The Real Lives of Volunteer Coordinators
A Blog for us to Learn from Each Other
Written by Jordan Galerkin 
Recap for April 4th - April 10th
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Facebook community this past week!
Resources for New Volunteer Coordinators
So you just became a new volunteer coordinator…now what?! Hopefully by this point you have received some training and had the chance to introduce yourself to your new volunteers, but there are some more steps you can take to really hit the ground running! Our coordinator community has some ideas, and you can check out our article on Volunteer Management Best Practices as well!
Comments from the group
“Volunteer management group from NY has an online volunteer management certificate program. Hugely helpful!”
“When I started my role almost a year ago I came from an admin background and was setting up a brand new programme - first in my job! I would see if there are helpful organisations around where you’re based who can offer training or local volunteering knowledge.”
Volunteer Continuing Education Requirements
Some organizations may require continuing education for their volunteers. In some instances, particularly within medical and health care fields, these requirements may be government-mandated. So, how can you make sure volunteers keep up with these requirements without losing them? Our coordinator community has some helpful ideas on the subject.
Comments from the group
“I like to be upfront so there’s no surprises because it is a commitment with the CEs and requirements. I have lost people as well due to the education piece or have had people not take it seriously. Our company uses itrain and the onboarding courses are a solid 25 or so topics then there’s separate requirements outside of the itrain module. You’re not alone!”
“We experienced some resistance when online training became a mandatory compliance piece. Ultimately we were able to retain most volunteers by offering additional support. From then on though we were very clear in our ongoing compliance requirements for new volunteers so it didn’t come as a surprise each year.”
“There needs to be some clarity upfront and not at orientation. I would start there and maybe [design] a page just for volunteering. I would also consider more targeted recruitment for retention- so like nursing students, nurses, death doulas, etc. Those are the groups that will be serious because they have to do CE’s to maintain licensure so it’s a win-win.”