Leadership, Volunteer Culture

7 Ways to Retain Volunteers

1. Genuinely love and care for them.

2. Repeat your vision or your “why” constantly.

3. Keep them informed.

One of the most consistent improvements I got from volunteers when I surveyed our team was that they didn’t know what was going on or when they needed to serve. We must build systems where everyone is informed about the news on our team – that no one is excluded. Make sure you have a clean roster of your team and that you are consistent in the methods in which you communicate. If you communicate with some team members on one social platform and others with another method, people will start to feel left out and uninformed. E-Mail was the most successful method of communication to my entire team. Everyone had email, not everyone may be on your favorite social media platform.

4. Stay organized.

When keeping your team informed, you must stay organized. Your first step may be to create a team roster like I mentioned above, where you can see every member of your team at a glance. Once you start here, make sure you have solid email addresses, phone numbers and other current contact information. These sound simple, but too many people fall through the cracks because we don’t stay organized and keep them informed.

5. Don’t take advantage of them.

If the same people on your team serve every week, that is not only a recipe for burnout, its extremely unhealthy. A good rule of thumb is to schedule your volunteers once every 3 weeks on a Sunday and the same for midweek services. If they wanted to come more often and serve in another capacity, that was allowed. However, if I saw the same person serving week after week, I would take it upon myself to remove them from the schedule for a couple weeks or have a talk with that volunteer. Don’t forget – their spiritual life is most important – they need to be attending church and serving their family well. Be cautious of taking advantage and putting too much on only a handful of people.

6. Take responsibility for the team.

Be a leader. If something goes wrong on Sunday and your leadership asks you about it, take ownership, don’t throw your volunteers under the bus. You bad mouthing or not having the backs of your team members is a sure-fire way to have them leave you. As long as you’re in the position you’re in, take the responsibility of and for your team.

7. Be grateful.

Lastly, be grateful. Volunteers are spending time they could be resting, time with their family, time doing other things to come and serve your church. Show your volunteers your gratitude with your words, your actions, rewards, food, treats, giveaways, and more. Think about ways that you can show your team members you are thankful for them.

CARL BARNHILL
Creative Director / Owner
[twelve:thirty]media | Columbia, SC
twelvethirtymedia.com

Carl Barnhill has served on staff at some of the largest churches and organizations in the country. He served as Media Director at Precept Ministries International, directing the television and radio program Precepts for Life with Kay Arthur, broadcasted to over 98 million homes around the world. He served as Video Production Director at Pinelake Church in Brandon, MS, where he produced media content for four campuses, as well as led volunteer teams.

He most recently served as Video Coordinator for Newspring Church in South Carolina. Newspring has 10 campuses across the state with a weekly attendance of over 35,000. At one campus alone, the number of consistent volunteers serving in media production tripled, under his leadership.

He currently serves as Creative Director and Owner of [twelve:thirty]media, a company that serves churches and ministries all over the world through motion graphics content and church media coaching.