The challenges of running a nonprofit that depends heavily on volunteers
By Ariane
Working with our client gave me a more nuanced understanding of the challenges facing organizations that rely primarily on volunteer work.
In order to build an efficient and reliable volunteer management system, it helps to investigate key aspects of the volunteer process such as recruitment, retention, and motivation.
Categorizing and streamlining recruitment
Recruitment can be a labor intensive process but it is possible to streamline the approach by customizing the recruitment process to the type of volunteer. For example, an organization may decide to use three different recruitment methods: (1) Recruit university students: In this case, students are motivated by the nonprofit’s mission or are looking for some aspect of professional development to build their skills. In return, the nonprofit is seeking a certain level of expertise, whether it be a communications major who can help with their marketing campaigns or an engineering student that can help with solar panel installation. (2) Recruit beneficiaries: Direct beneficiaries of the solar energy project will be more in touch with local residents, which is key to helping the nonprofit earn trust and build a strong reputation and network within the community. By working with the organization, beneficiaries can bring innovative ideas for improvement to ensure that the products and services remain in the best interest of the community. (3) Recruit and partner with experts: Our client organization hired pro bono lawyers to help incorporate a cooperative that will serve families in the community and make their business model more sustainable. They also work with schools and teachers that provide free mentorship training to young children, and institutions that train adults looking for certification to become electricians and solar panel installers. Experts and professionals are often inspired by the nonprofit’s mission and are looking for ways to use their expertise to give back to disadvantaged communities.
Adapting the role to the type of volunteer and retention rate
Our client’s nonprofit has only 6 paid employees but over 60 volunteers. With an organization that relies so heavily on volunteers, we decided to categorize the roles into long term and short term positions, and also identify positions critical to their operations that might be worth turning into paid positions. Even with a strong recruitment process, it can be difficult to retain volunteers. Nonprofits like our client experience high turnover rates for a number of reasons. For example, our client found that many beneficiaries stay only for a few months until they find a paid job, which makes them less reliable and wastes a lot of money spent on training. They might choose to redesign those roles to adapt to the high turnover rate, or hire a manager who oversees the volunteers who can be held accountable for the deliverables. By incorporating some flexibility into the roles and responsibilities, the nonprofit can set more achievable goals for the volunteers. Other roles critical to the functioning of the organization may be worth investing in paid employees who they can depend on.
Incentives aligned to volunteer motivation
Incentives can be a powerful way to compensate volunteers for their time. There are many ways to motivate and incentivize volunteers. By understanding the volunteer’s motivations (belief in the mission, education, professional development, occupational activity, etc), the nonprofit can choose the appropriate incentive. For example, students looking for professional development opportunities should receive training and real life work experience. Those passionate about the organization’s mission should have roles where their contribution is meaningful and fulfilling.
Incentives aligned to organizational goals
While it’s important to align incentives to the type of volunteer, it is also important to align incentives to organizational goals. For example, the nonprofit has 6 volunteer engineers. They work in three areas: operational maintenance of power plants, building and designing engineering projects, and increasing energy efficiency. If their organizational goal this year is to install and maintain 15% more solar panels than last year and increase efficiency by 10%, each volunteer should be assigned individual goals that contribute to the overall goal. Then, the nonprofit can use a number of strategies to incentivize volunteers to achieve their OKRs, such as community building, recognition, skill building, purpose, meeting beneficiaries, etc.
We are looking forward to working with this nonprofit to help enhance their volunteer management system and align their human resources strategy with the organization’s goals. We have discussed the organization’s department structure and roles in depth, and next we plan to facilitate a brainstorming session to help them clarify their organizational goals and align them with individual OKRs.