Recognising and Rewarding Volunteers

Recognising and Rewarding Volunteers

Recognition Ideas

Volunteers need to feel valued. Recognising and rewarding their efforts will be appreciated and is important when encouraging volunteers to continue in their roles.

Recognition of volunteers should be:

·  personalised

·  timely

·  sincere

·  specific

·  consistent

·  often.

Developing a club volunteer recognition strategy will help address these criteria. It will also send a positive message to the volunteers in your club about the importance placed on their contribution.

There are many ways to recognise and reward volunteers. Some are free and very simple and others require a lot of planning and cost money. The template will provide you with many ideas.

Add to Action Plan

Determine the types of recognition your club will use

Develop a club volunteer recognition plan

Add ‘volunteer matters’ to the committee meeting agenda

www.recsport.sa.gov.au/v-star/club-handbook/recognise-volunteers-ideas.doc

Types of Volunteer Recognition

Tick the strategies your club might use and/or add your own.

P / Free / P / Low Cost / P / High Cost
Send volunteers emails with photos of themselves volunteering and thanking them for their efforts. / Send get-well, birthday and Christmas cards to your volunteers or phone them if appropriate. / Produce merchandise to give to volunteers with the club’s logo (thanking the volunteer and promoting the club at the same time).
Acknowledge and profile volunteers in newsletters and on websites. / Create bookmarks for volunteers acknowledging their commitment and dedication to the club. / Give them tickets to concerts or special events.
Write a letter of reference (by keeping good records you can include details of service). / Make a personalised CD for the volunteer with photos of them in action (as well as thankyou messages, club achievements, etc) set to music. / Hold special ‘thank you’ or social functions in honour of the club’s volunteers.
Acknowledge the efforts of volunteers during committee meetings. / Hand out a pack of LifeSavers confectionary to each volunteer with a note on it saying ‘Thanks for being a lifesaver’. / Create a ‘volunteer of the year’ award and organise a special function and/or gift.
Ask teams to write thank you notes to each volunteer. / Provide water and refreshments for volunteers while on duty. / Create volunteer pins/badges (one for each year of service or every five years).
Nominate volunteers for local, state or national awards (e.g. Sport SA Awards). / Using different resources, create ‘fun puns’. For example, give them a ball and include a note that says “You’re a ball to work with”. / Provide a voucher to a day of pampering (depending on the volunteer this could be facials, massages, etc).
Download existing recognition certificates from some government or sport websites. / Reimburse volunteer expenses. / Organise themed events for volunteers (such as fancy dress parties).
Submit an article to the local newspaper thanking volunteers for their efforts. / Buy some blocks of chocolate and wrap them with some paper with the club logo and a message thanking the volunteers. / Roll out the red carpet at your next volunteer recognition event. Make it a glamour event. Create ‘Oscar’ type trophies and a series of awards to give out. Invite the local mayor or MP to the event.
Have the club president write a personalised thankyou note to each volunteer. / Ask some of your junior players to create thankyou posters that can be displayed in the clubrooms or given to volunteers as a gift. / Create a volunteer yearbook with photos and articles and present to each volunteer.
Create a volunteer suggestion box. / Create a volunteer photo wall in the clubroom. / Develop an honour board in the club for displaying the names of your volunteers and years of service.

Volunteer Recognition Plan

Recognition/ Reward / For / Organiser / When each year / Where / Cost
Thank you BBQ / All volunteers / Volunteer coordinator / March / Clubrooms / $500
Local retailers vouchers / Coaches/
committee members / Vice president / Mid season break / Last game/training / $400
Thankyou letter / All volunteers / President / End of season / Post / $50

www.recsport.sa.gov.au/v-star/club-handbook/recognise-volunteers-ideas-templates.doc