{"id":982,"date":"2016-04-22T11:22:47","date_gmt":"2016-04-22T17:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/?p=982"},"modified":"2016-04-22T11:26:59","modified_gmt":"2016-04-22T17:26:59","slug":"5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Sure-Fire Tips for Recruiting and Keeping Volunteers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Getting and keeping volunteers is always a challenge. But the\u00a0Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration (MAVA<\/a>) has\u00a0provided a silver lining: In 2010, volunteer program managers in\u00a0Minnesota reported that people hit by unemployment often turn to\u00a0volunteering to gain skills and references.\u00a0 In their study,\u00a0“66 percent of those organizations experiencing increased inquiries\u00a0about volunteering indicated the increase was primarily driven by\u00a0unemployed people.”\u00a0Getting and keeping volunteers can be hard, but there are people\u00a0out there who are looking for a place to serve. Here are tips for\u00a0finding and keeping new volunteers for your ministry.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Reach out to younger volunteers.<\/strong> According to the MAVA,\u00a0two of the fastest growing volunteer groups are students looking or\u00a0about to start looking for jobs, as well as “millennials.” I fell\u00a0under both of those categories when I first started looking at a\u00a0church to work at, and I ended up staying there for six years. This\u00a0group is eager, energetic, and can provide positive role models for\u00a0your kids. If you live near a college, find out if it has any\u00a0Christian organizations, like a Baptist Campus Association, Wesley\u00a0Foundation, or a Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Contact their\u00a0leader and ask if you can put up flyers asking for volunteers.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Be specific.<\/strong> When asking for volunteers, be\u00a0specific with your needs. Ambiguity can equate to insecurity for a volunteer. While we all love a volunteer who can be\u00a0a “wild card” and do anything we ask for, that person is not always\u00a0easy to find. To get people interested, you need to let them know\u00a0what they’ll be doing and how long they will be doing it. Let them know exactly what your expectations are.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Get personal.<\/strong>\u00a0A personal connection goes\u00a0a long way in getting people to walk into your ministry. Here’s a\u00a0challenge: Ask each of your current volunteers to talk to two\u00a0people in the upcoming week. One should be someone they are friends\u00a0with and they think could be a good fit for your ministry. The\u00a0other should be someone they don’t get to see or sit by too often.\u00a0This helps build connections and contacts and will give your\u00a0volunteerism a boost.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Stay connected.<\/strong> Communication is key in any\u00a0relationship, and your volunteers are no different. They need to\u00a0hear from you and you need to hear from them. Have meetings, but\u00a0keep them at a reasonable length and try to schedule them when the\u00a0most can come (a midday meeting will miss anyone working business\u00a0hours). At your meetings, encourage your team. Let them know that\u00a0what they do really matters. Share your vision with them and get\u00a0them excited about it. And let them share their questions and\u00a0concerns.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Make the position fit your volunteer instead of the other way around.<\/strong> I like skits but I have friends who don\u2019t like doing any kind of drama. Ask some teachers to lead music, and they\u2019ll definitely come back for more the next week. Ask other teachers (who aren\u2019t as musical) to lead music, and you won’t have them around for long. Your volunteers should be able to enjoy themselves in ministry, too!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    That\u2019s what\u2019s great about Group\u2019s new DIG IN\u00a0curriculum<\/a>. The innovative DIG IN\u00a0lesson builder<\/a> enables you to tailor lessons so teachers teach the way God wired them to teach. That\u2019s guaranteed to put a smile on your volunteers\u2019 faces! And happy volunteers\u00a0mean they\u2019ll stick around longer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Getting and keeping volunteers is always a challenge. But the\u00a0Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration (MAVA) has\u00a0provided a silver lining: In 2010, volunteer program managers in\u00a0Minnesota reported that people hit by unemployment often turn to\u00a0volunteering to gain skills and references.\u00a0 In their study,\u00a0“66 percent of those organizations experiencing increased inquiries\u00a0about volunteering indicated the increase was primarily driven by\u00a0unemployed people.”\u00a0Getting and keeping […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":1071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sunday-school","category-training"],"yoast_head":"\n5 Sure-Fire Tips for Recruiting and Keeping Volunteers - Group Children's Ministry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Recruiting and keeping volunteers is always a challenge.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Sure-Fire Tips for Recruiting and Keeping Volunteers - Group Children's Ministry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Recruiting and keeping volunteers is always a challenge.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Group Children's Ministry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GroupChildrensMinistry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-22T17:22:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-04-22T17:26:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/03\/people-apple-iphone-writing.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1592\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1067\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Jennings\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@groupkidmin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@groupkidmin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Jennings\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers\/\",\"name\":\"5 Sure-Fire Tips for Recruiting and Keeping Volunteers - Group Children's Ministry\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/03\/people-apple-iphone-writing.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-22T17:22:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-04-22T17:26:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/#\/schema\/person\/b4f742c26ccfedc352ce049da188e118\"},\"description\":\"Recruiting and keeping volunteers is always a challenge.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/03\/people-apple-iphone-writing.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/03\/people-apple-iphone-writing.jpg\",\"width\":1592,\"height\":1067,\"caption\":\"recruiting and keeping volunteers\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"5 Sure-Fire Tips for Recruiting and Keeping Volunteers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/\",\"name\":\"Group Children's Ministry\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/#\/schema\/person\/b4f742c26ccfedc352ce049da188e118\",\"name\":\"David Jennings\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13031572c1e984e8a4e5c08cfa9d66b85da25b29046b9a0b7dcbf8b06ac2e8f8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13031572c1e984e8a4e5c08cfa9d66b85da25b29046b9a0b7dcbf8b06ac2e8f8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Jennings\"},\"description\":\"David has served kids around the world for the majority of his life. From Texas to Romania, he has followed where God has led him.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/author\/djennings\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5 Sure-Fire Tips for Recruiting and Keeping Volunteers - Group Children's Ministry","description":"Recruiting and keeping volunteers is always a challenge.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"5 Sure-Fire Tips for Recruiting and Keeping Volunteers - Group Children's Ministry","og_description":"Recruiting and keeping volunteers is always a challenge.","og_url":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers\/","og_site_name":"Group Children's Ministry","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GroupChildrensMinistry","article_published_time":"2016-04-22T17:22:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-04-22T17:26:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1592,"height":1067,"url":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/03\/people-apple-iphone-writing.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"David Jennings","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@groupkidmin","twitter_site":"@groupkidmin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Jennings","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers\/","url":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers\/","name":"5 Sure-Fire Tips for Recruiting and Keeping Volunteers - Group Children's Ministry","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/03\/people-apple-iphone-writing.jpg","datePublished":"2016-04-22T17:22:47+00:00","dateModified":"2016-04-22T17:26:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/#\/schema\/person\/b4f742c26ccfedc352ce049da188e118"},"description":"Recruiting and keeping volunteers is always a challenge.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/03\/people-apple-iphone-writing.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/03\/people-apple-iphone-writing.jpg","width":1592,"height":1067,"caption":"recruiting and keeping volunteers"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/5-sure-fire-tips-for-recruiting-and-keeping-volunteers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"5 Sure-Fire Tips for Recruiting and Keeping Volunteers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/#website","url":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/","name":"Group Children's Ministry","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/#\/schema\/person\/b4f742c26ccfedc352ce049da188e118","name":"David Jennings","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13031572c1e984e8a4e5c08cfa9d66b85da25b29046b9a0b7dcbf8b06ac2e8f8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13031572c1e984e8a4e5c08cfa9d66b85da25b29046b9a0b7dcbf8b06ac2e8f8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David Jennings"},"description":"David has served kids around the world for the majority of his life. From Texas to Romania, he has followed where God has led him.","url":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/author\/djennings\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}