This is National Volunteer Week! Established in 1984, National Volunteer Week is an opportunity to recognize the impact of volunteer service and the power of volunteers to tackle society’s greatest challenges, to build stronger communities and be a force that transforms the world. Today, the holiday is organized by Points of Light, the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service.
After two years of pandemic, quarantine, and general upheaval, volunteerism looks very different. For some organizations, volunteer opportunities have completely dried up, while other organizations have been carried through the crisis by their volunteers. We like to suggest that all our clients and friends find ways to do something to recognize, celebrate and thank their volunteers. Here are some suggestions.
- Give shout-outs to volunteers in social media. Being thanked is one of the most powerful ways to recognize a volunteer. (Even better: challenge donors to make contributions in a volunteer’s honor!)
- Send volunteers a handwritten card. Ask staff, clients or others who benefit from your volunteers’ service to write a note thanking them.
- Thank them with a celebration. It doesn’t have to be a gala; a box of bagels and a carton of coffee can make a party that is just as impactful.
- Publish a dashboard of volunteer hours and impact.
- Ask board members (volunteers themselves) to call and thank volunteers for their service.
Volunteers make the nonprofits of the world work. Thank and celebrate them for their service.
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