Recruiting Volunteers

Get People Involved

  • Promote chapter leadership as a professional skills development opportunity.
  • Send out a welcome e-mail to each new member with information about your chapter.
  • Have a board member speak with new members during their first visit.
  • Encourage new members to become active in one or more committees.
  • Recognize active members during an annual appreciation event.
  • Match skills and strengths with appropriate leadership positions.
  • Establish a relationship with potential leader candidates and mentor volunteers early on so they can progress into leadership roles.
  • Conduct an annual leadership summit inviting all alumni in the area to a chapter meeting to hear about opportunities.

Approaching a Potential Recruit

  • Every attendee should be viewed as a potential volunteer. Make everyone feel welcome and encourage them to return. Break the ice by asking when they graduated, where they got that snazzy red shirt — anything else to get them talking.
  • Although happy hours are easy to plan and can be fun, they might not appeal to people who like to attend gallery openings. Be sure to offer a variety of events and you’ll see a lot of new faces.
  • The easiest way to gauge interest is to make people tell you what they like. Encourage people to fill out Interest Inventories before they go. A great way to boost response is to offer a raffle prize if they submit a form.
  • Once you have the Interest Inventories, use them! Call the folks who indicated they want to get involved. You can also find out what programs interest alumni through Volunteer Connections.
  • Make sure to tell people about the programs WAA offers, too. They might want to attend one of our events or get involved with a career-mentoring program. Tell people to visit uwalumni.com to learn more.
  • Check in regularly with your current volunteers. You may find that they want to expand their role or have something new to offer, and you’ll be rewarded in the long run by their loyalty.
  • Once you recruit a new volunteer, be sure to stay in touch with them. You want to ensure that they’re having a positive experience and will stay involved.
  • Make sure you know what’s going on at UW-Madison and WAA. As a chapter leader, you’re an ambassador of the university and people will expect you to know things like current student enrollment and whether or not Ogg Hall is still standing.

Tips for Managing Volunteer Development

  • Have a formal, structured orientation plan for leaders assuming new positions. Use WAA training to further strengthen leadership skills.
  • Develop written position descriptions detailing the volunteers’ different levels of commitment.
  • Keep important documents for incoming leaders (e.g., notes, timeline, contact people, systems, processes, etc.).
  • Review them with incoming leaders as part of mentoring process.
  • Provide opportunities to practice new skills and tasks (event planning, meeting administration, etc.).
  • Pair veteran and new leaders to perform specific tasks such as running meetings, giving speeches, delegating and following up on tasks.
  • Provide emerging leaders with group or individual feedback and constructive criticism.
  • Delegate and allow freedom – let volunteers work creatively to make their job a success. There is more than one “right” way to accomplish something. Also, if no one steps up to the plate, consider whether there is enough interest to hold that event. It might be better to let an event have a one-year hiatus, and if members complain, tell them that you need help to keep the event alive.
  • Hold an informal “getting-to-know-you” session for new recruits and current volunteers to allow them to learn more about your chapter before the first major event or board meeting.
  • Provide written descriptions of what will be expected of new volunteers. Don’t just throw them into the thick of things without an overview of what they will be doing.
  • Determine who will hold leadership positions in your group six months or one year in advance. Have those people “shadow” the current leaders for the remainder of their terms.
  • Designate one current volunteer to act as a “Badger Buddy” to the new volunteer. The mentor should be in regular contact with the new volunteer and be able to answer questions as they arise. Be conscious of the difference between “mentoring” and “bossing.”
  • Show your volunteers the Chapter Leader Handbook, or encourage them to check out uwalumni.com/chapterleader.