Volunteer Trades

Your volunteers have worked hard to prepare for and deliver your fundraising event. Reward them by allowing them to enjoy the event as an attendee and not a volunteer worker. How? A volunteer trade is an agreement to switch volunteers with another organization for specific tasks during your events so your volunteers are free to enjoy the outcome of all their hard work.

Volunteers attending the event will not only bid on items, they can also meet and mingle with both old and new donors and contacts, and bring that intelligence back to the event chair to help with event evaluation and planning for the next event. In addition, they can get the party rolling, motivating guests to bid and participate in other fundraising opportunities at the event. And, with a “guest-eye” event view, they can provide insights into the event logistics and perception that a working volunteer would not be able to provide.

To organize a volunteer trade, look for area nonprofits or schools with similar events. These organizations should agree with you on what constitutes a quality event and the approach to running a smooth event. Training and coordination is simple if the partnering organizations use Greater Giving fundraising solutions.

If you can’t find a nonprofit or school with an event similar to yours that uses Greater Giving solutions, consider referring an organization that fits your profile but doesn’t use Greater Giving to us using the form on our Web site at this link. This gives you the chance to reap the benefits of a volunteer trade AND earn referral credits (each new client you refer to Greater Giving earns you $150 towards your next event).

Discuss a volunteer trade with your volunteers. They may already be involved in other events that would make a good match for yours. Explain that you will be reciprocating the benefits by lending your volunteers to their organization for their event as well.

To put your volunteer trade into action, coordinate schedules with your partner organization and go over needs for each of your events. Decide how you will assign volunteers, how you will get instructions and details out to each team (email can be very effective), and how you will cross-train volunteers.

Select someone on your staff or volunteer team to be the leader of your volunteer trade. For your partner event, this person can be responsible for last-minute reminders and instructions, like driving directions and work assignment changes. At your event, this person greet guest volunteers, answer their questions, and get them positioned and ready to run whatever assignments have been turned over to guest volunteers beginning an hour in advance.

At the end of the night, have a few of your own volunteers and staff on hand to take the reins for check-out and cashiering. They know more about the details of your event and can handle any questions that come up. You will also be able to better control and track payments for final reconciliation.

Well handled, a volunteer trade can benefit your organization, your partner organization, and your volunteers, without compromising the quality of your event.