1 Michele Canning Director of Volunteer Services San Francisco, Conservatory of Flowers How the Internet Has Changed Volunteering: An Insiders Guide to.

1

Michele Canning

Director of Volunteer Services

San Francisco, Conservatory of Flowers

How the Internet Has Changed Volunteering:

An Insiders Guide to Recruiting a New Generation of Volunteers

September 22, 2005

2

Serena Pahal

Volunteer

I Have a Dream

Who are they?

3

Deirdre Araujo

Manager of Volunteer Services

Exploratorium

What are they interested in?

4

Jeff Jones

Program Coordinator

MicroMentor

What is so different?

5

So What?

Bryan ConnellVolunteerOUTDOOR Exploratorium Project

6

User Research Study

December 2003:

• 996 random interviews selected from VM’s 30,000+ nonprofit user base1

• 1,122 random interviews with active users sampled from VM’s 1.5+ million annual visitors2

• Published in the Journal of Volunteer Administration, Volume 22, Number 3, 2004

1&2 Based on 2003 Numbers

7

Profile

Overwhelmingly female (84% women, 16% men)

Highly educated (57% have at least a college degree), and of the 39% who do not have a degree, half are under age 18

Young (50% are under age 30, 32% are 40+

Diverse (58% are Caucasian, 11% are African American, 10% are Hispanic)

8

What they care about?

30%

2%18%

50%

Compared to other things you do in your life, how important to you is your volunteer work?

One of the most important things

in my life

Very important

Somewhat important

Not very important

9

How often do they volunteer?

29%

18%

23%

30%

6%

32%

46%

16%

How often do you volunteer?

Three times a year or

less Four to 11

times a year

How many hours per visit do you volunteer?

One to three

times a month

One or two

hours

Under an hour

Three or four hours

Five or more hours

Once a week or

more

10

First-time volunteers

25%

75%

I had not volunteered

before

I had volunteered

before

11

What are they most interested in?

9%

11%

12%

12%

13%

14%

15%

16%

19%

20%

20%

29%

48%Children/youth

Animals

Homeless/housing

Education/literacy

Advocacy/human rights

Community

Arts/culture

Hunger

Environment

Women

Health/medicine

Crisis support

Seniors

12

What are their challenges?

15%

18%

20%

22%

23%

26%

32%

35%Finding volunteer opportunities

that match my scheduleGetting specific information

about volunteer opportunitiesFinding volunteer opportunities

that interested meFinding opportunities nearby/

convenient to get toFinding opportunities that

matched my skills/abilitiesFinding an organization with

a cause I care aboutFinding an organization

that needed helpFinding an organization

responsive/easy to work with

13

Jun-03Sep-03

Dec-03Mar-04

Jun-04Sep-04

Dec-04

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

Volunteers Using the Web to Connect

Monthly Visitors

50,000,000+ page views in 2004

14

Word of mouth

Our Web site

Internet recruiting services

Live presentations to groups

Events

Newspaper ads

Local volunteer center

Relationship with local corporations

Direct mail

Radio/TV ads

Nonprofits Using the Web to ConnectMost useful nonprofit

volunteer recruiting strategies

71%

45%

37%

33%

29%

29%

17%

15%

8%

8%

15

Finding the right place to serve

21%

48%

21%

10%

How many volunteer opportunities do you generally respond to before finding the right place to volunteer?

One Four to six

Two or three

Seven or more

16

From referral to volunteer

6%

17%

36%

21%

20%

On average, what proportion of the people who respond are you able to engage as volunteers?

50% to 100% of the people

20% to 49% of the people

None ofthe people

10% to 19% of the people

1% to 9% of the people

17

Strongly agree with statement Somewhat agree with statement

Impact on Nonprofits

26%

32%

38%

49%

Has helped us reach out/ recruit volunteers we wouldn’t have found

Makes it easier for us to find the right volunteers

Has helped us find the volunteers we need

Has allowed us to free up valuable resources

85%

68%

85%

79%

18

Impact on volunteers

41%

40%

50%

Strongly agree with statement Somewhat agree with statement

Makes it easier for me to find the right opportunity

I am more likely to find satisfying volunteer

relationship

I am more likely to volunteer

86%

79%

82%

19

Common Online Recruiting Mistakes

Putting the sign in the garage

Forgetting volunteers have choices

Not being specific enough

Mistaking a referral for a reservation

Not being ready to say, “No Thank You.”

Letting listings rot

20

An Insiders Guide

Use the web to build relationships, not dump information

Give volunteers a chance to help the organization do what it does, not what the staff would rather not

Don’t feel obliged to take volunteers

Think big and re-shape your opportunities accordingly

Be choosey

It is your responsibility to lead

21

Real World Examples

Think outside the box about what volunteers will do

Tech support, focus groups, web development

See the big picture, scale matters

Working with groups, national recruiting, automate

Distribute responsibility by breaking down big activities into manageable parts

Open source model, media volunteers

22

Final Observations

The web has quickly become a powerful tool bringing good people and good causes together

Choice and information are shaping a new generation of volunteers

Volunteers have higher expectations of their volunteer experiences

The growing supply of volunteers is allowing nonprofits to be more particular

Meaningful volunteer experiences require strong nonprofit leadership

23

Serena Pahal

Volunteer

I Have a Dream

Thank You