Ban Boring Volunteer Recognition Events With On-the-Spot Polls
Susan Ellis at Energize Inc always has great suggestions for making your volunteer recognition events something that people look forward to...not dread.
Our favorite tip is about recognizing everybody. Ellis suggests that in addition to/or in place of the formal recognition process, you act as if everyone present deserves some thanks. Ask the audience questions that a lot of people will qualify to answer, and that they can answer just by standing up and then receiving applause. Here are some sample questions that would work:
- Who fills more than one assignment here as a volunteer?
- Who has applied something they learned at orientation in their volunteer work?
- Who has hunted more than 15 minutes for a parking spot?
- Who has met the Executive Director before tonight?
- Who has volunteered for more than a year? Five years? Ten?
- Who recruited a friend or relative to become a volunteer here?
- Who gave up their favorite TV show to be here tonight?
- Who speaks more than one language?
Ellis says questions such as these are like an instant poll, and by the time people rise several times, they will feel very included.
Can you think of some other fun questions for volunteers? Tell us in the comments.
Related:
- 10 Ways to Make Volunteers Happy
- Placing the Right Volunteer in the Right Job
- My Favorite Volunteer Experience Was...
One category of non-profit volunteers who are hardly ever thanked directly by the non-profits they helped, are the volunteers who plan, organize and conduct the workplace giving campaigns.
It’s true that the non-profits will never know the names of all the individuals who run the campaigns in the sponsoring organization, but if your non-profit gets a significant portion of funds from workplace giving, such as the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), it is absolutely appropriate to thank them in the group settings described. You don’t have to ask them to stand up, just say, in addition, “We wish to thank everyone who participates in workplace giving campaigns, both our donors and the volunteers that run the campaign each year!”
The CFC is the Federal government’s workplace giving campaign, and through it Federal pubiic servants have donated more than $1 billion of unrestricted dollars over the past five years. CFC campaigns run from Sept. to Dec. and if anyone would like to see a great example of a CFC appeal letter, I’ve posted one on my blog, www dot cfctreasures dot wordpress dot com
Regards,
Bill Huddleston
Thanks, Bill, for your comment. Sometimes we get so caught up in figuring out how to do slam dunk recognitions that we forget about all the little things we can do. Good to remember.