RECRUITING
OTHER VOLUNTEERS
“The most important
thing our school has learned as a community is how willing our community
is to support student projects.”
-4H Wildlife
Stewards Member School Teacher
One of the keys to success
for creating and sustaining a Habitat Education Site on school grounds
is recognizing that you can’t do it alone. Any successful project
will require the collaborative efforts of students, teachers, school
administrators, custodial and grounds staff, community partners and
parent volunteers. Time and time again, the projects that failed or
could not be sustained over time were the projects in which one or two
people tried to do it all. Even the most enthusiastic and committed
individuals cannot promise that they will always be there to carry out
the project. People get sick, move away, or just burn out. If one or
two people are trying to carry the ball by themselves and something
should happen, then the ball will drop and the project will fail. A
Habitat Education Site that is abandoned and not maintained can create
substantial damage to the credibility of the school and outdoor learning
centers. It will make it more difficult for someone to try and restart
the project later. It is well worth your time to identify, recruit and
place volunteers into various roles in your project.
Identifying, recruiting and
supporting other volunteers can seem like a daunting and overwhelming
task. However, it doesn’t have to be. You are not asking people
to help you with your project – you are providing them the opportunity
to make a difference in their community and with youth. Many people
are more than willing to help if you ask them. So, what are you waiting
for – ask them!
But wait! First it is important
to have a plan. There can be nothing more frustrating to a volunteer
who shows up to help and there is nothing worthwhile for them to do.
They may leave out of frustration and never return or even worse- they
may tell others about their frustration.
The first step to
recruiting other volunteers in your program is to identify your volunteer
needs. This could be a good planning session for your Habitat
Team. Some of the volunteer roles that 4-H Wildlife Stewards Member
Schools have developed include:
- Project Notebook Coordinator
- provide leadership to the upkeep of the Project Notebook which is
the historical journal of the project
- Bulletin Board Coordinator
- give them guidelines of what to include on the 4-H Wildlife Stewards
bulletin board then let them do it
- Work Party crew leaders
– crew leaders work with large groups of students and families
at major work parties
- Phone Tree - calls other
parents and volunteers to remind them about special events such as
work parties
- Resource Librarian - secures,
inventories and maintains all the 4-H Wildlife Stewards libraries
- Speakers Bureau Coordinator
- someone to contact special speakers and events to visit your school
and make presentations to the students on special topics related to
their Habitat Education Site
- Materials and Supplies
Coordinator - identifies and secures donated materials and supplies
(plants, soil amendments, rocks, etc.) for the site
- 4-H Wildlife Stewards
Member School Newsletter or Website - this is a great way to keep
the entire school community updated on the progress of your project.
The newsletter editor or web designer could work with the students
on this project. It’s a wonderful way to encourage students
to develop their language arts skills
- Artist in Residence –
many parents have special art skills. They may be willing to share
their skills with students to create an art mural on the school wall
facing the Habitat Education Site or help students design artistic
signage for the habitat.
- Summer Maintenance Crew
Leaders- assign families one week each during the Summer months to
visit the Habitat Education Site and water and weed if needed. This
is especially important the first summer when new plants were planted
in the spring.
The list is endless. It will
all depend on your project needs. Keep in mind that this list will need
to be revisited from time to time. As the project grows and develops,
your volunteer needs will also grow. Keep this list in a place where
you can easily access it and that it’s publicized to other parents
and community members.
Once you’ve
decided the volunteer roles you need, you need to decide how many hours
per week or per month this job will take. A work crew leader
will only need to commit 3-4 Saturdays per year for 4-5 hours. The Project
Notebook Coordinator, however, needs to be involved year round. However,
the Project Notebook Coordinator will probably only need to devote 1
hour a week at most. Whatever your team decides, you need to be prepared
to answer “How much time will this involve?” In today’s
world everyone’s lives are busy. They need to know what the time
commitment will be. More importantly, they need to know that this will
not be an endless job – there is an end. The more specific you
can be about the volunteer role, the better you will be able to attract
volunteers.
So now that you have
decided what volunteers you need and the time they will need to commit,
how do you recruit these volunteers? There are a number of
ways that 4-H Wildlife Stewards have had success recruiting volunteers.
A combination of all of these ideas is what, in the end, will work best.
Like managing a stock portfolio it’s best to diversify.
- Probably the best
approach to recruiting volunteers is a personal invitation.
People are more willing to volunteer if they are asked. Your Habitat
Team can brainstorm who some of the people are that might fit well
into one of the volunteer roles. It is important to keep in mind that
you want to match the volunteer with a role that matches their personal
passions, time availability and personality. An artistic or creative
type might enjoy updating the 4-H Wildlife Stewards bulletin board
each month. The stay-at-home mom with small children at home may find
that making phone calls to other parents is a good way she can get
involved with her time constraints. A mother or father with a hobby
of carpentry, gardening or other skills might be good work crew leaders.
When inviting someone
to join “the team” remember, you are providing him or
her an opportunity – an opportunity to make a difference in
his or her community. Approach them with enthusiasm and be prepared
to share your vision for the project. If someone can see your enthusiasm
and how they can fit into this vision you have a good chance of
recruiting them. You can also offer them to come up with their own
role in this project. Perhaps they have a special skill or passion
that they would like to contribute that you haven’t thought
of. Sometimes some of the best volunteers were the volunteers who
emerged once the project began because they saw something they could
contribute.
- Prepare a Presentation
for your PTA, Back to School Night or Neighborhood Association: The
4-H Wildlife Stewards Office can help you with publicity materials
and loan you a video tape to make a presentation to one of the local
community groups to recruit volunteers. Call the president of the
local group and ask to get on their agenda. In most cases, they will
only allow you 5-10 minutes. So you will need to develop a compelling
and persuasive talk in a short amount of time. Pictures say a thousand
words. So, if you have pictures, slides or videotapes it will help
others get excited about your project. Also, consider inviting 1-2
students to help you make your presentation. Not only will students
get the attention of your audience, but it will help students develop
their presentation skills. Or perhaps the thought of getting up in
front of a group terrifies you. Recruit someone from the school –
a teacher or another parent volunteer to deliver the presentation.
At the end of the presentation be sure to pass around an interest
form so people can sign up if they want to be contacted for volunteering.
- Organize an Information
Meeting: Several 4-H Wildlife Stewards have had tremendous
success organizing and hosting a Habitat Education Site Information
Meeting. With the support of the school principal, flyers were sent
home with each student announcing the information meeting and inviting
parents to come and find out more about the project. Keep the meeting
to no more than 1 hour. A meeting that goes long may scare some people
away who are already feeling over-committed. Give parents a tour of
the site or potential site and help them see the vision for the project
and how this project will benefit their entire school community. You
might also invite a special guest such as a local wildlife specialist
or some parents from another 4-H Wildlife Stewards Member School who
can share their experiences. It’s a good idea to have light
refreshments. If the meeting is held in the evening, some people may
be coming directly from work and will be hungry. It’s important
to have volunteer sign-up sheets for everyone who attends. Be sure
each person completes a volunteer interest form even if it’s
to say no they cannot commit at this time.
- Display flyers,
posters and other information in the school newspaper, the 4-H Wildlife
Stewards bulletin boards and other areas where the community members
and parents coming into the school can see. Advertise to
everyone that you are looking for volunteers and provide a phone number
where they can get more information.
- Sell Key People
on Your Ideas:
There are key people in any community that have the respect and influence
from those around them. They also have a large network of friends
and acquaintances. When they speak, people take notice. This person
might be the school principal, the president of the local Kiwanis
Club or a parent who is active in many areas of the school. If you
can win over and convince these key individuals your need for volunteer
help, they can spread the word and be a key ally in your volunteer
recruitment efforts.
Be sure to recognize
and reward your volunteers: Sustaining and retaining your volunteers
over time is just as important as recruiting new volunteers. The more
volunteers you can keep active in the program, the less time you will
need to devote to recruiting new volunteers. Recognizing and rewarding
volunteers is important to retaining your volunteers. However, different
people like to be recognized in different ways. Therefore, it’s
important to know a little bit about the personality and motivations
of your volunteers and then find ways to recognize them that takes into
consideration their needs. It might be a verbal praise, a certificate,
a personal note from you, a letter from the school principal, their
name published in the school newsletter or on the 4-H Wildlife Stewards
School bulletin board or an invitation to a volunteer recognition party.
There are countless ways to recognize your volunteers. Remember, everyone
appreciates recognition and it will go a long way toward building a
strong volunteer program.
Probably the most important
step you can make toward recruiting other volunteers is recognizing
that volunteers are critical to the project success. The more people
you get involved the more likely you will experience success. Recruiting
and retaining volunteers is like creating, using and sustaining Habitat
Education Sites on school grounds – dream big but start small. |
