Volunteering comes at a cost, for both the volunteer and the recipient organisation who manages the relationship and receives the service.  Therefore, as with paid employees, retention and engagement are just as important for those who donate their time in a volunteering capacity.

Assuming you have recruited the right volunteers and attracted like-minded individuals who in are involved and invested for their own reasons and not just yours, you are half way there.  However the ideal volunteer workforce mimics that of a paid one, and people deserve to be motivated, acknowledged and engaged in the goals of the organisation to an even greater degree.  Without the lure and reward of a pay packet, volunteers can in fact be more difficult to manage, particularly if you don’t have the correct mix.

Sometimes the perfect volunteer appears with the ideal skill set and training, and offers to fill just the right role, but more often than not, people will be well meaning and enthusiastic but lacking the skills you need most.

Immeasurable hours of value and contribution can be made by volunteers with minimal or no training such as people who cook and serve at the local ‘sausage sizzle’ or assist in setting up for or cleaning up after a large event and this contribution is no less important. However those who work as volunteer treasurers, for example, or prepare assistance dogs for training, or support people with disabilities will require a specialised and more focused skill set, and this is where training is not only a key engagement tool, but also in many cases an essential requirement and the reason the volunteer was attracted to the role in the first place.

Some organisations with large volunteer numbers across a variety of roles offer training course to all volunteers regardless of whether they are relevant to the role or not.  For example, if a proportion of your team require recognised and accredited first aid training and you have engaged someone to deliver in house, offer it across the board.  Generally speaking, the addition of extra trainees do not incur a great deal of extra cost providing the total number is within acceptable limits.  This generic skill can be a huge incentive for volunteers to join and stay with your organisation in the longer term.

Another way to engage and retain volunteers through training is to leverage the skills and knowledge of your more experienced, long term or qualified people to assist in training others. Your orientation process could involve ‘shadowing’ a volunteer for a day or three, or by asking a volunteer to present to a group of recruits considering joining your team or at their initial orientation session. Not only does this acknowledge the existing volunteers worth, but gives them the ability to develop their own training, management and public speaking skills.

Most trainees come to your organisation with limited knowledge and experience of who you are and what you do and therefore have ‘fresh eyes’ and a different view point than those who have been involved for a while. Take advantage of their enthusiasm and encourage them to make suggestions, share ideas, and improvements and give feedback. Not only can you gain insight into ways to improve your training or processes but also the organisation as a whole.

Just like paid employees, volunteers get bored, unmotivated, stale and feel unappreciated from time to time. Training, or involving volunteers in the training process, can be just the ticket to re-engagement or re-energising those who have given so much and have more to give to your organisation.