When working with volunteers, it is especially important to appreciate your workforce. A recent supplement to the San Antonio Business Journal listed the “Best Places to Work” in San Antonio. Even though these 49 companies were different in what they produced, how many people they employed, and the number of years they had been in business, what they had in common was an appreciation for their workforce. After describing what the company did, the article mentioned “cool perks” that were available to employees. These ran the gamut from Casual Fridays to Thirsty Thursdays (whatever that is) and even pet-friendly workplaces! Is your ministry offering any cool perks to its volunteers? How can you make your ministry one of the best places to volunteer?
Help volunteers see the big picture. Do your volunteers feel connected to the bigger picture of your ministry? Do they realize how their contributions impact your mission? Volunteer teams at Word of Life in Schertz, Texas, are organized around five steps: Relate, Share, Invite, Worship, and Serve. Each step helps answer the question “How will we accomplish our mission of building a bigger heaven and better lives?” When volunteers see how their ministries fit into the overall plan, they become excited and enthusiastic about their involvement.
Give volunteers special treatment. Provide close-in reserved parking spaces just for volunteers. Designate a volunteers-only entrance. Give volunteers special name tags. (Think about the Fast Pass at Disney World.) Show your volunteers that their contributions are valuable!
Provide volunteers a day off. Schedule a day off for your regular volunteers. If a volunteer faithfully runs off the bulletin every Friday, schedule an occasional Friday off. You’ll have to line up other volunteers to take care of the task (or add to the workload of your paid staff); however, your faithful volunteer will appreciate the occasional change of pace—and someone else will get the blessing of serving.
Provide necessary tools. Are your volunteers making do with outdated equipment, cast-off computers, and leftover office supplies? Let your volunteers know you value their contributions by providing them with adequate tools and supplies. They don’t need to have the latest and greatest devices, but no one wants to repair the folding machine three times while trying to assemble the church newsletter.
Provide flexible space. Must the work your volunteers perform be done at the office? If so, be sure to provide enough space. Don’t stick volunteers in a former closet with poor lighting and limited work surfaces. If the work can be done from home, allow volunteers the opportunity to complete their tasks on their own time. Set a firm deadline date, but allow flexibility for when the work is completed.
Include volunteers in staff functions. Depending on the size of your organization and your volunteer force, this may not always be possible. However, when possible, include your volunteers in opportunities traditionally set aside for staff. Invite volunteers to attend your weekly staff devotions. Include volunteers at the summer staff picnic. Provide special polo shirts with your ministry logo for your volunteers.
Ask your volunteers. Be sure to invite feedback from your volunteers. Ask your Sunday school teachers if they have ideas for summer Sunday school curriculum. Survey your office volunteers about ways to streamline newsletter production. Request input from your small-group leaders about how their groups can better function. Be sure to thank volunteers for their input and let them know how you will act on their suggestions.
Communicate. Create a volunteer contact list and send out periodic e-mail updates, weekly prayer requests, monthly newsletters, and other communication tools to your volunteers. Strive to keep your volunteer workforce as well-informed about what is happening in your ministry as your paid workforce. Be sure to keep the list up-to-date and the information current!
Celebrate the small stuff. Remember your volunteers with cards on their birthdays or anniversaries. Send occasional thank-you notes. Provide frozen Popsicles for your volunteers to celebrate the first day of summer. Bring fresh doughnut holes for the bulletin crew when they assemble all the extra printed materials for Holy Week.
Be available. Recognize the important contribution that volunteers make by making time to visit with them and listen to them. Take time to greet them when they arrive and ask how things are going. Really listen as they tell you about their volunteer responsibilities or their personal lives. Pray with and for them.
Give feedback. Clearly communicate your expectations to your volunteers and let them know if they are meeting those expectations. Frequently share both positive feedback and constructive criticism.
Organize outside volunteer opportunities. This may seem redundant, but volunteers like to volunteer. Plan a night for volunteers to work together at the local food bank. Schedule a group of volunteers to work your local public television station fund-raising event. Connect volunteers with a local Habitat for Humanity project. Give volunteers an opportunity to serve together in ways that are outside their normal volunteer responsibilities.
Your volunteers are key to your ministry, and their service is moving them along the path of discipleship. Why not do all you can to help them find your church to be “The Best Place to Work”?
Copyright © 2008, Group Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
September 2008 
