Volunteer Recruitment and COVID

The key to keeping any ministry volunteer program thriving is a steady group of volunteers. But chances are COVID and the inevitable year-over-year turnover have put a dent in your volunteer roster. So how can you secure your existing volunteers and recruit new volunteers? 

For starters, engage your current volunteers and be consistent about recruiting new ones.  Scheduling software can help streamline communication, which keeps volunteers informed and engaged. It can also streamline recruiting and enrolling new volunteers! In this article, we’ll cover ideas on re-engaging your volunteers and recruiting new ones to strengthen and build your ministries.

Who should I ask?
Reach out to your old volunteers first to ask if they’d like to return to serving. If they are not yet ready, ask for suggestions on anyone they know would like to start serving. Then consider recruiting new volunteers! Has anyone been involved on the fringes in the past, but hasn’t committed to volunteering regularly? What about those you know are watching the live stream but haven’t returned to church? Reach out to check in and see if they are ready to return to in-person services. Whether your volunteers are ready to return to ministry or not, it’s important to keep the conversation going, and let them know they are still on your radar.

What information do I need from volunteers?
Are there new requirements or training that are needed? Track information specific to your parish with a solution like custom fields. For example, you might want to track information like background checks or training dates, which will help you know who is ready to serve and in what capacity.

**How am I going to manage this all? **
Consider adopting a solution that makes onboarding and updating volunteer information less work for you. Online enrollment forms can make quick work of collecting information from new volunteers, and sharing that form on your church website, social media, and through your parish email is as easy as copying and pasting a link. You’ll be notified of each new person that signs up through an online enrollment form, and will have the opportunity to process them so that no one is scheduled until you decide they are ready. By keeping track of new incoming volunteers with an online enrollment form, you’ll never let a potential volunteer fall through the cracks again!

What’s the next step?
Once you’ve got them interested, decide how you’re going to utilize them. A web-based terminal or mobile app gives volunteers 24/7 access to update their contact info, service preferences, ministries, availability, custom fields, and schedules. And, importantly, the Web Terminal is customizable, so you can control what your volunteers have access to update.

Once volunteers see how easy it is to update their information, and know that their preferences can be accommodated, they’ll be more inclined to continue to serve! In addition, when volunteers are engaged and feel like they are a part of the scheduling process, they will not only stick around but invite others to join in.

Want to learn more about how MSP can help you empower volunteers while keeping you in the driver’s seat? Talk to our expert staff today!