse (58 are Caucasian, 11 are African
  American, 10 are Hispanic)

8
What they care about?
Compared to other things you do in your life, how
important to you is your volunteer work?
One of the most important things in my life
Not very important
Somewhat important
Very important
9
How often do they volunteer?
How many hours per visit do you volunteer?
How often do you volunteer?
Three or four hours
One or two hours
Once a week or more
Three times a year or less
One to three times a month
Four to 11 times a year
Five or more hours
Under an hour
10
First-time volunteers
I had not volunteered before
I had volunteered before
11
What are they most interested in?
Children/youth Animals Homeless/housing Education/
literacy Advocacy/human rights Community Arts/cult
ure Hunger Environment Women Health/medicine Crisi
s support Seniors
12
What are their challenges?
Finding volunteer opportunities that match my
schedule Getting specific information about
volunteer opportunities Finding volunteer
opportunities that interested me Finding
opportunities nearby/ convenient to get
to Finding opportunities that matched my
skills/abilities Finding an organization with a
cause I care about Finding an organization that
needed help Finding an organization
responsive/easy to work with
13
Volunteers Using the Web to Connect
Monthly Visitors
50,000,000 page views in 2004
14
Nonprofits Using the Web to Connect
Most useful nonprofit volunteer recruiting
strategies
Word of mouth Our Web site Internet recruiting
services Live presentations to groups Events Newsp
aper ads Local volunteer center Relationship with
local corporations Direct mail Radio/TV ads
71 45 37 33 29 29 17 15 8 8
15
Finding the right place to serve
How many volunteer opportunities do you generally
respond to before finding the right place to
volunteer?
Two or three
Four to six
One
Seven or more
16
From referral to volunteer
On average, what proportion of the people who
respond are you able to engage as volunteers?
None ofthe people
50 to 100 of the people
1 to 9 of the people
20 to 49 of the people
10 to 19 of the people
17
Impact on Nonprofits
Strongly agree with statement
Somewhat agree with statement
Has helped us reach out/ recruit volunteers we
wouldnt have found Makes it easier for us to
find the right volunteers Has helped us find the
volunteers we need Has allowed us to free up
valuable resources
85
85
79
68
18
Impact on volunteers
Strongly agree with statement
Somewhat agree with statement
86
Makes it easier for me to find the right
opportunity I am more likely to find satisfying
volunteer relationship I am more likely to
volunteer
50
82
40
79
41
19
Common Online Recruiting Mistakes

• Putting the sign in the garage
• Forgetting volunteers have choices
• Not being specific enough
• Mistaking a referral for a reservation
• Not being ready to say, No Thank You.
• Letting listings rot

20
An Insiders Guide

• Use the web to build relationships, not dump
  information
• Give volunteers a chance to help the organization
  do what it does, not what the staff would rather
  not
• Dont feel obliged to take volunteers
• Think big and re-shape your opportunities
  accordingly
• Be choosey
• It is your responsibility to lead

21
Real World Examples

• Think outside the box about what volunteers will
  do
• Tech support, focus groups, web development
• See the big picture, scale matters
• Working with groups, national recruiting,
  automate
• Distribute responsibility by breaking down big
  activities into manageable parts
• Open source model, media volunteers

22
Final Observations

• The web has quickly become a powerful tool
  bringing good people and good causes together
• Choice and information are shaping a new
  generation of volunteers
• Volunteers have higher expectations of their
  volunteer experiences
• The growing supply of volunteers is allowing
  nonprofits to be more particular
• Meaningful volunteer experiences require strong
  nonprofit leadership

23
Thank You
Serena Pahal Volunteer I Have a Dream