Training Materials

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
5 Tips for Recruiting Volunteers
Five recruitment tips for volunteer management consultant, Rob Jackson.
Capacity Building Recruitment 2022
Online Book Sale Operation - Mesa AZ
The link below to a 10 minute video will introduce you to the Mesa Public Library's amazing online booksale operation (about $100,000/year) which is… more
Engaging High Impact VolunteersCapacity BuildingJob Specific Volunteer Training online booksales, Friends, Friends of the Library, Booksales 2022
Survey Design: The Top 10 Best Practices to Maximize Your Results
Survey design is extremely important as it can make or break your survey's completion rate. This article reviews some survey design fundamentals, and… more
Capacity BuildingStaff Training surveys 2022
Consequences of Good v. Bad Volunteer Experiences
A brief article detailing a couple of ways to make your volunteers have a good experience, or to respond to situations where someone's had a bad… more
Staff Training 2022
The Virtual Volunteer Life Cycle: A Complete Guide
A good overall guide for recruiting, screening and managing remote volunteers.
Engaging High Impact VolunteersCapacity BuildingStaff Training virtual 2022
Sticky Situations: Applying Ethics to Your Work with Volunteers
We all encounter ethical dilemmas in our daily work.  But rarely do organizations focus on ethics related to volunteer engagement.  This… more
Staff Training Ethics 2022
Volunteer Orientation and Training: The Ultimate Guide
A 2022 article from Wild Apricot on what to consider when planning volunteer orientation and Training.
Capacity Building volunteer training, orientation 2022
Fun Volunteer Teambuilding Activities That Will Keep Your Remote Team Engaged
This article from Tobi Johnson about Volunteer Team Building activities includes instructions for both in-person and virtual activities.
Capacity BuildingEngaging High Impact Volunteers team building 2022
Preparing Co-Workers to Lead Volunteers Online and On Land
Ideas for training staff to engage with volunteers.
Staff TrainingCapacity Building Staff Resistance, staff buy-in, staff training 2022
Changing the Frame: Civic Engagement Through A Racial Equity Lens
Since Robert Putnam’s book Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital came out in 2000, policymakers, nonprofit funders, and pundits have sent… more
Capacity BuildingStaff Training diversity, equity, inclusion 2022
Research and Case Studies Regarding Virtual Volunteering
Research on virtual volunteering compiled and updated in March 2022 by Jayne Cravens of Coyote Communications.
Capacity BuildingEngaging High Impact Volunteers virtual, virtual volunteer 2022
First Day Volunteer Orientation Checklist - Kitchener Public Library
This checklist is used by the Kitchener Public Library for a volunteer's first day of orientation/training.
Volunteer Orientation checklist, orientation, Training 2022
Virtual Volunteers: Keys to Success and Sustainability
More and more organizations rely on a hybrid workforce – with staff and volunteers working on-site and on-line. More recently, engaging volunteers… more
Staff TrainingCapacity Building virtual volunteer 2022
Privilege, Bias and Microaggressions
On Aug 25, 2022 Points of Light and the Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration led a conversation exploring identity, privilege, bias and… more
Capacity BuildingStaff Training privilege, bias, microaggression, diversity, equity, inclusion 2022
Live Online Discussion of Diversity Equity & Inclusion
California Library Volunteer Leaders: Live Open Online Discussion on Diversity Equity & Inclusion in Volunteer Engagement – This recorded… more
Capacity BuildingStaff Training diversity, equity, inclusion, White Saviorism 2022
QuickStart Guide for New Volunteers
Not a library, but a lovely example to get ideas from.
Volunteer Orientation orientation, handbook 2022
White Supremacy in Volunteerism - Perfectionism
This video clip was prepared for the Get Involved Initiative by Breauna Dorelus of Connecting the Cause - https://www.connectingthecause.com. After… more
Staff Training White Saviorism, diversity, equity, inclusion, white supremacy 2022
Strategies for Attracting Today's Volunteers - DOVIA Sacramento Webinar
This archived webinar was presented by Carla Lehn for DOVIA Sacramento in February 2021. Learning Objectives for the session:
Participants in this… more
Staff TrainingOn-line Volunteer RecruitmentEngaging High Impact Volunteers Recruitment, online recruitment, Volunteer Job Description, Webinar 2021
Insights & Impact 2020: Measuring the Social Impact of Volunteerism
This report describes new ways to calculate the value of volunteer time. These approaches rely on data from Independent Sector and from the U.S.… more
Capacity Building ROI, Reporting, annual report 2021
Engaging Volunteers: A Comprehensive Literature Review
Literature Review completed for AmeriCorps by ICF International in 2021.
Capacity BuildingStaff Training literature 2021