Exploring the Volunteer Lifecycle: Finding the Right Fit for Your Organization

Volunteering is a transformative human experience that can profoundly impact both the individual volunteer and the community they serve. In this series, Lineup will walk through the essential stages of a dynamic and effective volunteer lifecycle.

Imagine you need a board-certified individual with experience working in rural areas to fill a spot on your exam-writing committee. Pulling in someone who has only worked in an urban environment or who has not kept up their own certifications won’t cut it. A mismatch can leave both you and your volunteer frustrated. 

This is a key phase of the volunteer lifecycle: pairing the right people with the right roles. In the first part of the series, we looked at how you can prepare for a new fiscal year with strong, data-informed planning and recruitment. Now, it’s time to look at your volunteer pool and look at your available positions. 

“Pairing the right person with the right role is what turns a short-term commitment into a long-term partnership,” explained Derek Haese, Director of Business Development at Lineup. “People inherently want to be part of something bigger than themselves, and it’s up to organizations to be strategic about helping their people find that.” 

Why Does Role Matching Matter?

When it comes down to it, volunteers who feel equipped and engaged are more likely to show up ready to work and stick around for the long haul. 

Research indicates that volunteers who feel they’re using their skills and talents in their roles are 80% more satisfied with their volunteer experience. This matters because a 2023 report found that satisfied volunteers are twice as likely to return. 

Organizations need to view role matching as a strategic imperative for retention, program effectiveness, and long-term volunteer satisfaction. You’ve done the work to build your pool of volunteers. Now, it’s time to put them to work in a way that benefits everyone.

Three Strategies for Improving Role Matching at Your Organization

1. Use Data to Build Stronger Volunteer Connections 

Volunteer alignment starts long before someone is assigned a task. It starts with understanding who your volunteers are, not as data points in a system, but as people.

That includes understanding each person’s:

  • Previous experiences 

  • Interests 

  • Skills and qualifications 

  • Past performances 

Most of this information can be gathered in a thorough intake process that asks for the specific data you need. 

2. Prioritize Communication

Remember, communication is a two-way street. Do not shy away from engaging in open dialogue during the matching process. Discuss volunteers’ goals and preferences while sharing how their contributions support your mission. 

This collaborative approach builds trust and ensures mutual understanding. Regular check-ins can also help flag any potential role adjustments that need to be made. 

3. Evaluate and Refine the Process

This is essential for building long-term success. Focus on how your organization can make intentional, skills-based matching a mindset, not just something to check off the list. 

That requires your organization to: 

  • Lean into the data over “going with your gut”

  • Make sure volunteer profiles are kept up-to-date

  • Review the process after major initiatives to see what worked (and what didn’t)

  • Encourage volunteers to express their evolving interests and goals

With this approach, you can turn a database full of names and contact information into a purposeful, strategic, and sustainable volunteer pool. 

Choosing the Right Tool to Help

Role matching is a strategic investment in the success of both volunteers and the organization. The tools you rely on for this can make or break the process. 

Lineup knows firsthand the importance of putting the right person in the right place at the right time. We also know that this is only possible when you have technology designed to focus on people. That’s why we created Lineup Teams – an all-in-one platform makes it easier than ever to recruit, develop, engage, and retain your volunteers.

From the first volunteer touchpoint, Lineup Teams prioritizes gathering the data that you want to see and making it easy to find volunteers based on those specific data points. 

This was a major issue facing the Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS). With data for more than 2,800 volunteers spread out across multiple spreadsheets and platforms, BPS struggled to cross-check with the organization's candidate platform to confirm if a volunteer was currently board-certified or if anyone was slipping under the radar with an expired certification. It was also difficult to know which individuals had performed well in prior volunteer roles.

Then, in 2023, they began using Lineup Teams. 

In the customizable data fields that each form captures, BPS could easily access the information they needed to get a full picture of each individual, including proof that an individual has volunteered before and what tasks they've done. It also gave them insight into how volunteers had performed previously with comments and output data from past volunteer activities showing up in their profiles.

With all this knowledge at their fingertips, it’s now easier than ever for BPS to vet and assign volunteers to meaningful roles. 

The Big Picture

Volunteers who feel like they truly belong and bring something to the table are more likely to give their time and heart to an organization.

In this way, prioritizing thoughtful role matching creates a ripple effect: one volunteer’s deep sense of purpose can inspire others, energize your team, and extend the reach of your impact far beyond a single day’s work. By making role matching a continuous, mission-centered practice, you’re investing in the long-term strength of your program and the community you serve. 

The future of successful volunteerism is built on these connections – one perfect fit at a time.

Ready to transform your volunteer placement process? Schedule a free demo of Lineup Teams to discover how comprehensive volunteer management can help you find the perfect fit for every opportunity.

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Five Essential Elements Volunteers Need to Thrive – And How Lineup Teams Make Each One Possible