Advice for festivals on how to recruit volunteers

posted by A Rimmer on Wed, 26/01/2011 - 4:07pm

Hi, 

I am writing an article for a pilot magazine called Festival Business. I am looking for advice for my readers on how they can effectively recruit volunteers. Is it more difficult to recruit volunteers in the current economic climate? Should festivals provide incentives to get people to volunteer?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

A Rimmer

Forums: 
Recruitment and marketing

On Tue, 08/02/2011 - 9:30pm

Don't think I have anything amazing to offer, but thought after a week one of us should comment. There have been a couple of articles about trends in volunteering - with the citizenship survey and nfp synergy being the most notable. Its also been pointed out to me that when unemployment rates increase, then volunteering engagement decrease. So in the current climate with cuts, job loss, then maybe it will be hard to attract volunteers. However, if you have an attractive role at a festival that comes with some thing attractive (like music) and they don't need to make an ongoing committment, then maybe a weekend volunteering event will be an attractive option. I've had a lot of success using university websites to attract short-term, project specific volunteers. I think the incentives should always be balanced with what needs to be done and this made clear in the application and selection process... for what it is worth!

 

By Nikki Squelch -- Nikki - AVM Member & Director (volunteer)

On Thu, 10/02/2011 - 9:52pm

Good reply on the festival-volunteer recruitment question. I agree on communicating vol. jobs as short term, no further commitment to the organization, that the job should be something familiar to people and so on.. I would put it this way:

Busy person?

- Opportunity to work at the beer stand at X festival this week

- 2 hours of fun and work - no commitment after wards

- support the work for raising money for/ promoting/ raise awareness of XX

- on-the-site instruction by volunteer coordinator

- bring you friends and family

I just wrote a blog called 'Beyond Motivation' where I suggest that how you promote volunteerism to people affects how they respond. This is because they've all ready have given volunteerism a certain meaning.

By Frederik

On Thu, 27/10/2011 - 6:12pm

I am surprised to hear that when unemployment rates increase that volunteering engagement decreases. You would think it would be the exact opposite due to people having free time on their hands. Plus I have heard that some resume services suggest that you have volunteer experience on your resume. They say that employers like the aspect that people give their time without pay. It shows that they are dependable people. I would agree that with the current climate with cuts, job loss, it sounds like there will be a lack of volunteers according to your recent findings and your human resource management will need to be creative in thinking of ways to fill these roles. It is such a shame.

By wahlberg