This month marks the 9th installment of our Return on Investment Series and in honor of Volunteer Recognition Day on April 20th, I would like to discuss the impact of volunteer award programs.
WorldVolunteerWeb.org suggests the minimum cost for every volunteer is around $300 per year including recruiting, screening, training and general management costs. Organizations trying to lower these costs often utilize recognition award programs to engage and retain volunteers over the long term.
In fact, as EnergizeInc.com explains, “When volunteers are recruited honestly, have meaningful work to do, receive orientation and training, get supervisory attention and feedback, and feel recognized...they'll be satisfied enough to want to remain engaged.” Although many companies emphasize the importance of employee engagement, this emphasis should also be applied to volunteers who also need to be engaged in order to be retained. Volunteer engagement, much like employee engagement, can be achieved with the use of a low cost, high return award program.
Volunteer recognition programs are often online so that a single website can serve as a central hub for communication between the organization and its volunteers. Company newsletters, volunteer schedules and upcoming opportunities can all be accessed by volunteers anytime, anywhere. Pages of the website can highlight a volunteer of the month, share volunteer experiences and provide testimonials from volunteers. When a volunteer reaches a service milestone, he or she can also use the recognition website to order an award. This type of award program maximizes communication, keeping volunteers engaged and involved with the organization.
In 2008 alone, VolunteeringInAmerica.gov estimates that about 62 million Americans gave 8 billion hours of volunteer service worth approximately $162 billion. Engage and retain your volunteers by implementing a low cost award program and you will maximize your return. With Volunteer Recognition Day coming up this month, there is no time like the present to start thinking about how your organization can recognize and reward contributions from volunteers. When organizations recognize and reward volunteers, engagement and retention rates are impacted. Both of these benefits can translate into lower recruiting costs and bottom line savings.
Be sure to check back on May 10th for the next blog in the ROI series when I will write about the return of customer loyalty programs.