Q: How do I Recruit Volunteers for My Nonprofit Organization?

A: There are several ways in which to attract volunteers to your organization. Depending on your needs, here are some suggested recruitment tactics:

Warm Body Recruitment can be used to engage large numbers of volunteers for a short period of time through board dissemination of brochures, posters, public speaking engagements, media notices, and word of mouth.

Targeted Recruitment needs well planned approach and is geared towards smaller groups of potential volunteers with specific skills that relate to the mission of your organization. Questions of your specific needs and recruitment vehicles that will allow you to communication with and motivate volunteers will need to be answered.

Concentric Circles Recruitment allows your organization to network with those who are directly (or indirectly) associated with your organization so that you may contact these individual with your recruiting message. These prospects may include the family and/or friends of clients, program alumni, neighbors, and others who may have some personal vested interest in your cause.

Your recruitment message should be direct and solid, offering an explanation of why a volunteer should join your organization.

For more information, please consider the following sources:

http://www.networkforgood.org/npo/volunteers/

http://nonprofit.about.com/od/volunteers/bb/beforerecruit.htm