Recruiting and Retaining Adult Volunteers

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Recruiting and RetainingAdult Volunteers

• Pete PoormanGreat Plains District
  RoundtableDecember 13, 2001

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Tonights Objectives

• Learn principles and techniques that will enable
  you to
• Attract adult volunteers to your Troop, and
• Retain them for the long term
• Contribute techniques that work for you
• Discover resources to help you secure adult
  volunteers
• Leave with actions you can take to increase
  volunteerism in your Troop

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Agenda

• Motivations
• Techniques
• Idea sharing
• Practical exercise
• Wrap up

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Agenda

• Motivations
• Techniques
• Idea sharing
• Practical exercise
• Wrap up

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Top 10 Reasons that Scouters Volunteer
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• 5. Have a spare hour each week
• 4. Its an excuse to go out with the boys
• 3. An itch to use their trailer hitch
• 2. Really, really, like green
• 1. Knee socks!

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Why Scouters Volunteer

• Ensure the safety of their son or daughter
• Verify that their son or daughter will benefit
  from Scouting
• Ensure a quality program for their Scout
• Improve Scouting for many young people
• Improve society the world

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What retains volunteers?

• A sense of belonging
• A role in planning
• Rational, achievable objectives
• Making a significant contribution
• Participation in setting the rules

• Knowing whats expected of them
• Real responsibility
• Visible progress
• Open communication
• Confidence in their leaders

The Effective Management of Volunteer
ProgramsMarlene Wilson, 1976
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What retains Scouters?

• Living the Scout Law
• Training especially Wood Badge
• Moves people across the gap from personal
  interest to helping others
• Recognition (turn in your Y.E.S. awards!)
• Responsibility
• Friendship
• Saying thank you!

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Agenda

• Motivations
• Techniques
• Idea sharing
• Practical exercise
• Wrap up

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Recruiting Hints

• Be outgoing and approachable
• Always greet parents and other adult visitors
• Take the time to really talk to them
• Follow up on any expression of interest
• Overt
• Just hanging around
• Take em camping
• See what its about
• Time to talk
• Consider covering adult membership costs
• Ask!

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Recruiting Techniques

• Know what you need
• Know whats available
• Talk to people
• Resource survey
• Approach people one-to-one
• Group appeals rarely work
• Fit the role to the person
• Note Background checks are a must!

Resource Survey
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Agenda

• Motivations
• Techniques
• Idea sharing
• Practical exercise
• Wrap up

13
Agenda

• Motivations
• Techniques
• Idea sharing
• Practical exercise
• Wrap up

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Agenda

• Motivations
• Techniques
• Idea sharing
• Practical exercise
• Wrap up

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Resources

• Troop Resource Survey
• BSA Form 34427
• Troop Committee Guidebook, page 22
• http//www.meritbadge.com/files/resource.pdf
• Selecting and Recruiting Adult Leaders
• Chapter 5, Troop Committee Guidebook BSA
  34505B
• Selecting Quality Leaders BSA 18-981
• A Guide for Recommending Merit Badge Counselors
  BSA
• The Effective Management of Volunteer Programs
• Marlene Wilson, Johnson Printing, 1976 (out of
  print)
• How to Grow a Scout Leader
• http//www.macscouter.com/TrulyScouting/ThingsScou
  ting.html
• Professor Beaver Getting Parental Involvement
• http//usscouts.org/profbvr/parent_involvement/ind
  ex.html
• This presentation http//www.troop261.org/misc/r
  oundtable

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Reviewing Our Objectives

• Learn principles and techniques that will enable
  you to
• Attract adult volunteers to your Troop, and
• Retain them for the long term
• Contribute techniques that work for you
• Discover resources to help you secure adult
  volunteers
• Leave with actions you can take to increase
  volunteerism in your Troop

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• A Troop isnt necessarily the people standing
  before you its the sum of all the people that
  came before.
• Leonard Pelky, 6/9/2001