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
From Nice to Necessary: Unleashing the Impact of Volunteering Through Transformative Investment Points of Light believes volunteering is one of the most powerful tools we have to strengthen communities. They commissioned this report in 2025 —… more	Staff Training, Capacity Building	funding, investment	2025
The Volunteer Engagement Leader’s Playbook: Building Influence, Credibility, and Impact Too often, volunteer involvement is treated as a program—a siloed effort managed by one department—rather than as a strategy that can transform an… more	Staff Training, Capacity Building		2025
Why Your Library Needs a Reading Dog In 2010, the University Of California - Davis completed a study on reading dog programs, which found that readers who participated in a 10-week… more	Staff Training, Job Specific Volunteer Training	Pet Therapy, dog, reading	2025
Hands-On Help and Generous Giving: How Volunteering and Donations Fuel Each Other’s Impact Studies show that giving and volunteering work collaboratively to support each other and that volunteers are 14.5 percentage points more likely to… more	Capacity Building, Staff Training	fundraising, giving and volunteering	2025
Resources for Internship Programs - Idealist Several articles on interviewing, hiring, and training interns, as well as managing an internship program.	Interviewing Volunteers, Capacity Building	intern, internship	2025
Volunteering: An Antidote to the Epidemic of Loneliness In this webinar, experts and global leaders explore how volunteering serves as a powerful antidote to the growing epidemic of loneliness. The… more	Capacity Building, Staff Training	loneliness	2025
20+ Volunteer Survey Questions to Improve Your Program This guide covers the ins and outs of volunteer surveys, from the best questions to ask to top tips for making the survey process a success.	Staff Training, Capacity Building	surveys	2025
Let’s Make Volunteering Accessible to All In this episode of Volunteer Nation, Tobi Johnson is joined by Allyson Ferrari, Director of Connections at Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually… more	Staff Training, Capacity Building	diversity, equity, inclusion	2025
6 Ways to Make Your Volunteer Opportunities Appeal to Short-Term Volunteers Short-term volunteers bring invaluable fresh energy and a diverse skill set, contributing significantly to the success of initiatives. However, to… more	Engaging High Impact Volunteers, Staff Training	short term, job descriptions	2025
6 Ways to Make Your Volunteer Opportunities Appeal to Short-Term Volunteers The shift towards shorter volunteer commitments is no longer a passing trend; it's a lasting change. Short-term volunteers bring invaluable… more	Capacity Building, Staff Training	Recruitment, job descriptions	2025
Revitalizing Your Friends Here’s the link to the recording and slides from our July 8 2025 webinar - Strategies for Revitalizing Your Friends presented by Isabella… more	Staff Training, Capacity Building, Engaging High Impact Volunteers	Friends, Friends of the Library, Teens	2025
Engaging Youth Volunteers: How Young People are Showing up in Service 2025 Galaxy Digital webinar on youth volunteers.	Millennials	Youth, Teens, young adult	2025
Ask an Exec: What Execs Really Think About Volunteer Programs Recording of July 2025 webinar from the Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement dealing with executive director and leadership team support (… more	Staff Training	leadership, staff buy-in, Director	2025
Neither//Nor: Stories of Life Beyond Binary Gender More and more people are negotiating gender beyond the binaries of Male/Female/Man/Woman/Boy/Girl. This 60 minute webinar from the Human Rights… more	Staff Training	equity, diversity, inclusion, Gender	2024
Inspiring Action: How Volunteer Stories Can Drive Recruitment & Engagement Including the story and impact of volunteers in recruitment messages can help recruit more volunteers and can help build stronger connections and… more	Staff Training, Capacity Building	Recruitment, public relations, social media	2024
Designing Volunteer Training in Niche Academy This webinar was presented on March 27, 2024 by Jessica Link, Library Volunteer Supervisor, Cedar Rapids Public Library (Iowa) and Amy Selmi Amy… more	Staff Training, Volunteer Orientation, Job Specific Volunteer Training	Niche Academy, orientation, Training	2024
Successful Volunteer Interview Strategies This webinar was delivered October 15, 2024 by Jennifer Bennett, Director of Education and Training at VolunteerMatch. She discussed why interviews… more	Staff Training, Interviewing Volunteers	Interview Questions, interview	2024
Volunteer Value Beyond Numbers, Hours and Dollars A great summary from Sue Carter Kahl of alternatives we can use beyond just numbers, hours, and dollars to measure the value of volunteer engagement.	Staff Training	ROI	2024
How to Write Volunteer Surveys for Big Impact Guidelines for creating your best surveys from VolunteerPro.	Staff Training	surveys	2024
Creating a Diverse Volunteer Pool This is the recording of the May 23, 2024 – Get Involved Live Zoom Conversation: Creating a Diverse Volunteer Pool. An excellent discussion for… more	Staff Training, Capacity Building	diversity, equity, inclusion	2024