The Nonprofit FAQ

Can we recruit volunteers via the Internet?
Jayne Cravens answers:

Yes, you can, and recruiting volunteers on the Internet offers a number of benefits:

- It's an effective, fast, no-extra-cost way to find volunteers.

- It's an excellent way to target non-traditional volunteers, and people
that are under-represented on your volunteer ranks -- seniors, ethnic
minorities, people with disabilities, etc.

- You can reach a very targeted group, such as a particular kind of
professional (a lawyer focused on the arts, a human resource professional
in a particular region, an accountant with expertise in a particular kind
of software, etc.)

Online marketing should not replace your offline recruitment methods. It
will, however, augment those efforts, by reaching new audiences and
reminding people how they can support your organization.

Before you post volunteer information in cyberspace, however, some words of
caution:

- DO NOT recruit volunteers online (or offline, for that matter) until you
have well-defined, written opportunity descriptions, and you have an
immediate next step for people who call or email about these opportunities
(a date for a face-to-face meeting or orientation, for instance). Asking
for volunteers but not having a method to immediately place them into your
volunteer program is like advertising a product you don't really have, and
it can cause hard feelings about your agency on the part of potential
supporters.

- Make sure those who answer your agency's phone know you are posting
information to the Internet, in case there is an increase in phone calls
regarding volunteer opportunities or people call and reference "that e-mail
you posted."

Use a combination of BOTH online databases (Action Without Borders,
ServeNet, VolunteerMatch/Impact Online, etc.), your own web site, and
online discussion groups (e-mail lists, USENET newsgroups, etc.).

Lisa Orr, from volunteerfrederick.org, suggested this addition in November of 2005:

The Points of Light Foundation and Volunteer Center National Network link to more than 300 volunteer centers that have on-line volunteer recruitment and can be accessed through a centralized portal 1-800-VOLUNTEER (online at http://www.1-800-volunteer.org/). Users can also find the local volunteer center in their area through this portal.

The Points of Light Foundation itself is at http://www.pointsoflight.org/

Jayne Cravens suggested these sites as useful on August 26, 2003:

  • If you accept people from the u.s. as volunteers, try posting your volunteer
    opportunties to http://www.volunteermatch.org

  • If you want people from various countries to apply as volunteers, try
    posting your opportunities to http://www.idealist.org

  • If online volunteers -- people who help you from their home or work
    computers -- could be involved, then post such assignments to
    http://www.onlinevolunteering.org (formerly http\://www.netaid.org/ov).


For a list of more volunteer-related sites
and links, see http://www.serviceleader.org/vv/vonline2.html

For information on how to use online discussion groups (e-mail lists,
USENET newsgroups, etc.) to target market volunteer opportunities, see:
Marketing Volunteer Opportunities Online
http://www.serviceleader.org/new/managers/2003/04/000065.php

Other Resources:

- Outreach Netiquette -- the Do's and Don'ts of Outreach
http://www.glikbarg.com/internet/outnet.html
by Steve Glikbarg, a co-founder of Impact Online

- Virtual Volunteering Project
http://www.serviceleader.org/vv/
How to Use the Internet to Involve Volunteers

The Free Management Library discusses online recruiting at http://www.mapnp.org/library/staffing/recruit/recruit.htm#anchor542602



Revised 11/12/99 by Jayne Cravens; revised, additional information added 8/26/03; 2/10/04, 3/24/05; 12/1/05 -- PB