Melanie Lockwood Herman and Emily Stumhofer from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center share tips to help volunteers stay on pitch.

Nonprofit leaders often refer to volunteers as the heart of a charitable mission. This hopeful outlook often inspires passionate volunteer service.

But the risk of discord exists when nonprofit leaders are naïve about the cost of volunteer service. Volunteer service may be unpaid, but that doesn’t mean a volunteer works for free. Volunteers require time, energy and resources from a nonprofit’s leaders to ensure they are receiving appropriate training and guidance, and are putting their passion to use in the most beneficial way for both the volunteer and the nonprofit.

Risk Tips to Help Volunteers Stay on Pitch

Tip #1. Be appreciative and prepared. From the first meeting with your volunteers, you want to exude confidence and passion about the work of your nonprofit. If you are excited about your mission, this will help get your volunteers on board and enthusiastic about helping out. Impress your new volunteers by being especially organized in all meetings and trainings. This will also help you ensure that you are conveying the appropriate message.

Tip #2. Be honest and clear about volunteer roles. Well-written position descriptions are essential to volunteer success. Describe the specific duties and expectations of volunteers in a document that you post online or email to prospective volunteers. An effective volunteer position description is a self-screening tool: it helps a prospective volunteer evaluate whether they are suited for the role. Self-screening not only saves an organization time and resources, but it allows for a potential volunteer to identify and match their skill set to the right nonprofit. After reading about specific roles a volunteer will be expected to play, that volunteer will ask herself whether she is actually suited for that particular role, and whether she is comfortable performing associated tasks.

Tip #3. Be supportive. Although volunteers don’t receive a paycheck, they require your investment to succeed. Don’t skimp on volunteer support and training. In addition, be generous with your respect for the important work that volunteers perform. Before recruiting new volunteers, ask:

> Do we have the time to train and support new team members?
> Are we clear about what volunteers will do, who will provide supervision, and the minimum skills we need?
> Have we identified specific characteristics that will render an applicant ineligible to serve?
> Are we truly committed to the success of our volunteers?

If the answer to any of these questions is “no” or “maybe…” consider postponing volunteer recruitment. You’re not ready. Remember, passionate volunteer service has a price tag.

Tip #4. Don’t take dangerous shortcuts; design tailor-made policies. Volunteers want and need to know the important rules in your nonprofit. But to show them your utmost respect, turn off auto-pilot, shelve worn, impractical or outdated policies, and take the time to create relevant policies for the here and now of volunteer service. By taking the time to consider exactly what rules, procedures and policies your organization needs to have effective volunteers, you can prevent future confusion and lack of clarity.

To learn move about best best practices in volunteer program creation and management, check out the Nonprofit Risk Management Center’s No Surprises: Harmonizing Risk and Reward in Volunteer Management. You can also register for the 2015 Risk Summit in downtown Chicago, Sept. 20-22 and attend a session on managing risk in your volunteer program. For more information, contact us at the Nonprofit Risk Management Center, [email protected] or 703-777-3504.

— Melanie Lockwood Herman and Emily Stumhofer, Nonprofit Risk Management Center