Posted by sdudley

Developing Volunteer Projects: Project Management Tips

Here are a few tips to help you manage your service project:

• Before the project begins, introduce the agency/school representative and have him/her share a little about the site’s history and community/people served. Thank the agency/school representative for hosting the project. Then explain the tasks that are happening and why each task is important.
• Introduce the Task Leaders
• Have the Task Leaders lead volunteers to their task area and begin working. Utilize volunteers to gather tools and move materials to appropriate areas.
• Manage the “organized chaos.” The first 30 minutes of every project may seem a little chaotic to volunteers as they get acclimated to their task area, receive answers to their questions about the task and late volunteers arrive on the project site. However, the project coordinator should be calm and confident in the project and the Task Leaders. The project coordinator’s calm, confidence will set the tone and reassure volunteers.
• Make sure volunteers are engaged, busy and happy during the project. If volunteers are sitting around it is likely that they are going to end up feeling that their time was not well spent and that the project was disorganized. If you see volunteers drifting away from the task, sitting around or looking bored, be sure to go and talk with them one on one. Find out if they are just taking a break, if they need additional materials or direction or if they might like to be re-assigned to a different task.
• Continuously thank volunteers for their efforts and compliment good work.
• Make sure a team of volunteers is assigned as the clean up task force and that everyone is doing their part. Ask Task Leaders to lead volunteers in cleaning up their task areas and leaving them looking better than they did when they arrived. All materials should be used or donated to the agency/school. All tools should be returned to the project materials load-out area.
• Thank volunteers again. Volunteers can’t be thanked enough! Be sure to thank them often
• Lead a reflection activity that will engage the volunteers in discussion and challenge them to make a commitment to volunteering on an on-going basis.

Back to the Developing Volunteer Projects Toolkit.