Volunteer appreciation is something that I have thought a lot about.  For a while, we used to do a volunteer party, which we ended up not doing anymore for a couple of reasons: 
1) it is very labor intensive, and expensive which would be just fine BUT
2) only a small fraction of our volunteers could attend, despite our attempts to schedule it with a lot of notice and at a convenient day/time.  (We have over 200 volunteers a year)

It was a lot of money and effort to put into something that didn't reach all of our volunteers. Being invited to an event isn't enough of a thank you for a non-attendee--it's pretty frustrating to have an event "in your honor" that you can't attend.

SO.  We moved to a new model, which is working really well.  This year, we asked everyone to give us their addresses, and we mailed them thank-you cards, signed by the person (or people) who ran the program(s) they volunteered to.  We also included a Bicycle Benefits sticker in the card, as a tangible (and inherently valuable) thank you.  Not everyone gave us their address, and next year, I might include a "pick it up in person" option for folks.

I have gotten multiple appreciative thank yous from folks, and I feel much more comfortable about the percent "thank you" coverage I got from this.

In order to make this work, we had to have a couple of things in place:
1) a database of volunteers with at least reasonably accurate information about the programs that they worked with.
2) some money set aside for "staff time" for card signing
3) some tangible "thank you" gift to indicate that we aren't just paying lip service to their generous donation of time. 

We also don't recognize length of service time, and at our parties tried not to differentiate too much between volunteers in terms of differentiating between "value" of their donated time.  We gave rose boutonnieres to folks with 100+ hours of volunteering to their name, but decided not to make any other announcement.  Because, honestly, what people give is what they CAN give.  Example: If a billionaire gives $100, it's more helpful to us, but a poor person's $1.00 is a bigger percentage of their income, and therefore more valuable to them, and more of an indication of emotional investment.  Same with time.  Some folks have a lot of free time, and others have very little.  We need to acknowledge both gifts equally because folks are giving us what they can give.  I would probably not do the boutonnieres again.

Best,


Mary Catherine Graziano
Education and Volunteer Manager
Local Motion
1 Steele St., Burlington, VT  05401
phone: 802-861-2700 ext. 106
fax: 802-861-3096

www.localmotion.org

We offer: Kids' Bike Skills Programs for schools, recreation programs and summer camps: www.kohlskidsbikesmart.org

AND Bike Skills Programs for adults: http://www.localmotion.org/education/everydaybicyclingproject

      




On Wed, Jul 12, 2017 at 2:53 PM, Sophie Verdon - Cyclo Nord-Sud <sophie@cyclonordsud.org> wrote:
At Cyclo Nord-Sud, volunteers are also a very important part of our ressources! we throw a volunteer party every year. We are having a meeting this week on volunteer organisation and appreciation so I'll keep you posted about that! 

Sophie Verdon
Chargée de projet – Opérations et animation 
514 843-0077 • 1 888 843-0077
cyclonordsud.org • facebook.com/cyclonordsud
Faire un don à Cyclo Nord-Sud
Bureau, entrepôt : 8717, 8e Avenue, Montréal, QC H1Z 2X4



De : Thethinktank <thethinktank-bounces@lists.bikecollectives.org> on behalf of Edward Kirkwood <kirkwoodea@yahoo.com>
Répondre à : Edward Kirkwood <kirkwoodea@yahoo.com>, The Think Tank <thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org>
Date : mercredi 12 juillet 2017 14:09
À : "thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org" <thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org>
Objet : [TheThinkTank] Volunteer Appreciation

Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop is looking to implement a more formal volunteer appreciation process in an effort to retain and acknowledge volunteers better. Looking for input on how the rest of the community bike shop world handles this. Do you acknowledge individuals for length of service by hours volunteered or simply an anniversary of their first date of volunteer service? What tiers of acknowledgement do you implement such as 1 month, 2 months, up to 6 months and then perhaps each year after that, 1 year, 2 years ...........and so on?

Volunteers are our most valuable resource and as we try to expand our hours of operation we need more folks since we are a 100% volunteer organization.

Allen Kirkwood
Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop
Lexington, KY
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