Integrating Volunteers in Fundraising Efforts

Integrating Volunteers in Fundraising Efforts

Volunteers play a pivotal role in the work of nonprofits, adding immense value to the sector and the causes we represent. In Florida alone, 2.8 million volunteers contributed 178.8 million service hours to various organizations, with their time and skills estimated at $4.9 billion (AmeriCorps, 2021). Volunteerism forms the bedrock of any nonprofit’s sustainability, from the Governance and Financial oversight by their Board of Directors to the consistent support of volunteers in keeping our programs running. However, there is one area of volunteerism that many agencies may not have fully explored, and that is —beyond the board members— the potential of volunteers to join us in fundraising efforts.

Tyrone McKinley Freeman and Beth Breeze in Working with Volunteer Fundraisers (2022) sketch out how volunteers’ involvement in fundraising makes sense: 1) They support and believe in the mission and have internalized the organizational values. 2) They bring an insider-outsider perspective as engaged local citizens, providing insight, and utilizing their social network for innovative fundraising activities. 3) Their commitment and enthusiasm to support a nonprofit’s fundraising efforts without compensation speaks highly of an organization’s impact, making their interaction with prospective and present donors a strategy to solidify these relationships. Volunteers can support fundraising events, campaigns, and community service or be empowered to raise funds in their communities independently.

Volunteers are showing a growing eagerness to take on roles that can have a significant impact on the nonprofit and the cause it supports (Volunteer Match, 2024). This presents a unique opportunity to successfully recruit them, provide the necessary training and resources, and foster an environment of recognition and feedback. By elevating the volunteer role through fundraising, a higher level of impact can potentially be achieved by our nonprofit community.

Lina Lora Fant

Nonprofits First, Accreditation

AmeriCorps, “Volunteering and Civic Life in America”, 2021. https://americorps.gov/about/our-impact/volunteering-civic-life.

Bennet, Jennifer. Volunteer Match. “Leading and Advocating Pathway: Leading Not Doing”. Education & Training. March 14^th, 2024. The Learning Center (volunteermatch.org).

Shaker, Genevieve, Eugene R. Tempel, Sarah K. Nathan, and Nill Stanczykiewicz. “Working with Volunteer Fundraisers”. Achieving Excellence in Fundraising, Fifth Edition. Wiley: New Jersey, 2022.