Volunteers in the nonprofit sector are one of the most valuable resources, because they help decrease cost, help staff shortages, and impact the community being served. However, there has been a staggering 23% decrease in formal volunteering across the nation (National Council of Nonprofits). Instead of looking for ways to recruit new volunteers, how can a nonprofit keep their own volunteers? By simply implementing the following strategies, any nonprofit leader can look to better retain their own volunteers.

Strategies that require immediate action

There are strategies that nonprofit leaders need to implement now for best results. The first strategy is to train and assign specific volunteer work in the beginning. This may seem elementary, but nonprofit leaders need to train their volunteers before they serve. Nonprofit leaders can set clear expectations and remind volunteers that their work is as valuable as a paid staff member.

Many nonprofits use volunteers to do “grunt work” around the nonprofit. Not to say that this work is not important, but to retain volunteers, the work needs to be challenging and engaging to their specific professional strengths. For example, if a volunteer has experience with budgeting a bank account, a nonprofit leader should assign that volunteer with work that uses their budgeting skills. In this way, the volunteer is serving in a way that is desirable for them and it values the volunteer better. By training and assigning specific work beforehand, the volunteer will be satisfied and will want to serve again with the nonprofit.

Another strategy that requires immediate action from the nonprofit leader is to reward volunteers throughout the year. Because volunteers are a valuable resource to nonprofits, the volunteer needs to know that they are valued. By simply rewarding the volunteer throughout the year displays that the nonprofit organization is benefiting from their work and appreciates the help. Simple applications of this can include hosting an end-of-the-year awards ceremony and/or recognizing a “volunteer of the week” with a small reward. If more volunteer work is recognized by the nonprofit, there will be more volunteer retention.

Long term strategies

There are some strategies that require more patience and a “long-term” mindset for the nonprofit leader. The best strategy that fits this mold is to build a “volunteer-centered” culture. In other words, there needs to be a culture that cares more about the volunteer than the nonprofit growth. This is hard to implement quickly, because the volunteer needs to learn to trust the organization over their time of serving. By simply saying there’s a good culture is vastly different than experiencing it. 

Nonprofit leaders can prioritize the volunteers’ time, communicate often with volunteers, and provide opportunities to grow their professional experience. All of these “little things” can help create a culture that values the volunteer. When volunteers consistently experience a nonprofit organization that values their time and work, they will be satisfied enough to continue serving the next year. Building a culture is difficult to do (especially with the unpredictable climate of the nonprofit sector), but it is one of best contributing factors for volunteer retention.

At the end of the day, the volunteer needs to be satisfied to continue to serve for a nonprofit. Leaders and managers need to value their volunteers just the same as paid staff. This can be done by training volunteers properly, assigning specific professional work, rewarding their work, and creating a culture that values volunteers. By implementing these strategies, nonprofit leaders can bank on having better volunteer retention rates for future years of service.

Benjamin Bray 2024 graduate of the Masters of Nonprofit Leadership and Management program at Arizona State University. He is currently an Algebra 1 Teacher in the Higley Unified School District. He currently volunteers for Parents U-Knight, which is a nonprofit organization that supports the football program at the school.

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The Service Enterprise Initiative provides training and accreditation to nonprofits that are committed to implementing exemplary volunteer management practices to achieve operational efficiency and greater social impact.Through our Service Enterprise diagnostic, team training and one-on-one coaching, we strengthen the capacity of organizations to strategically and effectively address organizational and community needs.

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