Volunteers: How to Recruit, Engage, and Nurture in Your Community

Volunteers are essential to the functioning of community associations. April is National Volunteer Month — a perfect time to recognize the hard work, dedication, and time volunteers give to various organizations, including community associations, nationwide.

At a fundamental level, volunteering is about building relationships, providing consistent and transparent communication, and giving people the opportunity to accomplish their personal goals. Follow some of the ideas below to perfect the recipe for volunteer success.

Recruit residents with a customer service attitude and a desire to serve.

Try to link individual talents and interests to association needs.

In communities with many part-time residents, consider implementing virtual meetings. Technology such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams has made volunteering from a distance possible.

If residents in your community sign up to volunteer but then don’t participate, consider an absenteeism policy that states that a certain number of missing meetings results in a de facto resignation.

Develop a term-limit policy. 

If your community enjoys a ready supply of capable volunteers, a term-limit policy can help avoid complacency and stagnation. 

Term limits also can provide insurance against volunteer burnout. Try not to place too much on any one person.

Train volunteers. 

Having an orientation or onboarding program for volunteers is crucial and includes going over governing documents and fiduciary responsibilities. CAI has numerous resources to train volunteers. 

Provide task ownership, support, and resources. 

For some, volunteering is all about having an open, positive attitude and giving people opportunities to learn and serve their neighbors. Once a task has been assigned, give them ownership and support. Set your volunteers up for success by keeping good records and making notes.

Be sure to provide specific assignments, clear instructions about the task, and information about the desired outcome. Break down a task into smaller, manageable parts.

Thank your volunteers. 

Treat your volunteers with respect, thank them, and let them know that their opinion matters.

Publicly recognize volunteers for all they do and how they contribute to the community.

Finding volunteers, motivating them, directing them, and maintaining their interest are challenging tasks for community association leaders and managers. Assigning responsibilities to the right people, asking them to accomplish realistic tasks, and making them glad they did add to the challenge, but success is possible. The reward is a well-functioning community where residents are involved and the quality of life is notable.

>>Read more about cultivating successful volunteer relationships in CAI’s Volunteers book.