Keeping Volunteers Coming Back

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Keeping Volunteers Coming Back
AGED 6200 Keegan Varner
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Reasons for the Topic

• Extension Educators constantly struggle with
  keeping Volunteers coming to meetings, and
  keeping involved in general.

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Heartbeat of OCES

• Volunteers are the heartbeat of the Oklahoma
  Cooperative Extension Service
• Growth of volunteers in the past decade
• Agriculture, Horticulture, Food and
  Nutrition, Master Gardeners, 4-H,and RD County
  Community Leadership Teams
• 4-H Youth Programs

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Extension Educators Struggles

• How to keep volunteers
• How to get volunteers to come to meetings
• How to get research based information to
  volunteers ( postal service, e-mails, meetings)
• Volunteer Trainings which is the best way to
  train

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Dependence on Volunteers

• Extension Educators strongly depend on
  volunteers
• Getting information out to clientele/
  constituents
• Aide educators in planning, organizing and
  executing meetings, events and activities
• Volunteers preside over their own meetings
  freeing up the Extension Educators to reach more
  clientele

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Extension Educators Misbelieve

• Experienced Volunteers do not need trainings
• Not enough interest in trainings
• Educators Time
• Volunteers do not have time to come to trainings
• Volunteers have previous trainings through other
  organizations
• Volunteers prefer one on one trainings

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Reasons Volunteers Quit

• Not receiving sufficient trainings
• No information or not informed
• Volunteers feel insufficient and unable to
  perform a quality job
• Volunteers feel like they are doing grunt work
  and not really part of the program and no true
  ownership

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Work Load of Volunteers

• Volunteers have a large work load
• Extension Educators cannot be everything to
  everyone
• Extension Educators give too much responsibility
  to volunteers
• Volunteers get burned out and over spent

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Work Load of Volunteers cont.

• Extension Educator assist in training volunteers
  how to spread out the work
• Specialize in a single area or discipline
• Form Parents Committees
• Co-Leading events and clubs

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Educators Need To Survey

• Extension Educators need to survey and assess the
  needs of their volunteers to properly serve the
  clientele (Cook, 1986)

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Proactive Volunteer System

• County Situations
• Strategies used for recruitment of new adult
  volunteers
• Never asked to serve as a volunteer
• 41 of active volunteers were asked directly to
  serve ( survey taken)
• Educators have much work to do to recruit new
  volunteers

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ISOture Model

• 1. Identification
• 2. Selection
• 3. Orientation
• 4. Training
• 5. Utilization
• 6. Recognition
• 7. Evaluation

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Identification

• Where in the organization do we need volunteers
• Position descriptions for opportunity
• Skills necessary for position

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Selection

• Who is willing to perform the duties
• Who is qualified for the position

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SelectionRecruitment

• Effective recruitment packets
• Educators can present professional materials to
  potential volunteers in a timely manner
• Oklahoma Extension has the Oklahoma 4-H Core
  Competencies manual
• The Core Competencies manual provides Educators
  with professional and efficient presentations and
  handouts
• Self Study Series for volunteers who cannot
  attend group trainings

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SelectionRecruitment

• News Articles in Core Manual
• Newsletters in Core Manual
• Oklahoma Educators do have a fighting chance of
  reaching volunteers without reinventing the wheel
  in each county ( Oklahoma, 2005)

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Orientation

• Expectation from the position
• OCES Mission
• 4-H Organization
• Risk Management

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Training

• Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, meetings
• District, and State training opportunities

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Mentor Program

• Mentoring Program to assist with retention of
  volunteers after recruitment
• Study done by OSU ( Oregon State University)
  teaming experienced volunteers with newcomers
  improved their Master Gardener Programs
• Seasoned volunteers made the newcomers feel
  welcome, answered questions, followed up with the
  newcomer
• Seasoned volunteer can do even more the an
  Extension Educator has time to do

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Mentor Program cont.

• New volunteers not only completed their classes
  for MG and also their voluntary service
  commitment
• The end result meant more Master Gardeners to
  serve the community which assisted in recruitment
  (Rogers, 1997)

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Utilization

• Do not let them get stale
• Do not overuse them
• Put them where they best fit

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Recognition

• Donation of time is not for the recognition
• Studies show 3 areas as to why adults volunteer
• 1. Achievement
• 2. Affiliation
• 3. Power
• Achievement pride in their accomplishments
• Affiliation rewarded by relationships built by
  meeting people
• Power control and influence
• (Culp,1999)

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recognition

• To meet the needs of volunteers, educators will
  have to step away from some of the
  cookie-cutter approaches they have used in the
  past to recognize volunteers.
• Attracting and keeping volunteers will take more
  than a simple thank you or the run of the
  mill certificate
• Educators need to be creative and look at
  recognition as a relationship not an event
• Personal hand written thank you notes

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recognition

• Important role of the Extension Educator is to
  train our 4-H youth to show our volunteers their
  appreciation.
• Youth thanking adult volunteers is more
  appreciative thank educators thanking volunteers.
  (Culp,1998)

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Evaluation

• Meet with volunteers to see how they are doing in
  their position.
• See what their expectations are for the future of
  the program.
• Have a written record of the evaluation for the
  volunteers file.

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Three Simple Things

• Educators must be willing to give volunteers
  sufficient information through different
  educational methods
• Actively recruit volunteers and establish a base
  that encourages the volunteers to come back
• Fulfill needs and show appreciation through
  personal avenues

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Heart of OCES Beating

• The heart of OSU Cooperative Extension will keep
  beating if we recruit, recognize and appreciate
  our volunteers new and seasoned.
• In return we will keep our educational purpose
  and goals alive.