The following online training sessions have been adapted, with permission, from the Betty Stallings 55-Minute Training Series to Train Staff and Leaders of Volunteers.
Each module contains an interactive training session on a topic related to volunteer management with supporting documents that can be used to facilitate further conversations with volunteer leaders and staff who work with volunteers.
Research from Reimagining Service demonstrates that organizations effectively leveraging volunteers at all levels are more adaptable, sustainable, and capable of going to scale. Effective training is a vital characteristic of these organizations, ensuring all staff are equipped to work with volunteers.
How to use the training
Modules have been designed to provide training to all staff within an organization as a stand-alone professional development opportunity or combined with interactive follow-up activities. Modules are approximately 10 minutes in length each.
Facilitated activities can be scaled up or down from 10 to 30 minutes as time allows.
- Option 1: Staff are asked to complete the online module on their own.
- Option 2: Staff complete the online module together at a staff meeting. Immediately following, a Senior Leader or the organization’s Volunteer Engagement Professional utilizes the provided facilitator guides and handouts to reiterate key concepts and help staff practice skills learned in the module.
- Option 3: Staff are asked to complete the online module on their own prior to a staff meeting. During the meeting, a Senior Leader or the organization’s Volunteer Engagement Professional utilizes the provided facilitator guides and handouts to reiterate key concepts and help staff practice skills learned in the module.
Download the Volunteer Management Resources PDF
Designing Effective Volunteer Positions
Calling on volunteers’ unique skills, interests, and qualifications to complete a task or job within your organization can be a valuable and rewarding way to involve community members in your mission.
But, before someone can fulfill a volunteer position, they have to know what that role entails. This training features details to consider when designing a volunteer position and the importance of a well-designed position description.
Volunteer Orientation and Training
Effective orientation and training are key elements that impact the ultimate satisfaction of volunteers and lead directly to retention, effectiveness, and volunteer productivity. This training features how to design effective orientation and training sessions for your volunteers.
Supervision of Volunteers
Supervision is an all-encompassing activity that involves the process of stimulating and overseeing the work of others. It is imperative that staff and lead volunteers feel a sense of clarity concerning their roles and responsibilities with regard to supervising volunteers entrusted to them. This training will help those who supervise volunteers understand their role as a supervisor and discuss key skills and characteristics of good supervision.
Effective Delegation
As a leader of volunteers, delegating is important because it empowers your team, builds trust, and develops your volunteers’ skills. This training will discuss difficulties with delegation and how to overcome them and will help you to recognize the benefits of effective delegation.