Before you begin recruiting your volunteer team, you have to recognize that volunteers are not free. Every volunteer needs your dedicated time, energy, and to be fed (really, free food is a great motivator). It will (and it should) cost your campaign a large amount of resources to recruit, train, and manage volunteers.
You can’t expect a volunteer to do a professional job. That’s what hired staff are for. If you need professional help, that’s when you hire. Volunteers will take more time and make more mistakes and have a different set of costs than professional staff. Paid staff can be held accountable and have a stronger incentive to do well. Volunteers have a high turnover or they can otherwise be unreliable. Volunteers needs motivation and assignments.
If volunteers are not free or cheap, why would you want them? One of the most significant resources you have as a library campaign is your corps of dedicated volunteers. They can be your strongest advocates if they have good leadership. Understanding how best to utilize them, keep them motivated, and ensure they are involved in your campaign will separate a weak campaign from a strong one. The volunteers you have for your campaign will act as one of your strongest resources equivalent even to money and time and will ensure your campaign has the capacity to continue throughout the election cycle.
This training guide will help you make the most of your valuable volunteers!
Before you begin recruiting your volunteer team, you have to recognize that volunteers are not free. Every volunteer needs your dedicated time, energy, and to be fed (really, free food is a great motivator). It will (and it should) cost your campaign a large amount of resources to recruit, train, and manage volunteers.
You can’t expect a volunteer to do a professional job. That’s what hired staff are for. If you need professional help, that’s when you hire. Volunteers will take more time and make more mistakes and have a different set of costs than professional staff. Paid staff can be held accountable and have a stronger incentive to do well. Volunteers have a high turnover or they can otherwise be unreliable. Volunteers needs motivation and assignments.
If volunteers are not free or cheap, why would you want them? One of the most significant resources you have as a library campaign is your corps of dedicated volunteers. They can be your strongest advocates if they have good leadership. Understanding how best to utilize them, keep them motivated, and ensure they are involved in your campaign will separate a weak campaign from a strong one. The volunteers you have for your campaign will act as one of your strongest resources equivalent even to money and time and will ensure your campaign has the capacity to continue throughout the election cycle.
This training guide will help you make the most of your valuable volunteers!
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