The helping hands volunteers bring to your parks and recreation department empower your organization to undertake more projects and offer a wider range of programs. More importantly, their connection to the local community drives ambassadorship that can help your department raise awareness, support, and attendance for activities.

However, it’s up to your department to effectively manage volunteers so that they work seamlessly with your team to achieve your goals. If you’re looking to tap into this source of support but don’t know where to start, consider the following ways volunteers can help your parks and recreation department.

Administrative Support

Because volunteers give their time freely to your organization, it’s safe to assume they come with a zest for your work. Their enthusiasm makes them perfectly suited for customer-facing roles such as answering phone calls and emails. 

In general, volunteers can provide crucial administrative support through clerical tasks, freeing up your team to handle other responsibilities. To manage these administrative tasks, provide volunteers with the training and tools they’ll need. For example, you might purchase parks and recreation software with essential features such as:

• Activity registration: Help volunteers manage registration and waitlists for your department’s upcoming activities and events.
• Reporting: Streamline data collection by equipping volunteers with the tools to automate reports on event or program attendance and participation. 
• Integrated payment processing: Allow volunteers to oversee payment tracking and secure processing to ensure all participants pay for activities or memberships.
• Marketing: Encourage volunteers to take ownership of your parks and recreation department’s marketing efforts with a complete toolkit for engaging the community.
• Facility management: Equip volunteers to manage everything from booking and scheduling to submitting maintenance requests for your department’s facilities. 
• Customer support: Have your volunteers address customer inquiries and issues through an online ticketing system. 
• Membership management: Track member participation history and preferences so that volunteers can access and use this information in their outreach.

Parks and recreation software can be beneficial for anyone on your department’s team—volunteer or not. However, delegating these tasks to your volunteers is much easier when they have the right tools to finish the job.

While you’re building your department’s tech toolkit, also invest in volunteer management software to streamline the supervision of your volunteer team. This way, your team will have the tools needed to provide an organized experience for volunteers.

Facility Maintenance

Volunteers play a significant role in maintaining the cleanliness of park grounds and facilities. This job is essential for maintaining a pleasant park environment and can be fulfilling for volunteers who care about their community’s upkeep.

Delegate maintenance tasks such as:

• Litter pickup and graffiti removal
• Landscaping and trail maintenance
• Cleaning, such as maintaining the park’s restrooms
• Minor repairs, like repainting park benches or replacing dead lightbulbs

While you won’t need to recruit volunteers with professional landscaping or gardening skills to help with facility maintenance, it’s helpful to provide training relevant to the task. For example, litter pickup might not require many instructions while certain landscaping duties, such as using a hedge trimmer, should be prefaced with safety guidelines.

Event Coordination

Ease the burden of event coordination by assigning certain planning and execution tasks to your volunteers. Not only will the extra hands provide much-needed assistance when hosting an event or program, but volunteers can also provide diverse perspectives to infuse your events with fresh ideas. 

Specifically, delegate the following tasks to volunteers:

• Event idea development: Invite volunteers to brainstorm event themes and activities that would most appeal to your community. By making them feel like a valued part of the planning process, you may retain their support in the long term. 
• Logistics coordination: Volunteers can help arrange event logistics before, during, and after the event. For example, they can help vendors, set up the venue, answer attendees’ questions, and clean up afterward. 
• Performance evaluation: At the conclusion of your event, volunteers can gather feedback from guests and collect key performance indicators (KPIs) to help your department measure the event’s success. 

While organized and outgoing volunteers may be best suited for these roles, events provide opportunities to suit almost any personality. For example, a more introverted volunteer could check on the venue’s restrooms periodically to ensure they remain clean and stocked throughout the event. Keep your volunteers’ unique strengths and skills in mind when assigning their roles and be flexible to adjust their positions as necessary.

Trail Guides

Serving as a trail guide may be a dream come true for volunteers who are especially passionate about the environment or your community’s parks. Better yet, they can help your parks and recreation department engage the community by:

• Leading guided tours: Volunteers may lead regular nature walks or hikes with groups of visitors along designated trails. Along the way, they can provide information about the local ecosystem, including details on any plants, animals, and natural features encountered. 
• Educating visitors: Invite volunteers to educate visitors on the importance of conservation through programs or presentations highlighting your community’s natural environment. To manage these informational classes, CommunityPass recommends using software to keep track of class schedules, rosters, and other instructor information. 
• Promoting safety: Recruit volunteers to oversee the safety of your parks and facilities and remain on standby to address any emergencies that may arise. These volunteers should be prepared to share crucial safety instructions with park guests by providing guidance on trail etiquette, safety procedures, and first aid.

Trail guide volunteers should have a thorough understanding of local wildlife and plant life so they can answer any questions visitors may have. Also, having first aid training and CPR certifications will ensure volunteers know what to do in emergency situations. 

Community Engagement

As passionate supporters of your parks and recreation department, volunteers have the enthusiasm and local knowledge needed to plan outreach activities that engage your community. 

These activities may include:

• Fundraising: Allow volunteers to solicit donations and in-kind contributions from local businesses, organizations, and individuals. If certain volunteers are employed at a business with a corporate volunteer program, they may already have professional connections that can help your department secure a sponsorship.
• Marketing: Volunteers may manage your marketing channels, such as your website or social media accounts. Invite them to promote your events and programs by creating digital content or writing blog posts, newsletters, and press releases to highlight them.
• Outreach: Strengthen relationships with local organizations, schools, community groups, and residents by having volunteers reach out and represent your organization in the community. Additionally, volunteers can organize community engagement activities such as afterschool programs or informational sessions.

Depending on the role you aim to fill, look for volunteers with relevant qualifications and a robust portfolio. For example, you’ll want an experienced marketer to promote your brand effectively, while a volunteer with event-planning experience may be better suited to further your fundraising efforts. 

There are endless possibilities when it comes to the ways volunteers can support your parks and recreation department. When dedicated supporters fill these roles, show them your gratitude in meaningful and personal ways. According to eCardWidget, volunteer appreciation can motivate volunteers to do their best work and to stick around to help out your parks and recreation department more!

By making volunteers feel appropriately recognized for their contributions, you’ll strengthen your community of support. As a result, you’ll develop long-term relationships with loyal supporters who help you fill every role your parks and recreation department needs.

Mary Coyle is the Head of Product Management at CommunityPass. With 15 years experience from Dun & Bradstreet, Draft Worldwide and Arthur Anderson, Mary has held senior level roles in Program Management and Marketing Operations.  She has an MBA from University of Texas at Austin and a Finance degree from University of Illinois.