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Jennifer Bennett, CVA Senior Manager, Education & Training

VolunteerMatch jbennett@volunteermatch.org

@JenBennettCVA

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Agenda • VolunteerMatch Overview

• Making the Case for Online Volunteer Recruiting

• Best Practices for Recruiting Online

• Review Real Opportunities Using Best Practices

• Introduction to VolunteerMatch

• Things to Remember

• Q&A

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VolunteerMatch Overview “VolunteerMatch strengthens communities by making it easier for good

people and good causes to connect.” 97,133 nonprofits… 83,183 Active Opportunities…. 7,678,925 referrals since 1998

• VolunteerMatch has been around for 16 years, and is the top-ranked website for online volunteer recruitment and employee-volunteer programs

• Our Learning Center offers over 20 webinar topics focused on volunteer management and VolunteerMatch tools, serving an audience of over 6,000 attendees each year

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Recruiting Volunteers Online

• Another Tool to Recruit Volunteers – VolunteerMatch User Survey

• VolunteerMatch Research – 100 High Referring Listings – 100 Listings with no referrals

• Best Practices

– Help your listings stand out and find the “right” volunteers

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8 Easy Steps for Recruiting Online • Make the Title Work for You

– Catchy, Fun, Interesting

• Keep it Brief – One Opportunity, 100 words

• Word it Simply and Make it Easy to Understand

– No Jargon, no acronyms

• Make an Impact – Include a Strong Call to Action

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8 Easy Steps for Recruiting Online • Provide Direction and Support

– Time Commitment, Training, Restrictions

• Make it Visually Appealing – Include Pictures, Graphics. Make use of White Space.

• Remember to Edit

– Grammar, Spelling

• View your Listing as a Volunteer – Use a Critical Eye.

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Best Practices for VolunteerMatch

• Title Stands Out – Call to Action

• Make Good Use of First Sentence – Visible to prospective volunteers

• Brainstorm and Use Keywords – What kinds of volunteers do you want to find you

• Keep Referrals on VolunteerMatch – Information is only useful if volunteers click ‘I Want

to Help!’

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Make Your Title Work For You

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Review Real Opportunities

Let’s take a look at some examples of good descriptions and those that could use some work.

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Using Best Practices

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Office Support

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A Listing that Needs Work

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A Listing using more Best Practices

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Make the Most of VolunteerMatch

• Create an account – Use the coupon code for Premium Account tools

• Intro to your dashboard – Learn all the ins and outs

• Do more with premium tools – Enhance your outreach and connection

• Create a listing and start recruiting! – Walk through the steps and learn how to share your

listing using social media

Create an Account

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Hover over the Nonprofit dropdown and click Get Started

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Remember… Your VolunteerMatch listing may be the first time a volunteer learns about your organization:

• Use language that is welcoming • Clearly state needs and impacts • Outline any potential ‘deal breakers’ • Craft opportunities that will attract the volunteers you need

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Resources Learning Center Find upcoming webinar dates, how-to videos and more

http://learn.volunteermatch.org

VolunteerMatch Support Account support or review help topics – Click Support at the top of any page

https://volunteermatch.zendesk.com/hc/en-us

GuideStar Coupon Code: Go the to the Benefits Section of the GuideStar Exchange to find your coupon code!

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Thanks for attending! Join us online:

Like us on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/VolunteerMatch

Follow us on Twitter: @VolunteerMatch

Visit Engaging Volunteers, our nonprofit blog: blogs.volunteermatch.org/engagingvolunteers/

For any questions contact:

Jennifer Bennett (415) 321-3639 @JenBennettCVA jbennett@volunteermatch.org