Recruiting volunteers is a perennial problem for any volunteer manager. There are no magic solutions, but you can make life a little easier for yourself by trying to decide what sort of people you are targeting, and what methods are likely to reach them.
Volunteer Centres act like employment agencies for voluntary work in their local area. Once you register with them, they will refer on individuals interested in volunteering for you. You can find the Volunteer Centre closest to you by using our volunteer centre finder
Posters and leaflets are a traditional method of recruitment. They work best when care is taken with the messages they contain, and the locations they are placed in. Look at what your volunteering opportunity has to offer people, whether it’s fun, the chance to learn new skills or the opportunity to meet new people, and make sure this comes across in your material. Put posters up where you know they’ll be read, and where you think people likely to volunteer for you will be – youth clubs, GP and Dental surgeries, places of worship, job centres and so on.
Local newspapers are usually crying out for stories, so a story on your 100 th volunteer or 5 th anniversary could be an opportunity to raise awareness. The paper may be happy to simply run a feature on the work that your volunteers do. National papers can also help; the Guardian’s ‘Society’ jobs section often runs ads from organisations wanting to recruit volunteers, if they have space (but they do charge for it).
Another method is to give a talk at a sports or social club. It helps to have something visual and interesting to capture people’s attention, as does having a volunteer describe their experience. This method of recruitment is particularly useful if you need a group of people for a short term volunteering opportunity, as your audience is likely to include several groups of friends who may see the voluntary work as something fun to do together. People are also much more likely to volunteer if they're approached directly, so mingling with people after your talk can give you the opportunity to ask them if they’re interested and to answer any questions they might have.
Word of mouth is one of the strongest reasons people give for volunteering. If people hear from a friend or neighbour that volunteering with you is rewarding they pay more attention than when they read a poster. Of course, this means that volunteers have to find their time with you interesting and enjoyable, making this another reason why good practice is so important. One drawback to word of mouth is that it may reinforce a lack of diversity, as people tend to have friends whose age, background and outlook is similar to their own.
There is also a volunteer recruitment website called 'Do-it', which you can post vacancies on through your local Volunteer Centre (or directly, if you’re a national organisation or a branch of one): www.do-it.org.uk
