2019 Leadership conferences

Volunteering session: Barriers to growing your volunteer offer -TPT Volunteering Team

Many charities have an objective to grow their volunteer numbers and offer, but often organisations struggle to do this effectively due to one reason or another. Thomas Pocklington Trust recently asked attendees of the Visionary Leadership Conferences to tell us what was preventing them from being able to grow their numbers and offer. The tables below outline the barriers you’re experiencing, along with some potential solutions and ideas to help. The list of barriers are as follows:

1. “Lack of resources (staffing)”..............................................................................................................2

2. “We struggle to recruit enough volunteers”......................................................................................................53. “Too much competition”.................................................................................................................................134. “We don’t have enough time to do this well”..................................................................................................165. “We cover too large an area”.........................................................................................................................20

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6. “We don’t have the right opportunities for volunteers”...................................................................................23

1. “Lack of resources (staffing)”Tip: Having someone dedicated to volunteering within your organisation will bring you most success. As will investing in the learning and development of everyone expected to work with and manage volunteers.

Potential solution About More info / Useful LinksFind out what the root cause of this is, by holding a focus group with staff. Is the problem down to:- People?- Systems/Tools/Technology?- Process?

Ask yourself if you genuinely lack resources to make this happen, or is it more about the resource you currently have not having the skills or willingness to do what you need them to do?

Writing volunteer management into everyone’s Job Description can prevent staff from shying away responsibilities around volunteer management and support.

Root Cause Analysis – tools to help you

Source: Mindtools

Build a business case for more staff

If you genuinely feel that your volunteering offer is under-resourced, then start gathering evidence to build a business case for more information.

The under-resourcing could be around improving your systems and technology though, hence why really thinking about

From the Top Down – a book for Executives and their role in Volunteer Involvement.

Source: Energize Inc

NCVO Measuring Impact –support pages on the NCVO

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Potential solution About More info / Useful Linkswhat the root cause is, helps.

Being able to evidence the impact and value that volunteers have on your organisation can support any business case for more resource.

website around impact and evaluation.Source: NCVO

Viva Tool – VIVA has been tried and tested by many organisations across the public, private and voluntary and community sectors to demonstrate the value of volunteering.

Source: ScribdFunding bids to secure more resource

Where unrestricted funding is not available, you could apply for external funding to grow and develop your offer.

Tip: You could try sourcing a volunteer with expertise in fundraising and/or bid writing to support your bids, proof reading over them etc.

Gov.uk funding pages

NCVO Funding pagesFunding Central

Share resources with others This could include sharing volunteers, back office staff, resources etc.

It’s important to have a clear agreement in place when going down this route, via a

Joint Working Agreements – advice from NCVO around drawing up joint working agreements with others.

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Potential solution About More info / Useful LinksMemorandum of Understanding. An MoU is designed to clarify expectations and the working relationships between key parties involved.

Source: NCVO

Memorandum of Understanding – If you would like to see an example MoU please email: volunteering@pocklington-trust.org.uk.

Corporate volunteers – how could they help?

The majority of companies these days have CSR policies and allow their staff time off to volunteer.

Working with companies gives you access to large pools of potential volunteers in one go. They can often provide opportunities for recruitment and training within their head office and regional offices.

TPT example with BAML

TPT example with Standard Chartered Bank #1

TPT example with Standard Chartered Bank #2

Source: TPT website

Example Corporate Offer from Barnardos

Source: Barnardos’ website

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2. “We struggle to recruit enough volunteers”Potential solution About More info

Find out what the root cause of this is, by holding a focus group with staff and volunteers.

Is the problem down to:- People?- Systems/Tools/Technology?- Process?

This is about finding out the real reasons you’re struggling to recruit, which could include finding out why volunteers:- aren’t being reached – are you

marketing your roles in the right places?- aren’t attracted to your organisation or

roles – could you have a low profile or are your roles too big, or not exciting enough?

- aren’t converting to active volunteers following their initial enquiry – is your process too clunky or off-putting?and/or

- aren’t staying with you for very long – is it the role? Or your culture? Or the way volunteers are being treated?

Root Cause Analysis – tools to help you

Source: Mindtools

More effective targeting Ask yourself… Are you looking in the right places?

Make sure you develop a Volunteer Profile to go alongside your Role Descriptions/Profiles. Think about the types of people your roles will attract / meet the motivations of and then ensure you’re going

Top Tips for Recruiting Volunteers (from Volunteering Matters)

Source: Volunteering Matters

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Potential solution About More info

out and targeting those types of people in the places they can be found.

Don’t sit back and hope that those people will find you / come looking for you. You need to go and find / go looking for them!

Ensure your marketing is fit for purpose

This could be anything from the language or imagery you’re using, the way you’re asking for support, as well as the channels you’re marketing through which could be the issue.

Asking for feedback from existing volunteers via a focus group or survey could help with this.

Tip: Could you work with your local college or university, targeting marketing students and get them to do a project around this?

Top Tips for Marketing to Volunteers (from Volunteering Matters)

Source: Volunteering Matters

Better appeal to volunteers’ motivations

Too often, we think about what we as organisations need to get out of volunteers, but how often do we sit down and think about what volunteers might be wanting to get out of volunteering? Often switching the focus in adverts from being about what the organisation needs, to what the

Barriers and Motivations to Volunteering (from NCVO)

Source: NCVO

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Potential solution About More info

volunteer will get, can help to attract new audiences.

Tip: Make sure your Role Descriptions clearly state what a volunteer will get from the role – the skills they will learn, any training they will receive, the opportunities for progression, or social activities etc.

Break larger, more complex and demanding roles into smaller, more manageable roles.

Are your opportunities attractive enough?

If there is a particular role(s) you struggle to recruit for, it may be worth reviewing it/them and seeing if you could break the one larger role down into one or two smaller roles to make it more manageable. You should also conduct a Volunteer Profile for that role to ensure you’re targeting the right people with the right skills and motivations to carry out that role.

Tip: Always seek to get feedback from your volunteers on the role(s) they’re carrying out and be prepared to act upon that feedback

Rob Jackson: Three tips for developing meaningful volunteer roles

Source: Third Sector magazine

Build your brand / organisational profile in the communities you’re

People often volunteer with charities or causes close to their heart. If you are not a

‘5 Big Brand Tips for Small Charities’

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Potential solution About More info

trying to target well-known charity, it can serve you well to undergo some brand / profile building in the local areas you serve, in order to raise awareness of who you are and what you do.

Invite potential volunteers to an open day, or summer fete – to come and ‘meet the team’ and find out more about your work. The local press can be a good way of raising awareness locally.

Tip: Think about how you might incorporate a ‘try before you buy’ experience around some of your volunteer roles at one of the above events.

Source: Brand By Me

Recommend a friend ‘Word of mouth’ is one of the most effective ways for organisations to recruit volunteers. Specifically asking existing volunteers to refer their friends is one way of facilitating this to happen.

Encouraging existing volunteers to share their stories – through case studies, social media etc. is another.

Blog on the Energize website which talks about word of mouth recruitment by volunteers

Source: Energize

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Potential solution About More info

Tip: When volunteers make the decision to move on from a role, involve them in finding their replacement, especially for key roles such as direct service delivery, trustees etc.

Offer opportunities for Family Volunteering

Rather than have your volunteering opportunities make volunteers choose between spending time volunteering over time with their family, offering opportunities for the whole family to volunteer or people to volunteer in groups, can help to give volunteers the best of both worlds.

It can also help you to open up your opportunities to new audiences. For example, if you mainly attract a certain demographic of volunteer, offering an event or opportunity where those volunteers can bring along their children or grandchildren, can help you to reach out to much younger audiences than usual.

4 Ways to Encourage Family Volunteerism (from Volunteer Hub)

Source: Volunteer Hub

Share volunteers with other like-minded charities

It’s important to have a clear agreement in place when going down this route, via a Memorandum of Understanding. An MoU is designed to clarify expectations and the working relationships between key parties involved.

Joint Working Agreements – advice from NCVO around drawing up joint working agreements with others.

Source: NCVO

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Potential solution About More info

Memorandum of Understanding – If you would like to see an example MoU please email: volunteering@pocklington-trust.org.uk.

Get the help of Volunteer Recruiters

To help with your outreach, you could recruit Volunteer Recruiters to support your recruitment.

Volunteer Recruiters can improve your profile in the local communities where they live, going out and giving talks etc. about what it’s like to be a volunteer with you.

Example Volunteer Recruiter Role Description (from Alzheimer’s Society)

Source: Alzheimer’s Society

Corporate Volunteers – could they help?

The majority of companies these days have CSR policies and allow their staff time off to volunteer.

Working with companies gives you access to large pools of potential volunteers in one go. They can often provide opportunities for recruitment and training within their head office and regional offices.

Corporate Volunteering Network – details of a sector network for charities wanting to develop their work with corporates.

Source: Linked In

Think about where else there are masses of potential volunteers in

Students are encouraged to volunteer during their time at university and some

Tips on Recruiting Student Volunteers (from The

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Potential solution About More info

one place – universities/schools etc.

roles and opportunities can even support their studies.

Tip: Targeting specific courses that relate to the work of your organisation (such as health and social care) can provide some quick wins when it comes to working with universities etc.

Guardian)

Source: The Guardian

Ask for feedback from existing volunteers

Have you ever asked for feedback from your existing volunteers as to what it was like to go through the recruitment process at your organisation? Or to get feedback on your roles and opportunities? Doing so can be really insightful as to what some of the put offs might be for when trying to attract new volunteers.

Tip: When you come across a great volunteer, ask them where you could find other people like them (with the same skills, interests and attitudes) to volunteer!

Focus Groups (from Know How / NCVO)

Source: NCVO

Look for process improvements Do you make it easy for people to volunteer?

Improving the Flow of a Volunteer Recruitment Process

Source: Flutterbye

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Potential solution About More info

Three Tips for Attracting New Volunteers (from Rob Jackson Consulting)

Source: Third Sector magazine

Recruit via a broker Broker websites and organisations are a good way of promoting your opportunities to wider audiences that you would reach on your own.

Volunteer Centre finder

Do-it.org

Reach Volunteering – Connecting people, skills and good causes.

Media Trust – if you specifically want media and/or creative volunteers

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3. “Too much competition”Potential solution About More infoIdentify who your competitors are If you haven’t already, it’s vital to spend

time thinking about and mapping out who your competitors are and what they do. This will help you to think about what your USP is (below) as well as identify areas for collaboration and learning from them.

Volunteers Count enables you to benchmark yourself against other organisations of similar size, type, industry etc.

Source: Agenda ConsultingIs your USP clear/compelling? In order to stand out from your competition,

it’s important to think about what you have that your competitors don’t - what’s unique to you. In volunteering terms, this could around:- a particular service volunteers can support- or a particular volunteering role(s) you offer that your competitors don’t- social activities for volunteers- progression opportunities for volunteers- reward and recognition opportunities for volunteers- the local of your office/activities- the training you offer to volunteers and so forth

By focusing on these unique selling points

Small charities need to communicate key messages to survive in a competitive market

Source: Mission Box

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Potential solution About More infoin your communications and marketing, you will stand out and give people a reason to volunteer for you and not others.

How can you work with your competitors?

It makes sense for all organisations who have similar visions, missions and objectives to collaborate and work together in some way. But so often we don’t. Instead we choose to compete, which if we were truly passionate about the customers we were serving, this would make no sense at all.

Positive working relationships with similar, like-minded organisations can result in more service users benefiting from what we all offer collectively, which is only a good thing for them!

By collaborating we can share: resources, documents, processes, people, ideas, expertise and productivity.

Collaboration for a Stronger Volunteer Sector

Source: Flutterbye

Build your brand / organisational profile in the communities you’re trying to target

People often volunteer with charities or causes close to their heart. If you are not a well known charity, it can serve you well to undergo some brand / profile building in the local areas you serve, in order to raise

‘5 Big Brand Tips for Small Charities’

Source: Brand By Me

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Potential solution About More infoawareness of who you are and what you do.

Invite potential volunteers to an open day, or summer fete – to come and ‘meet the team’ and find out more about your work. The local press can be a good way of raising awareness locally.

Tip: Think about how you might incorporate a ‘try before you buy’ experience around some of your volunteer roles at one of the above events.

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4. “We don’t have enough time to do this well”Potential solution About More infoFind out what the root cause of this is, by holding a focus group with staff. Is the problem down to:- People?- Systems/Tools/Technology?- Process?

People not having enough time to spend on volunteers could be down to lots of things such as: - Lack of expertise or interest to do the

tasks that need doing right/well- Time being spent on the wrong things

within staff’s day to day jobs- Clunky processes and systems making

things take a lot longer than normal- A genuine lack of people power to get

everything done

But before reacting, it’s important to explore what the real issue is.

Root Cause Analysis – tools to help you

Source: Mindtools

Build a business case for more staff

If you genuinely feel that your volunteering offer is under-resourced, then start gathering evidence to build a business case for more information.

The under-resourcing could be around improving your systems and technology though, hence why really thinking about what the root cause is, helps.

From the Top Down – a book for Executives and their role in Volunteer Involvement.

Source: Energize Inc

NCVO Measuring Impact –support pages on the NCVO website around impact and evaluation.

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Potential solution About More infoBeing able to evidence the impact and value that volunteers have on your organisation can support any business case for more resource.

Source: NCVO

Viva Tool – VIVA has been tried and tested by many organisations across the public, private and voluntary and community sectors to demonstrate the value of volunteering.

Source: Scribd

Funding bids to secure more resource

Where unrestricted funding is not available, you could apply for external funding to grow and develop your offer.

Improving your processes and systems can often dramatically save time and reduce waste, so is definitely money well spent and an investment for the future.

Tip: Make sure you include Volunteering costs in all funding bids you write, to contribute towards volunteering process improvement costs, new systems to support

Gov.uk funding pages

NCVO Funding pages

Funding Central

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Potential solution About More infothe volunteering experience, training costs, volunteer expenses and more.

Share resources It’s important to have a clear agreement in place when going down this route, via a Memorandum of Understanding. An MoU is designed to clarify expectations and the working relationships between key parties involved.

Joint Working Agreements – advice from NCVO around drawing up joint working agreements with others.

Source: NCVO

Memorandum of Understanding – If you would like to see an example MoU please email: volunteering@pocklington-trust.org.uk.

Corporate Volunteers – could they help?

The majority of companies these days have CSR policies and allow their staff time off to volunteer.

Working with companies gives you access to large pools of potential volunteers in one go. They can often provide opportunities for recruitment and training within their head office and regional offices.

They also have skilled people with valuable expertise you could be making use of.

Corporate Volunteering Network – details of a sector network for charities wanting to develop their work with corporates.

Source: Linked In

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Potential solution About More infoRecruit Volunteers to Manage Other Volunteers

Managing volunteers effectively, particularly where managers are expected to manage large numbers of volunteers, is often cited as an issue by volunteer managers.

Recruiting volunteers as Volunteer Managers can (a) help to alleviate the burden on paid staff who are expected to manage volunteers and (b) offer progression opportunities for volunteers to take on more responsibility or gain valuable work experience in line management.

Volunteers managing other volunteers - ‘new form’ or return to the roots of voluntary action Nick Ockenden, Joanna Stuart and Matthew Hill

Source: VSSN

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5. “We cover too large an area”Potential solution About More infoFind out what the root cause of this is, by holding a focus group with staff. Is the problem down to:- People

- - Systems/Tools/Technology?- Process?

As with any perceived issue or problem, it’s worth getting to the bottom of the root cause of that issue or problem and not just making assumptions around it.

Is this because you genuinely are trying to cover too large an area for the resources you have available, or is it about the following: - Your systems not working as well as

they should- You not having the right people in the

right locations to make this work- You not having a good reputation in

certain areas- Your processes putting people off

because it doesn’t meet their needs.

Spend time really looking at this.

Root Cause Analysis – tools to help you

Source: Mindtools

Hub and spoke model approach This model first started out in the transportation industry, but is now being adopted by all industries, including service delivery. It basically includes having a centralised

Explanation of the Hub and Spoke Business Model

Source: Brandon Gaille website

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Potential solution About More infohub to deliver services (your key staff involved in volunteering), which have local spokes coming from it (which could be made up of volunteers in key roles such as: Marketing, Recruitment and Volunteer Management) allowing you to reach out to new areas, whilst maintaining an element of control from the centre.

Hint: Guide Dogs My Guide service uses this model to reach more beneficiaries and in areas where they don’t have an office base.

Better use of technology Are you maximising the potential of technology in your delivery or services or in volunteering?

Do you need to think differently about how you can use technology to deliver services and volunteer experiences in areas where you can’t physically have a presence?

Digital Volunteering

Source: CareerVillage.org

How charities must transform for the digital age by Zoe Amar

Source: The GuardianPrioritise areas Very few service deliverers want to make it

a postcode lottery for people wanting to access a service. But sometimes it is better to target specific areas and prioritise areas where you can offer a good, efficient

Service delivery in rural areas

Source: OECD

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Potential solution About More infoservice well than try and spread yourselves too thinly. Having a scatter gun approach to service delivery can leave you exhausted and under-resourced.

Think about the alternatives to face to face service delivery in areas you struggle to have a meaningful and useful presence in.

Partnership working This is about working with other organisations that can help you to offer support in any areas you don’t have a base, through either collaborating to offer services jointly, or simply signposting service users to the other organisation.

This could also be about sharing volunteers (etc.) with organisations that have a strong volunteering presence in the areas you’re struggling to reach.

Joint Working Agreements – advice from NCVO around drawing up joint working agreements with others.

Source: NCVO

Memorandum of Understanding – If you would like to see an example MoU please email: volunteering@pocklington-trust.org.uk.

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6. Better use of technology

Tip: Involve your volunteers in the creation of new roles and the review of existing roles.

Potential solution About More infoGet to the root cause of the issue This could be due to a number of matters

including: - How the role is being marketed – is it

attractive to potential volunteers? Could you improve the role title and language you use in the adverts/Role Descriptions to make it more engaging?

- Are you asking too much of volunteers? Is the role too big? And could it be broken down into smaller roles?

- Are you targeting the wrong people who can’t meet the requirements of the role? Do you need to do some more specific targeting of the people who would be most attracted to a role like this?

- Is the role itself boring and unengaging? Remember that volunteering needs to be fun!

Root Cause Analysis – tools to help you

Source: Mindtools

5 Whys – A Problem Solving Technique

Source: Revolution Learning and Development

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Potential solution About More infoVolunteer Profiling vs Role profiling

For each Role you create, really think about the types of people that role will attract, considering: - Their demographics- Their employment status- Their location - Their interests - Their motivations for volunteeringUsing this info to create Volunteer Profiles against each role can help you to better target and support those volunteers as you’re thinking about the needs of that particular type of person when you engage with them.

How to Write a Marketing Profile by Nicole Breit

Source: Chron

Break larger, more complex and demanding roles into smaller, more manageable roles.

Are your opportunities attractive enough?

If there are particular roles you struggle to recruit for, it may be worth reviewing it/them and seeing if you could break the one larger role down into one or two smaller roles to make it more manageable. You should also conduct a Volunteer Profile for that role to ensure you’re targeting the right people with the right skills and motivations to carry out that role.

Rob Jackson: Three tips for developing meaningful volunteer roles

Source: Third Sector magazine

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Potential solution About More infoTip: Always seek to get feedback from your volunteers on the role(s) they’re carrying out and be prepared to act upon that feedback

Ask for feedback from existing volunteers

Have you ever asked for feedback from your existing volunteers as to what it was like to go through the recruitment process at your organisation? Or to get feedback on your roles and opportunities? Doing so can be really insightful as to what some of the put offs might be for when trying to attract new volunteers.

Tip: When you come across a great volunteer, ask them where you could find other people like them (with the same skills, interests and attitudes) to volunteer!

Focus Groups (from Know How / NCVO)

Source: NCVO

This document has been created in response to the Visionary Leadership Conferences 2019. The resource is intended for use with Visionary Member Organisations. If you have any questions about the contents or suggestions contained within the document, please contact: volunteering@pocklington-trust.org.uk. We hope you find it useful.

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