Give Thanks to your Volunteers

It’s always important to demonstrate a high level of gratitude and to give thanks to your volunteers. These individuals have taken time out of their busy lives to help deliver on the various goals of your nonprofit organization. Whether these volunteers are helping you clean up around the city or raising research funds for a terminal illness, you need their overwhelming support to meet your organization’s goals.

Giving thanks to your volunteers need not be difficult. It could be as simple as saying thank you or as elaborate as holding a banquet to celebrate their contributions to your organization. The extent of the gratitude should reflect the number of volunteers, their contributions, and the size of the organization. For instance, a bake sale with one volunteer would likely need a simple thank you. However, a large multi-day event with hundreds of volunteers would likely warrant some sort of larger banquet, in order to accommodate a larger crowd.

Here are some ideas that you could use to give thanks to your volunteers:

• Thanks – this one word can go a long way in showing gratitude to your volunteers. Say it often.
• Free Shirts – this is not only a great way to say thanks to your volunteers, but it a great marketing strategy. Volunteers will likely wear these around the city and therefore increase your organization’s reach. This could be more effective than other advertising campaigns (e.g., Facebook, Newspapers, etc.) as it has a very personal appeal.
• Banquet – if you have many volunteers, you could explore the possibility of holding a banquet. The banquet need not be limited to just volunteers, but could also be used to raise awareness by extending the invitation to others in the community. You could enlist the services of a local band and make it free for volunteers.
• Other Free Stuff – offer a snack, lunch, etc., to your volunteers. It’s possible that you could seek out local grocery stores that will donate this food, and therefore would not affect your fundraising goals.

Whatever your organization decides to do, be sure that you speak these two words often and loud: “Thank you”.