Training Materials | Get Involved! Resource Clearinghouse

Learn more about best practices in volunteer recruitment and engagement, and how to get the results you need.

NOTE: These are examples from public libraries and should be reviewed and modified to ensure fit with local policies and culture.

Title	Keyword	Tags	Year
Volunteer Background Checks: Giving Back without Giving Up on Privacy How do nonprofit organizations screen volunteers? There are several options. The choices depend largely on the volunteer job involved and the… more	Volunteer Screening / Interviewing, Capacity Building, Staff Training	background checks, screening	2018
How Changing Our Volunteer Interview Approach Increased our Retention Rate by 30% Elisa Kosarin of Twenty Hats describes Behavior-based interviewing, and how its implementation in her situation helped to increased the quality of… more	Volunteer Screening / Interviewing, Interviewing Volunteers	interview, screening, retention	2017
The Volunteer Interview: Making the offer . . . or not This July, 2016 article from Verified Volunteers covers strategies for assessing candidates, how to handle when it's not a good fit, and… more	Volunteer Screening / Interviewing, Interviewing Volunteers		2017
Small Library VolunteerMatch Success -- Johnson City TX In this 4 & 1/2 minute video, Johnson City Texas Library Director, Maggie Goodman, shares her successful experience in posting a need for IT… more	Capacity Building, Engaging High Impact Volunteers, On-line Volunteer Recruitment, VolunteerMatch Tools and Resources	rural, small, maker space, LinkedIn, VolunteerMatch	2017
Small Library VolunteerMatch Success Story - Brownwood Texas In this 2 minute video, Brownwood Texas Library Director, Becky Isbell, shares her successful experience in posting a need for a skilled graphic… more	Capacity Building, Engaging High Impact Volunteers, On-line Volunteer Recruitment, VolunteerMatch Tools and Resources	rural, Skilled Volunteers, VolunteerMatch	2017
Volunteers: More Work? or More Work Force? - Idaho Commission for Libraries This is a 30 minute archived webinar, presented May 15, 2017 by Sheila Winther, Volunteer Coordinator for the Idaho Commission for Libraries. This is… more	Staff Guides for Working with Volunteers, Capacity Building, Staff Training	volunteer coordinator	2017
ASCLA Library Accessibility ToolKits An excellent list prepared by ASCLA of links to resources that can help in a number of areas including: Autism Spectrum Disorders, blind, deaf,… more	Capacity Building, Staff Training	disabilities	2017
Volunteers are the Reputational Assets Your Organization is Overlooking A great reminder in a brief article by Erin Rebecca Spink.	Capacity Building, Staff Training		2017
ESL Conversation Circles Toolkit This wiki from settlementatwork.org could be useful for staff designing and implementing ESL Conversation Circles, and also for training ESL… more	Job Specific Volunteer Training, Staff Training		2017
A Different Kind of Volunteer Work: More companies are encouraging empoloyees to donate their professional expertise This brief September, 2017 Wall Street Journal article speaks to societal factors leading to the increase in corporate pro bono programs.	Capacity Building, Engaging High Impact Volunteers		2017
How to Turn Away Volunteers and Still Have an OK Day In this August, 2017 article, Elisa Kosarin shares her basics for making this difficult experience manageable.	Volunteer Screening / Interviewing, Interviewing Volunteers, Staff Training		2017
Why Company Sponsored Volunteer Programs are Keeping Millennials Happy at Work What motivates millennials to stay in a job is having an impact on corporate social responsibility.	Volunteer Recruitment, Millennials	Millennials, high-impact volunteers, Recruitment	2016
If Your Board Looked Like Your Community While written by an Arts organization, the 4 “Hurdles” described, along with strategies to consider and actions to take are relevant to all… more	Staff Training	diversity, inclusion, inclusive	2016
2016 Arizona Volunteering Report Arizona State University's Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation's 2016 Summary Report of their survey and focus group… more	Capacity Building, Millennials	Arizona	2016
Checklist to Minimize the Most Common Volunteer Risks A good basic list of issues to consider and how to approach them.	Capacity Building, Staff Training	Risk Management	2016
Why Don't People Volunteer? This brief article from PTO today discusses the importance of not only knowing why people volunteer, but why they don't.	Volunteer Recruitment, Engaging High Impact Volunteers	Volunteer Recruitment, Motivation	2015
Target Market Success Story: Teen Volunteer This 5 minute success story is an interview with a library teen volunteer coordinator and one of her awesome teen volunteers talking about what makes… more	Millennials	Teen	2015
Inclusive Volunteering: Recommendations for Volunteer Coordinators on how to Develop a More Inclusive Volunteer Programme This booklet consists of two parts. Part I covers general aspects of inclusive volunteering and Part II includes recommendations for volunteer… more	Capacity Building, Staff Training	disabilities	2015
Target Market Success Story: Volunteers with Full Time Jobs Ever wonder how and why someone with a full time job would be willing and able to volunteer at the library? Here's a 5 minute video clip of one… more	Engaging High Impact Volunteers		2015
Virtual Volunteer - 4 minute interview This 4 minute interview is with a volunteer who couldn't come to the library to volunteer, but still wanted to help with her high level social… more	Capacity Building, Staff Training	virtual volunteer	2015