stalking the elusive volunteer

8/6/2019 Stalking The Elusive Volunteer

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E L U 5 I V E VOL U' N TEE R

-BY NANCY lVlACf)Ufr

ourists flock to transaction for mutual benefit. For the orches-Africa in search ofelusive flora andfauna to capture inthe lens of theircameras. They planfor months: readingabout their prey,visiting the zoo toobserve them incaptivity, learningeverything they canbefore their firstenounter-in short,

mapping the perfect strategy to locate the en-dangered White Rhino. These hardy touristshave embarked on a journey to "find and cap-ture" what they want-and nothing is left tochance.

In many communities today, the volun-teer is becoming as endangered as the WhiteRhino, and the competition gets tougher everyyear. Community leaders qualified to serveon an orchestra's board of directors or volun-teer association are courted by countless otherworthwhile organizations with know-how involunteer recruitment. ow is the time for or-chestras to develop their own "sales strate-gies" to recruit the elusive volunteer.

Effective recruitment of volunteers re-quires planning and effort. In developingyour strategies, it is useful to think about the"sale" you need to make. When an orchestraoffers a job to a prospective volunteer, it is a

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tra, it means gaining a person's time, exper-tise, and in some cases, contributions. For thevolunteer, it means receiving some kind ofpersonal or professional benefit, usually satis-fying some motivational need.

Studies by the National VOLUNTEERCenter and J.e . Penney's (1989)show that wellover 90percent of volunteers give their timefor altruistic reasons. They are motivated bythe desire to help and to fill a need. The out-pouring of generosity to charities during theDecember holiday season is an example of thismotivator. But altruism is by no means theonly thing that motivates people to volunteer.

Almost all of the complex series of rea-sons people give for volunteering can befound in the same ten "buying motives" iden-tified in studies on making sales: self-preser-vation, sex appeal, emulation, being in style,having the best, being liked, gaining skills orknowledge, fulfilling a dream, getting valuefor money, and showing others (revenge).Furthermore, most people find that their mo-tives for serving as a volunteer change withtime and experience. So appealing to only onemotivator or offering only one type of benefitfor volunteering can result in not being able toattract the broad community representationyou need, and too narrow a focus on howyour orchestra might best offer programs andservices to the community.

By recognizing that orchestra volunteersare attracted by a variety of motivations, it is

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easier to organize your volunteer recruitmentcampaign. Board members may openly ac-knowledge a desire to contribute to the artisticlife of the community. They may also have anunspoken interest in seeing that their corpora-tion's contribution is being used wisely, or inenhancing their own stature in the businesscommunity. So too, the volunteer associationmember may be motivated initially by a desireto help, but also by a desire to learn moreabout orchestra management or the opportu-nity to gain organizational skills. Still othersdream of being a part of the arts world, andvolunteering is their admission ticket.

Experts write more about motivation thanany other topic in human psychology, butthey don't agree on a single theory. Whilethere is much information on volunteer moti-vation that might shed some light on how tohelp locate the right volunteers for your or-chestra, perhaps the real answers are closer tohome.

Try tracking the motivation of new volun-teers. Ask simple questions when recruiting,such as, ''What are you hoping to get from thisexperience?" Record the responses over a pe-riod of time so that the motivational patternswill emerge. A simple survey of current vol-unteers can achieve the same results.

But more important than tracking motiva-tion is the way in which you reach out to vol-unteers. Like the African safari, it must bewell planned and organized. It must commu-nicate to the potential volunteer that no matterwhat their motivation, the orchestra has a jobthat will satisfy their need.

One way to clarify the many opportuni-ties available is with volunteer job descrip-tions. Often a board of directors has estab-lished guidelines defining their functions andresponsibilities-this is a good place to start.As you review these descriptions, ask yourselfif you are effectively conveying how this jobmight meet a variety of motivational needs.For example, heading up a fundraising projectoffers opportunities to achieve high goals, ful-fill dreams, gain skills, demonstrate leader-ship, and gain value for the effort expended.These "benefits" should be listed in your jobdescription.

The use of basic advertising and promo-tional techniques in organizing your volunteerrecruitment campaign is critical to success in

today's competitive volunteer market. Stalk-ing the elusive volunteer can be made easierand more productive by adapting advertis-ing's "four Ps" concept-product, promotion,placement, and price-to fit an orchestra'sneed to attract the right people for its manyvolunteer jobs.

Product. Think of the volunteer job andits benefits as the product you are selling.Begin by identifying your products-specificjobs you need filled in the coming year. Whenyou provide job descriptions detailing duties,timelines, expectations, and benefits, the elu-sive volunteer is more likely to say yes. Youcan also substantially increase the percentageof current members who are active (as op-posed to just dues-paying members) by goingthrough this process with them.

Some examples: The Boston SymphonyAssociation ofVolunteers provides prospec-tive members with a brochure highlightingareas such as music education, communityoutreach, financial support, resource develop-ment, and hall services, with descriptions ofthe types of jobs available in each area. TheGuild of the Greenville Symphony provides aconvenient checklist of specific jobs with thetime commitment spelled out. One orchestraboard has gone so far as to develop categoriessuch as legal, accounting, education, and so-cial services, and recruits people with specificskills and backgrounds to fit those slots, mak-ing an ongoing effort to balance its member-ship demographically on the basis of race, sex,ethnic origin, and cultural background. Re-cruitment-or selling the job-iS simplifiedbecause individuals come onto the boardknowing the expectations for their positions.

Promotion. After you have identifiedthe specific jobs you need filled, you mustthen plot a strategy to reach your elusivequarry. Orchestras, like other voluntarygroups, must target the people they want toreach-the days of global advertising are over.You can seek out volunteers at home, in clubs,at work, and through favorite news stations,using promotional techniques such asbrochures, flyers, newsletters, informationpackets, direct mail, display booths, handbills,video spots, public service announcements,posters, billboards, television, radio, slide pre-

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sentations, telephone campaigns, want ads,window displays, and of course, word ofmouth through other volunteers.

Often the job you are publicizing will dic-tate the most effective recruiting tool. For ex-ample, if your nominating committee has al-ready identified four people to serve aspotential board members, your promotionalmaterials should include a packet of informa-tion about the orchestra (including the AnnualReport, a season brochure, board job descrip-tions or guidelines, a board list, an organiza-tional chart) and on-the-job expectations forthe individual.

Place:menl. Placement is decidingwhere your promotional materials should bedistributed to reach potential volunteers.Public service announcements selling orches-tra volunteer opportunities placed on a localrock station are probably not going to yieldthe same response as they would on a stationwith a classical format. In most cases, the bestmode for placement is in the hands of anothervolunteer, a potential "peer" for the new re-cruit. In the previous example where boardinformation packets were used to recruit newmembers, the nominating committee membersshould visit the board candidates in theirhome or office, describe the expectations andbenefits, review the promotional materials,and share their own personal experiences asboard members.

Volunteers needed for a major fundrais-ing event might be recruited through the useof brief job descriptions in a newsletter or con-cert program. Inquiries could then be fol-lowed up with phone calls by committeechairs, providing the elusive volunteer withsome preliminary information about the job aswell as a personal "peer contact" for more in-formation.

Price. In a business setting, price meansthe cost of a product to the consumer. Whenwe use volunteer help we rarely think aboutits cost, but frequently there is a cost to thevolunteer, usually in terms of time, money,and investment. In developing your volun-teer promotion campaign, don't forget to con-sider volunteer expenses-transportation,parking, child care, lost employment time,

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of directors oj ayouth organization. T he"sale team" w as or ga-n iz ed ; th eir p ro du ct was a

on th e b oard to b e filledw it1 #n th e iu-

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continued from page 31membership dues and donations-and to spell them out in your promo-tional materials. If cash contributionsare expected, make it clear during re-cruitment. Do you expect volunteerassociation members to pay dues andpurchase season tickets? You hadbetter let them know that.

Time expended in volunteerwork is another "hidden cost" thatneeds elaboration in your promo-tional materials. How many hours aweek/month will the job take? Whatis the job's duration (six months/oneyear /multi-year)? Besides regularlyscheduled membership meetings,what kind of committee work is re-quired and how much time will thoseadditional meetings take? By sharingthese expectations up front withprospective volunteers, new recruitsare making fully informed decisionsabout their commitments, and aremore likely to honor them.

A brochure for the National Zooin Washington, nc. describes theproduct it is selling by stating theminimum age and time requirementsfor each volunteer opportunity. Thereis also a brief list of qualifications foreach job ..For the "Browse Program,"the volunteer must be able to identifytree species, know basic pruningskills, and be able to work outside re-gardless of the weather. Being thisspecific saves time for both the re-cruiter and the prospective volunteer,and puts them each in a better posi-tion to make the right decisions.

One idea that can help you withtwo-career families-where time is amore precious commodity thanmoney-is to design volunteer jobsthat can be accomplished together bya family, or jobs with a shorter timerequirement.

Coordination. In many or-chestras the recruitment of volunteersis emanating from several locations,including the volunteer association,the marketing department, and the

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board (usually through the work ofthe nominating committee). This pre-sents a fragmented image to the com-munity, and can result in confusionfor the elusive volunteer.

Establishing a committee of staffand volunteers to organize recruitingefforts can alleviate this problem.While this committee does not neces-sarily carry out all the recruiting, thecoordinating link it provides betweengroups is essential to building theprofessional image of the orchestra.For example, an information packetprepared by the board inits recruit-ment efforts might also work well forcandidates to the volunteer associa-tion board. Building a working teamthat assesses volunteer needs, sharesinformation, coordinates promotioncampaigns, and enhances the overallrecruitment effort increases commit-ment and ownership of responsibili-ties by both staff and volunteers. Ithelps to focus energy on the plan tostalk the elusive volunteer, and ''bagthe catch."

ReferencesDick, Ginger, and Smith, Richard

D., G e tt in g S al es , International Self-Counsel Press Ltd., North Vancouver,B.C., Canada 1981.

Ditzenberger, Roger, and Kidney,John, Selling, South-Western Publish-ing Co., Cincinnati, OH 1984.

T h e J ou rn al o f V ol un te er A dm in is -tration, AVA P.O. Box 4584, Boulder,CO 80306.

Kotler, Philip, P r in cip le s o f M a r-keting, Prentice-Hall, Inc., EnglewoodCliffs, NJ 1983.N on pr of it a nd V ol un ta ry S ec to rQuarterly , [ossey-Bass, Inc., Publish-ers, 350 Sansome Street, San Fran-cisco, CA 94104.

Ryan, William, P r in ci pl es o f M a r -keting, Learning Systems Company,Homewood, IL 1980.N ANCY MACDUFF IS AN IN TERNATIO NALLYR ECOGN IZ E D ADUL T EDUCA TOR WHO SP EC IA LIZ ESIN VO LUN TE ERAND NONPROFIT M ANAGEM ENT .

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