This topic contains 3 replies, has 4 voices, and was last updated by 
carda1 9 months, 1 week ago.
-
Posts
-
Hello candidates. It tends to be the same for a lot of charities and organizations, that the lion’s share of the work is done by a few volunteers. What are your ideas for recruiting people to help with WGA projects and events? And what can you do so that too many people don’t get there to help and then there is nothing for many of them to do?
In my work with other organizations I have found that people respond best when asked to do a specific task for a set time frame. Last year the WGA implemented an online sign up to volunteer to work at the WGA booth running the PathTag game and for the pancake breakfast. From the volunteer side I liked the ability to sign up for a specific job and time frame. I look forward to finding out how well this worked at Cache Ba$h.
When expecting an unknown number of volunteers, I find it helpful to list all the various tasks and break them down into small bite sized pieces. Depending on the number of volunteers, people can work individually or in small groups to complete a task or tasks. If you have more tasks than volunteers, small groups could work on more than one together. Another option would be to have people pick a task and invite those who finish quickly to come pick another one.
Always, you need to thank volunteers for sharing their time and talents. People who know you genuinely appreciate their willingness to volunteer are more likely to volunteer again.
I must say, Mrs. Book Lover has summed this up very eloquently, and reminds me of what my husband tells me when he talks about organizing events (as that as something he has experience in). I remember when we were planning our backyard wedding, and my personal experience has been that giving volunteers very specific and quantifiable tasks has the biggest success! Sometimes that looks like telling the heavy hitters to go grab a drink of water and sit for a minute so they don’t pass out, and sometimes it looks like turning the work into a lighthearted game or competition amongst helpers.
I think a big part of this is planning ahead of time what exactly needs to get done on a workday, and determining a realistic number for how many people do it. That way you know how many people to recruit and can get them started on a project right away!
I think that listing the specific tasks needed to be done along with time slots and then asking people to sign up would be step 1. Then if a task is not filled, I would reach out to cachers that haven’t volunteered yet but attend the events regularly and explain what needs to be done and ask for their help. By having specific tasks outlined, you shouldn’t have an excess of people with nothing to do. Once their job is done, they are able to go enjoy the event. I think short time frames are key. People are more willing to give up an hour or two of their time versus a whole day.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.