At the end of the afternoon, Sammy Feilchenfeld, a manager with Volunteer Toronto, talked about the changing landscape of volunteering, such as the desire for shorter commitments, a hyper-local focus, the need to onboard well, the blending of formal and informal volunteering. He reviewed many basics of volunteer recruitment, retention, succession planning and volunteer appreciation, such as the need for position descriptions (1-2 pages), good communication, developing a skills matrix and a list of gaps you need to manage; having succession documents in a central place, buddy systems.
Some of the other ideas he suggested: using past volunteers as advocates and ambassadors by keeping them in the loop; having virtual socials – breakout rooms on Zoom); explore opportunities for task-based micro-volunteering; ensure people know they can leave and be celebrated; grow volunteers into new roles.
One of the reasons people don’t volunteer is that they aren’t asked to contribute in a meaningful way.
Sammy also encouraged outreach to many potential partners for recruiting, such as United Ways, volunteer.ca; BIAs; employment agencies, skill upgrading programs, chambers of commerce, community centres, 211.
Sammy’s contact information:
sfeilchenfeld@volunteertoronto.ca
416-961-6888 X229