Hello world!
Posted by Greg the explorer on September 10, 2006
Welcome to The Volunteer Manager blog – this is the very first post so don’t get too excited!
I have started this blog becuase I wanted to add to the resources such as e groups that are currently available to Volunteer Managers. I wanted to engage in discussion and debate around issues of importance to us a a group of professionals and have found that blogging is quite a useful way of doing that.
I will be posting issues for discussion, presenting some of my own ideas as well as providing access from one convenient location to a host of other resources as well. it will take some time to build and develop this blog and I hope you enjoy the trip with me
Karin Zirk said
This is so needed. As someone trying to recruit and retain volunteers, I feel like I’m failing at both. One of the discussions we have among our core group is that the people already motivated are working with another group. So how do I get people in my community who don’t already care about watershed issues to get excited enough to participate.
Greg the explorer said
Karin that is a really good question. Without knowing where you are based or your target group or who your volunteers would be providing service to it is difficult to offer any specific advice.
One of the things that has helped me in the past is to tailor the same role several different ways to appeal to a variety of potential volunteer source groups; for example looking for ways to present a role that appeals to men as well as younger people. For men you could look for ways that the job helped them become more active or maintain activity and create ‘mateships’. For young people you could present the role as a series fo short term projects that they could embark upon with their friends.
There are lots of ways to create interest in volunteer roles among people who for the most part seem dis-interested. If you wanted to post some specifics we cold work through those on the blog if you like.
Greg
BTW – sorry for the delay in responding – have recently changed roles and haven’t been checking the blog much