New Challenges with Volunteers

I was recently on campus with a client, a nod to trying to get back to a little bit of normalcy, when we entered the building and were immediately greeted, as was quite the norm in the past, by a volunteer welcoming us and asking if we needed any assistance. This may not seem like much, but over the past 18-to-20 months, my experience with volunteers has been almost nonexistent. I’m not speaking about board members, but people who give their time to serve any formal function within the organization. Making phone calls as thank you’s, or greeting people at the front door, or acting as assistance in wayfinding. COVID-19 brought an end a many of these opportunities for people who seek to give with their time and talents.

During the pandemic, volunteering has diminished dramatically. It’s especially so in healthcare where there are great challenges with having additional people in the hospital and trying to keep patients healthy. But I think all nonprofits have suffered. Pre-pandemic, according to the Nonprofit Times, volunteering, or the willingness to, has diminished by almost half. And many of those who still wish to volunteer would rather do so virtually going forward. That’s a challenge when your organization is using those amazing individuals to serve in a specific function within the operations of the organization. Maybe more disturbing, the organizations that will not allow volunteering at all has nearly doubled. And, going forward, only 45% of donors will do some type of “in person” volunteering compared to 57% pre-pandemic.

What’s all of this mean for us in the nonprofit world? It means we’re going to have to find new ways of building relationships that replace volunteer opportunities. Also, there’s a rhythm to volunteering. Many volunteers are retired and use their volunteering as part of their weekly routines. If out of the schedule, other routines will replace it. How do you reestablish those relationships that have been lost and/or build new ones with people who have found different alternatives for their weekly routine? 

I think the other part that will become more important is the realization by organizations that volunteers should be an incredible gift opportunity, even if it’s a planned or estate gift, both in the short and long-term. People who give their time and show up are great prospects. But many times, the organization wants to protect them from the fundraisers instead of embracing the idea of a connection.

While I’m not sure of all the answers, I do know that nonprofits are going to have to talk about how to allow volunteers to be engaged at an appropriate level and reestablish or reassess the connection between fundraising and volunteerism.