FAQs
About the Virtual Volunteering Project
using the internet to honor ALL volunteers
Recognition of a volunteer is the act of acknowledging a person's contribution to your agency. In traditional settings, much of the inspiration and recognition for volunteers occurs informally -- coming in contact with staff members during coffee breaks, talking with board members and other volunteers at special events, seeing first hand how their contributions are used onsite at the organization, etc.
How can you make up for this lack of in-person contact with remote volunteers who interact with your agency only via the Internet? How can you use the Internet to acknowledge the contributions of ALL volunteers, including those that work onsite at your agency?
Using the input of online volunteers, collaborating organizations and our own experiences, we have developed these suggestions for both recognizing online volunteers AND using the Internet to honor ALL volunteers:
General Suggestions to Honor Online Volunteers
- Be timely
The most effective form of thanks follows the completion of an event or assignment. Don't wait to say thanks during National Volunteer Week in April, or at the advent of a new project. Find ways to immediately acknowledge a job well done and a service successfully provided. This can be as simple as an email that says "thanks" and outlines how the volunteer's contributions are going to be used by the agency, the impact this work may have on clients, etc.
- Everyone should be appreciated
It takes small contributions of service - not just the big ones - to keep a program moving forward and meeting its objectives. Be grateful for the work of everyone involved, not just the contributions of the super-stars.
- Recognition is everyone's job
The volunteer manager is often not the person working with volunteers once they take on assignment, even virtual assignments -- other staff members often supervise and interact with volunteers after assignments are made. Educate staff in the importance of volunteer recognition and how to provide it on an ongoing basis, and survey your volunteers on occassion to make sure they are feeling involved and appreciated.
- Inclusion is key
Most online volunteers who have communicated with the VV Project cite inclusion as the way they most appreciate being recognized. They have said the best form of thanks is seeing and hearing what difference their work really makes.Add online volunteers to your offline and online mailing lists, copy them on staff memos (as appropriate) relating to programs and services in which they might be interested, invite them to special events, staff trainings and celebrations (if its geographically possible), invite their comments about programs and services, ask them about the volunteer program and how its working for them, etc. These methods show the volunteer how their work contributes to your organization's mission, and demonstrates that you value them as part of your team.
Some online volunteers may occassionally be in your area on a business trip, visiting family or friends, on their way to another destination, etc. Make sure volunteers have an open invitation to visit your agency if they visit your city.
- Be consistent
If your onsite volunteers receive a lapel pin to honor them for the hours they donate to your organization, why not your online volunteers? If you online volunteers are thanked on your web site, why not your face-to-face volunteers?Terry Hiner at SmartGrrls notes, "We did a volunteer recognition page for our website at year end and linked to it from our email newsletter. We always feature 'virtual volunteers' alongside local volunteers in the newsletter. I have sent off bumper stickers to (volunteers in) Canada and Florida. Sometimes I enclose a picture of some of our program activities so that they can see what they are really part of. I've even had students in our programs write thank you notes to virtual volunteers."
- Be creative
Do you have volunteers who are too remote geographically to attend a volunteer recognition event or other special event where volunteers will be present? What about setting up a computer terminal with Internet access at the event and having a live chat, so that attendees can communicate with online volunteers? What about setting up a digital camara so that volunteers who can't attend in-person can do so via cyberspace? Finding a corporation to donate its resources to make such novel ideas happen isn't as difficult as you might think!
Suggestions to Use the Internet to Honor ALL Volunteers
- Use your web site
List all volunteers and their contributions on your web site. Also cite them on individual pages, either pages that they have helped with or pages that talk about a project they have been involved with. Include pictures of the volunteers in action! Some good examples of online "Thank You" pages:
- Highlight volunteer activities in an online newsletter
Volunteer involvement is a program highlight! If you have an online newsletter that is sent out to donors, clients and others interested or involved with your agency, be sure to highlight the contributions of volunteers at your agency. In addition to listing volunteers who have helped, talk about the impact particular volunteer services have and the difference they make.
- Develop an Online "Badge"
LibertyNet, one of the VV Project's Affiliate organizations, came up with the idea of honoring volunteers with a logo they could place on their individual Web site, or include in their signature file on emails and newsgroup postings. We loved this idea, and invited our volunteers to submit design suggestions for our own logo. Now, volunteers who complete online assignments for our Project may display this badge on their Web sites, and create a link from the logo back to our own Web site:
