Volunteer Retention

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Volunteer Retention

• CADS AGM
• October 2008
• Presented by CADS-NCD

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DID YOU KNOW?

• 2004 STUDY
• In a 12 month period, nearly 12 million
  Canadians, or 45 of the population aged 15 and
  over, did some volunteering through a group or
  organization. Their contributions totalled
  almost 2 billion hours, which was equivalent to
  one million full-time jobs. On average,
  volunteers contributed 168 hours each.
• Nearly one fifth of hours was directed to sports
  and recreation

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PROFILE OF A VOLUNTEER

• The percentage of Canadians who volunteer
  generally decreases with age. Over half (55) of
  all young people aged 15 to 24 volunteered
  through a group or organization, compared to
  one-third (32) of seniors aged 65 and older
• Older volunteers tend to give more time. The
  average number of hours volunteered generally
  rises with age, from 139 hours for youth
  volunteers to a high of 245 hours for senior
  volunteers
• People who attended religious services weekly
  were more likely to volunteer their time.

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Success Factors

• ADMMINISTRATION TEAM LEADERS
• Start your recruitment early keep it going year
  round
• Look within
• Address barriers
• Transportation start car pools, ride boards
• Buddy system
• Be clear about expectations
• Regular supervision and support
• Keep everyone informed
• Give them the big picture
• Make them feel that they are a part of something
  big
• Introduce executive committee
• Keep your website up to date (it shows your
  commitment to the program)
• Reach out to the community (high schools,
  colleges, universities)
• Incentive programs (draws for attendance, extra
  special effort, etc.)
• One program charges the CADS registration
  (instead of subsidizing it like other programs)
  providing a fuller sense of commitment (and not
  one complaint)
• Year end award ceremonies

One thing I do at the end of each ski day is to
call two different volunteers that evening and
thank them and talk about the day.they really
seem to like this and are happy we have noticed
what they did that day
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Success Factors

• THE GROUP
• Make sure everyone knows everyone
• And even a little something about each other
• Recognition of people, ideas and efforts
• Name tags
• Applaud the little things (punctuality,
  attendance, responsiveness to last minute
  changes, acts of kindness)
• Chat sessions (away from the environment
  respecting privacy of skiers)
• Have fun soirees, get-togethers
• Acknowledge
• birthdays, anniversaries, special events
  (Valentines Day, Easter)
• Create a method for volunteers to make
  suggestions
• Review the assignments with the group every
  session (to alleviate confusion
• its embarrassing to appear confused or
  unorganized
• Free coffee and hot chocolate at each session (by
  the group who charges the CADS registration fee)
• This makes them feel connected to our program
  and they have fun.
• Social activity at the end of each session for
  volunteers and skiers
• Avoid, discourage cliques

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Success Factors

• THE INDIVIDUAL
• Respect for ability, needs, time
• Volunteering is an integral part of work
  experience offer references
• Expectations need to be
• Clear
• Realistic
• Agreed upon
• Work Perks
• Weekly ski improvement sessions given by CSIA
  Level 3 and 4 certified instructors
• cost reimbursement for successful CSIA Level 1
  course completion
• Are they happy and comfortable take time to
  listen
• Take a survey
• Share the results (anonymously)
• Implement new ideas
• Vary tasks
• As they demonstrate their capability, give them
  more responsibility (not more work)

With excellent training, promotion of safety and
experienced guide support to instill confidence
in new guides, we ensure that they are
comfortable in their assigned tasks and there is
no better feeling than getting results by the
smile of a V/I skier or snowboarder's face! This
goes along way in volunteer retention.
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Success Factors

• COACHING AND TRAINING
• Guide with kindness
• Never criticize openly
• Be honest
• Get them involved (with buddies)
• Do on the hill coaching with the skier
• emphasis should be given to providing ongoing
  supervision that promotes communication between
  the volunteer and team leads
• Engage the volunteer in conversation with the
  parent(s) so that they become comfortable with
  the skier making the parent and the skier more
  comfortable with the volunteer
• Provide guidance as to how to approach a parent
• How to ask personal but critical questions about
  medication, general disposition, mood, etc.
• Match the volunteer as best as possible to the
  skier
• Training Assistant (TA) program for individuals
  13-14 years old (works well for Calabogie).
  These folks seem to work well with our younger
  learning disabled skiers, saving our older
  volunteers backs.
• One on one coaching (at sessions where there are
  more volunteers than are needed)

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Sharing of Ideas

• Sharing their tips tricks that works for the
  volunteer.  
• Using a basic counting system with your
  ski-partner to track progress.  For example, for
  a skier that is struggling with basic turns, you
  could count each perfect turn as you make your
  way down the mountain and continue stating the
  count out loud so that your skier understands
  his/her progress in real time and receives
  positive reinforcement along the way. Many who
  struggle with counting still understand the
  concept of numerical progression.
• Let's say you have an excellent volunteer -- she
  is a good skier and professionally trained in
  dealing with non-verbal children -- you have
  assigned her a child that seems to have been a
  problem with most volunteers but responds well to
  her. What do you do if youget the feeling that
  she wants a different challenge since her work 5
  days a week is with children with communication
  issues? And what would you do if you heard she
  had made such a comment to another volunteer?