‘Be interested in me’ activity

In the next activity you are asked to reflect on your context and how you get to know potential volunteers and they get to know you.

Activity 4

  1. In your learning journal, write down five things you will need to know about a volunteer.
  2. Consider the methods that have been previously outlined and identify how you will find out this information about the potential volunteer.
  3. Write down five things that an individual might need to know about your group or organisation.
  4. Again, using the methods outlined, when and how will the potential volunteer be able to find out this information?

You might want to ask your current volunteers to help with these questions.

Don’t forget to record all this in your learning journal.

Discussion

To ensure new volunteers have a good experience when getting started with their chosen group or organisation, you need to think about making this process as streamlined and as easy as possible. Volunteers are going to be put off by a process that takes too long or has seemingly unnecessary hurdles.

In some cases, getting to know new volunteers will be informal – perhaps a conversation at an event or over a cup of tea. Other situations will require a degree of formality proportionate to the context.

The volunteers for the Kilmaurs Gala Committee said, ‘I went to the meeting and got an idea of what they did’ and ‘I was asked to do things and then I started to suggest things to do’. As a volunteer-led organisation, this level of flexibility seems to work well for all involved, with the volunteers on the committee reflecting on how this informal approach allows them to ‘get to know [the volunteer] and find a role that is suitable for them’.

In this video, Tania at GALE talks about their relatively informal process of getting started and how they support people to go on to other opportunities if what’s on offer is not right for them.

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Transcript: Tania, Volunteer Co-ordinator, GALE. All rights reserved.

Tania
So our procedure to find out about our volunteers is relatively informal. Most either approach us either face-to-face by coming into our center and speaking to staff there or by email or telephone. We often ask them to fill out a registration form but that’s often done over a cup of coffee and quite informally together. And through that we get to know what a volunteer is expecting or wanting from volunteering. And from then on we then go on and have a slightly more formal induction if they want to continue and we can then tailor roles quite easily in our organization to fit each individual. At that recruitment procedure we get to know the volunteer really well and we have sort of key questions and what volunteer is looking for in their volunteering and if we can meet that need. All of our roles are really quite flexible and we can tailor them quite easily but we also work with other organizations so if necessary we can signpost volunteers to another organization if we feel it meets their needs better.
End transcript: Tania, Volunteer Co-ordinator, GALE. All rights reserved.
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‘Be interested in me’ continued

3.2 ‘I want to feel welcomed and encouraged’