s/o nonprofit marketing: How should nonprofits get volunteers?

[Amira]

I agree that it's really annoying when you get constantly pestered to donate blood, time, or money, or when organizations act like there's a constant emergency.  But what would be a better way, especially for donations of time or blood?  I'd rather not have this thread be about financial donations.

I ran a blood drive a couple of days ago.  Some people kept telling me that I had to sent multiple emails over several weeks to our donor base to get them to sign up, but I just couldn't do it, for the reasons listed in the other thread.  I did a lot of outreach and personal invitations, which I think is more effective than spamming people, but we had a low turnout.  The blood drive was still worth doing, but it would have been more worthwhile for the staff's time if more donors had come.

So how should I get a better turnout for our next blood drive in four months? Or to sign up for other community service options?  

[Clarita]

I don't mind as much if the emails/solicitation from the organization to help them spread the word vs. just asking me over and over again to donate. I do agree outreach and personal invitations work a lot better in terms of getting me there, but I also need something easily shareable like an email or flyer (I can take a picture of with my phone) to share with my friends and associates.

[SKL]

One thing they do around here is get high schools to promote it to their students and staff.  Nowadays, kids as young as 16 can donate if they have the right body dimensions.

Maybe physical lawn-type signs?

On bulletin boards at Panera, rec center, library, etc?

Advertise it on community online newsletters, facebook page, etc.?

I also think that promoting a specific community drive is different from what I was complaining about, where I was just being hounded to donate anywhere.  (There are multiple daily options here for people who want to donate, it isn't just a once-every-8-weeks opportunity.)

[Arcadia]

47 minutes ago, Amira said:

The blood drive was still worth doing, but it would have been more worthwhile for the staff's time if more donors had come

For blood drive, in my area they typically do it at the school parking lot during term time or at the library parking lot. Those places typically have higher foot traffic and it makes it easier for volunteers to reach out to passerby and ask. Our council lady would also post on Facebook in the neighborhood group as well as send out an email to the neighborhood group. 
 

47 minutes ago, Amira said:

Or to sign up for other community service options?  

For community service volunteering, the volunteer coordinators typically reach out to the high school counselors and they will get a boatload of students who need volunteer hours for their President's Volunteer Service Award as the students are trying to chalk up more than 100 hours of volunteer work. 

Edited June 12, 2023 by Arcadia
typo

[DeainUSA]

Was it on FB and posted on community pages?  People can mark interested and they will get reminders.

[JennyD]

I am the chair of a local community organization.  We do several events every year that need a lot of volunteers.  What I have learned:

(1) Two weeks out is the sweet spot.  Most people won't commit many weeks -- let alone months -- in advance, and those few who do often wind up cancelling.  

(2) Break a long event into shifts, preferably of no more than 1.5 hrs.

(3) Have people sign up by shift, not by job.  People want to know what time they have to be there and when they can count on leaving.  They mostly don't care so much whether they are working the ticket booth, setting up, or washing dishes.  (And the few who do care will tell you.) So fill your shifts, assign them to jobs yourself, and then tell them what they're doing when they get there.

(4) Remind people multiple times what time they need to show up AND where to go.

(5) Be prepared for a couple of volunteers to cancel at the very last minute.

(6) After the event, thank everyone profusely and make them feel appreciated however you can do so.  For one of our events we hold an afterparty for volunteers; for another, I send individual thank you emails.  Volunteers also often have great suggestions about how to make the event even better, so keep a document or file with those notes.

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by JennyD

[kbutton]

For blood drives, it's nice if they are at work or at a predictable community place. We have blood banks that are open *any time,* but it takes FOREVER to get in and out. Forever. Where I grew up, they do a blood bank with both walk-in slots and appointments, and it was held in a walkable part of town at predictable intervals. High schoolers over a certain age/weight were excused from school to donate as well. I am not sure how they do it now, but that tended to draw a really large amount of donors.

Also for blood banks, they need to figure out how to solve the problem of people who clot before they donate the whole pint--the lack of a solution for that problem knocks out two eligible donors in our household, and one of them has a high demand blood type. Nothing is more frustrating than psyching yourself up (if you've had a bad experience) and then having them throw away your 2/3 pint of blood because you clotted off, and the anticoagulant in the bag is calibrated for a whole pint. Training the people who draw the blood better would also help. The last time I donated, they had trouble sticking me, and I am an EASY stick (phlebotomists have nothing good to say about the blood bank people when I tell them the blood bank had a problem). After that, the person monitoring me had to adjust the needle a million times; when she did so, she noticed that if she moved it a certain way, the needle vibrated in my arm. She thought that was funny and decided to show her co-workers. I had a bruise the size of a softball, and I either barely filled the bag or failed to fill it. Every single time I gave, they had a hard time getting me not to clot. 

[Laura Corin]

13 hours ago, SKL said:

One thing they do around here is get high schools to promote it to their students and staff.   

Here blood donation opportunities are advertised directly through the local university channels as well as gently to existing donors. The last time I went, they seemed busy.