subject: The 5 Best Ways To Thank Your Charity Volunteers [print this page] The 5 Best Ways To Thank Your Charity Volunteers
Volunteers are the life blood of a great many non-profit organizations. They often are the ones providing the ideas, the labour and the enthusiasm that make things happen behind the scenes. Either that or they are the team charities rely on to carry out the actual work of the organization. Very often too volunteers are the at the forefront of fundraising activities bringing in much needed cash and attracting new supporters or publicity to the cause.
Many organizations therefore owe a big debt of gratitude to their volunteer supporters. Its also of course good manners to say thank you, and the best way to ensure a good supply of helpers turn up the next time you put out the "S.O.S". The dilemma is how best to show this appreciation without inappropriately using up hard earned funds.
Here are the best ways to do so; and guess what, none of these will cost your organization an arm and a leg.
1. Personalised thank you from your organizations CEO or chairman - This is so simple, but is so often overlooked. All volunteers really do like their efforts to be appreciated. A note, card, personal email, phone call or quiet word on the day of an event really will make a difference to volunteers. This is particularly true if their primary point of contact within an organisation is usually with someone else for instance a fundraising manager or workparty organiser.
2. A thank you from the end users - For some organisations there are very obvious end users. A letter of gratitude either from a club or centre manager would be great but even better if it came from the final recipient. This is particularly true for youth activities. Kids thank yous are real winners. Letters do not need to be long and photos are a great way of showing what someone's hard work has helped to achieve.
3. A mention in the annual report of the organization - Many organisations produce an annual report or summary of work to date. Specific mentions of key individuals are great. It doesn't hurt either to simply list all those who have taken part in activities over the past year.
4. A mention on a glory wall - This is different than a usual donor wall where supporters can buy brick space for their name with a donation. Having a simple nicely framed sheet up with the names of all volunteers who are responsible for a years work successfully accomplished is a simple but effective reward. What volunteer will be able to resist looking for their own name?
5. Entry into a prize draw - This is a neat idea and a great way of capturing people's imagination and binding people together into a team. Every so often, or after any particularly "well staffed" event you put all the volunteers names into a hat for a draw for a simple or comedy prize. Have a bit of fun with this and make a big thing of the winner.
All of the above ideas are easy to implement and will not cost too much if anything at all. It is much more about taking the time out to acknowledge the unique contribution hard working volunteers make. A simple case of remembering to say Thank You!
