Best Ideas to Attract, Retain, & Grow Animal Shelter & Rescue Volunteers

Volunteers are often a vital—and sometimes under-appreciated—component of successful shelters and rescues. Whether helping with transport, fostering, staffing special events or doing chores at the facility, volunteers fill the gaps and free up staff time.

But do you show them how much you value their contributions? And just what are the best ways to attract them, keep them and grow them?

Check out these top resources to help you manage volunteers, get staff buy-in, show appreciation, and bring your volunteer program to the next level.

• Top Tips for Volunteer Success: Find our top tips for retaining one of your most important assets—your volunteers. 
• 5 Ways to Show Volunteers How Important They Are: Learn the 5 powerful things you should do every day to keep volunteers happy.
• Personalized Training Helps Empower, Retain Volunteers: Ark-Valley Humane Society's personalized training program equips volunteers with everything they need to be successful in their roles at the shelter—and with a 75% retention rate, Ark-Valley is clearly doing it right.
• 6 Ways to Create a Sense of Community for Volunteers: Successful volunteer programs keep volunteers connected to each other and your agency. Try these 6 tips to keep volunteers in touch.
• 5 Tips for Training and Retaining Volunteers: Learn how one small organization uses 5 tips to effectively train and retain an army of dedicated volunteers.
• 3 Tips to Train Volunteers with Staying Power: Follow these training tips to ensure your volunteers are prepared for duty—and that they stick around for the long term.
• Tips to Showcase Your Volunteer Appreciation: Get inspired by these easy and accessible ways to show your volunteers the appreciation they so deserve. 
• Volunteer Management 101: From identifying tasks, establishing processes, finding the right people to get involved, and then managing their participation, this webinar covers the basics of volunteer management.
• Volunteer Management 201: Learn how to maximize the contributions of volunteers, whether your volunteer program is new and just starting off, established but not quite firing on all cylinders, or somewhere in-between.