This past October, Youthlinc hosted it’s 3rd annual Volunteer Management Training at the Youthlinc office.  Thanks to an amazing partnership with Mary Buehler from UServeUtah and Rebecca Van Maren from SLCC Thayne Center for Service and Learning, 40 individuals from 25 different organizations attended this event.

This year’s attendee’s included Tennis and Tutoring, Maliheh Free Clinic, St Mark’s Hospital , Maji Global, Ogden-Weber Community Action Partnership, Catholic Community Services of Utah, Central Utah Food Sharing, Girl Scouts of Utah Outreach Program, Intermountain Homecare and Hospice Utah County , Utah State University – Sun Involvement Center, Youth Village Mentoring Program , Intermountain Homecare and Hospice Odgen, Habitat for Humanity of Weber and Davis Counties, Park City School District Community Education, Davis Community Learning Center (DCLC), Courage Reins, Cancer Wellness House, Crossroads Urban Center, National Ability Center, Splore, Mundi Project, as well as our friends at Promise South Salt Lake.

Organizations who came to this training for the first time became Silver Level partners in our Local Service Directory. Organizations previously attended became Gold Level partners. These organizations will be highlighted at our General Orientation and students will be encouraged to chose one of these organizations for their Main Service Site. Click here for additional information on our Partnership Levels.

Our attendees learned ways to orient, motivate, recruit, and retain volunteers. We learned that connection is the magic ingredient to volunteer management. Connection is what drives motivation and retention.  We learned from each other as we shared what works for each of us.  We looked at our job descriptions and ways we could improve and clarify these job descriptions. We learned about what motivates different age groups and specific motivators to help encourage our volunteers. We learned about ways to help our volunteers feel seen, heard and valued and what we can do to facilitate change in negative behaviors.

Here is what our attendees had to say!

“I plan on implementing much of what I learned today! Starting with job descriptions, creating more targeting recruitment techniques for specific populations, and working with colleagues to implement a more thorough/supportive orientation.”

“I found to helpful to know reasons why connecting with volunteers is important.”

“I found it valuable to hear from other volunteer coordinators and get new ideas.”

“The whole training was great! The segment on motivation and orientation were most applicable to my current struggles.”

“It was helpful to see others and how they problem solve. I loved networking and making new friends/contacts.”

“I especially enjoyed connecting with other organizations, learning from the experience of others, and the section on recognizing volunteers.”

Join us next year! Click here for more information.