1
Michele Canning
Director of Volunteer Services
San Francisco, Conservatory of Flowers
How the Internet Has Changed Volunteering:
An Insiders Guide to Recruiting a New Generation of Volunteers
September 22, 2005
2
Serena Pahal
Volunteer
I Have a Dream
Who are they?
3
Deirdre Araujo
Manager of Volunteer Services
Exploratorium
What are they interested in?
4
Jeff Jones
Program Coordinator
MicroMentor
What is so different?
5
So What?
Bryan ConnellVolunteerOUTDOOR Exploratorium Project
6
User Research Study
December 2003:
• 996 random interviews selected from VM’s 30,000+ nonprofit user base1
• 1,122 random interviews with active users sampled from VM’s 1.5+ million annual visitors2
• Published in the Journal of Volunteer Administration, Volume 22, Number 3, 2004
1&2 Based on 2003 Numbers
7
Profile
Overwhelmingly female (84% women, 16% men)
Highly educated (57% have at least a college degree), and of the 39% who do not have a degree, half are under age 18
Young (50% are under age 30, 32% are 40+
Diverse (58% are Caucasian, 11% are African American, 10% are Hispanic)
8
What they care about?
30%
2%18%
50%
Compared to other things you do in your life, how important to you is your volunteer work?
One of the most important things
in my life
Very important
Somewhat important
Not very important
9
How often do they volunteer?
29%
18%
23%
30%
6%
32%
46%
16%
How often do you volunteer?
Three times a year or
less Four to 11
times a year
How many hours per visit do you volunteer?
One to three
times a month
One or two
hours
Under an hour
Three or four hours
Five or more hours
Once a week or
more
10
First-time volunteers
25%
75%
I had not volunteered
before
I had volunteered
before
11
What are they most interested in?
9%
11%
12%
12%
13%
14%
15%
16%
19%
20%
20%
29%
48%Children/youth
Animals
Homeless/housing
Education/literacy
Advocacy/human rights
Community
Arts/culture
Hunger
Environment
Women
Health/medicine
Crisis support
Seniors
12
What are their challenges?
15%
18%
20%
22%
23%
26%
32%
35%Finding volunteer opportunities
that match my scheduleGetting specific information
about volunteer opportunitiesFinding volunteer opportunities
that interested meFinding opportunities nearby/
convenient to get toFinding opportunities that
matched my skills/abilitiesFinding an organization with
a cause I care aboutFinding an organization
that needed helpFinding an organization
responsive/easy to work with
13
Jun-03Sep-03
Dec-03Mar-04
Jun-04Sep-04
Dec-04
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
Volunteers Using the Web to Connect
Monthly Visitors
50,000,000+ page views in 2004
14
Word of mouth
Our Web site
Internet recruiting services
Live presentations to groups
Events
Newspaper ads
Local volunteer center
Relationship with local corporations
Direct mail
Radio/TV ads
Nonprofits Using the Web to ConnectMost useful nonprofit
volunteer recruiting strategies
71%
45%
37%
33%
29%
29%
17%
15%
8%
8%
15
Finding the right place to serve
21%
48%
21%
10%
How many volunteer opportunities do you generally respond to before finding the right place to volunteer?
One Four to six
Two or three
Seven or more
16
From referral to volunteer
6%
17%
36%
21%
20%
On average, what proportion of the people who respond are you able to engage as volunteers?
50% to 100% of the people
20% to 49% of the people
None ofthe people
10% to 19% of the people
1% to 9% of the people
17
Strongly agree with statement Somewhat agree with statement
Impact on Nonprofits
26%
32%
38%
49%
Has helped us reach out/ recruit volunteers we wouldn’t have found
Makes it easier for us to find the right volunteers
Has helped us find the volunteers we need
Has allowed us to free up valuable resources
85%
68%
85%
79%
18
Impact on volunteers
41%
40%
50%
Strongly agree with statement Somewhat agree with statement
Makes it easier for me to find the right opportunity
I am more likely to find satisfying volunteer
relationship
I am more likely to volunteer
86%
79%
82%
19
Common Online Recruiting Mistakes
Putting the sign in the garage
Forgetting volunteers have choices
Not being specific enough
Mistaking a referral for a reservation
Not being ready to say, “No Thank You.”
Letting listings rot
20
An Insiders Guide
Use the web to build relationships, not dump information
Give volunteers a chance to help the organization do what it does, not what the staff would rather not
Don’t feel obliged to take volunteers
Think big and re-shape your opportunities accordingly
Be choosey
It is your responsibility to lead
21
Real World Examples
Think outside the box about what volunteers will do
Tech support, focus groups, web development
See the big picture, scale matters
Working with groups, national recruiting, automate
Distribute responsibility by breaking down big activities into manageable parts
Open source model, media volunteers
22
Final Observations
The web has quickly become a powerful tool bringing good people and good causes together
Choice and information are shaping a new generation of volunteers
Volunteers have higher expectations of their volunteer experiences
The growing supply of volunteers is allowing nonprofits to be more particular
Meaningful volunteer experiences require strong nonprofit leadership
23
Serena Pahal
Volunteer
I Have a Dream
Thank You