How Employer Branding Supports Improved Volunteer Retention

One of the most effective strategies for volunteer retention is to show your supporters why their help matters. The more you can prove that your volunteers are making a real difference when they work with you (and that you truly appreciate their hard work), the more they’ll want to keep helping you make that difference.

Your nonprofit’s employer brand can play a key role in achieving this goal and showcasing volunteer impact. Read on for ideas and tips to help you develop your employer brand as a natural extension of your marketing strategy — and drive volunteer retention.

What is an employer brand?

Your employer brand shapes how potential employees and volunteers perceive your nonprofit organization. Employer branding initiatives encompass any efforts your nonprofit takes to make working with you as attractive as possible.

Your organization’s employer brand can make the case for why your work is important and why people should want to get involved. But used strategically, it can also help to strengthen the relationships you have with your existing talent.

How does employer branding help with volunteer retention?

The point of an employer brand is to tell a compelling, authentic story about life at your organization. By making volunteering an integral part of that story, you can demonstrate that your volunteers are valued partners.

This approach not only makes volunteering seem more appealing to potential recruits, but can help existing volunteers feel more connected to your organization, increasing the likelihood that they’ll want to keep contributing to your cause.

How to use your employer brand to improve volunteer retention

As a platform that people use to explore and expand their professional opportunities, including volunteering, LinkedIn is an excellent place to shape your employer and volunteer brands. Incorporate the following steps into your ongoing social media strategy to help set your employer brand apart. 

Define and leverage your volunteer value proposition

Defining your employee value proposition (EVP) is the first step to building a strong employer brand. An EVP is an encapsulation of everything you have to offer your employees. This includes tangible benefits like salary and perks, but can also encompass intangible rewards like an inspiring organizational culture.

Your nonprofit’s volunteer value proposition (let’s call it your VVP for short) follows the same basic concept, but the rewards may be a little different. For example, your volunteers might build in-demand skills by working with you or have access to professional training and development resources, all while making a real impact on a cause they care about.

Make your VVP a central part of your ongoing messaging. Highlight the stories of people whose time volunteering with you has made a difference in their lives, such as volunteers who have:

• Received awards and recognition for their services

• Gained skills that have helped them in their career

• Gone on to become employees or board members at your organization

Stories like these can encourage former volunteers to reflect on what they got out of their own experience — and what they could get out of working with you again.

Make the most of your LinkedIn Page

Once you’ve defined your volunteer value proposition, take the opportunity to assess and update your LinkedIn Page with volunteer retention in mind. This could include weaving details about volunteering into your About section, focusing on impact.

To take your volunteer branding to the next level, consider investing in a LinkedIn Career Page. This adds a special “Life” tab on your nonprofit’s LinkedIn Page dedicated to showing off your organization’s culture, talent, and employer brand.

Incorporate the volunteering experience into your Career Page by adding photos and videos of your volunteers in action and sharing inspiring testimonials. Your volunteers may be flattered to be asked to be featured, bolstering their connection to your nonprofit.

Organizations with a Career Page also get 8x more job applications than those without, so this can be a powerful recruitment tool, too.

Keep your volunteers actively engaged

One effective way to retain volunteers is to keep them engaged with your organization even when they’re between volunteering opportunities.

Volunteer engagement can take many forms, especially on social media and networking platforms like LinkedIn. For example, you could weave volunteer appreciation posts into your regular posting schedule to both thank existing volunteers and remind former ones why they loved working with you. A few volunteer appreciation post formats you could try include:

• Video interviews with volunteers about their experiences

• Testimonial quotes from the volunteers themselves or the people they helped

• Spotlights on individual volunteers who’ve gone above and beyond

• Group photos where you can feature and tag several volunteers at once

You can also use social media to elicit feedback and start conversations. For example, why not create a post asking people to share their favorite memory of volunteering with you? Respond to comments to keep the conversation going. If someone mentions that they miss volunteering with you or expresses interest in getting involved again, you could then reach out to let them know about current opportunities.

Sharing content like this can ultimately help you to foster an engaged and active community of supporters, including past and present volunteers. By keeping your nonprofit on their radar, you can ensure that their relationship with your nonprofit continues to grow, making them more likely to jump back into volunteering when the right opportunity comes up.