Giving Compass' Take: 

• Encouraging and retaining volunteers for organizations can be challenging.  The tips below will help you draft policies to keep volunteers engaged. 

• What would you need to stay engaged as a volunteer? And what kinds of organizations are good at retaining volunteers? What is their approach?

• One part of volunteer engagement is finding high-quality volunteers first.  

Regardless of the size or type of your nonprofit, volunteers are probably your lifeblood — perhaps even more than your donors.

Getting the people who voluntarily give their time to your organization to stick around involves setting and managing expectations, and creating and putting policies in place to define operations. Otherwise, volunteers might leave or become disgruntled.

A 2011 report published by Opportunity Knocks that polled over 2,000 employees in the nonprofit sector found 34 percent of respondents often or always feel “used up” by the end of their workday.

Even though the study surveyed employees rather than volunteers, it’s still indicative of why it’s so important to have policies in place. By doing so, you can reduce the amount of anxiety people may feel when they sign up to give time to your organization.

Here are six things to keep in mind when creating those policies:

  1. Create And Distribute A Volunteer Handbook
  2. Explain Procedures To New And Potential Volunteers
  3. Remember, Life Happens
  4. Let Volunteers Know Where To Seek Help
  5. Maintain Confidentiality And Explain Why It’s Essential
  6. Lay Out Policies For Disciplinary Action

Read more about administrative ways to keep volunteers in action by Kayla Matthews at VolunteerMatch.