April is National Volunteer Month, and we reflect warmly on the many food club workers who inspect, clean, sort, box, and stock food in the backroom, and also restock shelves/freezers, organize products, greet members, use point-of-sale software, and assist with checkout up front. These essential, compassionate, and oh-so-wonderful volunteers keep our food clubs running!
And they are there only because of our tireless volunteer coordinators. Although volunteer management is challenging, it’s highly rewarding when given the necessary resources.
While we don’t endorse any specific volunteer software, many agencies offer useful planning checklists for successful coordinators, such as this one from VolunteerHub. To summarize their suggested prep for a strong volunteer management strategy:
- Communication: How will you reach your volunteers and optimize your communication for maximum impact?
- Recruitment: How will you attract new volunteers?
- Training: How can you educate them about your organization and prepare them to complete essential tasks?
- Engagement: How can you keep them involved with your organization and reduce turnover rates?
- Recognition: How will you make your volunteers feel valued?
- Data Management: What data do you need to measure to understand your volunteer program? How will you collect, analyze, and act on it?
- Impact Sharing: How can you clearly communicate your volunteer program’s impact to stakeholders like board members, donors, and volunteers?
- Administration: What day-to-day tasks are necessary to keep the volunteer program running?
- Task Delegation: What roles can volunteers fill, and how can you align them with tasks that suit their skills?
- Feedback: How can you give volunteers meaningful, constructive feedback?
- Safety: How can you mitigate risk and ensure that every volunteer feels safe?
- Community Partnerships: How can you partner with your local government, civic organizations, and corporate sponsors?
- Budgeting: What is your organization’s budget for the volunteer program? How can you enhance your return on investment?
- Goal-setting: How do you want to see your volunteer program change and scale? What role does your volunteer program play in meeting broader organizational goals?
Quite a list and that’s just a start! It’s a big and important job. We all know we couldn’t successfully run our food clubs without the amazing volunteers and the talented coordinators who manage them. Be sure to seek yours out to express your gratitude during this National Volunteer Month.
For more information on volunteering, visit your nearest food club here:
- Lakeshore Food Club in Ludington
- Community Food Club in Grand Rapids
- Community Action House Food Club in Holland
