Having a strong group of volunteers can be extremely beneficial for your nonprofit’s advocacy campaign. Recruiting a group of passionate volunteers can lead to greater awareness of your nonprofit’s mission and they can inspire more individuals to lend their support to your cause.

Your volunteer program powers your initiatives, fundraisers, and outreach campaigns. Whether they’re professionals providing a skill-based service or members of your community performing routine tasks, volunteers want to work with nonprofits that have organized, impactful volunteer programs. 

Creating change requires a large network of people working together to get the job done. While your employees perform valuable mission-driven work every day, so do your volunteers! 

Your volunteers are a key part of your organization, and they deserve to be appreciated for all their enthusiasm and hard work. Most volunteers devote their time to a nonprofit because they’re motivated by the cause or interested in the organization’s work. To sustain that dedication and motivation, however, they need to feel appreciated.

Guest Contributor: Ira Horowitz

Whether they’re running a clothing drive, planting trees, or cleaning up after a natural disaster, volunteers make it possible for you to reach as many beneficiaries as possible with your mission. After doing the hard work of recruiting your volunteers, your organization should prioritize building relationships and retaining their support for the long term. 

Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. This list offers a few ways to delve deeper into Black history and support a more equitable future.

Every follower on your organization's social media is a potential volunteer—they just might not know it yet. Building and maintaining a social media presence, especially in a small organization, is not without its challenges. That is why we compiled 7 ways to level-up your social media strategy to recruit more volunteers:

Over the last couple of months I’ve been having some interesting conversations about the line between volunteers and paid staff. And, since it’s the start of a new year I thought it might be a good time to brush off those volunteer position descriptions and do a little risk management!

Corporate volunteer programs offer an incredible opportunity for nonprofit organizations to partner with businesses to advance awareness of and raise money for their cause. A nonprofit liaison with a company creates a situation where everyone wins: the nonprofit gets the assistance it needs while the business benefits from building their brand and generating positive impressions throughout the community.

Guest post by Kelly Smith

As a nonprofit leader, you’re probably aware that volunteers are the heart and soul of your organization – it’s their smiles and hard work that move your cause forward. That’s why volunteer motivation is essential. Here are four smart ways to motivate volunteers:

Today I wanted to share a little more about how we can blur the lines between volunteers and donors and create stronger connections with both groups. I know traditionally, many organizations keep these list separate— that Development communicates with donors and that we, as leaders of volunteers, only communicate with volunteers. But, there’s so much to gain on both sides when we think about collaboration!