Recruiting volunteers can be difficult and time consuming, but there are tools that nonprofit organizations can use to recruit and manage volunteers. Finding the right volunteer for the job can be even harder in Hawaii where only 21 percent of the population volunteers regularly, according to the Corporation for National and Community Service. Fortunately new methods for volunteer recruitment are being created while older methods are still valuable.
The newest tools for volunteer recruitment are online. Websites like Volunteer Match allow nonprofits to list jobs which volunteers can express interest in. This allows nonprofit organizations to target that 21 percent of people who are already interested in volunteering.
Volunteer Match also allows organizations to post virtual volunteer opportunities. If a nonprofit organization can use remote volunteers to work online or on a computer, they can recruit anywhere in the world. The HandsOn Network also provides online tools for finding and managing volunteers through their local affiliates.
An established way to find volunteers is to use connections that already exist. Community ties are especially strong in Hawaii, with the Corporation for National and Community Service reporting that almost 65 percent of people do favors for their neighbors.
These people are already volunteers, but they may not know it yet. Nonprofit organizations can use those close ties with neighbors, friends and relatives to boost organizational volunteering by reaching out to churches and other civic organizations. Existing volunteers can also be a big help when they recruit from their own social networks.
Nonprofit organizations need volunteers to help serve their communities, but in order to do that they must reach out to the people who want to volunteer. New tools like websites and old ones like social networks can make this task much easier.
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