Conceptual Foundations and Practical Guidelines for ...

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Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wnon20

Conceptual Foundations and Practical Guidelines for Recruiting Volunteers to Serve in Local Nonprofit Organizations: Part I a

Walter W. Wymer Jr. & Becky J. Starnes a

b

Christopher Newport University

b

Alabama State University Published online: 21 Oct 2008.

To cite this article: Walter W. Wymer Jr. & Becky J. Starnes (2001) Conceptual Foundations and Practical Guidelines for Recruiting Volunteers to Serve in Local Nonprofit Organizations: Part I, Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 9:1-2, 63-96, DOI: 10.1300/J054v09n01_05 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J054v09n01_05

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Conceptual Foundations and Practical Guidelines for Recruiting Volunteers to Serve in Local Nonprofit Organizations: Part I Walter W. Wymer, Jr. Becky J. Starnes

SUMMARY. The authors discuss recruitment of volunteers to serve in local nonprofit organizations. A conceptual model describing the determinants of volunteering is described. The model is useful in understanding the various influences affecting a person’s volunteer behavior. Marketing tactics, which take into account prior research, are presented in order to help the volunteer program manager (VPM) more effectively recruit volunteers. While the work is academically strong, efforts are made to make this work very practical. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-342-9678. E-mail address: Website: © 2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.] Walter W. Wymer, Jr., DBA, is Assistant Professor of Marketing, Christopher Newport University. Becky J. Starnes, MBA, is Management Instructor, Alabama State University. Address correspondence to: Walter Wymer, Management & Marketing Department, Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA 23606, USA (E-mail: [email protected]). [Haworth co-indexing entry note]: “Conceptual Foundations and Practical Guidelines for Recruiting Volunteers to Serve in Local Nonprofit Organizations: Part I.” Wymer, Walter W., Jr., and Becky J. Starnes. Co-published simultaneously in Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing (Best Business Books, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc.) Vol. 9, No. 1/2, 2001, pp. 63-96; and: Marketing Communications for Local Nonprofit Organizations: Targets and Tools (ed: Donald R. Self, Walter W. Wymer, Jr., and Teri Kline Henley) Best Business Books, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc., 2001, pp. 63-96. Single or multiple copies of this article are available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service [1-800-342-9678, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (EST). E-mail address: [email protected]].

Ó 2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Marketing Communications for Local Nonprofit Organizations


KEYWORDS. Volunteer, nonprofit, recruitment, marketing, diversity The U.S. economic system is composed of three sectors. In order by their respective sizes they are the business sector, the government sector, and the nonprofit sector. Even though the nonprofit sector is the smallest of the three, there are approximately 1.14 million nonprofit organizations in the U.S. Among the various types of nonprofit organizations, there are 654,000 charities or 501(c)(3) organizations. There are 341,000 religious organizations. There are 140,000 social welfare organizations or 501(c)(4) organizations. The nonprofit sector attracts $621.4 billion in revenue (6.2% of U.S. economy). The nonprofit sector has a payroll of 10.2 million employees (6.9% of U.S. workforce, INDEPENDENT SECTOR 2000a). The number of employees working for the nation’s nonprofit organizations is only a portion of the required workforce. Volunteers make up the difference. Many nonprofit organizations are dependent upon their volunteer workers (Unger 1991). Volunteers serve in providing direct service to the nonprofit’s clients (e.g., hospice patient). Volunteers serve in administration (e.g., board members). Volunteers serve in fund-raising (e.g., United Way). Volunteers serve in supporting duties (e.g., preparing newsletters). Without volunteers many nonprofit organizations could not provide their services, forcing the government sector to provide these services or forcing society to live without these services (Wymer, Riecken, and Yavas 1996). CURRENT STATE OF VOLUNTEERING IN THE U.S. The INDEPENDENT SECTOR (2000b) conducts biannual surveys of volunteering and giving in the U.S. It estimates, based on its most recent survey, that 109 million Americans volunteered at least once in 1998 for a total of 19.9 billion hours of labor. This labor represents the equivalent of over 9 million employees whose labor is valued at $225 billion. This is the highest rate of volunteering in the U.S. in the INDEPENDENT SECTOR’s survey history. While this trend is positive, it does not lessen the volunteer program manager’s (VPM) need to continually recruit motivated, skilled volunteers. The number of nonprofit organizations is growing (Himmelstein 1997). As the number of nonprofit organizations grows so does the demand for volunteers. American’s discretionary time is dwindling. The number of American households with two adults, particularly households in which one adult is not engaged in full-time economic employment, is at an all-time historic low (Wymer, Riecken, and Yavas 1996).

The Targets: Beyond Clients

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The Community Kitchen in Bloomington, Indiana, serves meals to many adults and children in its community. Nearly 4,000 adults volunteer each year. However, after hearing this impressive figure from the executive director, he was asked how many volunteers work on a regular basis, how many volunteers can he rely on? His answer was surprising. Of 4,000 volunteers, only about 20 serve on a regular basis.


Of the people who volunteer anytime during the year, the majority volunteer sporadically, considering their volunteering a one-time event, or volunteer only at special times of the year, like religious holidays (INDEPENDENT SECTOR 2000b).

The INDEPENDENT SECTOR surveys estimate volunteering in all forms. VPMs know, however, that there is an important difference between the volunteer who brings cupcakes to an annual fund-raiser and the volunteer giving several hours each week on a regular basis. While it is important to marshal a number of volunteers on an episodic basis, regular, active volunteers are the life blood of many non-profits. (See Macduff 1991 for more information about recruiting for episodic volunteering.) Therefore, while much of the content of this work pertains to recruiting all types of volunteers, the authors have active, regular volunteers in mind as the focal target of recruitment efforts. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VOLUNTEERING AND GIVING People can demonstrate their support for a nonprofit’s cause by giving their time and/or their money. Besides the obvious labor benefit to a nonprofit by recruiting volunteers, volunteers also tend to make financial contributions to their nonprofits. In 1998, households with a volunteer in the family reported average annual contributions of $1,339 compared to $524 for households with no volunteers. These amounts represented 2.5 percent of household income for households with volunteers compared to 1.2 percent of household income for households without volunteers (INDEPENDENT SECTOR 2000c). SOURCES OF NEW VOLUNTEERS VPMs can attract volunteers directly or indirectly. Direct volunteer recruitment activities are those endeavors that individuals within nonprofit organizations may take to appeal to prospective volunteers (or prospects) to volunteer. Such activities may include appealing to prospects using mass communication (e.g., advertisements, publicity, events, public speaking engagements) or interpersonal communication (e.g., person-to-person recruitment). Indirect recruitment activities are those actions taken by other institutions to recruit volunteers for a target nonprofit organization. Many communities have

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volunteer referral centers. These centers encourage community volunteering and maintain information about volunteer needs with local nonprofit organizations (Ellis 1989). Local residents can call the referral center and find out about various volunteer opportunities which may appeal to them. Some organizations seeking volunteers are not aware of referral centers. This may be particularly true in smaller organizations, with a small volunteer work force, and a volunteer coordinator who is herself a volunteer. To use a local volunteer referral agency VPMs must register with the referral agency and notify it of their volunteer vacancies. Good job descriptions can help the volunteer referral agency give prospects accurate information to help obtain the best volunteer match to the position.

High schools and especially colleges are encouraging service learning, in which they offer students credit or recognition for volunteer service in community non-profit organizations (Brudney 1990). Other organizations may also be available. Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) is a government sponsored nonprofit which acts as a volunteer clearinghouse for seniors (Ellis 1994, Senior Corps 2000). Other frequently overlooked sources of volunteers are nonprofit organizations that have a service component to their missions. Examples are fraternities, some youth organizations like the Boy Scouts (see http://www.bsa.scouting.org/), local Lions Clubs (see http://www.lionnet. com/), and so forth. Many companies also have programs that encourage employees to volunteer (Ellis 1994). EFFECTIVE RETENTION REDUCES RECRUITMENT DEMAND One problem many nonprofits have is a high volunteer turnover rate. High turnover demoralizes current volunteers and consumes managerial energies that could be better spent elsewhere. Exiting volunteers must be replaced. VPMs must locate, recruit, select, place, orient, train, and supervise novice volunteers. If turnover can be reduced, volunteer recruitment could be more selective and more energy could be given to managing the retention of existing volunteers (Miller, Powell, and Seltzer 1990). For retention ideas, go online at: http://www.txserve.org/mgmt/volrec/tips.html

Recruitment and retention tactics form a complementary relationship. Poor recruitment practices lead to increased turnover. Volunteers who are recruited ineffectively may have incorrect impressions of the volunteer experience or may be a poor fit for a particular volunteer assignment. Weak retention prac-


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tices lead to increased turnover, increasing the recruitment load for the nonprofit, which may lead to improper selection of new volunteers and so forth (Murk and Stephan 1991). Retention is an important topic and will be addressed in the following article.


ANTECEDENTS OF RECRUITMENT Before recruitment efforts are initiated, the manager should determine why the organization needs volunteers. An environment in which volunteers are recruited because the organization cannot afford paid employees may create a negative culture, making recruitment more difficult and increasing turnover. If, however, the organization values the benefits volunteers bring to a nonprofit, then a positive climate supports recruitment efforts (Ellis 1996, Mitchell and Taylor 1997, Scheier 1993). For a checklist to determine if the nonprofit has prepared itself for recruitment go online at: http://www.txserve.org/mgmt/volrec/prep.html

Next, meaningful job assignments need to be designed. Some jobs require low level skills (e.g., like typing, filing, or stuffing envelopes) while other jobs may require a professional from a specific field (e.g., business, legal, computer science). Without knowing what skills are needed by the nonprofit, recruitment will suffer. Volunteers placed in inappropriate jobs will be dissatisfied and quit. It is important for people to be recruited for jobs they are suited for and which they find meaningful. Designing appropriate volunteer jobs precedes recruitment for this reason (Ellis 1994, Wymer 1997a). For tips on identifying meaningful job assignments for volunteers, go online at: http://www.txserve.org/mgmt/volrec/ident.html#ident For tips on writing volunteer job descriptions, go online at: http://www.txserve.org/mgmt/volrec/ident.html#write

Once VPMs have arrived at a consensus about why volunteers are needed, once meaningful volunteer jobs have been designed, then managers (i.e., VPMs) need to better understand volunteer behavior. Just as corporate VPMs must understand consumer behavior in order to make better decisions about how to attract customers and win their loyalty, nonprofit VPMs must understand volunteer behavior in order to make better recruitment and retention de-

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cisions. VPMs need to know who is likely to be the best prospect for recruitment. They need to know what appeals and tactics are likely to be most effective in recruiting prospects. They need to understand influences that affect a person’s decision to volunteer (Hobson, Rominger, Malec, Hobson, and Evans 1996).


MODEL OF VOLUNTEER BEHAVIOR Figure 1 depicts our model representing the determinants of volunteering. The model takes into account personal influences on behavior, interpersonal influences, attitudes, and situational factors (also see Schindler-Rainman and Lipitt 1977). Personal and interpersonal influences stimulate a general disposition regarding volunteering as well as preferences for volunteering in specific areas like youth development, arts and culture, religion, or health care. Target nonprofits which meet preference criteria are screened by a person’s attitudes, which may be directed toward the nonprofit itself, the nonprofit’s cause/mission, or the clients served by the nonprofit. Situational factors also influence volunteer behavior. A person may decline a request to volunteer for a nonprofit if that person feels he or she does not have sufficient time for volunteering, if the volunteering occurs at a too distant location, or if personal safety cannot be guaranteed. All these type of influences affect a person’s intention to volunteer for a nonprofit (Wymer 1996, Wymer, Riecken, and Yavas 1996, Wymer and Self 1999). Personal Influences Personality. There is generally not a common personality profile which typifies volunteers (Wymer, Riecken, and Yavas 1996). However, in studies in which volunteers have been compared to control groups of non-volunteers, volunteers were distinguished by higher levels of empathy and self-esteem (Wymer 1997b). Self-Esteem. Self-esteem is the overall affective evaluation of one’s own worth, value, or importance (Blascovich and Tomaka 1991). Most volunteers, but certainly not all, have at least a moderate level of self-esteem (Anderson and Moore 1978). This enables them to perceive they have adequate self-worth and competence to make a meaningful contribution as a volunteer. People who feel that they are unable to contribute to the collective good produced by the organization are unlikely to volunteer (Moe 1980).


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FIGURE 1. Determinants of Volunteering Personal Influences

Interpersonal Influences Attitudes

Personality

Situational Factors

Facilitation

Values/beliefs


Lifestage Personal experiences

Social norms Parental volunteering

Toward nonprofit Toward clients Toward mission

Time poverty Distance Safety

Intention to Volunteer

Tannenbaum (1981) performed a qualitative study on the motives and personalities of 48 women volunteers in Parents Without Partners. These women had been divorced or widowed within the past two years. Tannenbaum reported that women who volunteered more had higher levels of self-esteem.

In previous research, self-esteem has been positively linked with helping behavior (Gergen, Gergen, and Meter 1972). McKee (1991) wrote: “There is much written in the literature to suggest that self-esteem is positively correlated with helping behavior” (p. 25). For example, Burke (1982) reported that individuals having high self-esteem perceived themselves as helpful people. There is a strong relationship between helping behavior and volunteering, and, therefore, between self-esteem and volunteering. Clary and Snyder (1991) wrote that volunteering is “. . . a prototypic form of nonspontaneous, sustained helping behavior” (p. 143). Jackson, Bachmeier, Wood and Craft (1995) referred to volunteering in nonprofit organizations as a type of non-emergency helping behavior. Empathy. Whereas self-esteem has an enabling effect by influencing a person’s perception of his or her ability, empathy has a motivating effect by influencing a person’s psychological discomfort at the misfortune of others (Betancourt, Hardin, and Manzi 1992). The affected empathetic person is motivated to reduce the psychological discomfort. Empathy evokes an altruistic motivation to help others in need (Batson, Batson, Slingsby, Harrell, Peekna, and Todd 1991). Helping others in need helps the empathetic person to maintain a self-image or identity of a good, caring, or helpful person (Dovidio, Piliavin, Gaertner, Schroeder, and Clark 1991). Empathetic persons can provide help on an emergency or spontaneous basis or on a non-emergency, sus-


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tained basis (i.e., volunteering, Clary and Snyder 1991, Jackson, Bachmeier, Wood, and Craft 1995). Previous research has demonstrated a relationship between empathy and prosocial or helping behavior. Eisenberg and Miller (1987) conducted a meta-analysis of 41 samples and found that empathy was positively related to helping. Dovidio, Piliavin, Gaertner, Schroeder, and Clark (1991) reviewed previous studies and concluded that “all implicate empathy as a candidate for an inherited capacity closely allied with the evolution of altruistic tendencies” (p. 90). Allen and Rushton (1983) reviewed previous research on mental health volunteers and concluded that they were abnormally empathetic. Fischer and Schaffer (1993) reviewed previous research on volunteer motivations, reporting that people who are more likely to volunteer have a sense of empathy; they have an altruistic identity. Values. Values guide behavioral choices. People’s priorities are determined by their value systems. Therefore, understanding what values current volunteers have give VPMs insights into what values the nonprofit shares with its volunteers. Then VPMs can look for prospects with similar values. Not only does value analysis help identify shared values between an organization and its volunteers, value analysis also suggests benefits which can be embedded in volunteer recruitment appeals. A closer examination of values and volunteering follows. Values offer promise in understanding volunteering because: (1) there are relatively few values, (2) values determine attitudes, (3) values have a motivational component, and (4) value changes are relatively enduring and affect behavior (Rokeach 1973, Williams 1986). Values have proven to be good discriminators of volunteers from non-volunteers (Heidrich 1988, Manzer 1974). Volunteers tend to place more importance on prosocial values (Killeen and McCarrey 1986, McClintock and Allison 1989). For example, Hobfoll (1980) found that volunteers were significantly differentiated by social responsibility. Mahoney and Pechura (1980) compared responses of the Rokeach Value Survey (RVS) between telephone hotline volunteers and a control group and found that twelve values discriminated the two groups. Williams (1987) also used the RVS to measure values. In his study of volunteers working with people with mental retardation, Williams found that values were able to differentiate volunteers from the general public. Other studies have also found values to be good discriminators of volunteers from non-volunteers (Hougland and Christenson 1982, Williams and Ortega 1986). Previous research has consistently reported that volunteers want to help others (INDEPENDENT SECTOR 1992, 1994). The level of desire to help others indicates the importance a person places on a prosocial value. The studies which report that volunteers are purely altruistic have been controversial,



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as academicians argue whether volunteers are demonstrating pure altruism (Gerard 1985) or are acting from only self-interest (Pinker 1979, Smith 1969, Titmus 1971). Agreement for a moderate position on this discussion is centering on perceiving volunteers as demonstrating both altruistic and egoistic behaviors (Frisch and Gerrard 1981, King 1984, Wiehe and Isenhour 1977). Volunteers who want to help others also want volunteering to result in a rewarding experience. For instance, Cnaan and Goldberg-Glen (1991) compared 258 volunteer and 104 nonvolunteer responses on 28 motivation items from previous studies and concluded that volunteers act from a combination of motives that can be described overall as a “rewarding experience.” Volunteering for a nonprofit provides an individual with a means of expressing important values as well as a means of reinforcing those values (Hougland and Christenson 1982). Since each person has a value system, what distinguishes individuals is the relative importance placed on specific values. Most people think volunteering is a good thing to do. However, some people feel strongly enough about a situation that they take action instead of letting others do the volunteering. For example, Williams (1987) examined the values of student volunteers and non-volunteers and discovered the importance students placed on certain values in their personal lives was the best predictor of volunteer interest. The highest ranked values within an individual’s value system will have the greatest influence on attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. Volunteers and nonvolunteers alike would probably agree that helping others is a good idea. However, volunteers would probably rank helping others higher than nonvolunteers. Volunteers frequently report a sense of moral responsibility or a sense of duty as a motive (Gerard 1985). In one study of local government volunteers in an eight town area of New Hampshire, the most important reason given for volunteering was a sense of public or civic duty (Luloff, Chittenden, Weeks, and Brushett 1984). Similarly, Widmer (1985) found that nonprofit board members reported it was their civic duty to volunteer. Other studies have reported finding that volunteers feel a moral obligation or a sense of duty to participate (Cook 1984, Florin, Jones, and Wandersman 1986, Okun 1994). Opportunities to express religious beliefs and values are provided through many volunteer roles (Wood and Hougland 1990). In a national survey of charitable giving and volunteering, the third highest ranked motive was expressing religious beliefs or responding to a moral obligation based on religious beliefs (Hodgkinson 1990, Hodgkinson and Weitzman 1986). Periodic national surveys of U.S. giving and volunteering continually find a relationship between religious involvement and volunteering (INDEPENDENT SECTOR 1992, 1994). The 1981 European Values Survey conducted by Gallup using a British sample reported a similarly important relationship between religious commitment and volunteering (Gerard 1985).


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A longitudinal study by Wineburg (1994) reported that religious congregations are intensifying their involvement in social services in response to declining government support. Wymer (1997c) compared church volunteers with secular volunteers and non-volunteers. He reported a strong association between church attendance and secular volunteering. Wymer found that church members who volunteer in secular settings were likely to be motivated by social influences. Church members who volunteer in their churches tend to be motivated by their religious beliefs. Among voluntary action researchers, there is a general consensus that an important relationship exists between religious beliefs and voluntary participation (Berger 1991). Personal Experiences. Personal experiences play a role in helping people to develop and reform their value systems. Many nonprofit organizations have been started by individuals who found themselves confronted with human privations of which they previously were unaware. Wymer and Starnes (1999) examined the motives of 63 hospice volunteers in multiple hospice organizations. Many hospice volunteers reported that they learned about the hospice when their terminally ill loved one received hospice services. The experience of having one’s dying loved one receive compassionate care from a hospice volunteer had a major impact. After their loved one’s death many survivors responded to their experiences by becoming hospice volunteers. Another type of personal experience which influences a person’s propensity to volunteer is early exposure to volunteering. Young people who are given volunteer experiences can assimilate the experiences into their value systems. If the experience was positive, children and adolescents are likely to view volunteering as a positive behavioral choice when they become adults. Life Stage. People pass through several phases as their lives progress. The stage of life one is currently in influences values and priorities. Generally speaking, age, marital status, occupational status, and age/status of children indicate life stage. Parents of younger and school age children are likely to choose volunteer opportunities related to their desire to care for their children (Wymer 1999a). When adults enter a new life stage in which their self-perceptions change, this change will create a period of introspection in which they will find new ways to find meaning, purpose, and a positive self-image (Ellis 1994, Schindler-Rainman 1981). Wymer (2000) examined literacy volunteers from two Midwestern cities. The qualitative portion of his analysis indicated that many volunteers began their volunteering after retiring, their children left home, they divorced, or a spouse died. Several of these literacy volunteers also had careers as librarians and teachers, which provided the volunteer an opportunity to maintain their professional identities into retirement.


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Interpersonal Influences Facilitation. Facilitation refers to the level of social connectedness an individual has to others who are already serving as volunteers (Wymer 1996). While there are individuals so motivated to volunteer that they seek out opportunities to serve on their own, most people become volunteers after being asked to volunteer from a friend, family member, or associate who volunteers (INDEPENDENT SECTOR 1994). In its 1999 national survey, INDEPENDENT SECTOR found that 42 percent of people who reported volunteering during the year said they learned of the volunteer activities through personal contact, and another 35 percent of volunteers reported learning about their volunteer activities through organizations with which they associate (2000b). Current volunteers are available to provide friends they recruit with social support (i.e., emotional support and task-oriented support) to ease the transition into volunteering and to make it a more rewarding experience (Clary 1987). In their study of volunteers Yavas and Riecken (1985) found that volunteers= families placed fewer demands on their time than did nonvolunteers’ families. Gora and Nemerowicz (1991) examined rescue squad volunteering. They reported that active volunteers were characterized by having families who were supportive of their volunteer service.

It is not surprising that facilitation is closely associated with greater levels of volunteerism. People choose friends based on common interests and shared values. Individuals with friends who volunteer have a source of credible information and social support. Assimilation into a volunteer social group is smoothed by a friend who can ease the transition. Prior studies show that 90 percent of people who are asked to volunteer agree to serve (INDEPENDENT SECTOR 2000b). People who are asked to volunteer are three to five times more likely to volunteer as people who are not asked to volunteer (INDEPENDENT SECTOR 1994). These statistics must be interpreted in light of the fact that people are not being asked to volunteer by strangers, but by people they know (Wymer, Riecken, and Yavas 1996). Social Norms. Social norms are those customary patterns of attitudes and behaviors that social groups accept, maintain, and enforce. Some social groups share strong political beliefs, strong feelings about the environment, strong feelings about social welfare, and so forth. These social groups may expect their members to participate in the political process, environmentalism, social welfare reform, and so forth as volunteers. Social groups exert varying degrees

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of influence on their members. Some social groups encourage volunteering for causes they support (Clary, Snyder, Copeland, and French 1994, Wymer, Riecken, and Yavas 1996). Perkins (1989) surveyed volunteer firefighters from 250 fire stations in five states (sample size = 3,188). This group appears to be surprisingly similar. The average age of the firefighters was 36 years, 96% were males, 96% were white, and 90% did not have college degrees. The firefighters reported that, of all their friends, half or more are also firefighters. They reported that they enjoy being a part of their team. Among the firefighters, 73% said they do not belong to any other voluntary organization.

Parental Volunteering. Based on their interviews with over 300 people, Smith and Baldwin (1974) report that parent’s attitudes about volunteering influence their children’s decisions to volunteer as adults. Volunteers are more likely than non-volunteers to have had parents who were themselves volunteers (Shure 1988). Sundeen and Raskoff (1994) analyzed data from a national survey of volunteering and found that teenagers whose parents volunteer are much more likely to volunteer than teenagers whose parents do not volunteer. Sinisi (1993) conducted two studies of volunteering and concluded that mothers had a strong influence on their children’s decision to volunteer as adults. Children learn from their parents what values are important, what attitudes they should adopt, what behaviors are acceptable. Although this learning may be modified as the child matures into an individual adult, parental influence can have lifelong effects. When parents model volunteering or include their children in their own volunteer service, children learn that volunteering is valued and important (Ellis, Weisbord, and Noyes 1991, Thurmond and Cassell 1996). Wymer (1998) recommends that opportunities be made in which children can participate in their parent’s volunteer service. Attitudes Personal and interpersonal influences shape a person’s motivation toward volunteering. (See Figure 2.) Once a person is inclined to serve, the individual’s attitude regarding the organization, its cause, or its clients can enhance or impede that person’s willingness to volunteer. Attitudes are derived from values. A person will have negative attitudes toward things which conflict or oppose core values. A staunch conservative or libertarian will be unlikely to have a favorable attitude toward a social welfare organization. A person with strong views against violence will be unlikely to volunteer for a conservative group supporting unregulated freedom to own weapons.


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FIGURE 2. Attitude Formation Directed at Organization Attitudes directed at various aspects of the nonprofit help form overall attitude towards the nonprofit. neg

pos

-


Cause

Clients

Staff

Volunteers

Overall Attitude for Volunteering for Organization

A young person read an ad in a local newspaper recruiting volunteers for a local crisis help hotline. The young person went to orientation with expectations of helping suicidal individuals in crises, helping to save lives. At orientation he learned that in addition to helping people contemplating suicide the crisis hotline provided two other services. First, youths who found or bought pills and were considering taking them could call the hotline, describe the pill, and the volunteer would find a description of the pill in a pharmaceutical dictionary and describe the purpose of the drug. Second, gays who were new to the area could call the hotline to learn of night clubs of interest to gays. The new volunteer realized that these two other services conflicted with personal values and resigned.

As depicted in Figure 2, attitudes are directed toward multiple attitude objects, all of which combine to form an overall favorable or unfavorable attitude (with varying levels of intensity) related to volunteering for a particular organization. Attitudes toward the organization’s cause are the primary attitude object, because they act as a gate for further attitude exploration. For example, if an individual’s values are such that the individual is staunchly opposed to environmental organizations, then that person will likely generalize that attitude to other facets of the organization. However, even if an individual is supportive of an organization’s cause, that individual may develop negative attitudes toward

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the organization’s management or staff, the nonprofit’s clients, the nonprofit’s volunteers, and so forth. Many first time volunteers bring lofty expectations of what the experience will be like. The Community Kitchen gets about 4,000 volunteers each year, yet can only rely on 20 or so core volunteers. What happens? Many people show up with feelings of sympathy for people who don=t have enough to eat especially women and children. They imagine grateful soup kitchen patrons who reward volunteers with appreciation and gratitude. What novice volunteers discover are gruff, unclean, and irritable people (mostly men) who are demanding and fail to show appreciation. Many novice volunteers leave, disenchanted, never to return. Needless to say, the core volunteers are motivated by intrinsic rewards (believing what they are doing is important). VPMs must be careful to correct false expectations of new volunteers and prepare them for realities.

Situational Factors Even though individuals may have the motivation to serve, situational factors may impede volunteer service. Many people in America are experiencing time poverty. They fail to consider volunteering because they feel they simply lack the spare time. According to Ellis (1994), lack of time is the number one reason people give for not volunteering. When prospects feel they do not have the spare time, there can be several reasons, some may be dealt with effectively during recruitment appeals, some may be insurmountable barriers. There are numerous possible other situational factors that serve as barriers to volunteering. A person may live in a rural area or in a distant suburb which offers no reasonably close proximity to a nonprofit in which the person would like to serve. The person may feel unsafe, either because of the locale where the volunteering occurs or because of the clients served. Some of these barriers can be overcome by effective recruitment tactics, some cannot be overcome (Ellis 1994, Wymer 1996). ASSESSMENT Previously, we discussed the importance of defining an organization’s need for volunteers. This is part of an overall effort to establish an organizational culture that supports volunteers. We also said that it is important to develop volunteer job descriptions. Volunteer job descriptions help VPMs to focus on volunteer labor needs, such as how many volunteers are needed and what skills are required. A model of volunteer behavior then described. It illustrated influences affecting a person’s intention to volunteer for an organization. The model of volunteer behavior provides a common framework of thinking about


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volunteer behavior. It provides the manager with a broader view of the forces affecting volunteer decisions. With this foundation, VPMs can analyze their own organizations. VPMs need to assess who likely prospects for recruitment are. They need to appreciate what values their organizations are likely to appeal to. VPMs need to determine the meaningfulness of the volunteer jobs. What skill levels are needed? Much can be learned by examining the organization’s current volunteers. Downloaded by [University of Lethbridge] at 08:38 09 October 2013

Who Is Attracted to Your Nonprofit? VPMs need to understand the type of person who is attracted to their organizations. Most people think the work done by the nonprofit sector is good, beneficial, and useful. Based on findings from its national survey, INDEPENDENT SECTOR (2000b) reported that the majority of Americans (i.e., 68%) are highly confident in their human service organizations, believe that their nonprofit organizations are honest and ethical in their use of funds (62%), and believe that nonprofit organizations are important in their communities (76%). Even though the nonprofit community generally enjoys a favorable image, far fewer people volunteer than one would expect given the INDEPENDENT SECTOR’s findings. Many people have favorable impressions of nonprofits but do not volunteer because they have other, higher priorities. Their values are such that volunteer service is not as important as other ways they can spend their time. Second, a nonprofit’s volunteer represents a homogenous group because they share some similar values and they feel the nonprofit’s mission is important and they want to support its cause. VPMs can gain insights into what type of people are attracted to their organizations by external and internal methods. External methods represent marketing research techniques, such as surveys and focus groups, that can be used to assess nonvolunteer attitudes towards a nonprofit and values relating to volunteering. Internal methods represent assessment of organization’s volunteers with the assumption that current volunteers can be profiled (e.g., values, beliefs, activities, attitudes, life stage, age, education) and that the best prospects for recruitment are others who share similar profiles to current volunteers. Wymer (1999a,b), Wymer and Starnes (1999), and Wymer and Brudney (2000) provide examples of how to differentiate and profile organization’s volunteers. What Personal Values Does Volunteering for Your Organization Appeal To? People can consume their time in an infinite variety of ways. Although the competition is intense, some people choose to consume some of their time vol-


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unteering. As noted previously, values direct behavior. If VPMs want to persuade prospects to volunteer for their organizations, they must understand what personal values can be expressed by serving in their organizations. Interviewing current volunteers provides VPMs with insights about the values their nonprofits can help people express. Wymer (1999c) provides an example using a sample of senior volunteers. The organization’s mission is also a good indicator of what values may motivate good prospects. For example, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America would obviously attract volunteers who are interested in helping children. But VPMs’ analyses must go further to obtain a richer understanding. Nonprofits generally appeal to both a primary and a secondary value expressive motive in volunteers. Because volunteers are expressing multiple values that are important, they have distinct preferences regarding how and where their volunteer labor is directed. Figure 3 illustrates this dilemma. While Big Brothers/Big Sisters may attract volunteers who want to help children, there are many other volunteer alternatives for people who want to help children. People’s value systems guide them to prefer one specific type of youth volunteering over another. Whereas one person wants to serve in the PTA, another wants to serve as a soccer coach, another wants to be a Sunday School teacher at church, and another wants to be a Boy or Girl Scout troop FIGURE 3 Volunteer at schools

Youth sports

Boys & Girls Clubs Prospect wants to help youth.

Big Brothers/Big Sisters Girls, Inc. YMCA Boy Scouts Girl Scouts 4-H



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leader. People have values which differentiate their preferences toward helping to support their own children or other children. Volunteers have preferences regarding whom they want to help (e.g., infants, toddlers, youth, boys, girls). Volunteers have preferences regarding what areas they want to serve (education, religion, sports, scouting, social welfare, fatherlessness). VPMs who understand the differences between volunteers serving in similar organizations will have a richer understanding of their own volunteers, whom good prospects are likely to be, and what issues prospects want to support through their volunteering. How Enriched Is the Volunteer Experience? Ellis (1994) recommends that VPMs should recruit for specific volunteer jobs, to fill specific volunteer roles. This contrasts to a general “call to volunteer” appeal that an organization may generate using mass media, such as a public service announcement or a paid advertisement. Prospects are more likely to accept an invitation to volunteer if they understand the nature of the volunteer role and if it appeals to them. Volunteers may serve as board members, direct service volunteers, fund raisers, and in general service roles (Wymer 1996). Each role differs in terms of required skills, social interaction, prominence, and so forth. (For information specific to board member recruitment see Dodson 1993.) Figure 4 depicts four classes of volunteer role enrichment based on two dimensions of the volunteer job: importance of the task and level of social interaction. People vary in their desire to satisfy a need for achievement through their volunteer work. Some people feel strongly about a cause and want to make a meaningful difference. Other people agree that the cause is important, but they would gladly serve in roles of little significance in return for high levels of personal interaction with clients or volunteers. Some people need both, a high level of interaction and a need to make a meaningful contribution in the organization (Wymer 1997a). Volunteers recruiting others from their social networks are in the best position to determine what roles would be acceptable to their prospects. Mismatches between people and volunteer roles reduce recruitment effectiveness and increase volunteer turnover. What about those mundane, seldom noticed tasks that need to be done? There are people who want to support the nonprofit and will work effectively in unglamourous roles with little social interaction. These “lone rangers” believe in the mission of the nonprofit and they are pleased to help out in some small way. This may be the relatively anonymous person who mows the church’s lawn all summer or the volunteer custodian at the local soup kitchen.

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Marketing Communications for Local Nonprofit Organizations FIGURE 4. Richness of Volunteer’s Role

Meaningfulness of Task


Low

High

High Socials

High

Highly Enriched

Social Interaction

Low

Lone Rangers (internally motivated)

High Achievers

These volunteers benefit because they feel they are supporting the organization and their work enables them to feel useful and productive. What Skills Are Needed? Good volunteer job descriptions, discussed earlier, should lead to identifying qualifications of volunteers needed for specific jobs (Ellis 1994). Obviously, part of the qualifications are the skills required to perform the volunteer tasks. There are three issues to consider here. First, the minimum skills necessary to perform the job are the skills that are required. Some volunteers’ jobs may call for clerical skills. What is needed? Typing? Word processing? Spreadsheet skills? The more specific the better, as specificity helps the organization identify its human resource needs and helps the prospect develop accurate expectations regarding the nature of the work. Some jobs which require skill sets difficult to find in a single individual may have to be divided into two or more jobs in order to arrive at a set of skills which can be obtained by individuals willing to volunteer. Second, a prospect’s profession may indicate primary and secondary skill sets. An attorney, for example, has primary skill sets in the legal area, obviously. However, the attorney may also have good public speaking skills, good administrative skills, and so forth. A prospect in a profession may have a num-


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ber of supporting skills which enable that person to perform well in her chosen profession. A woman who works as an elementary school teacher attends church regularly. When the volunteer coordinator in church of children=s Sunday School discovered her occupation as a teacher, the woman looked like an ideal prospect. The woman, however, had a different perspective. She spends all day during the weekdays with children. This is demanding work. The last thing she wanted to do was to volunteer as a teacher. She wanted to serve, but not in the same task. Being a nice person, the woman accepted the volunteer role as a Sunday School teacher. Eventually, she found a way to leave the position. She has not volunteered in church since.

Third, people are frequently recruited for a volunteer task because their occupation implies a good match. However, in some cases, people are volunteering to meet personal needs that cannot be met in their occupational routines. These people may find performing the same tasks as they do in their occupations unappealing. Many people seek something different in their volunteer service, something energizing. Simply doing more of the same job would be enervating. Prospects need to be sufficiently understood in order to provide them with the most rewarding volunteer job. What Is the Profile of Current Volunteers? As noted, VPMs can derive insights by profiling (i.e., segmenting) their volunteers. Profiling refers to assessing volunteers on different attributes to determine how they are similar to each other, how they are different from volunteers serving in different organizations, and how they are different from non-volunteers. Comparing an organization’s volunteers with other groups is a more involved process than simply developing a profile of an organization’s volunteers in absence of a comparison group, but the extra work may provide some useful insights. (See Wymer 1996, Wymer 1997b, and Wymer, Riecken, and Yavas 1996 for examples of volunteer profiling.) VPMs may also want to learn more about the difference between more dedicated and less dedicated volunteers (i.e., number of regular hours worked in a given time period). VPMs may want to better understand differences between volunteers serving in different roles. Benefits of segmenting these groups are that VPMs can better identify common characteristics they share. Variables which are useful in distinguishing subgroups of volunteers may help identify and better understand the motives of prospects. (This assumes that those most similar to current volunteers are the best candidates for recruitment.) Demographic variables, personality variables, lifestyle variables, val-

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ues, beliefs, and attitudes may all be useful in profiling volunteers (Wymer 1996, Wymer and Self 1999).


DEVELOPING AND DELIVERING RECRUITMENT APPEALS Up to this point, the discussion has focused upon the preliminary activities of recruiting volunteers. Creating the right organizational climate, analyzing the volunteer jobs that are needed, developing appropriate volunteer job descriptions, profiling the organization’s own volunteers, and understanding influences affecting people’s decision to volunteer. Next, the discussion will deal with developing the message which will be used to recruit prospects and tactics for delivering the appeals. The Message An old advertising adage is “people don’t buy products, they buy benefits.” This reminds managers that consumers are not as interested in the product the company is selling as much as they are interested in the benefits the product can provide them. This analogy is helpful in recruiting volunteers. Before people agree to volunteer, they want to understand the benefits of volunteering. After all, just as consumers exchange their money for product benefits, volunteers exchange their time/labor for other benefits (Marshall 1999). Volunteering typically provides the volunteer with psychological and social benefits. Expressing core values/beliefs through volunteer work is rewarding. In a national survey of AIDS volunteers, Omoto and Snyder (1990) found that . . . value-expressive considerations figure prominently in most volunteers’ decisions to volunteer; they indicate that they became involved because AIDS volunteer work afforded them the opportunity to act on their personal values, convictions, and beliefs or to ‘do something about issues that are important to me.’ (160) Volunteers derive benefits from working for a cause they feel is important. A recruitment message should emphasize the importance of the nonprofit’s cause. People who feel the nonprofit’s cause is very important will want to support it. This is why volunteers frequently resign when they feel what they are doing for the organization has little significance. Volunteers who do not feel their jobs are important in helping to advance the nonprofit’s cause fail to derive a value expressive benefit from their service.



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The primary message embedded in a recruitment appeal should be the importance of the nonprofit’s cause. For example, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, in recruiting adult male volunteers, can inform prospects that they are needed to help improve a fatherless boy’s chances of leading a productive life. The organization can provide statistics comparing high school dropout rates, incarceration rates, college entrance rates, and so forth, between boys in homes with adult males and boys in homes without adult male role models. Prospects who feel strongly about the cause, those who care deepest about helping children, particularly boys, who especially care about boys with no father figure in their lives, will be motivated to help. The cause must be the most emphasized message in the recruitment appeal. If the media choice allows it, it would also be helpful to include the positive effects of volunteering. While boys without fathers are an “at risk” group, the message can also communicate the efficacy of the nonprofit’s program. Continuing with the Big Brothers example, besides showing the cause’s importance to prospects, the recruitment message could also show how Big Brothers has made a real difference in boys’ lives. This can be done through statistics, testimonials, or both. Adding positive outcome indicators to the message communicates to the prospect that, not only is the cause worth supporting, but the organization has a program which is effective in addressing the problem. This will give the prospect the idea that volunteering has a greater impact in approaching the cause. If the media format allows, other benefits of volunteering can also be communicated to prospects. For some volunteers, particularly seniors, retirees, widowed, and the disabled, feeling useful and productive is an important benefit. So is the social interaction that occurs between volunteer and staff, volunteer and other volunteers, and volunteer and client (Marriott Senior Living Services 1991, Okun 1994, Wymer 1999c). Communicating Your Message After VPMs have developed the main points of the messages they will use to recruit prospective volunteers, they have to determine how to communicate the appeal. The following section discusses the various options VPMs have. Personal Communication. In general, recruitment appeals to prospects can either be personal or non-personal. Personal appeals are an interactive, two-way communication between recruiter and prospect. Non-personal appeals are one-way communication from the organization to prospects. Personal appeals are generally considered to have a higher success rate. Personal appeals allow a particular recruitment appeal can be tailored to a specific individual. Similar to personal selling, a recruiter can match the volunteer job


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which best matches the prospect’s needs. During the appeal, the recruiter is also available to respond to concerns and objections, and to provide information (Ellis 1994, Marks 1996). Personal appeals between recruiter and prospect can either occur in an environment in which social ties are present or an environment in which social ties are absent. Recruitment efforts in which the recruiter and the prospect share social ties are generally more productive. The concept of facilitation, discussed previously, applies here. All things being equal, a recruiter who is a relative, friend, or associate of the prospect will have the greater understanding of the prospect’s needs, concerns, or objections. The recruiter who is part of the prospect’s social network will be a more credible information source and will be available to support the prospect later. Tips for interpersonal volunteer recruiting are available online at: http://www.txserve.org/mgmt/volrec/implem.html#point

The persons performing recruiting activities should be staff and volunteers. Ellis (1994) states, “. . . everyone in your organization shares an equal responsibility for recruitment” (p. 103, emphasis in original). They should target individuals with whom they share some social connection. Volunteer recruiters should be trained in basic personal selling techniques, and they should have a thorough knowledge of the organization, its mission, and the volunteer job they are seeking to fill. Personal selling books are abundant and recruiters can be given copies of job descriptions for volunteer position vacancies. Motivating staff and volunteers to recruit their associates should be integral to the organization’s norms. If the nonprofit’s cause is important, and serving in the organization is important, then recruiting others to serve is also important. VPMs and volunteer leaders have to model the importance of volunteer recruitment. They can do this by actively recruiting, by encouraging others to recruit, and by recognizing and rewarding the efforts of staff and volunteers who recruit others. Although personal appeals that are not enhanced with social ties between recruiter and prospect are generally not as productive, they should not be overlooked. Personal appeals are more effective, in general, than non-personal or mass appeals. Personal appeals are effective because they allow for two-way communication. Even when recruiting across social networks, rather than within social networks, recruiters can determine what the prospect is most interested in, and what the prospect’s chief concerns are. Personal selling skills will enhance personal recruitment efforts across and within social boundaries alike.



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Diversity. Many organizations have homogeneous volunteer work forces. This is generally the result of the natural recruiting that occurs within social networks. Diversity is beneficial and desirable, however. From a practical standpoint, recruiting new volunteers from outside the pool of existing social networks of current volunteers will enlarge the total prospect pool from which the nonprofit can recruit. Diversity can be aided by creating a supportive organizational culture, and by recruiting individuals outside social networks (Sutton 1992). Recruiting individuals outside existing social networks is a process, not an event. Strangers must be made acquaintances by becoming aware of the organization and by interacting with members of the organization. Over time, as relationships develop, acquaintances can be recruited as volunteers (Ellis 1993). People with disabilities are often overlooked at good volunteer prospects. However, in many cases people with disabilities make excellent volunteers. For more information, see Taylor (1995). Also see a helpful online site at: http://www.serviceleader.org/vv/atech/index.html

Nonpersonal Communication. While non-personal appeals may attract volunteers, this method is not as effective as personal appeals. VPMs may choose to support their personal recruitment program with non-personal appeals. Perhaps the best use of non-personal communication is to enhance personal recruitment efforts. Non-personal communication such as public service announcements or paid advertising help to remind the community of the nonprofit’s good name and worthy cause. When the organization has a favorable public image which is familiar to the public, personal recruitment efforts become more productive. Mass Appeals by Representatives. Many nonprofits have speakers, staff or volunteers who represent the nonprofit to outside organizations, like civic groups or the media. Nonprofit representatives can help make the public aware of the nonprofit and the worthiness of its cause. Obviously speakers should possess good public speaking skills. Board members may make good representatives. It is important that speakers work from an approved outline. VPMs want the communications from the nonprofit to reflect a consistent, favorable, and focused message (Ellis 1994, Horvath 1995). Tips for volunteer recruitment by speaking to groups is available online at: http://www.txserve.org/mgmt/volrec/implem.html#groups

Publicity. Publicity is mass communication by a media source about the nonprofit organization. Publicity is free. This is a key benefit. The nonprofit


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does not pay a media outlet to broadcast publicity, but the nonprofit generally provides the media source with most of the information it will use. Another advantage of publicity is that it is considered by the media’s audience to be news, giving it credibility. Publicity has its disadvantages. The greatest disadvantage is loss of control. Although the nonprofit generally provides most of the information, the media source decides what information to include, how much information to include, and the format, timing, presentation, and tone of the broadcasted information. For a media source to be interested in publicizing for the nonprofit, it must have something considered newsworthy to report. The nonprofit has to determine what events from the nonprofit are potentially newsworthy, create a press release, and forward the press release to the news source. It is more effective for nonprofits to develop relationships with key media individuals to contact before sending press releases. This improves the chances of getting publicized (Bonk, Griggs, and Tynes 1999, Gormick and Gormick 1989, Salzman and Salzman 1998). There is a special type of publicity called a public service announcement (PSA). Many nonprofit organizations send media, particularly newspapers, PSAs. PSAs are brief descriptions of upcoming events. PSAs are sent to the media source well in advance and are printed, in the case of newspapers, in a section of the newspaper, specifically designated for community events. Volunteer Program Managers (VPMs) have more resources available to them than ever before, thanks to the Internet. For example, an idea list of free and paid volunteer notice placement locations on the web is available online at: http://www.nonprofit-info.org/npofaq/04/17.html VPMs can get e-newsletters and join in discussion groups with other VPMs. For more information: http://www.cybervpm.com/

Advertising. Advertising is paid mass communication through a media source. Whereas the advantages of publicity were that it was free and credible, the primary advantage of advertising is control. Advertisers have control over the content and format of the ideas it wants to communicate. Advertisers also control when and where the advertisement will be presented. Advertising can be expensive and few local nonprofit organizations have sufficient resources to produce and maintain an effective advertisement campaign. For advertising to be effective, the message must win the audience’s attention among the vast advertisement clutter that exists in most media today. Once the audience’s attention is gained, the ad must attract the audience’s interest. What is interesting in the message? Then the message must evoke a de-


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sire to support the nonprofit’s cause. Finally, the audience must be motivated to take action. The advertisement must convince the audience that the nonprofit is more worthy than alternatives. The message cannot assume the audience is familiar with the nonprofit. The message must be repeated. Repetition helps the audience remember the message and it adds to the audience’s perception of the nonprofit’s stability and credibility (Ellis 1994). For tips on marketing your organization=s web site see the following web site: http://www.coyotecom.com/webdevo/webmrkt.html

Online Marketing. The Internet and the World Wide Web have made recruiting volunteers online possible. First, the organization should have a web site so that interested persons can refer to it for more information. Second, the basic concepts discussed previously apply. For example, volunteers should not be recruited until the organization has developed specific job descriptions for them. Third, the nonprofit must be prepared to respond quickly to email messages from interested persons. If the nonprofit cannot respond to e-mail messages within a few hours (but not longer than 48 hours), it should not attempt to recruit volunteers online. Also, the organization’s persons who answer its telephone calls should be prepared to discuss volunteer job opportunities that were posted online. If the nonprofit has done an effective job in developing its web site and its volunteer job postings, it should anticipate an increased inbound telephone call volume (Virtual Volunteering Project 2000). In addition to posting volunteer job opportunities on the nonprofit web site, the nonprofit should also post volunteer job openings at online discussion groups. Newsgroups are Internet discussions. Each newsgroup is dedicated to a specific topic. VPMs should find discussion groups in which the topic is appropriate for the volunteer job positing and in which persons joining the discussion are focused on the nonprofit’s geographical area. Another type of discussion group is the Internet mailing list. These mailing lists are groups of people who have joined a list dealing with a specific topic. Someone can post a message and an email will be sent to all persons subscribing to the list. VPMs should monitor the messages to get a sense of the appropriateness of the discussion group before posting announcements (Virtual Volunteering Project 2000). For more information about volunteer recruitment using Internet discussion groups, go online at: http://www.serviceleader.org/vv/vmarket.html


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In addition, volunteer job postings can also be placed on other web sites. Volunteer Match is a web site that allows nonprofits to post, for free, their volunteer job needs. It also is a source for prospects to search for appealing volunteer jobs. Prospects can find volunteer opportunities in their areas by entering their postal zip codes in a search box (VolunteerMatch is located online at http://www.volunteermatch.org/). Prospects using VolunteerMatch can filter search results by distance from their homes, whether they want to volunteer on a one-time or an ongoing basis, when they want to start volunteering, and what cause they want to support. VolunteerMatch claims to have matched over 190,000 prospects with volunteer jobs (for information about other related web sites, go online at http://www.serviceleader.org/vv/vonline2.html). For more information about positing volunteer job announcements online see: 1. http://www.serviceleader.org/vv/vonline2.html 2. http://www.tenet.edu/volunteer/samples/market.html

A related issue deals with virtual volunteering, which is volunteering using online technologies. The volunteer’s tasks are completed entirely or in part online, frequently from their homes. This may be attractive for persons with information technology skills, who want to volunteer, and who prefer to serve the organization online (Virtual Volunteering Project 2000). For more information on virtual volunteering see: 1. http://www.serviceleader.org/vv/index.html 2. http://www.serviceleader.org/vv/howhelp.html 3. http://www.serviceleader.org/vv/resources.html

Direct Marketing. Direct marketing related to volunteer recruitment involves following the basic processes discussed previously, formulating the recruitment message, and delivering that message to a select group via a mailing/call list. List brokers are widely available and have lists of many different types of groups. Direct marketing typically uses telemarketing or direct mail tactics. Ellis (1994) identifies three types of direct mail volunteer recruiting. VPM’s can: (1) send a mass mailing to a targeted mailing list, (2) include an insert in another organization’s mailing, or (3) send personalized letters to select individuals. Mass mailings are expensive and their effectiveness is related to the quality of the broker’s list. Inserts into another organization’s mailings are much less expensive. In many cases the sponsoring organization will not charge the nonprofit postage. Effectiveness is dependent upon the quality of



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the recruitment message, the creative content of the insert, and the group the mailing is being sent to. Many membership organizations send out periodic newsletters (e.g., churches, service clubs) and do not object to including inserts for favorable nonprofits. Individuals the VPM is attempting to recruit using direct mail should be sent a personalized letter (first class postage) with a follow up telephone call. Effectiveness depends upon the quality of the match between the individual and the nonprofit and the quality of the recruitment appeal. Volunteer recruitment using telemarketing techniques follow similar principles to direct mail. The quality of the call lists must be good. This means that the people on the lists are still using the telephone numbers provided. Another dimension of list quality is the appropriateness of the match between how precise the lists are in providing genuine prospects. The acceptance rate using telemarketing is generally around two to four percent so the callers, in addition to being well trained, must be highly motivated to deal with continual rejection. POST-RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES When prospects decline invitations to volunteer, the recruiter must make a judgement. Were prospect’s negative responses final and permanent? If prospects have made it abundantly clear that they have no interest in supporting the nonprofit’s cause, then it is best to avoid them in the future. If, however, prospects have a favorable image of the nonprofit’s worthiness and cause, but they voiced a barrier to volunteering (e.g., insufficient time) then they should be considered good candidates for developing relationships. These prospects can be added to the nonprofit’s mailing lists. Receiving periodic newsletters may help them to feel more connected to the organization and care more about its cause. Their attitude toward the nonprofit may improve. Perhaps they want to support the nonprofit, but cannot volunteer at this time. Maybe they will respond favorably to fund-raising campaigns. After a period of time, these prospects may be willing to become volunteers. On a positive note, some prospects will answer the call to volunteer. The following discussion relates to these new volunteers. Placement New volunteers recruited through tactics described previously can be easily placed into the volunteer job for which they were specifically recruited. This should be regarded as an initial assignment. Over time volunteers may want

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different jobs. Supervisors may discover another role in which the volunteer is more valuable to the organization. Walk-ins, people who come to the organization without recruitment efforts, require more consideration. Assuming that descriptions are available for volunteer jobs, walk-ins can be interviewed by a volunteer supervisor to determine a suitable placement and is also agreeable to the prospect. Prior to placement in many volunteer roles, nonprofits may require background checks or other screening procedures. This is particularly true where the volunteer will work directly with clients of vulnerable populations, like children. For more information, see Tremper and Kostin (1993).

CONCLUSION Many organizations have a training period in which volunteers are taught skills they will need to provide direct service to the nonprofit’s clients. When new volunteers enter training programs with realistic expectations of the nature of the volunteer work, when the training programs are motivating, and when new volunteers have social support, attrition rates are reduced substantially. VPMs must give thought to creating excellent orientation programs for new volunteers. New volunteers need to be given proper supervision, information, and social support in order to be successful, remain motivated, and receive rewards from their volunteer service. Proper social support is critical for successful volunteer programs. New volunteers need to be assimilated into a community of volunteers who support each other and recognize each others times of difficulties as well as achievements. Social support is a key factor to attracting a more diverse volunteer force (Vineyard and McCurley 1992). Successful volunteer recruitment programs are the result of a well-planned, properly executed series of activities. It is also important to remember that recruitment and retention enhance each other. Excellent recruitment practices improve retention. Excellent retention practices reduce the demand for new volunteers. Everyone in the organization should see recruitment as part of their duties. Recruitment to support an important cause is part of furthering the nonprofit’s program. Although some prospects will reject a recruitment appeal, it is important to remember that people are flattered when they are asked to volunteer. Even if prospects reject a request to volunteer, they may support the organization in the future (e.g., by volunteering or making a donation). Recruiting is not a discrete event, it is a continuum of activities. Your recruitment appeal, even though initially rejected, may cause the prospect to think earnestly about volunteering, facilitating future volunteering (Ellis 1994).


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