Recognizing your standout volunteers

At a time when ministry at your church looks a bit different than it has in the past, we're sure you've noticed particular volunteers going above and beyond to make it all happen! Volunteers are motivated by moving your church's mission forward - whether that's making services happen from week to week or serving the community beyond the four walls of the church.

Recognizing a volunteers' time and effort, whether formally with thank-you events or awards, or informally through simple acts of gratitude, is an easy way to reward and encourage future participation.

The power of simple gratitude
The easiest way to acknowledge a volunteer going above and beyond is by simply saying thank you. Saying thank you makes the volunteer feel seen and appreciated, and builds trust for closer bonds! If your volunteer management software tracks the number of times a person filled a volunteer commitment, gather the names and make a phone call or send a thank you note!

With Ministry Scheduler Pro, a volunteer scheduling tool built for religious groups, you can use the Announcement pane to write a personalized thank you email and send it to a filtered list of those volunteers who took on extra services for which they were not originally scheduled, or who picked up substitute requests.

Surprise and delight
While it may not be possible to host a volunteer appreciation event at this time, you can still get creative with annual ways to celebrate your volunteers. Consider mailing personalized birthday postcards each year to your volunteers. While it may seem like a simple gesture, receiving a little snail mail magic can bring a smile to a volunteer’s face! You can do this by printing a monthly list of volunteer birthdays straight from your church or volunteer database. If you’re a Ministry Scheduler Pro user, you can use custom fields to track and export information like birthdays, certification, training dates, and more!

Another easy way to show appreciation would be to keep $5 gift cards and stationary handy, to drop a thank you note into the mail as you see a volunteer going above and beyond. Share a roster of your volunteer contact information with other leaders and encourage them to do the same!

Acknowledge your most reliable volunteers
Some volunteers may be devoted to their role each and every Sunday. They’re the ones always greeting with a smile at the door, or helping people find a seat when open pews are hard to find. As the needs for volunteers change with new health and safety recommendations, this may be the first time in years that those volunteers have not been able to serve in their same capacity each Sunday! Consider using this time to communicate and celebrate their past commitments publicly. Ministry Scheduler Pro lets you run reports on the number of ministry assignments and attendance of your volunteers, so you can see how often individual volunteers have faithfully served!

Keep people on your radar
Volunteer involvement and commitment levels can change season to season. Especially now, as volunteers return to church for the first time in months, it might be easy to overlook one or two formerly active volunteers who have gone dormant with their involvement. Remember - recognition doesn't always have to be when volunteers are shining their brightest, and can present you with a ministry opportunity.

Identify those volunteers who are less engaged, and reach out with a personal touch! You could uncover the reason for their decline of involvement and inspire them to reconnect. For Ministry Scheduler Pro users, you can easily track which volunteers are receiving and reading your email or text messages through the Announcement pane, or see which addresses have bounced. A volunteer may not be engaging simply because they did not receive your message!

Properly recognizing your volunteers motivates a spirit of community, the desire for continued involvement, and prompts others to get involved. If you’d like a better way to schedule and track your volunteers, contact us to learn more about Ministry Scheduler Pro!