When you’re growing your donor base for fundraising, volunteers are some of the first people you should look to. They’re passionate about your cause and have already demonstrated their commitment by dedicating their time to further your mission.

This makes volunteers an indispensable part of your mission, and many volunteers are happy to become even more indispensable by also becoming donors. By building relationships with volunteers like you would donors, you can experience numerous benefits.

But how do you better engage volunteers when they’re already aware of and involved with your organization’s cause? A data-driven approach to building relationships can help you learn more about your volunteers and how you can encourage them to donate.

Ensure you have constituent relationship management software (CRM) that will organize your donor data for you. The top CRMs for nonprofits can not only improve your data management and communication capabilities, but many platforms also offer additional features like online donation forms and payment processing to make contributing easy for your volunteers.

Let’s start exploring why it’s worth investing in your volunteers.

1. Earn Additional Revenue

Your volunteers already offer recurring support. Turn that dedication into recurring donations with the following tips:

Offer Suggested Donation Amounts

Be straightforward with your volunteers. They are not new to your nonprofit, and they’re likely more than aware of what your nonprofit does and how donations impact your cause.

When communicating with volunteers, explain your program goals and offer reasonable donation suggestions. For example, you might point out that several $10 donations would meet your fundraising goal. Volunteers could also be inclined to donate when they see that a reasonable donation on their part has a significant impact on your goal.

For instance, many foodbank volunteers might be aware of how cash donations can be leveraged to purchase additional goods at a reduced cost. Or, volunteers at an animal shelter might understand the importance of a specific animal receiving medical assistance, increasing their desire to pitch in as a group.

Provide Multiple Ways to Give

Your volunteers already give to your organization—they’re donating their time and effort to your cause. As such, ensure that giving in other ways is simple and fits into their busy schedules. For example, you might provide volunteers with giving flexibility by offering:

• Multiple payment options. Allow supporters to give however they prefer, whether via credit card, PayPal, ApplePay, or ACH check.
• In-kind donation opportunities. Volunteers are likely knowledgeable about what supplies your nonprofit needs and can provide some of the most helpful gifts during an in-kind donation drive.
• Products and services for sale. Your volunteers are already fans of your nonprofit, making them a key target audience for branded merchandise. Promote new items to them and share discount codes to thank them for their efforts and drive sales.

Be open with your volunteers about what types of support are most valuable for your nonprofit, and ask them how it’s easiest for them to give. This can help engage volunteers even during times of the year when you need less hands-on supporters and prefer donations.

Show Appreciation for Every Contribution

Whether they’re donating time, labor, or money, your volunteers are the backbone of your nonprofit. Let them know how important they are by showing your appreciation.

For example, you might

• Write thank-you letters. Handwritten letters are a thoughtful way to show your appreciation, and Fundraising Letters points out that these letters “can help volunteers feel a personal connection to your organization and form a relationship with your team.”
• Send eCards. eCards are electronic greeting cards and can elevate the classic thank-you email to a fun, memorable message recipients will want to hold onto. Send eCards for all of your volunteers’ contributions, whether they’re going above and beyond in donating their time or money.
• Send gifts. Award gifts to your nonprofit by giving something in return. For example, you might provide volunteers who donate with free merchandise, event tickets, or gift cards.

Making your volunteers feel appreciated keeps them coming back and encourages them to deepen their involvement with your organization, leading to more donations and hours volunteered. Strengthen the foundation of your already-committed supporters to retain and grow your nonprofit’s volunteer and donor base.

2. Increase Volunteers’ Lifetime Value to Your Organization

A volunteer’s lifetime value is the value that all of their involvement provides to your nonprofit’s mission. But how can you quantify and track the lifetime value of volunteer hours or services provided? Volunteering hours can be incredibly valuable, with an average estimated worth of approximately $33.49 per hour.

However, you can get your volunteers to be worth even more by encouraging them to donate. And when your volunteers give consistently, you can estimate their contribution over a set number of years. Consider using an all-in-one CRM to help organize this data so you can enrich donor relationships and inspire giving.

Additionally, by building relationships with volunteers, you can steer them toward opportunities to increase their value without requiring increased spending. These include:

Skilled Volunteering

Volunteers can lend their professional expertise to your nonprofit, providing skills and knowledge that might otherwise be costly to tap into. Create skills-based opportunities to attract highly qualified volunteers and encourage current volunteers to share their capabilities with your nonprofit.

If a volunteer position requires specific skills, be sure to list them in your job posting. Additionally, survey your volunteers to learn what hidden talents they might possess and consider how you can leverage them. Not only do these opportunities provide your nonprofit with added value, but they also allow volunteers to grow their skills.

Skilled volunteering is different from an in-kind donation of professional services, but both require proper appreciation. Consider what donor recognition strategies you would provide professional corporate volunteers and how you can show your skilled volunteers the same level of appreciation.

Volunteer Grants

Fundraising professionals may be familiar with matching gifts, which are a type of corporate giving wherein a business matches the donations employees make to charitable organizations. For example, if an eligible employee donates $50 to your cause, their employer would donate $50 as well, doubling their impact.

Volunteer grants are similar to matching gifts, only businesses give based on the number of hours employees volunteer. This means that some of your volunteers may be able to take advantage of both volunteer grants and matching gifts, maximizing their impact.

To show the impact of volunteer grants, Double Donation’s volunteer statistics reports share a few key metrics:

• 40% of Fortune 500 companies offer volunteer grants
• 80% of companies with volunteer grant programs provide between $8-$15 per hour
• 85% of the top matching gift companies also offer volunteer grants
• Individual and team volunteer grants are two widely available forms of corporate philanthropy for employees
• The average volunteer grant participation level falls around 3%

With this added giving potential, encourage your volunteers to research volunteer grants and matching gift opportunities.

Volunteer Time Off

Another corporate giving program is volunteer time off (VTO). Rather than providing money in exchange for volunteering, this benefit gives employees time off specifically to volunteer. This enables your supporters to:

• Volunteer during the work day. Many volunteers would like to help out more but have other responsibilities, like their careers, that eat up their time. With VTO, they can spend some of their regular 9-to-5 hours with your nonprofit instead.
• Lend valuable skills to your nonprofit. Volunteers who qualify for VTO are often highly skilled individuals, and additional time off lets them contribute their abilities to nonprofits like yours.
• Get additional time off. VTO is paid time off, meaning eligible volunteers who don’t take advantage of it are missing out on some of their benefits. By alerting them to VTO opportunities, you also help volunteers take full advantage of the perks owed to them.

Similar to volunteer grants, supporters are more likely to take advantage of VTO if you bring it to their attention. Encourage them to research their workplace giving programs and leverage a corporate giving database to provide them with the tools to look up their employers.

3. Deepen Volunteers’ Engagement With Your Mission

An important part of the volunteer management cycle is engagement. If they’re active volunteers, they’re already engaged with your mission. But when volunteers have more than one way to get involved, their passion for your cause and their participation has the potential to increase even more. You can use these tips to recruit volunteers and increase their engagement:

• Creating convenient contribution opportunities: Offering the chance to contribute in a quick easy way, such as through your online donation page, can help your volunteers feel easily involved. This can enhance their opinion of working with you and bring value to your nonprofit.
• Talking face-to-face at your next event: This will deepen your relationship with your volunteers since you can get to know them better through a face-to-face conversation.
• Asking them to involve a friend: This can bring like-minded people into your community and make contributing more fun for your volunteers.
• Creating shareable social media posts: If your volunteers are already engaged with your social media, make informational posts that they can see and share with their friend.

Recruiting donations in the midst of economic turbulence can be difficult, but dedicated volunteers will be your most loyal supporters. Make your requests specific to these supporters, their areas of interest, and their preferences.

Connecting with volunteers’ areas of interest will also deepen their engagement with your mission. For example, if you know your volunteers regularly engage with your nonprofit on social media, consider starting a Facebook fundraiser or sharing a crowdfunding campaign on your organization’s accounts.

When it comes to supporting your organization, your volunteers will be among the most motivated to give. Plus, they probably have like-minded friends. Encourage them to spread the word and grow your fundraising efforts simply by word-of-mouth.

By turning your volunteer base into a donor network, your nonprofit can strengthen its community and receive unmatched support. Reach out to your volunteers first and tailor your fundraising to their interests when raising money for your cause.

Adam Weinger is the President of Double the Donation, the leading provider of tools to nonprofits to help them raise more money from corporate matching gift and volunteer grant programs.

Double the Donation's robust solution, 360MatchPro, provides nonprofits with automated tools to identify match-eligible donors, drive matches to completion, and gain actionable insights. 360MatchPro integrates directly into donation forms, CRMs, social fundraising software, and other nonprofit technology solutions to capture employment information and follow up appropriately with donors about matching gifts.