By avoiding the following missteps you can help your parent council volunteers have a more positive experience.
Here are a couple of main reasons why volunteers will not come back.
- Not feeling appreciated
Show parent volunteers your appreciation on a regular basis. Don’t make the mistake of making it a once-a-year/end of the year event. And definitely don’t break appreciation into different tiers, based on how much or how often certain volunteers contribute. If you really want to grow parent volunteering at your school, you have to let your volunteers know you appreciate them all year long. No matter how great or small their contribution is, a simple thank you note after an event thanking individual volunteers can go a long way. - Being given bad jobs
Some volunteers are eager to do anything and everything. No job is too big, too small and/or too menial (thank goodness for those volunteers). Keep in mind not all volunteers will be fine just doing anything. Doing some research ahead of time can make the experience for volunteers a positive one. Try matching jobs by finding out what they like to do and what jobs will suit there talents or traits. Always try to have a sign up sheet with a list of jobs so volunteers can sign up for their own jobs or know what jobs are ahead of time. - Not being contacted/Not keeping volunteers in the loop
Even if you don’t have an immediate job for everyone who signs up, chances are that you will have times you will need volunteers throughout the year. It is important to have a point person within your parent council who will contact each and every person who is interested in volunteering. The same goes for keeping parents in the loop. Use that same point person to be in charge of all your volunteers. Keeping parent volunteers in the loop will go a long way toward letting them know you value their willingness to help out. - Being micromanaged
Once you assign volunteers their jobs, reinforce that you are available to help, but that you are confident that they can complete their own tasks. Building their confidence and sense of accomplishment will help in the long-term. - Being under-managed
It can be equally frustrating for parent volunteers if they feel once they are on board you don’t have their support. This can be especially frustrating for new parent volunteers. Make sure you setup some time throughout your event to check-in with your volunteers. - Not being allowed to give feedback
After every event make sure to also ask your parent volunteers how they felt the event and jobs laid out went. Ask your volunteers what they think went well and what do they think can be done to make the event and/or tasks better for future events. - Not being prepared
Make sure that if parent volunteers show up to perform a task or offer a service, you are ready for them to do so. If plans have changed or you’re short on materials, make sure to communicate that to them in plenty of time. This lets parent volunteers know you care about their time and effort. - Being left out
No one likes to feel left out. Some parents have the perception that parent volunteers can be cliquey. If it is an issue, try to do what you can to dispel that image. Have members wear name tags and make a concerted effort to get to know new volunteers. These simple steps will help even the playing field.
We have all run into the similar instances above. It doesn’t have to be that way. Knowing is half the battle and will help other parents from feeling the same way! Hopefully this article helps point you in the right direction. If you are still searching for more information and can’t find it in one of our blogs/articles be sure to reach out to other parent council members via our parent engagement forum.
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