CharityVillage® Research: How to thank volunteers

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How to thank volunteers
by Bruce Raymond
December 23, 1996; Canadian FundRaiser

Many people, even volunteers themselves, forget that just because a volunteer doesn't receive any coin of the realm in return for the time he/she donates, it doesn't follow that the donated time has no real value nor that the person donating that time can be treated as "free labour" to whom normal business and personal courtesies need not be extended. This consideration becomes critically important in the area of thanking volunteers after their work is done.
But how to thank them? Should volunteers receive tangible expressions of gratitude, such as a plaque to hang on the wall, or should they simply be given a warm handshake? Should there be grades of acknowledgment linked to individual performance? Does competing for rank and a "better prize" not somehow diminish the sense of satisfaction for those volunteers who aren't at the top of the list? Why should a publicly well-known volunteer get a testimonial dinner thrown in his/her honour while a less-known volunteer who has worked just as hard, is virtually ignored? From time to time, everyone wants to receive a pat on the back. God knows that most people go through their entire life with very few opportunities to be singled out in front of others and credited for something they have done.
Now it is true that looking for credit can sometimes get out of hand. Mahatma Ghandi advised his grand-daughter, "There are two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group - those who do the work; there's less competition there". Notwithstanding that undoubtedly sound advice, let's try to find out what volunteers themselves expect.
Chris Varney of the St. Elizabeth Visiting Nurses said, "I don't expect any pay, just a little respect".
A short while ago, a Canadian journalist came up with the idea of giving tax credits for volunteer work - on the surface not a bad idea but what an opportunity for scam-artists to cheat the tax man!
More to the point is a list compiled by The Toronto Volunteer Centre of those items which volunteers most want as tokens of recognition. Eighty-one percent of all polled volunteers want a discount on memberships. Over eighty percent look upon volunteerism as career training, and would like to receive a diploma of some sort.
Some more statistics are even more interesting and revealing: seventy percent like volunteer lunches, sixty percent like to have a private lunch with the paid hand with whom they work as a volunteer. Over fifty percent want a personalized gift item, such as an Award pin, although almost as many of the canvassed volunteers would be just as happy with a certificate.
Regardless of what has motivated us to go into a volunteer situation, when we come out of that situation, we want to be thanked - one way or another. Volunteers and those who work with volunteers forget that at their peril, and risk bringing down on their heads a heap of unnecessary resentment from volunteers who feel that they have been taken for granted.
In our next article we'll deal with specific ways of thanking volunteers ... and making sure that no one is left out in the thanking process.
A 1992 survey asked volunteers to indicate what type of recognition they preferred for their volunteer work. here are the results:

Discounts on memberships, etc. 81.4%
Additional training 81.2%
Personal development training 69.2%
Luncheon with volunteers 68.9%
Employee privileges 68.5%
Volunteer job enhancement 68.0%
Participation in staff activities 64.0%
Individual lunch with agency 60.4%
Social event with volunteers 60.4%
Gift item with agency logo 59.0%
Community recognition 55.6%
Personalized gift item 55.1%
Award pin 52.2%
Award certificate 49.5%
Gift item with universal volunteer logo 46.8%
Participation in organized sports event 22.2%
A popular lecturer and speaker, Bruce Raymond has been very active as a volunteer leader in the charitable sector, most recently serving as president and then chairman of the Variety Children's Charity. This article is based on material from a forthcoming book by Bruce, "Seven Golden How-To Rules for Volunteers, or How to get the most out of doing for nothing what you wouldn't do for money". For more information, call (416) 485-3406, or fax (416) 487-3820.