As I was preparing this post on the best volunteer recruitment tactics that VITA programs tend to under resource, this message appeared in my Facebook feed:

Wanna volunteer with me?!

If you’re feeling powerless given the current political climate and you’re looking for something to do about it, I highly recommend volunteering for a VITA program!

VITA programs are a great way to help members of your community! We prepare taxes for low income individuals and families to help them claim tax credits that exist to help remove them from poverty and to help them avoid predatory tax scams. Additionally, you can meet other volunteers who care about their community (better than MeetUps) and build highly valuable skills (tax preparation training and experience.) I’ve really enjoyed my time volunteering and truly value the compassionate friends I have made through the program.

So… What do you say?! Join us?

The message included a link where I could share contact information quickly in a google form. Think what would happen if you got every volunteer to share a message like this with their friends. How dramatically would your recruitment increase?

Generating more referrals from your volunteers all about providing the tools that make it easy and of course asking them to ask.

• Provide your volunteers a message they can easily forward to their friends, family and co-workers.
• Encourage but don’t require them to customize that message.
• Make the message email, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media friendly.
• Make signing up easy and immediate – a link where contact information can be shared is perfect
• Provide a phone number and email contact for your organization so people contact you with questions
• Be ready to follow-up with new recruits quickly – if you don’t your volunteers will stop bothering to make referrals and may be upset with you
• Provide information on any recruitment priorities. if you need bilingual volunteers or volunteers for specific locations share that with your volunteers. – Don’t encourage recruitment of volunteers you can’t use

The critical piece is to develop and properly resource a referral strategy that makes the referrals a light lift for your volunteers. Some modest expenditure and increased effort around referrals can have dramatic impacts for your program. Remember to put resources in place to respond to these referrals.  If your volunteers make the effort to refer their friends, you need to respond quickly and professionally or risk damaging your relationship with your volunteers.

Look beyond your current volunteers for referrals.  Have a volunteer referral strategy with community partners, site hosts, your board, your staff and your donors. Finally make all your recruitment materials something that can easily be shared and forwarded.