Finding and organizing volunteers on the internet
At Ragtag, we help a range of organizations with their technology needs. That usually looks like building a website or learning how to wrangle large data files. One question we didn’t expect to get is how to find and organize volunteers online. That’s a thing we are pretty good at, so here are some thoughts for volunteer groups seeking their place on the internet.
Should you start something new?
If you’re thinking, “hey, we should start something,” take a pause to consider your options first. Building a new group is a huge amount of work, and many causes have existing groups that have been around for a while. Sometimes, your energy and skills can make a bigger difference by joining an existing group than starting from scratch. It may be as simple as a quick search for “<issue description> activist groups”, to find groups operating in your area.
Suppose you didn’t find an existing group, so you’ve started your own. Congratulations! Now it’s time to think about attracting volunteers and making sure they have a positive experience.
How to connect with volunteers
If your group is seeking members or volunteers, the best step is to find people where they already are. New organizations often don’t have a role that is in charge of social media, public relations, or marketing. But that outreach and storytelling work is important to build and sustain volunteer groups.
To tell your organization’s story, focus on events and projects. A focus on actions the group takes helps people understand the group’s priorities. It also helps potential members decide whether they might want to join.
Working with other related organizations is a good strategy. Reach out to their leadership with a clear request. For a local group, ask to visit an event and make an announcement about your group or event. Offer to share a post about another group’s work if they’ll share yours on social media or in a newsletter.
There are a lot of social media websites. For a new group, focus on thoughtful and consistent posts on a few rather than trying to cover them all. While Facebook and Twitter are some of the biggest in the US, many groups use Eventbrite or Meetup for sharing public events. Replying to people who respond or mention the group online is also an ongoing part of a communications role.
Welcoming new members
From my experience with a range of volunteer groups over the past decade, it really helps to have a leadership team member in charge of onboarding. Helping someone figure out how they want to get involved is often an in-depth conversation. You need to understand their skills and interests, as well as where the group needs those skills.
Be clear about the time commitment for active members. For some groups, it’s just “show up sometimes,” while others have stronger requirements. There may be a difference between fans who want to receive updates about the work, and members who are willing to help.
Think about breaking your group’s work up into smaller tasks or roles. Getting people involved in a smaller way, then later asking for progressively more involvement, is a good strategy. When people are brought in for very intense commitments, they often burn out fast and leave. Members may also need guidance when they’re ready to switch to a new project.
It might be tempting to have the same person responsible for both public outreach and onboarding. After all, both roles require great communication skills. Unless your group is very small, though, these jobs will each be large enough to keep someone very busy.
Your organization’s digital front door
When it comes time to create your organization’s website, think about what you’re presenting to people on the internet. Do you have a homepage with a clear, plain-language introduction to what your organization does, who it’s for, and how to get involved? The words on your website are more important than the design — if people don’t understand the basics, fancy graphics won’t convince them to stay. I use Hemingway App to make my writing easier to understand.
Credit for the digital front door name & metaphor goes to Code for America’s 2015 Digital Front Door program to improve city websites.
Online tools for collaborating
Before choosing which tools to use in your group’s online collaboration, talk through what your group needs to do. Also consider what parts of the work should be public versus private. Many groups post public announcements of upcoming actions, but use a private place to plan those announcements. A place for the group to chat and get to know each other is also important. People like to work with groups where they like and trust each other. In good news, there are plenty of existing applications that take care of virtually every group’s communication and collaboration needs, so you shouldn’t have to build anything custom.
For shared documents and spreadsheets, Google Drive and Docs is the most common free option. Real-time editing by more than one person is helpful for meeting notes and collaborative editing. Its access settings are robust, but finding items can be tricky without organized folders for your group.
For internal planning and collaborating, many groups like Slack. Slack’s free version allows individual and group messaging, plus voice and video calls. For organizations working on several projects, having a ‘channel’ or chat room for each can feel easier than long email threads.
MailChimp is a very popular choice for communicating with volunteers and supporters, and we’ve recommended HubSpot for several of our partners who needed a low-cost, robust CRM.
Beyond documentation and communication, all groups will have some unique tech needs. In general, Ragtag looks for tools with good API support, strong privacy and security policies, and excellent documentation.
Speaking of security and privacy, we suggest having a readthrough of these recommendations:
This site discusses how to evaluate software security before you buy it: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/01/how-assess-vendors-data-security
This site has good information, but beware it has spicy language that may not be appropriate for work: The Normal Person’s Guide to Internet Security
This article is has a good checklist of do’s and don’ts: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/d3devm/motherboard-guide-to-not-getting-hacked-online-safety-guide
Conclusion
Building an organization to tackle important issues can be really rewarding. Technology can let you focus on creating meaningful volunteer opportunities and making your team effective. Let it support you as you organize your team to reach your goals!
Use your powers for good. Join the Ragtag team.
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