Will & Leadership
What People Want
13 Conversation About 1 Thing
Every organization should know instantly why people volunteer (or join) them.
The core values or mission of your organization is attractive. It is so attractive, in fact, that people will choose to give up their time and energy to take part in your mission with those core values.
Maybe your volunteers also believe in world peace or fighting cancer. Maybe they feel that animals should be rescued or battered women should be sheltered or clean drinking water made available to everybody. Maybe they want to learn to dance, or compete in a sport, or grow closer to God.
I don’t know what your volunteers want. But you should because that’s what your organization is all about.
So if you start using your volunteers to do the “other” work that needs to be done - bookkeeping, advertising, set-up and tear-down - make sure they also understand how that work benefits what your organization is about as a whole. Make it personally rewarding for them on some level. Give back to them what they came looking to you to give.
Really, what I’m talking about is simply treating them with respect and dignity. “Doing unto them,” as the saying goes.