Volunteer Trends & Online Engagement

Volunteer Trends

May 2009

Objectives

• Review current volunteer trends

• Develop effective strategies for engaging volunteers

• Overview of Social Media

Volunteer Trends

• Youth

• Families

• Older Adults

• People affected by the current economy

Volunteer Trends

Today’s volunteers are seeking the following types of volunteer opportunities:

• Skills-based & project-based• Focused on impact• Creative• Meaningful & challenging• Flexible or virtual• Offer targeted experience or training• Make them feel like they are making a difference

Volunteer Trends

Today’s volunteers expect:

• Freedom to research volunteer options and connect online

• Fast response time • Less authoritative management and less

bureaucracy• More professionalism• To feel that their time is being used effectively

Developing a Strategy

Identify your agency’s volunteer needs

• Be creative

• Be mindful of current trends – What are you doing to appeal to today’s volunteers?

Go where the volunteers are

• In your community

• Online

As of December 2008,

74% of American adults

use the internet

Pew Internet & American Life Project (December 2008)

Volunteer Engagement Online

•Include strategically placed (i.e.: obvious) link to volunteer opportunities on home page

•Use stories, pictures (both cause-related and of diverse volunteers), and videos when possible

http://www.austinfoodbank.org/

Volunteer Engagement Online

• Discuss varied volunteer roles and options

• Include download-able application or online application form

• Include FAQs, a phone number and an e-mail link for questions

http://www.miriamskitchen.org/HELP/Volunteer/tabid/69/Default.aspx

Volunteer Engagement Online

• Growing marketing trend – allow people to select the type of information they would like to receive from your agency

Volunteer Engagement Online

•Trends in Constituent Satisfaction with Nonprofit Websites: Building Membership, Donations, and Loyalty through the Web Channel:

http://www.foreseeresults.com/_downloads/researchcommentary/ForeSeeResults_NonprofitWebsiteStudy_Spring2009.pdf

In 2005, 8% of online adults had a profile on an social network site.

Today, 35% do.

Pew Internet & American Life Project (January 2009)

Social Media Goals

• Engage in conversation with volunteers and colleagues

• Share information– Educate others about your agency and/or issue– Learn from others

• Increase transparency and responsiveness• Build community• Network• Advocate

Social Media Challenges

• Giving up control of the conversation

• Achieving a comfort level using social media

• Balancing organization’s identity with personal identity

• Time/personnel resources for maintaining social media presence

• Adjusting to ever-changing landscape of social media – being flexible

• Understanding technology and terminology

• Measuring ROI (return on investment)

Social Media Getting Started

Identify• Which types of web 2.0 does your organization want to use? What is your goal?• http://www.chrisbrogan.com/if-i-started-today/

Identity• Establish an identity and keep it consistent across platforms• Balance organizational goals with personality

Invest• You get out of Social Media what you put into it

Interact• Don’t make the mistake of thinking that social media is all about YOU and

YOUR organization – it’s about interactions

Info taken from: http://dannybrown.me/2008/11/30/the-four-is-of-social-media/

LinkedIn Median age is 40

6% of adult social network users

Pew Internet & American Life Project (January 2009)

The Guardian UK: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/mar/09/socialnetworking-facebook

State of the Twittersphere Q4 2008 report

Facebook Median age is 26

22% of adult social network users 168% global audience growth in 2008

Twitter Median age is 31

11% of adult social network users5-10 thousand new accounts

opened daily (growing quickly)

MySpace Median age is 27

50% of adult social network users

3% global audience decline in 2008

Social Media Getting StartedSocial Media Facebook Cause

• Profile (personal)

• Page (organization)

• Causes (organization)

http://www.facebook.com/ http://apps.facebook.com/causes/193813?m=5e8b17e0

Social Media Getting StartedSocial Media Facebook Page

• Free Report: Twitter Jump Start - The Twitter Guide for Small Non-Profits http://www.corporatedollar.org/twitter-jump-start-the-complete-guide-for-small-non-profits/

• Twitter Mini-Guide: http://www.hybrid6.com/webgeek/2009/01/a-twitter-mini-guide-60-useful-twitter-resources.php

• The Digiactive Guide To Twitter Activism: http://www.digiactive.org/2009/04/13/twitter_guide/

Social Media Twitter

http://search.twitter.com/

http://monitter.com/

http://twitter.com/

• 26 Nonprofits on Twitter: http://mashable.com/2009/03/19/twitter-nonprofits/

Social Media Getting StartedSocial Media MySpace

http://www.myspace.com/

Resources – Online

Go online!

• Research what others are doing related to both volunteer management and web 2.0

• Learn about volunteer trends, volunteer management and new technologies using resources such as webinars, Slide Share, YouTube, and podcasts

Idealist.org http://www.idealist.org/en/vmrc/index.html

Energize Inc. http://www.energizeinc.com/

Volunteer Match http://www.volunteermatch.org

Points of Light Institute http://www.pointsoflight.org/

Hands On Network http://www.handsonnetwork.org

Cyber VPM http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cybervpm/

UPS Foundation – Best Practices http://community.ups.com/philanthropy/toolbox.html

Nonprofit Risk Management Center http://www.nonprofitrisk.org/

Resources – Online

Resources – Online

http://www.idealist.org/en/vmrc/index.html

Resources – Webinars

http://www.volunteermatch.org/nonprofits/learningcenter/

http://www.nten.org/events/webinar

Resources – Slide Share

http://www.slideshare.net/VolunteerSpot/family-friendly-volunteering-service-project-ideas-from-az

Resources – You Tube

Volunteer Tribute Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe-QyxX3r1w&feature=channel Common Craft’s Twitter in Plain English:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o&eurl=http://video.google.com/videosearch?as_sitesearch=youtube.com&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-USiurl=http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/ddO9idmax0o/hqdefault.jpg (also, check the “More” section for other Common Craft videos)

Resources – You Tube

Miriam’s Kitchen Awareness Video: http://www.youtube.com/miriamskitchen

Resources – Podcasts

501c3 Cast http://www.501c3cast.com/

Energize Inc. http://www.energizeinc.com/hot.html

Volunteer San Diego Podcasts

http://vsdpodcast.org/

Resources – Social Media

• NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Network): http://www.nten.org/

• Tech Soup: http://www.techsoup.org/

• We Are Media: http://www.wearemedia.org/Tool+Box

• Change.org: http://nonprofits.change.org/

• Using Social Media Sites to Promote Your Mission: http://www.fundraising123.org/article/using-social-networking-sites-promote-your-mission

• 10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media: http://spurspectives.com/10-ways-to-change-the-world-through-social-media/

• Internet Giving Benchmark Analysis: http://www.blackbaud.com/targetanalytics/benchmarking/dcinternet.aspx

• Net Squared: Remixing the Web for Social Change: http://www.netsquared.org/about

Resources – Social Media

12for12k: http://www.12for12k.org

Nonprofit Blogs• Beth’s Blog: How nonprofits can use social media

– Subscribe.– How to Use Social Media Effectively:

http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2009/01/convios-now-is-the-time-campaign-a-healthy-social-media-lifestyle.html

• John Haydon: Social Media Marketing for Small Nonprofits: http://www.corporatedollar.org/

• The NTEN Blog: http://nten.org/blog

• Blog for Change: http://www.blogforchange.org/

• Chronicle of Philanthropy Blogroll: http://philanthropy.com/giveandtake/

Social Media Blogs• Danny Brown: http://dannybrown.me/

• Suze Muse: http://suzemuse.netfirms.com/

• How to be More Productive with Social Media: http://www.interactiveinsightsgroup.com/blog1/how-to-be-more-productive-with-social-media/

Resources – Blogs

Montgomery County Volunteer Center

401 Hungerford Drive, 1st Floor Rockville, Maryland 20850

Phone: 240-777-2600  |  Fax: 240-777-2601  |  email:

volunteer@montgomerycountymd.gov

Website Link:http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgtmpl.asp?url=/Content/Volunteer/index.asp

Resources

Questions & Thank You

Mickey Gomez

Volunteer Center Serving Howard County

www.volunteerhoward.org

mickey@volunteerhoward.org

Twitter: @volunteerhoward