The Ultimate Guide to Volunteer Appreciation

Volunteers are essential to the everyday success of most nonprofits and small membership organizations. These supporters devote their time, skills and energy to help run events, serve as board members and deliver critical services in the community.

According to AmeriCorps’ Volunteering and Civic Life in America research, around 60.7 million Americans formally volunteered with organizations between September 2020 and 2021, serving about 4.1 billion hours in total. These numbers effectively capture just how much value volunteers can provide to your organization’s goals and overall success.

To ensure that they’re appreciated for all that they do, it’s essential to have a comprehensive strategy not just for managing volunteers, but for recognizing their impact as well.

Finding consistent and creative ways to say “thank you” can go a long way toward building a loyal volunteer base and encouraging supporters to keep contributing to your mission for the long term.

To help your organization maximize its volunteer appreciation efforts, let’s discuss the basics of recognizing your volunteers along with several best practices and ideas.

What is Volunteer Appreciation?

While your organization may certainly appreciate your volunteers’ investment in your mission, it’s all the more important to communicate this appreciation to them frequently and thoughtfully. This will ensure that both returning and new volunteers have a positive experience with your organization’s volunteer program and remain enthusiastic to continue their involvement year after year.

Effective volunteer appreciation involves sending volunteer thank-you letters, hosting celebratory events and gifting meaningful items that bring volunteers closer to your organization.

To hone your volunteer recognition strategy, it’s first important to understand the motivations behind your volunteers’ involvement.

Why Do People Volunteer?

In their annual Industry Insights report on volunteer engagement, Sterling Volunteers and Volunteer Match found that 83% of volunteers considered “making a positive impact in the community” to be their top motivator, while around 20% were interested in building their skill sets. Also, many people choose to volunteer to:

• Meet and network with other people
• Find a sense of community
• Support their friends’ or family members’ interests
• Make a difference toward a personally relevant cause
• Fulfill religious obligations or values
• Discover their strengths and boost self-esteem

These diverse motivations can lead to productive and efficient volunteer teams with individuals of varying strengths, skills and interests. Encourage each of your supporters to fulfill their personal drive to volunteer by understanding and recognizing the value of their contributions.

Why is Volunteer Appreciation Important?

By making it a regular priority to demonstrate gratitude for all those who support your mission, you’ll develop a healthy culture of appreciation and recognition within your organization. Just as you need to take the time to value your donors, actively thanking your volunteers will keep them eager to continue their support and to speak positively about your organization to others.

Appreciation for volunteers can significantly boost your reach, improve your reputation and make it easier to reach your overall goals. Aim to create a memorable and fulfilling experience for your volunteers from their recruitment to their ongoing engagement. This will build long-lasting relationships that you can count on in the future.

9 Best Practices for Volunteer Appreciation

While your organization’s appreciation for volunteers will differ depending on your priorities and resources, it’s important to come up with a detailed strategy that successfully gets the message across. Follow these best practices as a starting point:

Prioritize volunteer appreciation

Designate someone in your organization to be responsible for the ongoing recognition of your volunteers and sending regular appreciation messages. Depending on the size of your volunteer program, this could be a singular person or a small team of individuals who plan your recognition activities, gifts, letters and events like a volunteer appreciation day.

Say “thank you” often

Develop a schedule for thanking volunteers throughout the year. For instance, be ready to appreciate your volunteers after one of your organization’s events or on a special holiday.

Your team should always send a thank you letter or email after each volunteer event. You can automate this through volunteer management software to save your organization time.

Be creative

Vary your recognition efforts, from informal thank-you’s to more formal events, to maximize engagement. Consider your volunteer demographics and host fun activities that your volunteers will really enjoy.

Keep in mind the level of your appreciation should depend on the extent of the volunteer’s contribution to your organization. A volunteer that gives their time once every other month won’t need the same level of recognition as someone who volunteers twice a week.

Focus on the individual

Emphasize how their efforts played an important part in your success. Try to include personal details such as their names, interests and specific involvement to make them feel individually valued.

Make it prompt

Be sure to appreciate your volunteers in a timely manner to make your gratitude feel more impactful.

Use your organization’s volunteer management software to stay on top of these recognition efforts. Gather relevant information about your volunteers, such as their skills and interests, to segment them for more effective communications and follow-ups.

Volunteer Recognition Planning

To craft an optimized recognition plan for your organization, gather your team and answer the following questions:

Who are your volunteers?

Consider the characteristics of your typical volunteers. Do they tend to be older or younger? Students or seniors? The more you understand your organization’s volunteers, the better prepared you’ll be to recognize them in ways that matter most.

What are the purpose and desired results of your volunteer appreciation?

For instance, you could be looking to deepen volunteer engagement or attract new support. Make a list of activities that will help achieve these goals to keep everyone on track.

What’s your budget?

Determining your budget for volunteer recognition upfront will allow you to plan effectively moving forward. That being said, remember that there are ways to meaningfully appreciate volunteers that appeal to all budget sizes. A personalized thank you letter or acknowledgements in newsletters won’t cost your organization money like gift cards will.

What are some opportunities for recognizing your volunteers?

While you’ll definitely want to create a recognition plan for National Volunteer Month in April, brainstorm other key opportunities for expressing your gratitude. Consider holding your own volunteer appreciation party on a meaningful day specific to your mission. This will help you stay connected with volunteers year-round.

How will you measure success?

Measuring success is vital for keeping track of your organization’s progress and pinpointing areas for improvement to help you meet your goals. Keep an eye on metrics such as volunteer retention rate and the number of hours volunteered to evaluate how well your volunteer recognition efforts are paying off.

Try implementing an annual volunteer survey to get feedback. This will help you make informed decisions on how to improve your volunteer program, show volunteers that you value their efforts and ultimately enhance the volunteer experience.

Before launching your new volunteer recognition strategy, make sure you’re asking whether your current volunteers feel valued by your organization. Use their responses to guide your efforts and regularly follow up to make further improvements down the line.

Volunteer Appreciation Ideas

There are so many ways to appreciate your volunteers. Your volunteer recognition plan should include both formal and informal levels of volunteer recognition to achieve the greatest results.

Formal recognition involves planning in advance and typically includes scheduled activities that occur annually, like a volunteer appreciation week.

Informal recognition is much more personal and spontaneous, like a message of appreciation. Your volunteers may prefer one type over the other, so keep that in mind as you start planning.

Regardless of how you’re recognizing your volunteers, be sure to say “thank you” and emphasize the impact of their work. Remind them that they’re making an important difference in helping your organization fulfill its mission. As you begin identifying ways to appreciate your volunteers, get inspired with these popular formal and informal ideas for volunteer recognition:

Formal Volunteer Appreciation Ideas

Use your volunteer recognition plan and volunteer profiles to guide you in determining which of these ideas can best be incorporated into your organization’s annual activities.

Send birthday cards

Keeping track of birthdays is an impactful opportunity to reach out and show your appreciation. Increase efficiency and broaden your organization’s reach by opting to send birthday eCards instead of mailing physical ones.

Include volunteers in holiday cards

Always include volunteers in your holiday card mailings. This will highlight the great work they do and make them feel valued. If you send virtual holiday cards, use a management software to automate your messaging during the busy holiday season.

Publicly recognize your volunteers

Make time to acknowledge and appreciate your volunteers’ efforts at your organization’s events and other activity plans. For example, when starting your annual fun run, thank your volunteers and give attendees a moment to appreciate the work volunteers have done before you release the runners. This gives them the recognition they deserve while motivating all attendees who are there in support of your purpose.

Send impact reports.

Data talks big when it comes to the impact a volunteer’s time makes. Consider crafting a dedicated volunteer report that compiles important stories, visuals and feedback associated with your volunteers and what they do for your organization. This is a wonderful way to highlight the important role that these supporters play in furthering your purpose.

Offer discounts and perks

Leverage or build corporate partnerships that will allow you to offer rewards to your volunteers, such as free tickets to an event or discounted admission prices to a museum.

Spotlight volunteers on social media.

Creating a nonprofit social media strategy will emphasize your organization’s goals. Be sure to factor in volunteer recognition when building your content calendar by sharing posts featuring your dedicated volunteers and their impact. For example, monthly, one of your social media posts should be a photo of volunteers at your event with a caption recognizing the work they did and thanking them for making the event a success.

Celebrate volunteers on your website

Establish volunteers as vital contributors to your organization’s success by creating a page on your website dedicated to highlighting your volunteers and how they contribute to your mission. This page can also serve as a way to showcase long time volunteers with information on how many hours they’ve contributed and what impact that’s made on your mission.

Volunteer of the month

A “Volunteer of the Month” is a great way to not only inspire others to volunteer but also recognize the efforts of each individual in your volunteer program. This can be a highlight of a recent volunteer and their efforts with your organization. Share a photo of the volunteer (perhaps at your most recent event), a quote or testimony of their experience with your organization and information on how their time has benefited your organization’s mission.

Share your volunteer of the month on multiple channels such as social media, your monthly newsletter and the volunteer page on your website.

Create a volunteer thank-you video.

A thank-you video can be a powerful way to express gratitude to your volunteers, showing that you put time and thought into appreciating their efforts. Bring a smile to their faces by featuring clips of your staff and beneficiaries thanking volunteers for their impact in the video.

Thank-a-thon

Enlist your staff members to connect directly with your volunteers by setting aside a couple of hours to call and personally thank them. This is a thoughtful way to brighten their day and make them feel genuinely valued by your organization.

Volunteer Appreciation Event Ideas

Host exclusive events just to celebrate your volunteers and their investment in your organization. This can be anything from a single event to a week-long celebration. Here’s our favorite picks:

In person events

These ideas will be events your volunteers can attend in person, think the classic type of event you’d attend. Consider the costs when building your budget, as you will need to book a venue (if your organization doesn’t have the physical space).

Celebratory meals

Arrange for a meal or a coffee outing as a chance for volunteers to relax and connect with staff and other volunteers. Depending on the level of recognition you want to give, you can go to a fancy restaurant or have a laid back catered meal at your office.

Movie night

Renting out a movie theater or hosting a movie night at a venue with a projector will give your volunteers time to relax and enjoy a new film. Provide snacks like popcorn, candies and pizza to give your hard working volunteers the full experience.

Themed party

Everyone loves a themed party with an opportunity to dress up and relax. Consider putting on a volunteer appreciation party with themes like a masquerade ball, 80s retro or a tropical luau. To make it even more engaging, have friendly competitions over who has the best costume, most creative, most historically accurate, funniest, etc.

Volunteer Recognition Ceremony

Holding an annual formal event dedicated to recognizing individual volunteers with awards and certificates is sure to give your volunteers the appreciation they deserve. Include a keynote speaker or a presentation highlighting the impact of their work.

Game Day

Plan a day of friendly sports or games, such as a soccer match, relay races, kickball, video games or board games. Organize teams, have small prizes for winners, and don’t forget to fuel your volunteers with a barbecue or picnic afterward.

Virtual events

Just like with in person volunteer appreciation events, you want to give exclusive access to volunteers to recognize their efforts. Virtual events can maximize attendance by alleviating your guests from any travel or babysitting costs. Plus, these ideas could be executed in a hybrid setting if your venue has access to video conferencing!

Online Trivia or Quiz Night

Organize a virtual trivia game or quiz competition with tools like Kahoot or Quizizz to create interactive quizzes and offer fun prizes for winners. Your trivia could be anything from fun questions about your organization to pop culture to general trivia.

Virtual Escape Room

Just like a trivia night, who doesn’t love to challenge their mind? Engage and appreciate your volunteers by holding a virtual escape room challenge. Choose a theme that aligns with your organization’s mission and provide a debriefing session afterward to discuss the experience.

Virtual Art or Craft Workshop

Host an online art or craft session where volunteers can create something together. All you need is to send out craft kits or provide a supply lists in advance. Then use video conferencing, like Zoom to guide the activity.

Exclusive workshops or training

Investing in your volunteers’ personal and professional development shows that your care about them on a deeper level. Provide access to special workshops or training sessions – this could be certifications for the industry your organization is in or a class on resume building. Many of these courses could be done via zoom or in a traditional classroom setting, the choice is yours!

Informal Volunteer Appreciation Ideas

While it’s essential to have organized plans in place to thank your volunteers, incorporating some informal recognition practices throughout the year will maximize your results. For instance, don’t forget to:

Be available for feedback and questions

Make sure your volunteers have plenty of opportunities to share their experiences, provide feedback and get their questions answered with your organization.

Name badges

Creating fun name badges for volunteers will help them feel like part of the team. This is something you can give at their orientation or first volunteering event.

Offer thank-you gift cards

Presenting a $5 gift card to a local coffee shop or store can be a quick and cost-effective way to appreciate an individual volunteer. Purchase a bunch of them ahead of time and hand them out to volunteers after your events. If you partner with local businesses you may be able to obtain gift cards for free or discounted.

Provide ways for volunteers to recognize one another

According to eCardWidget’s peer-to-peer recognition guide, peer recognition can be just as effective for boosting morale, results and teamwork. Offer volunteers ways to easily acknowledge one another for their good work through eCards or social media shoutouts.

Small treats

Bringing homemade baked goods, coffee, candy or chips can be a thoughtful treat to brighten your volunteers’ day while they’re helping your organization.

Merchandise

Providing customized shirts, hats, mugs or water bottles for your volunteers gives a sense of camaraderie and allows them to showcase their passion for service. To make these specialized to your volunteers and not just your organization, include an inside joke or volunteer-themed design.

Gift Ideas for Volunteer Appreciation

Meaningful gifts can be another effective and long-lasting way to demonstrate your appreciation to volunteers. With your organization’s budget in mind, review your volunteers’ demographics and interests to determine which types of gifts will be most impactful. Some thoughtful and creative gifts to consider include:

Books for learning new skills

Offering educational materials to contribute to your volunteers personal growth is another way to show the that you appreciate your volunteers.

Exclusive training opportunities

Are there opportunities in your organization to train your volunteers for leadership opportunities? Offer these to your most passionate volunteers and recognize their efforts.

Seasonal items, such as hats or mittens

Everyone loves a cozy beanie or scarf for those winter months. Appreciating your volunteers by warming them up with seasonal gifts.

Tickets to local events or experiences

Does your community have local concerts, sporting events or comedy shows? Get tickets to these events and gift them to your volunteers to recognize their contributions and allow them to have some fun with their fellow volunteers.

Photo albums

Sharing a collection of photos from your volunteers’ experiences with your organization is another way to connect with your volunteers and give them memories of their experience with you.

Gift baskets

The great thing about a gift basket is that you can put a wide variety of things in them for your volunteers. We suggest snacks, drinks, tea towels, preserves or anything local to businesses in your area.

Transportation passes or gas cards for traveling to service sites

Offering transportation (whether its Uber, Lyft, taxis or other local transportation services) alleviates the pressure of getting to service sites for your volunteers. Plus, it saves them gas money!

Additionally, look into some corporate gifting solutions that may fulfill your volunteer gifting needs. These companies make it easy to brand and send items to strengthen your organization’s relationships.

No matter which ideas you choose, the key to effectively recognizing your donors is learning what draws them to your organization and reinforcing that connection. Help them understand just how important they are to your everyday success.

The Impact of Appreciating Volunteers

By consistently incorporating these practices into your organization’s volunteer engagement and communications efforts, your staff will soon be effortlessly cultivating stronger relationships with your supporters that will stand the test of time.

Volunteers are at the heart of so many nonprofit organizations. Keep them centered in your appreciation efforts to retain their support and involvement with your mission. Developing a strong, year-round volunteer recognition plan ensures that those who give their time to your organization feel appreciated in return.

By nurturing your nonprofit-volunteer connections, you may even encourage them to deepen their engagement by becoming donors or involving those from their personal networks to support your organization. This leads to lasting support and a stronger organization for years to come.