One-time volunteer opportunities and events are a wonderful way to recruit, retain and engage your volunteers. They can also take some upfront work. Check out the benefits of one-time volunteering opportunities, and get started with some of our tips and tricks.

Benefits of One-Time Volunteer Opportunities

It can take a lot of time and coordination to create one-time volunteer opportunities. After all, most organizations don’t have extra volunteering tasks laying around that could be done by untrained, one-time volunteers. However, the benefits of one-time volunteer opportunities often far outweigh the costs. Some of the benefits include:

  • Getting a big task done in a shorter amount of time
  • Reaching out to new volunteers who may have a hard time committing to long-term opportunities
  • Connecting with charity groups (such as Girl Scouts and church youth groups)
  • Raising community awareness of your organization and its mission
  • Getting a head start on a new project
  • Increasing volunteer recruitment. (One-time volunteer opportunities often lead to long-term volunteer opportunities.)

Tips and Tricks to Successful One-Time Volunteering Opportunities

Before organizing a one-time volunteer opportunity, think carefully about what is in it for your organization. What benefits are you looking for? Perhaps you want to try out group volunteering for the first time, or need some extra help with an upcoming event. Whichever benefit you are looking for, tailor the opportunity to match.

Like any volunteer position, one-time opportunities and events will take some planning. You may need to put together some paperwork, such as handouts to new volunteers, waivers and possibly permits. Other tips include:

  • Don’t hesitate to hype up the volunteer opportunity! Create flyers, reach out to local charity groups, and notify current volunteers and donors on your mailing list.
  • Gather contact info for all participating volunteers, and reach out to them in the days after the event. See if you can get some feedback, and a few long-term volunteer sign-ups.
  • Take lots of photos, and share them on social media, encouraging participants to do the same (you may want to offer a photography waiver, for privacy purposes)

One-time volunteer opportunities may require some upfront effort and planning, but for many agencies, it’s the perfect way to recruit new volunteers, and energize their mission. Think about what a one-time volunteer event can do for you, and give it a try! (Don’t forget to list it on the HandsOn Maui Events calendar).