1. Pre-Recruitment Planning
☐ Gather a "Recruitment Team" from among your existing volunteers (or Board)
☐ Identify volunteer needs:
- Define specific volunteer assignments*
- Determine how many volunteers you’ll need for each job/assignment and whether you need additional team leaders or supervisors
☐ Create volunteer position descriptions*
☐ Create or Update Recruitment Tools*
2. Targeting Potential Volunteers
☐ Start With Existing Volunteers:
- Identify previous volunteers to contact.
- Review list of individuals who have offered to volunteer.
☐ Recruit Within Your "Circle of Influence:"
Have each recruiter create a list of potential contacts, including:
- Friends
- Family
- Co-workers
- Neighbors
- Community members (at church; clubs; sporting teams, etc.)
☐ Broaden Your Circle:
Once you exhaust the family and friends list, you might need to widen your search by:
- Writing a newsletter article or a post on your organization's blog or forum
- Posting a video or photos of last year's even on your Facebook page and ask for new recruits
- Putting an ad in your community newspaper
- Posting a request through your municipal or state/province volunteer center
- Posting a request at a local high school, or college student volunteer center
- Signing up with one of the volunteer matching sites*
☐ Target Specific Skills or Needs:
If you need volunteers with specific skills or experience, consider talking to:
- Local small businesses RE: pro bono services
- Individuals who have volunteered at similar events in your community (e.g. an auctioneer; member of a service club, etc.)
- Local companies that might be willing to organize their employees to assist with your event as a corporate initiative
3. Screening and Confirming A Commitment
☐ Screen each potential volunteer:
- Create short-lists of volunteers in each job category
- Develop screen process and documentation*
- Interview each volunteer applicant and capture information from all interviews*
☐ Determine appropriate roles for each volunteer
☐ Contact each volunteer to inform them of their role
4. Follow-Up and Orientation
Effective follow-up communication and orientation can impact both an event’s success and the volunteering experience. So be sure to:
☐ Send volunteer confirmation:
Send an email or letter with all of the pertinent details of their commitment.*
☐ Conduct volunteer orientation(s):
While orientation sessions will differ depending on the volunteer job tasks, you should provide training or orientation sessions for each group of volunteers.*
* See Getting Started with Volunteer Recruitment for details and more resources.