Charity shop volunteers are at the heart of successful charity retail operations, and here at Kudos we recognise that recruiting and keeping new volunteers can be time consuming and challenging.

Volunteers give their time and expertise in exchange for a variety of reasons that benefit them as an individual, as well as supporting a cause that they are passionate about. This may include giving back to a good cause, gaining work experience, or finding companionship. Understanding what motivates people to give their time can play a key part in a charity’s recruitment strategy, and using technology can help retain the right people – unlocking the true potential of volunteers.

Key Takeaways

• Recruiting and retaining volunteers can be challenging
• Benefits of recruiting volunteers
• Developing a volunteer recruitment and retention strategy
• Using traditional and digital marketing campaigns and events
• Using retail technology to make your volunteers’ working lives easier

What is Volunteer Recruitment?

Recruiting volunteers for charity shops is about finding and matching the skills and motivation of volunteers with the skills-gap and opportunities available at the organisation. It sounds simple but there are some huge challenges that come with attracting, and retaining, the right volunteers. The benefits however are clear – expanding your charity’s resource capacity, building community support/engagement and complementing your retail team in paid roles.

Key Strategies for Recruiting Volunteers

Define New Volunteer Roles Clearly

There is a huge range of volunteer roles available in charity shops: customer facing, sorting stock, driving, barcoding and facilitating online sales – the opportunities within non-profit organisations are endless and offer a wonderful opportunity to create a win-win relationship for the volunteer and the charity. When promoting a vacancy, it’s important to write a detailed role profile and job description, including responsibilities, the skills required, and time needed. This ensures that the applicant is more likely to understand the effort and commitment they are making and is less likely to withdraw from the process, encouraging them to stay and make a difference.

Build a Strong Online Presence

Using digital marketing to manage the campaign is an essential way for charities to catch the attention of the right audience and attract new recruits. Emails, websites, social media and apps like the Kudos Charity Card App can all help communicate with candidates. Use automated forms, online bulletin boards and software systems to speed the process up and keep data secure. Keep in touch with applicants throughout the process and communicate new roles regularly.

Leverage Community Partnerships

Building partnerships within the organisation, and with local media, businesses, schools, and community groups will expand the reach of charity shop recruitment aimed at volunteers looking to join, and events such as corporate support days can add value to both the charity shop and businesses.

Use Volunteer Recruitment Platforms

There are lots of excellent recruitment platforms online that allow managers to extend their reach and share the role description with a wider network. From websites to social media, many of the platforms give organisations the opportunity to manage and list their volunteering roles for free as part of the recruitment process.

Host Volunteer Information Sessions

Attend and run recruitment events and taster sessions to share information and build connections with your local community. Future volunteers can come along for an informal chat, or a one-off session to find out more. These face-to-face opportunities are a great way to explore the tasks, commitments and responsibilities involved by meeting people such as the shop team, service users and existing volunteers.

Create an Engaging Recruitment Campaign

Blogging, social media, podcasts and direct mail/emails are all effective ways to connect with potential applicants. Use positive stories, testimonial quotes and photographs to help build an engaging campaign and advocate for volunteering efforts. In-store POS can also be a brilliant way to engage with your community. Designing posters and point of sale to display in store and on local notice boards can make a real difference to the organisation, include tips and guidance, contact details and QR codes for quick access to more information on your website or the application form.

Offer Flexible Opportunities

Use different recruitment methods and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and abilities by offering more inclusive opportunities with flexible working, short and long-term contracts and a mixture of customer facing, fundraising, driving and back-office roles attracts a broader range of volunteers to join, with a wide range of expertise and new skills.

How to Retain Volunteers Long-Term

Recruiting and training charity shop volunteers can be a time consuming and challenging process, which is why retaining hardworking and valuable team members should be crucial to long-term recruitment goals.

1. Provide Comprehensive Training & SupportVolunteers should receive proper induction and training to boost confidence and help keep them and their colleagues safe in the workplace. Till / EPoS systems like Kudos should be simple to use, and volunteer friendly.
2. Recognise and Appreciate VolunteersRecognise and reward volunteers e.g. entering them for awards such as the CRAs ‘Volunteer of the Year’ or create your own volunteer reward and recognition programme to boost morale and recognise the enormous contribution volunteers make to charity shops.
3. Foster a Positive Volunteer CultureDevelop an inclusive volunteer friendly HR framework for people from all backgrounds with good recruitment practices, contracts and policies, and ensure that there is no ‘them and us’ culture between paid roles and unpaid team members.
4. Offer Skill Development OpportunitiesCreate training and mentoring opportunities within the organisation to foster good in-store development opportunities with progression and further skills development.
5. Collect Feedback and Act on ItUse volunteer surveys and feedback forms to offer a feedback loop between volunteers and shop managers to highlight potential problems and learn best practice. Act on any information that you receive to ensure volunteers feel listened to and valued.
6. Communicate RegularlySchedule team meetings and appraisals to communicate regularly. This ensures that the store goals and volunteers needs are aligned. Make new volunteers feel part of something bigger by including them in team events and promoting wider charity updates.
7. Use Retail TechnologyUse software like Kudos to help manage your rotas and plan shifts, which can increase productivity and boost morale. Kudos has rostering tools with useful features that help with shift reminders, or scheduling friends to work together. Your charity retail system should help volunteers to gain confidence and serve customers quickly and efficiently, reducing queues, making money handling more straightforward and allowing for great customer service.

Common Volunteer Recruitment Challenges & How to Overcome Them

• Lack of Awareness About Volunteer OpportunitiesThere is a lack of awareness about volunteering opportunities, and competition for volunteers. The key to successful non-profit recruitment is to promote the application process to the right candidates and to match their skills and experience to the role description and opportunity.
• High Volunteer TurnoverCharities lose volunteers for all sorts of valid reasons. Sometimes because the volunteer finds paid employment, or because circumstances or availability have changed. Many of these reasons are outside of a charity shop’s control, but good recruitment and employment policies will help to slow down staff turnover, and regular recruitment campaigns can help replenish volunteers from a waiting list.
• Skills MismatchCharity shops should try to closely match the skills of volunteers when recruiting, with the opportunities and experience they are looking for in store. The most meaningful and rewarding connections happen when a volunteer feels that they are making a difference for a cause they care about, and their input is valued.

Conclusion

Effective recruitment relies on charity retailers developing a well-planned volunteer strategy that focuses on regular communication, clearly defined volunteering roles with flexible work practices, and meaningful engagement and recognition for volunteers who make a personal impact.

Using a retail system such as Kudos EPoS can help volunteers serve customers quickly and efficiently, reducing queues and making money handling more straightforward – allowing for great customer service. Kudos can also help mangers plan rotas easily and effectively, improving retail operations.

Volunteering can bring a wealth of benefits to individuals, charities, communities and businesses. Taking the time to invest in strategic recruitment and retention activities will ensure that charity shops find, and keep, an army of passionate individuals with a vast array of valuable skills and experience who will work tirelessly for their chosen cause.

Frequently Asked Questions