Volunteer Management Practices and Retention"

“We conducted telephone interviews with volunteer administrators or executive managers in most of these charities, asking them about their volunteer activities and management practices, and the challenges and benefits that volunteers bring to their operations. We learned that four out of five charities use volunteers in their activities, either in service to others or in helping to run the organization.” This is very important in terms of retention when recruiting for any organization. When you recruit the hardest part is to keep the volunteers interested and active. In order to do this you must find a balance in how much work you delegate to each volunteer. The hard part about this you can’t give the volunteer to less to do or there will become disinterested in the organization because they will not be pushed enough to care about it. On the other hand if you were to give the volunteer to much work, they may become overwhelmed and get out of the organization as soon as possible. Overall this reading was about the retention of volunteers. It displayed many case studies and examples to how volunteers can or should be used. “Charities that use volunteers to recruit other volunteers have higher retention rates. Having volunteers represent the charity implies trust, evidence of a positive organizational culture, and confidence that the charity provides a worthwhile experience for volunteers.” This is another great point made by this article. It makes sense to have your most engaging volunteers to recruit more volunteers. When potential members or volunteers see current volunteers really happy and excited about something it makes sense that they are more likely to join. I believe the Sandspur can use these tips to gain more retention. With higher retention of volunteers, there will be more regular writers so that it is a competition to be on the Sandspur.