10 Ways to Motivate Your Nonprofit Volunteers

Adam J. Cheshier
6 min readAug 7, 2020

Keeping your volunteers motivated is as important as any aspect of your nonprofit organization. And, actually, it’s not that difficult. You will be surprised how little acts of gratitude and support can go a long way in the eyes of a volunteer.

Take a look at this list of ten things you can do to continually motivate your volunteers below:

Keeping Your Volunteers Motivated:

1. Respect their Time

Don’t invite a volunteer until you’ve got something to do. Letting a volunteer in is a waste of time for you and him. They are free, so they will use your help as long as it is available.

It is important to remember that volunteers are not your regular employees. Be careful and consistent in your plans. Be on the front line when communicating your needs. Indicate the duration of the task, when it will be available and when it should be completed. Offering other options is also a good option, even for volunteers who have busy schedules but still want to spend their time.

2. Make Joining Easy

--

--

Adam J. Cheshier

Documenting obscure pockets of the world across long-distance overland expeditions. Recently celebrated 7 years of nomadism. https://linktr.ee/adam.cheshier