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You are here: Home / Volunteer Management / 20 Simple Ways to Show Gratitude to Your Volunteers

20 Simple Ways to Show Gratitude to Your Volunteers

By Pedro Leave a Comment

show gratitude

65% of volunteers say they haven’t heard the words, “thank you” in the last year. I don’t think that’s that big of a deal if you follow these rules. Still, showing gratitude to your volunteers is a big deal.  Here are 20 simple ways to show your volunteers that you appreciate them!

  1. Throw a BBQ for your teams and their families (include bounce houses).
  2. Bring coffee and donuts for everyone.
  3. Write personalized Christmas cards, birthday cards, and cards for special occasions.
  4. Make yourself available for the special occasions that your volunteers have.
  5. Engage your volunteers on social media and give shout outs (in a positive way, though).
  6. Don’t just give your volunteers one shirt or uniform for their role, give them more than one (especially if they volunteer every week) and give them extra swag.
  7. Switch up your team meetings, have them at Starbucks, you buy.
  8. Buy your leaders a book that will benefit them, not just for mandatory reading.
  9. Take your team to a conference, get your church/organization to pay for it or pay for most of it.
  10. Take your team out to dinner and don’t expense it. You pay for it and don’t tell anyone you personally paid for it.
  11. Organize a large group of your volunteers to show up at a youth volunteer’s high school graduation or special event.
  12. Give your volunteers time off. Make sure they understand that you value them as a person and that you want them for the long term.
  13. Include your volunteers’ families in the fun stuff, they make sacrifices, too.
  14. Equip your volunteer leaders with personalized email addresses.
  15. Equip your volunteer leaders with iPads/tablets in order to do their jobs. When they leave, surprise them by letting them keep it.
  16. Go out of your way to meet with volunteers for coffee or lunch near where they work at.
  17. Give out gift cards to those that go above and beyond. Make the timing of it random.
  18. If you’re having a kids camp or VBS, give your volunteers’ kids a significant discount or allow them to go for free.
  19. If you’re having a concert or special ticketed event, secure a significant amount of tickets for some of your volunteers.
  20. Lastly, when you have really good news to share with a specific volunteer, allow that person’s leader to share the news with them. When there’s bad news coming from the church or organization, you take the hit and share that personally.

 

What are some of the ways you show gratitude?

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December 8, 2016Filed Under: Children's Ministry, Leadership, Volunteer Management

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