Michele Wiesner is the Director of Capacity Building at Hire Heroes USA, a national nonprofit empowering U.S. military members, veterans and spouses to succeed in the civilian workforce. Her work focuses on supporting service delivery through partners and stakeholders to increase organizational reach, effectiveness and efficiency.

Inviting America's 1.5 Million Nonprofits to Join the Movement in Our Nation's Recovery from COVID-19

OAKLAND, Calif., February 17, 2021 – VolunteerMatch, the largest nonprofit network on the web connecting volunteers with opportunities to give back, today announced a gift of free membership for a year to nonprofits with operating budgets of less than $1 million.

What should volunteer engagement look like as we move forward with the next phase of COVID-19 response? While things are opening back up, we are not just returning to life as it was before March.

What should we consider before inviting volunteers to return, and how can we ensure that we’re doing our best to protect our volunteers, our clients, and others in our organization?

Guest post by Meridian Swift. This post originally appeared on volunteerplaintalk. 

Everywhere you look, you see volunteer recruitment ads that begin with “Energetic Volunteer Wanted.” Or “Caring volunteer.” Or even “Friendly volunteer.” Maybe “Enthusiastic,” “Flexible,” or “Compassionate” appears. But does “Detail-Oriented” really float your boat? Does “Organized volunteer” send you running in to help sort an organization out of their accounting mess?

The point is, how can a volunteer be enthusiastic about a role they haven’t yet undertaken? And what does flexible indicate? That a volunteer will be called at 3 am? Or that they have to drive 50 miles just to participate?

Many aspects of traditional nonprofits, such as collecting donations, raising awareness and planning campaigns, have moved online.

It’s trickier than you think to describe impact – and that’s good.

Every time I offer a volunteer impact measures training, I’m struck by some new takeaway that helps me better explain how to master this complex-but-valuable process.

Regardless of the size of your volunteer engagement program, you need to be in touch regularly with your volunteers to ensure your organization's goals are being met. While most volunteer managers use emails, phone calls and social media to stay in touch with their volunteers, texting may actually be the most effective communication tool. In fact, text message open rates are significantly higher than email open rates.

Want to increase volunteer retention? Here’s how to do it and enjoy the process.

It’s start the New Year by taking a show of hands. How many of you subscribe to this belief?:

While traditional methods of volunteer recruitment and fundraising remain effective, technology has allowed nonprofits to innovate new ways to attract supporters to their cause. Organizations have expanded on their previous efforts by adopting new strategies, and social media is no exception.

With nearly 3 billion social media users across the globe, social good organizations are increasingly adopting a more digitized approach towards social activism and engaging their volunteers.