1. “Understanding Volunteers: how to recruit'em, how to keep'em, and knowing when to send them packing” Meeting of the Minds 2013 Marlene Bautch & Teri Stobbs Ricci

2.  Every SMRO relies on volunteers to exist. In some cases everyone is a volunteer from the top of the no-dollar-pay-scale to the bottom  No matter how many zeros you get, every one of the volunteers is important:  and more happy volunteers make a more successful SMRO.

3.  Sense of Accomplishment  Recognition and Feedback  Learn new things  Skills and Experience  Friendship and Belonging  Keeping busy and FUN  SELF INTEREST business or personal – DANGER! DANGER! Why do people volunteer?

4. Marlene’s Gilligan’s Island Theory of Volunteers… WHICH one are YOU?

5.  Authority  Leadership  Bossy  Stubborn  Loud  Imposing The Skipper

6.  Eager  Willing  Needs direction  Good Hearted Gilligan

7.  Eager  Willing  Little Supervision  Competent in many areas Mary Ann

8.  I am Important  Spot-light  Needs Applause Ginger

9.  WORK??  WORK???  WORK?!?!  Here’s some money… The Howells

10.  Committed to the Mission  Loves to learn & do new things  Self Starting  Little or no supervision The Professor

11. Taking the People you have and making it work…

12. Volunteer Retention  Any volunteer old or new, will not stay with an organization or group unless they are comfortable inside the fabric of the group.  To feel comfortable with a group you need to feel a part of the group. So how does that happen?  It’s something you can help new (and old) volunteers with; some people call it mentoring and it’s what we will be discussing today…

13. Volunteer Retention  Introductions  Get to know the volunteer  Point out what’s going on  More than “do you have any questions?”  Never fib to a volunteer  Respect. All of these together will lead to the…

14. The upgrade process  Unless it’s The Professor, START SLOWLY  Ask opinions, No Judgments  Invite to join the discussion  You are building a relationship  Patience and persistence

15. Volunteer Recruitment & Retention IS A TEAM SPORT. No one person can be everything to all volunteers – recruiting and keeping volunteers is everyone’s job within the organization. Go Home and Share these tips with your SMRO – you are not alone.

16. Dealing With Difficult Volunteers (can we kick them off the island??)  This can be the hardest thing we do.  Let’s talk about it.

17. THANK YOU for Volunteering to be here!