All chapters need them, most say they don’t have enough, and few talk about a growing number. We’re talking about volunteers. And we had an opportunity recently to talk with a chapter which has seen an increase in volunteers this past year: the Silicon Valley Chapter of the International Facility Management Association (IFMA). Here are a couple of suggestions from them:
- Have a volunteer recruiter who can tell a compelling story
- Challenge your membership services committee (or board) to come up with more incentives to volunteer, e.g. free attendance at events
- Work on sharpening the position descriptions to help “sell” them to members
- Set up a portal on their website which encourages volunteers – on IFMA-SV’s you can search for opportunities and learn more about volunteering
What have you tried that’s worked?