As a nonprofit leader, your days are filled with managing programs, engaging with donors, and planning for an impactful future. With so many essential tasks on your plate, finding time and resources for effective marketing can be daunting. Yet, to make a lasting impact, having robust and ongoing marketing strategies is more crucial than ever. This is where skills-based volunteers come in.
Imagine having access to experienced professionals who can help elevate your organization’s visibility and outreach without straining your budget. This article will guide you through a practical approach to recruit and work with marketing volunteers, ensuring your nonprofit thrives today and in the future.
The skills-based volunteer opportunity
Most nonprofits wouldn't be able to keep their doors open without volunteers. In fact, about one-third of the entire nonprofit workforce is unpaid. Much of this is due to an unprecedented number of job vacancies in the sector, with about 75% of all nonprofits reporting job vacancies in 2023.
Volunteers can be one of your most critical assets. Recent research estimates the value of one volunteer hour at $33.49. The value of an experienced skills-based volunteer is exponentially more.
Skills-based volunteers are significantly more likely than traditional volunteers to increase your reach by 35% and your efficiency by 28%. Why not extend your volunteer roster to cover the reported 11% of all nonprofit job vacancies in Communications or Marketing?
Professional skills-based volunteers
Skills-based volunteers apply their specialized knowledge to address specific organizational needs, such as marketing and communications. Traditional volunteering often involves general tasks. Skills-based volunteering is different. It focuses on using professional skills to enhance capacity by optimizing resources. These volunteers can help close the gap between your limited resources and the increasing need to be competitive within a shrinking workforce.
5 marketing volunteer roles
In marketing and communications, skilled volunteers can provide invaluable expertise and support. They enable you to improve your outreach and engage with your audiences better. Here are five examples of marketing volunteer roles and who might fill them for a nonprofit.
- Social Media Coordinator: A college intern creates and schedules posts, following a content calendar, for your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts.
- Content Writer: A professional freelance copywriter volunteers to write compelling blog posts, donor appeal letters, and email newsletters.
- Graphic Designer: A graphic designer uses their employer’s corporate volunteer program to create eye-catching promotional materials for your upcoming fundraising event.
- SEO Specialist: An SEO expert at a local agency volunteers to conduct keyword research, optimize your website content, and implement SEO best practices.
- Email Marketing Specialist: An email marketing specialist volunteers to design email templates, segment your email list, and generates automated email workflows for your quarterly donor campaigns.
If you don’t have the specialized skills needed for pivotal marketing tactics like social media, content creation, graphic design, SEO, and email marketing, skills-based volunteers can help you build and deploy more impactful and sustainable marketing campaigns.
Pitfalls to avoid when hiring marketing volunteers
Marketing volunteers can bring skills and fresh views to your nonprofit. But you must be aware of pitfalls that could hurt your efforts.
Inconsistent or subpar quality
Volunteers come with different levels of expertise and experience. Inconsistent skill levels can lead to varied quality in marketing materials and strategies. This is especially risky when you're hiring college interns. Interns may not be able to apply their schooling to real-life scenarios.
Unfamiliarity with the brand
Without thorough training, volunteers may create content that deviates from your established brand voice, tone, and visual identity. More experienced volunteers may have difficulties setting aside their own experiences to produce communications or messaging that is true to your nonprofit's brand. Each volunteer may bring their style and preferences into their work. These may conflict with your branding and messaging.
Limited availability
It takes time for marketing volunteers to become immersed in your brand. Yet, your volunteers probably have limited availability. Students are only available for a semester, and corporate volunteers need only evening or weekend hours. This can lead to delays in project completion or inconsistent marketing efforts.
Lack of management and coordination
Coordinating skilled volunteers requires your time and resources. This is especially true when multiple volunteers work on different aspects of a campaign. Without a unified team approach and regular communication, you get disjointed messaging. This can confuse your audience and weaken your marketing campaigns. A lack of coordination can also lead to volunteers duplicating efforts or working at cross purposes. Also, unclear direction may cause volunteers to experiment. They may use their own ideas and tactics, which may not match your goals.
Dependence on volunteers
Over-reliance on volunteers for marketing can be risky if key volunteers leave or become unavailable. This can disrupt your ongoing campaigns and affect your visibility.
Hiring volunteers for marketing comes with potential challenges. But if you recognize these pitfalls and implement strategies to address them, you can effectively leverage the power of skilled marketing volunteers.
Strategies for recruiting marketing volunteers for nonprofits
Recruiting marketing volunteers can be a game-changer for your nonprofit. With the right plan, you can attract skilled professionals passionate about your cause and eager to contribute their expertise. This section will highlight best practices for identifying, engaging, and recruiting marketing volunteers.
Define clear roles, responsibilities, and success metrics
Your volunteers and team must know what's expected of them. They must know how you'll measure their success. Outline the specific marketing tasks, campaigns, or projects for which volunteers will be responsible. Create detailed job descriptions. Clearly define each role's scope, time commitment, and expected outcomes. These descriptions will also help you match volunteers to roles based on their time commitment, experience, and skills.
Engage your current supporters
When ready to start recruiting, start with your own supporters. Encourage current volunteers, donors, and board members to volunteer their marketing skills. Also, ask them to search their networks for volunteers. Personally appeal to supporters who have marketing experience or have expressed interest in helping out in the past. Share details of the work and how it would impact your organization as a way to inspire potential volunteers to help.
Leverage professional networks
To find volunteers, reach out to local marketing agencies, professional associations, and business networking groups. Use platforms like LinkedIn to connect with marketing professionals and promote volunteer opportunities.
Collaborate with educational institutions
Partner with colleges and universities to engage students and recent graduates. Work with marketing departments and career services offices to offer internships or volunteer opportunities. Offer college credit or CEUs for volunteer work. Take part in career fairs. Offer to speak in marketing classes or with student groups. Talk about the benefits of gaining marketing experience through volunteering.
Utilize volunteer matching platforms
Post volunteer opportunities on websites that specialize in matching volunteers with nonprofits. Use platforms like VolunteerMatch, Idealist, Catchafire, and Taproot Foundation to advertise marketing volunteer roles and connect with potential candidates. Tap into local groups and platforms that recruit volunteers, including your local United Way or a nonprofit chamber of commerce.
Promote through your channels
Use your existing communication channels to reach potential volunteers. Advertise volunteer opportunities on your website, social media pages, email newsletters, and at events. Highlight the impact and benefits of volunteering with your nonprofit.
These recruiting best practices will help you find skilled volunteers who can significantly boost your marketing strategies and overall mission impact. However, to ensure their success, you need to onboard, train, and provide them with the right tools.
Set them up for success
Clear guidelines, comprehensive training, and ongoing support help volunteers understand their roles, align with your organization's goals, and feel confident in their contributions. Here are the best practices for onboarding and supporting marketing volunteers.
Match their skills to the task
Use an application form or questionnaire to gather information about each volunteer's professional background, specific marketing skills, previous volunteer experience, and personal interests. Conduct interviews to gain a deeper understanding of their capabilities and motivations. Discuss with volunteers their passions and interests related to your nonprofit's mission. Assign tasks that align with their experience and motivations so they feel valuable and engaged.
Provide training, timelines, and milestones
Offer training sessions, access to marketing tools, and ongoing support from your staff or more experienced volunteers. Ensure each volunteer clearly understands your nonprofit's brand guidelines and messaging. Communicate your marketing goals, overall and within the campaigns and projects they’ll work on. Outline the timeline, key milestones, and expected outcomes for each task. Regularly check in with your volunteers to provide feedback, address any challenges, and keep them on track.
Share brand elements
Providing each marketing volunteer with a comprehensive set of brand elements, clear brand guidelines, and a well-defined voice/messaging hierarchy ensures that all campaigns are consistent, impactful, and aligned with your mission. This includes all versions of your logo and color palette. It also includes approved headlines, call-to-actions, slogans, taglines, and writing guidelines. Don't ever leave a volunteer in a position where they need to guess the message or strategy behind a project they are working on.
Provide appropriate tools
Equip your marketing volunteers with the right tools to maximize their efficiency and effectiveness. These tools may include design tools like Adobe Creative Cloud, social media schedulers like Hootsuite, web content platforms like WordPress, email tools like Mailchimp, web analytics tools like Google Analytics, and project management platforms like Asana.
Provide strategic marketing and communications plan
To ensure that your marketing volunteers are effective and aligned with your nonprofit’s goals, provide them with a comprehensive marketing and communication plan. This plan serves as a roadmap, guiding their efforts and creating consistency in all marketing activities.
Your roadmap should clearly articulate your short-term and long-term marketing goals, such as increasing brand awareness, engaging supporters, or driving donations. It should also define your primary and secondary target audiences with demographic information, interests, and the most effective channels to reach them. The plan should provide critical messages that align with your mission and are impactful to your target audiences.
The content calendar is an important element. It should outline key dates, campaigns, and events, including submission deadlines, approvals, and publication. Each month or quarter will feature a theme or focus area for a cohesive and strategic approach to content creation. The calendar should also specify the content needed for each platform (social media, email newsletters, blogs, etc.) and the frequency of postings.
The more detailed and thorough your marketing and communication plan is, the easier it’ll be for your marketing volunteers to succeed.
Maintain open communication
The best results come from a culture of transparency and feedback. Foster open and ongoing communication with volunteers. Encourage volunteers to share their ideas, concerns, and suggestions with your team. Regularly update them on your organization's progress and how their contributions are making an impact.
Monitor and evaluate performance
Continuously monitor volunteers’ progress and evaluate their performance. Set up regular check-ins and provide constructive feedback. Assess the impact of their work on your marketing goals and adjust as needed. Recognize and celebrate their achievements to keep them motivated.
How Junotype can help ensure marketing volunteers succeed
Junotype empowers nonprofits like yours to elevate marketing efforts through strategic support and expertise. A partner like Junotype understands the fundamental necessity of collaborating with volunteers. By leveraging Junotype's expertise in marketing strategy for nonprofits, your volunteers will have the tools, training, and techniques to focus on execution.
Junotype empowers your marketing volunteers to make a meaningful impact. This collaboration improves your nonprofit's marketing. It helps you achieve your mission better. To learn more, contact us today.
