• Survey
  • Book Becky to speak
  • The book: Small Town Rules
  • Shop Local video
  • SaveYour.Town

Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource

A row of small town shops
  • Front Page
  • Latest stories
  • About
  • Guided Tour
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • RSS

How to get more volunteer participation

By Becky McCray

It’s the million dollar question in small towns: how do we get more participation? Participation might mean volunteers, contributions, or even audience members.

Kicking off Picture My Weekend photo workshop in Alva with group instructions. #PMW2011
Volunteers kick off the Picture My Weekend
Photography event in Alva, Oklahoma.

I get asked this every time I speak. It seems every town and organization, every festival and fair is dealing with a smaller number of volunteers. It seems everyone is looking for ways to get more people involved.

While I don’t have a magical solution, I do offer one key insight.

You are not your target market. 

No matter who you are looking to get more participation from, they are different from you. Most likely, you are the driven, goal oriented type. At the least, you’re involved. The people you are looking for are not.

I just spoke to one chamber of commerce volunteer. She had walked in to downtown businesses, handed them the event flyer and immediately asked how they wanted to participate. It hadn’t worked very well. I suggested that most people would want to be approached in a friendly manner, rather than an all-business manner. The business owners might react better to someone who came in, learned about the people and their businesses, and generally built relationships. There is probably another person in the chamber who fits that description and could get better results.

And there are more differences.

Younger Volunteers

Changes in technology, the economy and society have driven radical change over even the past few years. But our volunteer jobs haven’t kept pace. We’re still doing things the old way, or the old way with a few updates and new ideas. That means we need to consider changing everything, and I mean ev-ry-thing, about how we organize and do our work.

Marci Penner leads a discussion
on volunteers and listening.

I heard some great insight on this at a local meeting. Marci Penner and WenDee LaPlant lead a session on rural tourism. As Penner drew out both younger and older audience members, a fascinating pattern emerged. Even as we heard the “we can’t get volunteers” refrain, younger people told a different story. They weren’t able to volunteer at the times when they were expected to. They had families, young children, and obligations. But they still wanted to be involved, if they could work out timing and assignments. Except they ran into another roadblock: existing volunteers wouldn’t let them help. The people currently in charge wouldn’t let go and trust the new young volunteers.

I know the young people might fail. They might make mistakes. They might even quit half way through. But that is OK. They have to do that in order to learn. And if we’re honest, we learned by mistakes, and people have failed and quit half way through since the days of the first volunteers.

In a discussion, one audience member asked how to get young people to participate in traditional boards. Penner said to get them together in a community and truly listen to them. LaPlant told a story of a group that said they had listened to young people, but just couldn’t get them involved. So together they tried an exercise at a meeting of listening to the young people who were present without interrupting for 15 solid minutes. It was an eye-opener. They found that they had in fact, not been really listening to the younger people.

A young person in the audience pointed out that she is busy with raising her young children, and does not have time for traditional opportunities, but she can contribute in other ways. The discussion continued, with consensus that tradition makes it hard for young people to participate. The existing leaders have to be open to change.

It’s tough to think that you may be part of the reason that you can’t get more volunteers. But if you can face that, and make some changes, you may be able to address the problem.

Remember, you are not your target market. What works for you will not work for others.

I also thought about what “you are not your target market” means in business:

You are not your target market Part 1: Quit hanging around with your own people. Go find the customers.

You are not your target market Part 2: What you like doesn’t equate into what customers like.
You are not your target market Part 3: You know too much.

New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
  • Downtown is your town’s core: How to make your case - February 22, 2021
  • Zoom Towns: attracting and supporting remote workers in rural small towns - December 10, 2020
  • In an economic crisis, spend your brainpower before your dollars - November 25, 2020
  • Video: How to fill empty car dealership buildings for the holidays - November 6, 2020
  • How has 2020 changed the challenges rural small towns face? Tell us here - October 20, 2020
  • The Idea Friendly Method to surviving a business crisis - October 6, 2020
  • Join me for the Rural Renewal Symposium online Oct 13 - September 26, 2020
  • Cheap placemaking idea: instant murals - September 11, 2020
  • Refilling the rural business pipeline - July 7, 2020
  • Huge vacant buildings: grants to renovate? - June 9, 2020

October 4, 2011 Filed Under: community, rural, tourism, youth Tagged With: Climate, Support

Wondering what is and is not allowed in the comments?
Or how to get a nifty photo beside your name?
Check our commenting policy.
Use your real name, not a business name.


Don't see the comment form?
Comments are automatically closed on older posts, but you can send me your comment via this contact form and I'll add it manually for you. Thanks!

Comments

  1. Kenda Morrison says

    October 4, 2011 at 1:11 pm

    This is a great read Becky. My favorite quote is, “The existing leaders have to be open to change.”

    In my experience, you hit the nail on the head! Build relationships before you ask for participation. Too often a new business will become a member of their Chamber to increase their local connections and promote their services, only to be handed a list of committees and groups that they could volunteer to be a part of. Something is very wrong with that picture.

    Chambers and local groups should embrace the same focus as Social Media – engage and educate – don’t sell. The volunteers will come when they feel a part of something special – because of who they are, not what they can do for your committee.

    Again, “The existing leaders have to be open to change.”

    • Becky McCray says

      February 11, 2013 at 8:10 pm

      Kenda, that is a great insight. What if the local Chamber spent more time working to engage and educate, and less time working to sell?

Howdy!

Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.

We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.

Meet our authors on the About page.

Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.

If you would like permission to re-use an article you've read here, please make a Reprint Request.

Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.

Shop Local

Buy local buttonReady to set up a shop local campaign in your small town? You'll need a guide who understands how we're different and what really works: Shop Local Campaigns for Small Towns.

Best of Small Biz Survival

What is holding us back? Why does every project take so long in small towns?

How any business can be part of downtown events by going mobile

Concert-goers talking and enjoying the evening in downtown Webster City, Iowa.

Why do people say there’s nothing to do here then not come to our concerts?

Retailers: Fill all empty space, floor to ceiling

More of the best of Small Biz Survival

Copyright © 2021 Becky McCray
Front Page · Log in