Striving to keep pace with increased demand, despite fewer resources, nonprofits today are relying more heavily upon volunteers to supplement their operational capacity. While volunteers have always played a meaningful role in the nonprofit sector, the need for their efforts have only increased in the years following the pandemic.
Accordingly, volunteer recruitment and volunteer retention have become critical KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for many nonprofits across the US. While recruitment and retention are both important factors today, for the remainder of this article, we’ll focus on how nonprofits can improve volunteer retention.
In 2023, the Journal of Organizational Behavior published a ‘first of its kind’ systematic review of volunteer turnover research. Researchers from Australia, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands synthesized 117 studies and the behaviors of 55,335 volunteers. Their meta-analysis assessed the impact of 44 unique factors and determined the strongest predictors of volunteer turnover. Below are the top 5 variables that most significantly impact volunteer retention.
Communication
Volunteers ask: What are we doing? When are we doing it? Why is it important? How does it fit into the bigger picture?
Regularly communicating the answers to these simple questions can make a world of difference for volunteer retention. Ambiguity and lack of routine communication often cause volunteers to feel frustrated and become disengaged. Competing with busy schedules, and a host of personal and professional priorities, keeping volunteers well informed of the what, how, when, and why allow them to effectively forecast and commit to being involved. When in doubt, overcommunicate.
Organizational Support
Volunteers ask: Does the nonprofit I’m volunteering with care about me as much as I care about their mission? Is my time being used effectively?
These questions can often determine whether volunteers continue volunteering with a nonprofit or look for a new nonprofit to partner with. Organizational support is about empowering volunteers to maximize the value of their contributions. It is important that volunteers have confidence that their efforts will have a meaningful impact, and that they are equipped with the resources necessary to be successful. Providing organizational support can take many forms, to include orientation programs, training of new skills, and leadership development opportunities.
Job Satisfaction
Volunteers ask: How do I feel about my volunteer work? Was it fulfilling? Do I want to do this again?
Volunteering shares several parallels with working at a job. One of which is job satisfaction. Whether working a job or volunteering, a person’s fulfillment has a direct correlation with their commitment to the organization. In both instances, lower levels of job satisfaction increase the likelihood of turnover. Accordingly, work design matters. Where volunteer work is mundane, it is especially important to communicate why a volunteer's contributions are meaningful. When possible, build in autonomy- define what needs to be accomplished, but invite volunteers to determine how the work gets done. Also, to assess volunteer job satisfaction, consider using anonymous surveys. Surveys can be an excellent way to measure volunteer job satisfaction and identify what type of volunteer work design is the best fit for your nonprofit.
Affective Commitment
Volunteers ask: Who is going to attend? Will I feel welcomed? Am I a part of this group? Do I want to be a part of this group?
It is common for people to start volunteering with a nonprofit in support of a cause, but continue volunteering with that nonprofit because of the relationships they form. This isn’t to say that a volunteer's passion for a cause will wane after they start volunteering, but to highlight the role relationships play in determining where volunteers choose to spend their time. With multiple ways to support a cause, volunteers often choose to routinely participate with a nonprofit where they’ve developed meaningful personal relationships. Embracing volunteers on a personal level and fostering a friendly working environment between volunteers will help increase retention.
Leader-Member Exchange
Volunteers ask: What leaders will I interact with as a volunteer? How long have these leaders been in their positions? How much longer will these leaders stay with the nonprofit?
Leadership plays an outsized role in the volunteer experience and directly impacts volunteer retention. In addition to influencing the four factors previously mentioned above, leaders bear a unique responsibility of welcoming volunteers and providing relational consistency. Meeting a leader is often the first personal interaction that a volunteer has with a nonprofit, and can set the tone for their volunteer experience. Building interpersonal relationships with fellow volunteers takes time, and may be challenged by wide variance in volunteer attendance. As a result, while volunteers are getting to know each other over the course of several events, leaders who are consistently present can ensure that volunteers are remembered and feel seen by the nonprofit they are supporting. This seemingly small task, among the litany of additional leadership responsibilities, can significantly impact volunteer retention- especially amongst new volunteers that are getting acquainted with the nonprofit.
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