Tailoring the Fit

Use the strategies and resources that work best for your program

If you run a medium or large nonprofit sports program with paid staff, your program probably has a lot of options. You may even have the benefit of a full time volunteer manager who can use any of the resources in this guide and more. For example, taking the time to apply to become an Americorps program and employing several work study students could be great strategies to grow your organization. Small community-based nonprofits may want to focus on using resources like Volunteer Solutions and Boston Cares for finding new local volunteers and Volunteer Match for some virtual support. Service learning, internship, and work study programs will only be a good option if you have the staff time to devote to manage them. Setting up a booth at a local volunteer fair is likewise only a viable idea if you have the time and energy. Volunteer league administrators who may not have 501c3 status, on the other hand, could focus on putting up a couple of postings (using flyer templates!) on Craig’s list and developing relationships with one or two local community groups to find the volunteers they need.

aving a good match between your recruitment strategy and your needs and resources makes all the difference in the world. Every youth sports program is different and sometimes the hardest part about developing a volunteer recruitment plan is deciding on which strategies and tools will work best for you. Very few program leaders would use all of the resources in this guide, and some may not use any at all. However, everyone can benefit from having a clear, replicable recruitment system, an open mind, and a creative flexible set of strategies for finding a diverse group of volunteers that work best for you.