I once found myself wondering what had happened to someone who had volunteered regularly in a particular role. There hadn’t been an argument. There hadn’t been a complaint. She had simply stopped signing up.
Fortunately, I had the opportunity to follow up with her. During our conversation, she shared that she had an experience that didn’t feel welcoming. No one intended for it to happen, but that one interaction changed how she felt about serving in that role. Thankfully, she didn’t leave our organization altogether. She simply found other ways to give her time.
Not everyone gives us that opportunity.
It makes me wonder about the people who quietly disappear without saying a word. We often assume they’re busy, life changed, or their priorities shifted. Sometimes that’s exactly what happened. But sometimes I wonder if they slowly stopped feeling connected long before they stopped showing up.
As volunteer leaders, we don’t always get to hear the story behind someone’s decision to leave. That can make it tempting to focus our attention on recruiting more people. Over the years, though, I’ve found myself asking a different question.
Are we spending enough time thinking about the experience we’re creating for the people who have already said yes?
For much of my career, I thought about recruitment and retention as two separate challenges. Recruitment was about bringing people in, while retention was about encouraging them to stay. Today, I don’t think they’re separate at all. I think they’re simply different parts of the same experience.
When someone decides to give their time to your mission, they aren’t simply filling an open role. They’re choosing your organization. They’re choosing your mission, your people, and the experience they’ll have while they’re there. Their time is valuable, and so is the trust they’re placing in you.
Several years ago, I began looking at volunteer engagement through a different lens. Instead of thinking about recruitment, orientation, communication, recognition, role design, and retention as individual tasks, I started thinking about them as parts of the same home.
That simple shift changed how I looked at almost everything.
When you build a home, you don’t start with the front door. You begin with a strong foundation. You create structure that will last. You think carefully about how people enter, how they move through the space, and how they’ll experience it. You create rooms where relationships can grow, and you continue caring for that home long after it’s built.
Volunteer engagement isn’t all that different.
We often spend a great deal of energy inviting people through the front door. We create recruitment campaigns, attend community events, post on social media, and encourage current volunteers to invite their friends. Those efforts are important. Recruitment will always matter.
But what happens after someone says yes?
Think about the last person who expressed interest in volunteering with your organization. How long did it take for someone to respond? Did they know what to expect? Did someone greet them on their first day? Did they understand why their role mattered? Did anyone check in with them after they got started?
Those questions may have more to do with recruitment than we realize.
After more than twenty years working alongside nonprofit organizations, I’ve noticed that the organizations which consistently attract and keep people aren’t always the largest. They don’t necessarily have the biggest budgets or the most staff. What they often have is intentionality.
They’ve thought carefully about the experience they’re creating. People know what’s expected of them. They understand how their work contributes to the mission. They know who to ask for help. Someone notices when they arrive, and someone notices when they’re gone.
Those moments may seem small, but they shape how people feel.
One of the things I appreciate most about this profession is that it has never really been about volunteers. It’s about people.
People who have chosen to give part of their lives to something they believe matters.
Some are looking for community after retirement. Some want to use skills they’ve spent years developing. Some are exploring a new career path, while others simply want to make a positive difference in their community.
Every person arrives with a different story, but I think most of us are looking for something similar. We want to know that our presence matters. We want to know our contribution made a difference. We want to know we’d be missed if we didn’t come back.
That’s what belonging feels like.
Belonging isn’t created through one exceptional orientation or a single appreciation event each year. It’s built through dozens of small interactions over time. A warm welcome. Clear communication. Meaningful work. Honest conversations. Someone remembering your name. Someone checking in after you’ve been away. Someone taking the time to say, “I’m glad you’re here.”
Those moments communicate something far more important than appreciation alone.
They communicate belonging.
If your organization is struggling with recruitment, I wonder if the first question isn’t, “How do we find more volunteers?” Maybe the better question is, “What’s it like to volunteer here?”
Walk through your volunteer experience as though you’ve never seen it before. Imagine you’re arriving for your very first day. What would you notice? Where might you feel uncertain? What would help you feel welcome? Would you understand why your role mattered? Would you leave wanting to come back?
Those are the questions that have transformed the conversations I have with organizations.
I’ve come to believe that recruitment and retention aren’t really separate conversations. They’re both outcomes of the experience people have with your organization.
The encouraging news is that experiences can be intentionally designed. They can become more welcoming, more supportive, and more connected. When that happens, something remarkable follows. People don’t simply stay longer. They invite friends. They become ambassadors for your mission. They share their experiences with others because they’ve experienced something worth sharing.
People choose where they give their time.
They stay where they know they belong.
Maybe that’s where our conversation about recruitment should begin.
