It can sometimes be a challenge to attract enough volunteers to your organization or event. Maybe shaking up your recruiting methods will help.

When traditional recruiting tactics start to return lackluster results, consider implementing these five creative and free approaches to attracting volunteers:

Mine Your Social Network

Maybe the volunteers you’re looking for have been right under your nose the whole time. Ask your friends and family if they or someone they know might want to volunteer. Ask your current volunteers and other staff members to do the same, and suddenly you have an army of recruiters working for you.

If every volunteer asks a friend who asks another friend, your reach will grow exponentially. Plus, a recommendation from a friend is worth much more than one from someone you don’t know.

Go Global

In today’s connected world, why limit yourself to your local area? If you have a job that doesn’t require someone to be on site, consider letting volunteers do it remotely.

Some possible remote volunteer jobs include writing newsletters, designing websites, consulting and even making small items that can be mailed in. You can find people to fill these positions on online job boards and sites like Craigslist and Reddit.

If you think a little bit outside the box, you can significantly expand your potential volunteer pool.

Post Information About Your Organization

Although being somewhere in person will draw more attention, you can still have a presence at local hotspots without physically spending your day there.

By printing out flyers or posters and putting them up on local bulletin boards, you can advertise your organization practically for free.

To make the process extra fun and to make your posters extra eye-catching, consider having a poster design contest. It’ll give local artists a chance to show off their skills, and you’ll get a striking advertisement.

Consider adding a QR code to the poster, too, so people can easily access your website, more information about the opportunity and a volunteer application. Make the application easy to download on mobile and desktop, so people can easily sign up.

Then, just have your current volunteers hang up the fliers in places they frequent or think might be popular with your future volunteers.

Have Some Fun

Volunteering shouldn’t be all work and no play. Hosting fun local events could help draw more volunteers to your organization.

As far as what those fun events could be, your imagination is the only limitation. You could have a potluck dinner and open it up to the public and have your staff and employees invite friends. Maybe you could host a meet-up at a local bar or restaurant. You could also plan a basketball tournament at the local park. Really, the possibilities are endless.

Contact Schools

College and high-school students are often in need of volunteer opportunities, and you’re in need of volunteers, so why not give them a call.

Students that participate in service organizations or other clubs often need volunteer hours to remain members of those clubs. Others may just be looking to beef up their resume.

Contact local schools and see what students and organizations are looking for volunteer opportunities. It’s a win-win for you and the students.

You don’t have to stick to the usual methods for recruiting volunteers. Getting creative with your strategies can help you stand out from the crowd, get your name out there and make people want to choose you to volunteer with.

The post 5 Creative (and Free!) Ways to Attract More Volunteers appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

Source Taken From: Nonprofithub.org