Recruiting volunteers

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Recruiting volunteers

The co-op needs volunteers in order to stay alive. What do you do if volunteer numbers are low? Here are some suggestions people came up with when we were considering a volunteer drive.

Roster/Bulletin

  • Put in the bulletin a reminder that co-ops function by member participation
  • Roster sent to chat list each week, ie point out when we most need people
  • roster goes in bulletin each week/blurb with when people are needed.
    • advertise ways to volunteer (keep a list of potential tasks)
    • pretend to enforce roster
    • remind of benefits
  • roster back on website
  • white board (big one) have specific shift times
  • at training time, encourage people to sign up to a shift before they leave, ie walk to board, go through good times to volunteer

Social

  • Have some sort of funday, part of which involves proselytising (converting people to the co-op), making a case as to how co-ops can only run with member participation.
  • Somehow promote people being in the store at times that they don't so much need to shop. Ie, 'chill out' milk-crate, tea space outside (it's more than just a shop)
  • Public training/visible things, social? Outside of the co-op

Call out

  • Call around of people who have volunteered in the past
  • Call people who've been trained w/in last 6 weeks to organise a 1st shift time (their names and numbers should be in the diary/email from week 4 on)
  • People who ticked work in shop when they signed up, invite to a training session
  • Make a pamphlet of volunteering and put in veggie boxes and in the shop
  • Advertise for volunteer positions on the UNSW Careers website
  • More co-op promo – visible stalls
  • Ask enviro collective people/e-list


Encouraging current volunteers to return

  • Cake for volunteers
  • Sign off sheet – make it seem a bit more formal so people feel like they're formally contributing
  • Make sure that vollies that do come have tasks that are worthwhile.
  • Have a competition (who volunteers most gets a prize/gold stars)
  • Volunteer tasks that involve autonomy/responsibility and engender pride in their work
  • Be really friendly to new volunteers when they do come in and have lots of things for them to do including fun things like making tea or filling jars.
  • Have a resurgence of the 'pre-pack' take-home vollie tasks, i.e. folding bags