Volunteers are one of your most engaged audiences. They have bought into your mission and given of their time to serve and advance it. Now, how do you move them from investing their time to investing their finances? While volunteers represent “low-hanging fruit” for your organization, it takes special cultivation and communication to take them to donor status.

Here are some practical suggestions for nurturing those relationships and moving your supporters from the volunteer column to the donor column. 

• Make your volunteers feel special. Even though they aren’t on the payroll, they should feel like they are! When volunteers come to work, make sure they are warmly welcomed and included in all activities. Give them comprehensive training, offer them a dedicated workspace with clear-cut instructions, and make sure they know you appreciate their hard work. Acknowledge them with public recognition and thanks on your social media channels, website, or annual report.

• Make your volunteers’ experiences memorable — and sharable. What motivates your volunteers? If volunteers are having a good time and working hard towards a goal they believe in, they are more likely to invest more with your organization — including their money. When volunteers are having fun, they will probably share generously on social media. That’s the best kind of marketing — word of mouth, which inevitably will bring new donors to your organization.

• Ask for a gift. Don’t assume your volunteers will automatically transition to donors. Make sure you ASK for a gift! When you ask, reach out to your long-term, more heavily invested volunteers and request donations to fund a specific cause or project.

• Monitor all volunteer activity in your database. It goes without saying that vibrant relationships with volunteers are the foundation upon which future donors are made. Do you know your volunteers’ faces and names? Do you know when they come to your office and what type of work they do? It’s important to track all of their activity to help you and your staff know who is a volunteer, how they help your nonprofit, and if they’ve given or not. 

Moving Volunteers to Donors Requires an Effective Donor Management System

The best way to get started with converting volunteers to donors is to make sure you’re using a robust donor management system for all your supporters.

Our Donor.com software helps nonprofits go beyond a first-name basis. The donor relationship module helps you take care of all the aspects of relationship management and segmentation; you are able to maintain detailed records of all donors, sponsors, volunteers and media contacts and their history with your organization.

Learn more about how Donor.com can take care of the details so that you can focus on cultivating quality relationships and transition your volunteers to donors.