Table of contents
The Three Rs
Volunteer coordination comes down to three things. Recruit the right people. Roster them effectively. Recognise their contribution. Get all three right and your volunteer base is stable. Get any one wrong and you are in a perpetual recruitment cycle.
Recruit: Finding the Right People
Be specific about what you need. "We need volunteers" is invisible. "We need someone who can operate a BBQ for 3 hours on Saturday mornings, once a month" is actionable. Specific asks attract specific people.
Recruit from your membership. Your best volunteer pool is your existing members. They already care about the club. They just need to be asked — personally, not via a broadcast email.
Match skills to roles. The retired accountant is your treasurer candidate. The graphic designer can do your newsletter. The project manager can coordinate events. Ask people to use skills they already have, not learn new ones.
Lower the entry barrier. Not everyone can commit to a committee role. Offer one-off tasks: help at this event, write this newsletter, organise this working bee. Some will become regular volunteers. Most will not, and that is fine. You still got the task done.
Roster: Organising the Work
Build a roster, not a rota. A rota assigns the same people to the same tasks forever. A roster rotates duties, spreads the load, and gives people breaks.
Track availability. Ask volunteers when they are available before assigning them. Do not assume availability. People who feel their time is respected stay longer.
Send reminders. Automated reminders 48 hours before a rostered shift. People forget. Reminders prevent no-shows.
Have a backup plan. Someone will cancel. Always have a backup option — either a standby volunteer or a reduced-service plan for the event.
Use a shared calendar. Everyone can see who is rostered when. No confusion. No double-booking. No "I thought you were doing it."
Recognise: Keeping People
Say thank you. Often. After every event, every shift, every completed task. Personally, not just in a group message.
Public acknowledgment. Mention volunteers in the newsletter. Thank them at the AGM. Post a thank-you on social media.
Track hours. Some volunteers will need documented hours — for employment, for school requirements, for personal satisfaction. Tracking hours shows you value their time.
Milestone recognition. One year of volunteering. 100 hours. 50 events. Whatever milestones matter to your organisation. Acknowledge them.
Social events. An annual volunteer appreciation event — dinner, drinks, a BBQ. Volunteers need to feel they are part of a team, not just a labour resource.
The Coordinator's Dashboard
In TidyHQ, you can track:
- Active volunteers and their roles
- Event attendance and participation
- Task completion rates
- Total volunteer hours by person and by period
Review this monthly. Which volunteers are being over-rostered? Who has not volunteered in three months? Where are the gaps in your roster?
The Retention Metric
Track volunteer retention year over year. How many of last year's volunteers are still active? If retention is below 60%, something in your recruit-roster-recognise cycle is broken. The data will usually tell you which one.
Above 75% retention, your volunteer program is healthy. The same people come back because they feel valued, fairly rostered, and part of something.
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