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
Arizona's Buckeye Library Shares it's Experience with Get Involved In this 6 minute video, Krista Cornish, Buckeye Library's (AZ) Volunteer Engagement Coordinator shares her library's experience and best… more	Capacity Building, Engaging Staff and Unions		2019
How to Write a Strong Reference Letter for a Volunteer A reference letter showcases a volunteer’s achievements and the skills they’ve gained through volunteering. It can help a volunteer who is looking… more	Staff Training	recognition, reference letter	2019
Could Volunteers Replace Paid Staff?? Have No Fear! An organization’s decision to bring in volunteers may spark fears that volunteers could eventually replace staff. After all, volunteers can do many… more	Staff Training, Engaging Staff and Unions	Staff Resistance, staff buy-in	2019
Shelving with Dewey - Illinois This 1 hour self-paced course from LibraryU, a program of the Illinois State Library and the regional library systems is archived by WebJunction. It… more	Job Specific Volunteer Training	shelve, book shelving, shelver	2019
Recruitment Success Story - Flagstaff Arizona In this 4 minute video, Claudine from the Flagstaff library talks about her successes in finding a volunteer to serve as her assistant volunteer… more	Capacity Building, Engaging High Impact Volunteers	online booksales, Book sale	2019
Volunteer Appreciation Guide is Volunteer Appreciation Guide is a free resource developed by Wild Apricot to offer tips and advice for volunteer programs just getting started… more	Capacity Building	recognition	2019
A Peek inside the Millennial Mind Tips to better engage the next generation of supporters for your organization.	Millennials	young volunteers, Millenials, Millennials	2019
How to Prioritize When Everything Feels Important There's never enough time to do everything you want to do. It's a universal problem. And we all accept that fact and live with its reality until the… more	Staff Training	prioritize, priorities, planning	2019
Playing by the Rules: Creating an Effective Volunteer Handbook. This one hour archived webinar was presented by Jennifer Bennett of VolunteerMatch in conjunction with the 4 state Get Involved: Powered by Your… more	Volunteer Handbooks	policies, handbook	2019
Planning for Including People with Intellectual Disabilities in Volunteer Programs A tip sheet created by The Arc to help you to include people with intellectual disabilities in your volunteer program.	Staff Training	disabilities, diversity, equity, inclusion	2019
Do's and Don'ts of Supervising Library Volunteers This July 2019 article from Public Libraries Online provides an excellent overview of working with volunteers in large and small libraries.	Capacity Building, Staff Training	supervision	2019
NextGen Nexus: A Peek Inside the Millennial Mind What if you could have a young person authentically share their viewpoint about your social issue and cause? What would they say, and how can you… more	Millennials		2019
Beware of These 6 Trends Lurking in Your Volunteer Program This brief article from November 2019 delineates troubling trends about volunteer engagement programs gleaned from the most recent Volunteer… more	Capacity Building		2019
Volunteer Management: How to Get it Right A 2018 study by MAVA (Minnesota Association of Volunteer Administrators) showed a lack of understanding about the essential nature of volunteers and… more	Capacity Building	volunteer coordinator	2018
Volunteer Background Checks: Giving Back without Giving Up on Privacy How do nonprofit organizations screen volunteers? There are several options. The choices depend largely on the volunteer job involved and the… more	Volunteer Screening / Interviewing, Capacity Building, Staff Training	background checks, screening	2018
Three Things We Know About Engaging Millennials in Your Cause A quick read on what Millennials are interested in to help you in your recruitment efforts.	Millennials	Millennials	2018
Getting Staff Buy-In for Volunteer Engagement Video clip on this topic from a Get Involved Volunteer Engagement Institute in Oakland California in May 2015. (26.5 minutes)	Engaging Staff and Unions		2018
Can We Reject a Volunteer? What do you do when someone applies to volunteer and you realize they will not work out? How can we justify rejecting anyone who steps forward and… more	Interviewing Volunteers, Staff Training	Fire, reject, complaints	2018
You Can't Fire Me, I'm a Volunteer! This quick read from Blue Avocado focuses on addressing volunteer dissatisfaction points to the right way to handle disgruntled volunteers.	Staff Training	Fire, disgruntled	2018
Building Capacity: Strategic Volunteer Engagement In this Points of Light blog post, the point is made that organizations that build a culture of volunteerism, and purposefully embed volunteerism… more	Capacity Building, Staff Training	Strategic	2018