HomeFinding Volunteers to Fill Services

Finding Volunteers to Fill Services

There are many tools available to find volunteers to fill services. Almost all Villages use more than one technique. The choice of method depends on several factors including the urgency of the need, the relative abundance of volunteers compared with the need for services, and office staff workload based on the number of services per week that need to be filled.

Individual Solicitation

The simplest technique is to take each service request as it comes in and try to fill it. This is most appropriate when there are relatively few service requests per week (less than a dozen) or an incoming request needs to be filled very quickly. This procedure begins by filtering the Member Services Screen Member Services to sh

ow only unfilled requests (status = "Requested") for the next few weeks. Select the pencil icon next to the service to be filled to open the request.

When the Service Request screen opens click on "Add Service Providers" to see as list of all volunteers who offer this service, who are not on vacation, who are available on this day, who are not already doing a service at the same time, and, if metro areas are used, are in the same metro area. Select one or more volunteers to be either called or emailed.

"Metro area" is on optional tag that can be applied to members and volunteers. It was intended for "hub and spoke" Villages to reflect separate geographical areas, so that volunteers can be matched preferably or exclusively with requests by members in the same area. For example, if your metro areas are separated by dozens of miles, services must be filled by someone from the same metro area. If your metro areas are adjacent parts of town or adjacent towns, you can preferentially assign volunteers but be more flexible. One multicultural Village planned us use "metro areas" to reflect the language spoken at home by members and volunteers which is a clever repurposing of this function.

Using the Add/Edit Service Providers button within a service request opens a screen that lets you select and add the names, numbers and contact method of volunteers to the list of volunteers to solicit for the requested service.

Phone Calls

Individually calling the volunteers in the list usually requires about three calls to find a volunteer. The results are often immediate (if you reach a volunteer) or fairly quick if you leave a voicemail message and your call is returned. However, this technique may require more office staff effort than is available if there are a great many services to be filled. When you have a member on the phone (or are leaving a voicemail), you can also mention more than one needed service.

If your village has turned on the option and included it in the system email the volungeer can sign up for the service directly from a popup window linked to in the email.

Email for a Single Service

Emailing all the volunteers on the list may require sending an email to several individuals (often an average of ten individuals) to find a volunteer, but all the emails are automatically composed and sent with a single click.

When the number of services per week is small, sending an email to a number of providers for each service is often the easiest method. When a large number of services per week need to be filled you don't want to send too many emails to your volunteers. So, the practice of sending an email for only one service is generally reserved for services needed within the next few working days.

You should begin considering techniques listing multiple services per email when your office staff feels they are spending too much time finding volunteers and the stress of increasing workload outweighs the satisfaction of individual contact with volunteers.

Email Blasts

The software is very "rich" in methods in which volunteers can be contacted via email to request help with services. The difference between them depends on the ability to select (filter) the services requests and/or the recipients of the request. The methods also vary in the amount of effort needed to compose the email message.

Individually Composed Email

The most basic method of sending an email blast is to compose a message to all service providers listing all the services needed for the next week or two. This is done from the email manager. Email Admin Instructions on how to use the email manager are found in this manual. The content (e.g., location, start time, needed services) of the email must be composed each time the email is sent. The email can be targeted to all volunteers or only those offering one or more specific services. Previous emails can be copied to reduce the effort needed. This technique has been superseded by more efficient methods.

If your Village is using the Volunteer Self-Service (VSS) module a weekly reminder email thanking your volunteers and including a link to the VSS is a good idea. Aside from this summary email for VSS Villages, the methods described below of sending emails are better and require less effort.

Automated Open Requests

In 2021, RMV introduced their newest tool to send a list of all open service requests to all relevant volunteers. The benefits include reducing the number of unfilled Service Requests; making it easier, faster, and less time-consuming for call managers and staff to find volunteers; reducing the operational effort for managing service requests; and making it easier and faster for volunteers to say “I’ll do that one.” This new feature is strongly recommended.

In AOR, an email is sent automatically to your volunteers with a frequency selected by your Village (e.g., daily, weekly, or other). The message sent can be tailored by your Village. The list of services sent to each volunteer is only for services offered by that volunteer and your Village can select which volunteers use AOR. The volunteer can click on a link in the email and automatically sign up for that service or to sign up for the service pending approval of the Village “office.”

The structure for the Automated Open Requests for the Village is set up in the Services Tab --> Service Options --> Automated Email Open Request section. The text of the AOR emails can be modified in Communications Tab --> Systems Emails --> the Emails starting with “Member Services – Auto Open.”

In January 2022, the VtV RMV User Group presented a User Talk about implementing RMV’s Automated Open Request features – the choices that AOR allow (the flexibility AOR provides), how to decide which choices are most important for your Village, how to get buy in from Village management and volunteers, how to build and test your implementation, how to train staff and volunteers, etc. Most of these documents provided at that User Talk can be modified for use in your Village.

Click here for the video of the of the webinar and here for the PowerPoint slides used in the webinar

Click here for an example of the training material for call managers, staff, and others who enter service requests

Click here for an introduction on AOR to volunteers and here for training material for volunteers

Click here for a document explaining implementation steps for AOR

Click here for a document explaining testing process for AOR

Email blasts from VSS

You can send a blast email from the VSS. The list of services that goes out is based on the filter applied to the list before the selection to send the email is made. This email goes to all volunteers, although you can select the metro areas of the volunteers and restrict the list of recipients to those offering specific services. More importantly, you can filter the list of services that are sent. For example, if your Village takes requests for doctor's appointments well in advance of the appointment you might not want to make requests of volunteers more than three months ahead of time. In another example, if your Village uses metro areas, you can send a list of services for one metro area only to volunteers in that metro area.

Volunteer Self-Service

Online Signup

When you use this option, your volunteers are encouraged to check an online listing of all needed services on a regular basis, at their convenience. They peruse the list and select the services they wish to offer. When they find a service they can sign up for it immediately and receive a confirmation email immediately. Generally volunteers are shown all services because they may wish to offer a service they have not previously told you they wish to offer. For example, drivers may offer to do simple handyman tasks, or take walks with members they like.

If this option is used it is still useful to send a weekly reminder thanking volunteers for their service and and providing a link to the list of services. Use of this feature reduces the staff time to fill services dramatically.

Comparison of Techniques

	Control of Recipients	Filtering of Services	Ease of Use for Office	Ease of use for Volunteer	Recommendation
Individual Solicitations - Phone Call	One call per recipient. Recipients selected from list of available volunteers offering the service. Optional choice of metro areas.	Call for an individual service.	Labor intensive. Average of three calls per service to find a volunteer. High success rate if you reach a volunteer with immediate resolution.	Easy to accept, although some dislike getting phone calls.	Useful for low volume of requests or small numbers of urgent unfilled requests
Individual Solicitations - Email for Single Service	Recipients selected from list of available volunteers offering the service. Optional choice of metro areas.	Email for a single service	After selecting providers, one click to send emails. Three to five minutes. Acceptance via email avoids multiple volunteer resolution.	Easy to accept by clicking on link in email, or replying to email or calling the office. Some volunteers dislike getting emails, but most simply ignore them when unable to volunteer.	Useful if there are urgent requests and not enough staff time to call people. Automatic signup from email a plus.
Email Blasts - Individually Composed	To all volunteers. Optionally those offering specific services or those in a metro area.	Individually added when composing the email.	Twenty minutes effort to compose email	Volunteers need to reply to email or call the office and sign up.	There are better options
Email Blasts - Automated Open Requests	All member and/or non-member volunteers.	Email automatically tailored to each recipient to show only services offered by recipient	One-time setup. No subsequent effort	Volunteers can accept requests directly from the email and get a confirmation email.	Recommended. Automatic and no staff effort.
Email Blasts - from VSS	Option to select metro area and services offered	Sender can filter by date range, day of week metro area, service type, or specific member	three minutes per blast	Village may need to filter the list of services to prevent too many services in the list. Volunteers click on link to VSS and sign up online. .	Filtering is needed if there are hundreds of outstanding requests and Village wishes to limit visibility of far future requests.
Volunteer Self Service - Online Signup	Listing is always available to volunteers. Optionally, Villages can restrict visibility of certain services to providers of those services.	Viewers can filter by date range, day of week metro area, service type, specific member	Completely automatic	Volunteers can accept requests directly from the website and get a confirmation email. For home requests volunteers can call member and update the date/time of the request.	Recommended. Automatic and no staff effort.