General Support

  • Create a detailed Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document tailored for volunteers that addresses common questions and concerns. This resource empowers volunteers to find solutions to their inquiries promptly, minimizing the need for staff intervention and reducing response time spent on recurring requests.
  • If you notice that volunteers are being inconsistent with logging their hours, consider developing a process in which volunteers can use a QR code to log hours and occurrences.
  • Consider including support opportunities for volunteers like reimbursement for mileage and cost of activities they engage in with their program participant when generating your budget.
  • Prior to a volunteer’s first visit to the program participant’s home, consider completing an in-home visit to complete a safety assessment. This can be a formal or informal assessment to ensure that the home does not contain any dangerous animals or any significant hazards to volunteers’ health such as mold, unsafe structure, pest infestation, etc. You may choose to have the program participant or their caregiver agree to maintain a safe, healthy and comfortable environment for visiting volunteers.
  • Your volunteers may need to leave contact information with the program participant or family caregiver for scheduling purposes, but the volunteer may not feel comfortable with the program participants having their contact information. Consider options such as Google Voice to allow volunteers to set up their own Google Voice phone number they can give out. This number can be consistently used by the volunteer and recognized by the program participant who will then feel more comfortable answering the call instead of sending it to voicemail. Another option is to use the organization’s contact information until trust is built and the program participant and volunteer feel comfortable sharing their contact information. If a volunteer is providing a direct number for the program participant to connect with them, particularly as it relates to scheduling purposes, set expectations with the volunteer and participant on when calls may be received and returned.
  • Provide the volunteer with verified emergency contact information. Because many program participants live alone and can be geographically isolated from family members, having contact information for a neighbor or someone who has regular contact with the person can help alleviate a volunteer’s concern when a participant is not answering their phone.
  • Self-care and rejuvenation are important for staff and volunteers in a fast-paced, demanding environment. It is important to provide support in terms of mental and overall health. This will have an all-round positive impact on the volunteers and staff along with the type, level and quality of services being offered.
  • When scheduling volunteer transportation and volunteer chaperones for appointments and procedures, encourage the clients to get written instructions for their physician or surgery center with the required arrival time, estimated length of the procedure and whether the chaperone must wait for the client or can return later to take them home. This will ensure the volunteer has the information they need to estimate the duration of the volunteer event and determine if they are available to support that event.
  • To ensure that volunteers can reach the Volunteer Coordinator or other appropriate staff member for assistance, if needed, while volunteering, consider only offering visits during your organizations normal business hours.
  • When utilizing multiple staff members and multiple partners, having one point of contact for the care recipient and volunteers lessens confusion.
  • Having a dedicated phone number and email address for your volunteer nonmedical assistance program will ensure volunteers, care recipients and family caregivers can easily reach out with questions or needed supports without having to work through a complicated phone tree.

 Onboarding

  • To facilitate ease of volunteerism, have a process in place to walk volunteers through the background check process, simplify reporting as much as possible while ensuring you have all the information you need to manage and maintain the program and, if technology is needed to complete a task, provide a lending library with hotspot Wi-Fi access if necessary. Make program supply acquisition quick and straightforward, especially for those volunteers with limited transportation access. Also, provide opportunities for new volunteers to shadow more experienced volunteers to remove the stress and uncertainty felt when starting a new endeavor.
  • Investigate getting staff members trained and certified in fingerprinting and provide in-house notarization or find a mobile fingerprinting service that can come to volunteer trainings. This could remove the need for volunteers to travel to various locations to complete the required background check and speed up the onboarding process. An example would be delivering program materials and providing background checks on campus for college student volunteers.

 Volunteer Meetings

  • Support your volunteers with opportunities to come together to share success, discuss challenges, provide feedback to the organization about their role and obtain additional training to support their work as a volunteer. These meetings can also be an opportunity to ‘spotlight’ a volunteer as well as ensure fidelity in program implementation.
  • Consider creating a private volunteer Facebook page where volunteers can engage with each other regularly. You can also post volunteer updates, meetings times/dates, and recognition here.

 Mentorship

  • Volunteers benefit from mentorship. Having a mentorship component incorporated into the program provides social and educational opportunities. This peer-to-peer interaction facilitates sharing through teaching and learning opportunities. It also offers continuous communication for a personalized fit meeting the needs of the mentee and the mentor.
  • Being a caregiver and volunteering to be a caregiver mentor can be stressful. When you have volunteers with these circumstances, try to monitor the mentor to ensure that their mentoring duties do not become overwhelming in addition to being a caregiver. Prioritize these individuals to periodically role play conversations with their mentee to ensure they can ask the right questions comfortably and have challenging and comfortable discussions.
  • Starting a new volunteer opportunity may be frightening for a new volunteer. Being ready with answers to their questions can help ease some of that anxiety. Encourage the volunteer to talk with and shadow experienced volunteers until they feel comfortable on their own.
  • Utilization of an intergenerational model is beneficial to organizational staff, its volunteers and care recipients. Older volunteers and younger volunteers share knowledge and skills which supports the organizational staff. Older volunteers can mentor younger volunteers in more than just their volunteer role. Life experiences can be shared by older volunteers, younger volunteers and care recipients thereby building lasting relationships.

 Managing Transition

  • Volunteers and program participants often develop relationships. Offering support services to the volunteers can help them manage life transitions that occur within those volunteer relationships. This may include training in boundary setting or grief support services.
  • Volunteers and the program participant often become very close. It is important to offer support services to volunteers who experience the decline or death of their care recipient. Offer opportunities for them to talk to someone who can help them process their feelings and/or grief. This is also a time to share any affirming messages the family or care recipient may have shared with you about the volunteer.
  • Volunteers who lose their care recipient due to death may not be ready to volunteer right away. Be sure to check in with them regularly to provide support and be available to them when they are ready to volunteer again.