So now you have your volunteers on board, the goal is to keep them and maintain a stable group of productive and long-term volunteers at your club.
Here’s some tips for keeping your volunteers happy and willing to stay on board:
- Ensure that fun is part of the work – most volunteers want to help out in a happy place.
- Give positive feedback regularly.
- Communicate with your volunteers regularly, use text or email for quick communication.
- Recognise and reward them regularly and appropriately. See our section on ‘Celebrating your volunteers’ for some ideas.
- Offer a discount to any seniors who volunteer to help coach a junior team on their senior registration fees – this has proved successful in increasing the involvement of seniors with the junior club and consolidated the link between juniors & seniors.
- Arrange to spend some time exploring their interests, reasons for volunteering, and expectations from the organisation.
- Have a suggestion box for volunteers to put ideas in. Lots of people have great ideas – be open to accepting them!
- Use your volunteer’s time efficiently. Don’t ask people to come early and then just hang around.