What Volunteers Enjoy Most

I recently reviewed the regular volunteers at our organization, to find, among other things, what they enjoyed most about volunteering.  The question on the form was open ended, so volunteers were free to create their own responses.  Based on their answers, I created 10 Categories.  31 volunteers responded, and the chart below shows the results.




 As I stated in Volunteers Are People, the gathering of this type of information is completely useless...If it is not followed by action!  So, based on these results, I plan to do the following:

Helping Others

• Make sure volunteers have contact with the people that our organization serves
• Share stories of clients who's lives have been changed through our programs
• Post statistics that show how many people we have helped

Socialization

• Promote a culture where volunteers have fun while doing their work
• Introduce new volunteers to current volunteers
• Take an interest in volunteers

Sense of Accomplishment

• Assign volunteers to positions that match their interests and skills, but are also challenging.
• Notice when a volunteer goes above and beyond
• Create a "Featured Volunteer" column in the volunteer newsletter
• Give certificates or pins for years of service, numbers of hours, or number of clients served.

The best thing that you can do for your organization, and for your volunteers, is to be passionate about the work you do, and the about the people involved, and know that it is making a difference.  When you have this mindset, you can be sure volunteers will enjoy their work.  No matter what aspect the enjoy most.