As a foundation or association manager, you are probably aware that volunteers are the heart and soul of your association. The motivation of these people, who only help your association achieve its goals without any interest, is of key importance for your association to achieve its goals. So, as an association manager, what can you do to motivate volunteers? Let's try to explain what to do in 6 items.
1. Know the Reasons for Volunteering
Find out why volunteers are participating in your association's work. To engage and motivate a person, you need to know why they are there. Sometimes this can be the social consciousness of the person, sometimes the desire to learn new things and sometimes the desire to socialize. As the manager of the association, your duty is to learn the reason why the volunteers volunteer and to shape your motivation strategy accordingly. You should also remember that each individual has their own reasons and goals.
2. Contact
Perhaps the most effective way to increase the motivation of your volunteers is to communicate with the manager of the association. You will have the chance to manage the expectations and responsibilities of your volunteers thanks to well planned mutual communication methods. Making them feel that you listen to their ideas and that they are important will significantly increase the motivation in parallel with the sense of belonging.
3. Show Your Appreciation
Volunteers do not earn any income in return for the work they do for your association. Putting this feature of the situation aside, every person wants to know that they are at least appreciated for a job they do for nothing. It is a well-known fact that when the volunteers do not see the results of their efforts, their ties with the association begin to weaken and if the process continues in the same way, they break their ties with the association.
While a simple thank you is often enough, from time to time various awards, incentives or events may be organized to highlight the results of your volunteers' efforts.
4. Show Them How They Made a Difference
Let them see the results of their efforts to motivate the volunteers. Every individual is happy with a result that is worth their effort. For example, if your association operates in the treatment of sick animals, allow your volunteers to contact stray animals that have recovered. For an animal lover, there is nothing more motivating than an illness-free and lovingly wagging tail.
5. Get Social Recognition
To motivate volunteers, you can use channels that your association constantly broadcasts, such as social media accounts. Introduce your volunteers to your followers with the photos you will share on major platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Talk about what they do and the value they add. Let your volunteers follow the comments and the number of likes. The comments and thank you sentences made by the people who follow your association will increase the motivation quickly.
6. Be With Them
Do not forget that your volunteers have their own lives, apart from their activities under the umbrella of your association, and they have good and bad moments in the course of life. Make gestures to show that you are with them even if you do not attend on sensitive days such as illness, funeral, wedding and similar. This way, they will know that you are noticed and that you are with them.
Motivating volunteers is vital for foundations and associations. Of course, it may not be possible to know everyone personally, but thanks to Aidango, you can have detailed data about your volunteers. You can easily access which responsibilities of your volunteers, to what extent they have accomplished these responsibilities, their personal data and much more through Aidango modules.
Aidango, as Turkey's only ERP software for associations, is a wholesale solution that offers all the components and services you may need while managing your association, as well as the data you may need to motivate volunteers.
