Showing gratitude to your association’s volunteers goes beyond sending a generic thank you note. Here are some top ways to say “thank you volunteers” that will make your volunteers feel happy and appreciated all year long.
Your volunteers help your association get more done. That’s why it’s important to give thanks to your volunteers throughout the year. Thanking them for their time and effort helps to increase volunteer and member retention and improve your overall volunteer program.
But generic volunteer thank you letters aren’t enough. Volunteer appreciation is an ongoing activity that involves multiple touchpoints with volunteers.
So, are you ready to take volunteer appreciation to the next level? Let’s get started.
How do you say thank you to volunteers?
Of course, thanking volunteers starts with saying “thank you for volunteering”. But it’s about more than just that. It involves expressing gratitude in multiple ways – from a heart-felt and personalized volunteer thank you note to thanking volunteers publicly for their hard work to providing tools that make volunteer work more efficient and effective.
Seven effective ways to take volunteer appreciation to the next level
Here are seven great ways to go beyond basic volunteer thank you letters to truly say thank you to your volunteers in meaningful ways:
1. Take your association’s volunteer thank you’s up a notch.
Up-level the way you say thank you for volunteering throughout the year. For example:
- Send personal thank you emails (or handwritten notes). Go beyond sending a generic “thanks” email to all of your volunteers by personalizing a message to each one. Really recognize the value of each volunteer’s contribution by sending an email or handwritten note that’s specific about the role and/or impact that the volunteer made.
- Pick up the phone. How often do people take the time to pick up the phone to say “thank you” these days? Yes, it takes time – especially when you have a large number of volunteers. But it can go a long way toward letting your volunteers know you truly appreciate their time. It can also be a great opportunity to get feedback (more on that later).
- Give public shout outs. Publicly thank your volunteers in your member newsletter, via social media, on your website, and during events. Call out specific volunteers who have done exceptional work and thank your full pool of volunteers by listing how many hours they’ve donated and what they’ve helped your organization accomplish. These public kudos recognize your current volunteers and have the added benefit of encouraging others to join in.
2. Help your volunteer chapter leaders succeed.
Your volunteer chapter leaders can always use a hand. Maybe their chapter is just starting out. Perhaps they have a chapter with a small membership that needs to grow. Or maybe they have their hands full with a large membership base. With the right tools, you can better serve them all.
For example, chapter portal functionality in NetForum association membership software (AMS) by Community Brands allows you to give your chapters easy-to-use tools to help them manage:
- Memberships and member rosters
- Events
- Committees
- Documents
- Membership reports
By giving them the tools they need to increase and manage their memberships, you can reduce the administrative burden for your volunteer chapter leaders and staff, thereby giving them a more satisfying volunteer experience.
3. Provide a more connected committee volunteer experience.
Committee volunteers are more likely to feel appreciated and volunteer again if they have a smooth experience from start to finish. By providing committee volunteers with a well-managed experience, you can help to ensure your committee members can work efficiently and effectively – ultimately showing them that you appreciate their time and their talents.
Using committee management functionality in NetForum AMS, for example, you can:
- Manage and track committees, sub-committees, and task forces
- Track individual committee member participation, including the history of previous committee members and the dates they served
- Publish and distributing committee minutes and documents to keep committee members connected and informed
4. Make events easier for volunteers to manage.
Many of your volunteer opportunities probably involve helping out at your association’s events. And nothing can be more frustrating to volunteers than not having the tools they need to do their jobs well. Show your volunteers that you care about supporting them by providing them with tools to make event management easier.
For example, NetForum AMS includes event and exhibit management tools to help you and your volunteers more easily manage event details. For example, you and your volunteers can:
- Easily track registration payments, cancellations, and refunds
- View room setup reports that include meeting times, room names, attendance numbers, and other details
- Create and track exhibitors’ booth locations, checklists, contract details, and special requests
Get more next-level tips for keeping your volunteers happy and engaged.
Read the infographic.
How to Keep Your Association’s Volunteers Happy
5. Offer members targeted volunteer opportunities.
A study by ASAE Research Foundation found that 88 percent of members who had volunteered reported that they were somewhat (31 percent) or very (57 percent) satisfied with their volunteer experience. They liked the opportunity to contribute and to create networks through volunteering. However, 31 percent of non-volunteers hadn’t volunteered simply because no one had asked them.
This points to an opportunity to deliver more satisfying member experiences by getting more members to volunteer. And with the right tools, you can.
For example, NetForum includes membership engagement scoring functionality that helps you identify trends so you can engage more effectively with specific groups of members. For instance, it can help you watch for patterns of engagement among groups of members and then send them targeted and personalized communications to get them involved with specific volunteer opportunities that align with their interests and preferences.
Your members will appreciate being given opportunity to serve in ways that interest them most.
6. Ask for feedback from volunteers. 
It’s a good practice to ask your volunteers to provide you with feedback throughout the year. But also consider sending a short annual survey and/or asking for feedback in phone calls with volunteers. This approach helps to reinforce the idea that you appreciate your volunteers’ work for your organization and are listening to them so that you can make their experience with your organization even better.
A few questions to ask:
- What is the organization doing well? Prompt volunteers to think about their entire volunteer experience – from sign-up and orientation to training and support – and ask what aspects were the most helpful and enjoyable.
- What are the most challenging/most rewarding aspects of volunteering? Make sure they understand that by providing this type of candid feedback, they are helping your organization improve future volunteer opportunities.
- What type(s) of volunteer opportunities would they like to do, but have never been asked? Ask volunteers if there are any types of volunteer opportunities that would interest them that they haven’t been invited to do yet.
7. Make thanking volunteers easier on your association’s staff.
When you have a lot of volunteers to thank, some of the approaches in this article might seem tough to fit into the schedule year-round. But there are a few things you can do to make it easier. For example:
- Spread out emails, notes, and phone calls throughout each week in between meetings and daily tasks.
- Ask multiple people in your organization, including board members, to help. (Be sure to thank your board members for their service, too!)
- Segment your volunteer list by the number of hours they’ve contributed or the impact they’ve made over the past year; devote more “thank you” time to those who have donated more.
Learn more
Discover more tips on how to set your volunteers up for success and keep them happy. Read the guide, How to Take Your Association’s Volunteer Program to the Next Level
