by Doreen Martel

Created on: August 02, 2010

Nearly all non profit agencies and groups seek volunteers on a regular basis. One of the challenges is that each volunteer brings their own personal experience to the table as well as their own skill set. These skills may or may not be helpful to the needs of the agency. In this case, it is helpful if you have an existing volunteer training program. Not all programs are created equal however, and you may want to create your own volunteer training program. Here are some tips for developing a volunteer training program:

A) Know your audience - In general terms you will want to know the audience you will be training. The danger of training a diverse group of volunteers (and they will be diverse) is not providing material that is too "simple" for the corporate executive and yet not too "deep" for the newly graduated college student.  Your material should be brief, well written and interesting enough to keep an adult learner interested.

B) Explain your goals - Adult learners are very flexible if they know the ultimate goals of your training session.  They will likely stay more focused if you lay out your goals at the very beginning of a session.  Keep goals in mind as you prepare material for the session and you will likely keep your adult learning base involved.

C) Keep it interactive - It is important to remember that by virtue of the fact that people are volunteering, they like to be involved.   Combining your knowledge of your audience, it is helpful to keep the session (or sessions) interactive to encourage participation.  Remember, the more involved your audience is, the more likely you are to hold their interest.

D) Use an icebreaker - At the beginning of your training program, have an icebreaker. There are hundreds of different ones available that are suitable for all types of groups. An icebreaker can help loosen everyone up and make them feel more comfortable in a setting that is likely strange to them with people they are not likely to be familiar with.

E) Keep the content relevant -Try to avoid "war stories" when you are developing a volunteer training program. This does little except alienate your audience as they have no point of reference.  Volunteer training should contain serious information, but it should also be fun for the participants.

Summary

Developing a volunteer training program does not have to be complicated. You should make sure the content is relevant and well presented. Make sure the presenters are involved in the development of the program to be certain they have first-hand knowledge of the material.  Most volunteers love involvement and if you can develop a good volunteer training program you will be more likely to keep them involved in your organization.

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