Holiday Volunteering - Asking for Time Not Just Money
- Mon, October 25 2010
- Filed under: Marketing essentials
Photo: Experience Corps Oakland/Faith Gong/VolunteerMatch
This is a guest post from Robert Rosenthal at VolunteerMatch. In addition to their well-known Web service for finding new volunteers, VolunteerMatch also has a blog with tips and news for those who work with volunteers at www.EngagingVolunteers.org.
The holiday season is coming up and nonprofits are already being deluged with reminders and ideas on using the final months of the year to hit up donors for cash.
And why not! In a truly wonderful coincidence, at precisely the same time religious and cultural tradition is tugging at the hearts of millions of Americans, the IRS is right there too, nudging folks to save on next year’s taxes by giving today.
The Holidays Are a Season of Service, Too
While your nonprofit may not raise money year round, you still probably recognize the power of campaigning during the holidays. Well, for smart organizations, the same goes for volunteer engagement.
From Halloween through the New Year, the same spirit that drives financial giving also inspires supporters to give their time – which is why each year we see huge spikes in traffic at VolunteerMatch.org right around now.
But even if your organization doesn’t usually have special holiday volunteer programs, you can still create opportunities that align with your mission while also bringing in tens or even hundreds of new volunteers through your doors.
For example, a social services agency can put together an event for families to design holiday gift cards for those they help. This may a fairly low-priority need for the organization, but remember: every volunteer can later be engaged to help in more impactful ways, and odds are good they’ll eventually give money too. A simple search for active opportunities at with the keyword “holiday” may open your eyes. Here’s a link you can use to more than 800 examples.
This is just one example of how nonprofits can think creatively about leveraging their volunteer programs in innovative and strategic ways. As a nonprofit manager, it’s always a good idea to try new methods to build your own capacity and be an asset for your organization. We know this to be the case when it comes to raising money – and it’s true about volunteer engagement too.
Comments
Thanks for posting this Katya! I also wanted to make sure that nonprofits knew that it’s free to create a VolunteerMatch account and post listings—75,000 other orgs already are 
Nonprofits can get started here:
http://www.volunteermatch.org/nonprofits/gettingstarted/
Robert
Thanks for posting this - i’m sure there are many out there in desperate need of help during these hard economic times. Thanks for sharing.
First of all, I’ve always thought it’s bizarre that people are more likely to donate money during the holidays just because these are hard time economically…especially for families during the holidays. It’s odd (but great) that the holiday season inspires people to spend even more money than they already do. Second, I totally agree that it’s effective to attract volunteers through simple, “low-priority” events. Personally, I’m more likely to volunteer for something that doesn’t require a large time commitment. I am also more likely to volunteer repeatedly for the same organization rather than seeking a large variety.
Canvas—Absolutely. The stories I hear even in the best of years are heartbreaking, so it’s good to find ways to make it easy for everyone to contribute if they want.
Samantha—True - There’s something so arbitrary about giving around a specific calendar date. But we’ve been hardwired by tradition, culture, and religion to do all kinds of things by the turn of the clock and the rotation of the sun. I, for one, am thrilled to have a day of rest every Sunday Agreed about thelikelihood of volunteers to stick with the organizations they know and hopefully love, too. That’s the goal!