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| The Best Way to Recruit New Volunteers is to Keep the Ones You Already Have! | |
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way to help a youth move through school to a career is to connect as
a tutor, mentor, leader or donor in a comprehensive, volunteer-based
tutor/mentor program. Another way is to lead strategies that draw
volunteers from every industry, profession, social and ethnic group to
tutor/mentor programs serving K-12 youth in neighborhoods with high
concentrations of poverty or poorly performing schools.
The best recruitment strategy is one that provides support and recognition to existing volunteers so that a high percent continue with your program from year to year. As these volunteers bond with your students and staff, they learn about the needs of your program and the community and become ambassadors back to their own communities, business, and faith groups. They are your best recruiters and fund raisers! So how do you provide support and recognition. One way is to u se existing award programs, such as the Jefferson Awards for Public Service. In 1972, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, U.S. Senator Robert Taft, Jr. and Sam Beard founded the American Institute for Public Service, a 501c3 public foundation, to establish a Nobel Prize for public and community service – The Jefferson Awards. The Jefferson Awards are presented on two levels: national and local. National award recipients represent a "Who's Who" of outstanding Americans. On the local level, Jefferson Awards recipients are ordinary people who do extraordinary things without expectation of recognition or reward. This is an exciting program that enables every tutor/mentor program to recognize volunteers and generate public awareness for your work. Visit this web site to learn about the Jefferson Awards Civic Engagement Invitation for Chicago Area Programs to get involved (pdf) Form to use to Nominate a Volunteer for a Jefferson Award (pdf)
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