Recruiting and Training Market Volunteers

Market History Market began in 2013 – recruited volunteers to help set up our garden beds and run the market 2014 to date paid staff equivant to 1 FT 2014 – had some return volunteers began putting processes in place 2015 – develped volunteer coordinator position instead of the two staff doing it Volunteer Hours Cumulative ( ) = 3,925

Recruiting Volunteers Does your market have a volunteer culture? Make It Part Of Your Culture!

Recruiting Volunteers Identify your volunteer/market needs Job descriptions Volunteer Intake Form Everywhere you market your market, market your need for volunteers A system makes it easy for volunteers to apply

Recruiting Volunteers Ask volunteer what they are interested in Match volunteer with skills they have or want to develop Ask again, how did you like what you did/doing All helps with volunteer retention

Recruiting Volunteers Almost 60% of respondents indicated that they were recruited by directly contacting an organization they were interested in about opportunities. They were proactive in their search to volunteer, and specific in their selection of an organization. source: volunteer.ca/content/2013-volunteer-recognition-study

Recruiting Volunteers Volunteers prefer greater flexibility in scheduling, more feedback on the impact of their work and more opportunities to use their skills, abilities or talents in their volunteer roles

Recruiting Volunteers Include message in your regular marketing materials Posters Postcards *Website: heading Get Involved, on other web pages - Add search words (60% searched) Enews - highlight a volunteer story

Recruiting Volunteers Include it in the copy sent to ward councillors(s) and any other third party groups posting information about your market Schools (for specific tasks, not long term) Community Gardens - included 2 hrs of volunteer time to help maintain site Community Events - more time to talk about market/volunteering

Recruiting Volunteers Volunteers may need to see the message many times before they act Treat customers as potential volunteers too Let volunteers know that new volunteers are welcome

Recruiting Volunteers Advertise On your website GoodWork.ca Charityvillage.com/directories.aspx

Managing Volunteers VolunteerSpot - For positions that aren’t scheduled in advance you can set up shifts and who you want sign- ups to go to Send volunteers here to sign up is sent to market manager weekly so you know who’s coming Tracks volunteer time

Volunteers Managing & Recruiting Positions for volunteers to help us manage volunteers Volunteer Coordinator: Emily 17 year old, works from home doing this Music Coordinator: Clark 16 year old musician scheduled our music in 2015 and is doing it again this year Gabi – student at HIN connected and sent them a job description to send to their students for co-op hours and market managing

Volunteers Managing & Recruiting General Store – Volunteer Kim now runs a small business with our support Site Coordinators – on-site a day during the week and market day to show what needs done and to tour customers, potential volunteers Developing a Board of Directors asked them to recruit for the board Some positions happen organically because we have the right person therefore it’s the right time to create the position

Volunteer Survey Survey your volunteers like you would your customers Helps to understand their motivations and preferences

2014 Survey Results 22 of 56 volunteers responded (an almost 40% response rate!) Majority of volunteers heard of the market from passing by or word of mouth Volunteers most preferred operating a vendor tent or working on the site (gardening, weeding, other maintenance, etc.) Biggest risk is minimal preference for market setup and teardown Vast majority of respondents were very positive about staff/organizers Most favourable forms of recognition are market bucks and workshop opportunities, closely followed by team gathering Vast majority had more favourable impression of Daniels Great written feedback (stories) on what people “liked most” and what could be improved

2015 Survey Results 48% heard about the market via a friend or family member and via an internet search Volunteers most preferred working in the healthy eating kitchen, market set-up and helping vendors Vast majority of respondents were very positive about staff/organizers Most favourable forms of recognition are team event, market bucks closely followed workshop opportunities, Again great written feedback (stories) on what people “liked most” and what could be improved

Thank Volunteers Volunteers want to know their impact People appreciate a personalized thank you. Whether it is with words highlighting the impact of a volunteers’ contribution to the organization or a small personalized token – it being sincere and customized makes a difference. Source:

Thank Volunteers What we do: A sincere thank you and letting them know how they helped Thank you card (customized) Annual gathering: 2014 Whole Village tour and potluck 2015 Six Nations Market Founders potluck

Our Take Away Continue to market offline and online to attract volunteers as they learned about the market differently and to integrate it into our marketing Need a volunteer coordinator and the right people working with volunteers Continue to have a variety of opportunities to meet volunteer needs Phenomenal Net Promoter Scores: 2015 = 72.2%, 2014 = over 60%

Our Take Away Share impact of project with volunteers Continue to use market bucks and our unique end of season thank you get together Continue to create opportunities for volunteers (entrepreneurship, jobs)

Resources Volunteer Canada: volunteer.ca/engagementvolunteer.ca/engagement Stats Canada: / /article/11638-eng.htmwww.statcan.gc.ca/pub/ / /article/11638-eng.htm VolunteerSpot:

Thank You Lee Overton