Volunteer Rewards and Recognition Programs

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Chapter 7

Keeping the Volunteers You Have

John L. Lipp Associate VP, Volunteer Engagement, JDRF

Retention has long been one of the holy grails in the field of volunteer engagement. Along with recruitment and recognition, it’s one of the original 3 Rs of volunteer management. Talk to any of your colleagues about the concept of retention as a key metric for measuring the success of your volunteer program, and I guarantee you most people will nod in agreement without really under- standing what you even mean by the word.

For the most part, they’re right. Retention is usually a good thing. (Except when it’s not! More on that later.) We know that volunteers are not free. There is a cost associated with recruiting, screening, placing, training, and supporting our volunteers. Just like employees, that cost is usually front-loaded—meaning we invest a lot of resources up front with the anticipation that the return on investment (ROI) will pay off down the road. If people don’t stay long enough to justify the initial investment—a revolving door of volunteers—you never fully realize the potential of your program. Thus, from a strictly bottom-line business

85 Rosenthal, R. J. (Ed.). (2015). Volunteer engagement 2. 0 : Ideas and insights changing the world. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from ashford-ebooks on 2022-04-30 11:29:46.

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