The primary objective of any nonprofit project is simple; to identify the needs of a specific group of people in the community, and fulfill those needs. To achieve this aim, the organizers of the project have to meet specific strategic, financial, operational, and partnership goals.
The first place to begin with your organization is to ask yourself what you want with volunteers. Do you want them to work with you on fundraising events? How do volunteers align with your mission and the work of your staff? Are you ready and willing to develop job descriptions, policies, and procedures to work with volunteers? Do you have a point person or two who will have the responsibility and accountability in working with volunteers? Remember that you ideally want to offer short-term projects with a high impact so you can share their success.
There are several pathways through which your goodwill may manifest in your community. In this blog post, we have supplied six ideas to inform your decisions and prepare you for the next course of action.
1. Veteran Support
Veterans are our real-life superheroes. It’s only just and fitting that they get rewarded with equal love and care, as a reward for their sacrifices in times past. Veteran volunteer advocates may contribute their quota of humanitarian support by:
- Proffering advice to veterans and their families on support and services available
- Helping veterans determine which legislation relates to their service.
- Providing assistance with case appraisals and lodgement of claims
- Advising veterans and their families on government and non-government welfare services available to them.
2. Environmental Conservation
Volunteers play a crucial role in natural resource management, their commitment, time and labour constitute a significant contribution towards managing environments throughout the world.
Environmental managers should recognize that labour alone is unlikely to match with volunteer motivations, and this tends to hasten volunteer burnouts. So if you want to make a difference in your environment, ensure that your team is highly passionate about caring for their environment.
3. The Elderly
As the number of older people increases daily in our societies, the need to provide elderly healthcare and physical assistance becomes more necessary than ever. Older adults tend to feel isolated and helpless when they don’t spot familiar faces around. This state gradually worsens into more severe depression levels, frequent mood swings, or disconnection from society.
Volunteers can help older adults ease their burden by helping them out with domestic chores, keeping, encourages social interactions and keeping them physically active.
4. Immigrants/Refugees
New immigrants, like guests in your home, should be treated with courtesy, especially in countries where they are faced with language barriers or where they have to adopt an entirely new lifestyle. They may be experiencing culture shock, family worries, financial constraints or even matters you possibly predict.
It helps if volunteers can offer free language tutorials, reliable transportation, feeding, or shelter to refugees and foreigners who are still unable to discern their rights from their lefts.
5. Fundraisers
Volunteers provide the community’s endorsement for your nonprofit projects, encouraging people of affluence and influence to follow their lead. A not-for-profit organization that lacks capable financial aids is bound to make very little to no impact in the community. A nonprofit organization needs to prove its credibility by showing its ability to recruit volunteer fundraisers.
Fundraising is probably the most daunting aspect of starting a nonprofit project, but here are some brilliant ways to engage your community in your fundraiser.
- Apply for a Google grant.
- Recruit expertise onto your board from marketing, finance, and fundraising pros.
- Develop a “Volunteer” page on your website and share their stories in their work for your organization.
- Draft press releases for your events and fundraisers and gives them to local reporters for a chance at getting published.
Whose Help Will You Need?
An excellent start for any organization looking to implement a volunteer program is to get an ad hoc group of people to help you create a volunteer program. Volunteers are the lifeblood of any nonprofit organization. An adequately managed team of volunteers and office staff is all you need to record more success with your nonprofit campaign. You’ll be easily achieving anything from manic tasks, such as handling large plywood sheets in community woodshops, to tutoring a group of high school students on going into trade vocations. If you can get your team motivated enough, you’d be surprised at how much success you’ll have with your fundraising.