Creating Blog Content that Keeps Volunteers Invested: 3 Tips

Your blog is a rich resource hub where your community can learn more about your nonprofit’s projects, success stories, and more. Your volunteers are a key audience to keep in mind while you’re producing content! 

Your volunteers want to know that their efforts make a difference in the long run. Your blog is a great space to hone in on the impact of your volunteers’ work, shine a light on your stellar squad of volunteers to help them feel appreciated, and bring attention to your organisation’s ongoing needs that depend on volunteers’ contributions. 

Use these top tips to strategically wield your blog as a tool for volunteer engagement:

• Share updates about your mission
• Develop educational content 
• Get volunteers involved in content creation

As you consider these tips, remember to keep your nonprofit’s specific volunteer base in mind. By appealing to their interests and desires, you can better tap into their unique motivations and encourage them to support your nonprofit year after year. Let’s begin! 

Share updates about your mission for volunteers

The best nonprofit websites are grounded in their purpose and values, so it’s critical that you use your blog to keep your volunteers up to date on everything related to your organisation’s mission. Specifically, consider generating content about the following topics: 

Goals you’ve reached and new goals you want to meet

Let your volunteers know how your nonprofit is progressing so you can substantiate your work and show how their contributions have an impact. For example, if your volunteers just organised a shoe drive on your behalf and helped to collect over a thousand pairs of gently used shoes, you can create a blog post highlighting this achievement and the recipients of these shoes. You should also share new goals that you’ve set and how they relate to your overarching strategic plan so volunteers will feel inspired to get involved. 

New programs and activities that will need volunteer support

Maybe you’re a STEM-focused nonprofit hoping to lead a new tutoring program to benefit underserved students, or you’re an animal welfare organisation that wants to lead trap-neuter-release initiatives for stray cats in your community. Regardless of your purpose, your nonprofit is bound to create new programs to better address your mission, and you’ll need volunteers on hand to support these efforts. Share concrete details of these initiatives and the types of volunteers you’re seeking to amplify your success. 

Event updates and recaps

Your nonprofit knows that a strong event planning strategy requires the right amount of follow-up! On top of personally thanking volunteers for their help by email or text, you should also recap your event on your blog. 

Here, you can highlight key details like how many people attended or memorable quotes from staff and volunteer speeches. To step up your content, you can even share multimedia features like photos of event attendees or videos from the opening ceremony. This type of content is a great way to entice prospective volunteers to sign up for future events and publicly show your appreciation to volunteers who came to support your nonprofit. 

Inspirational beneficiary and volunteer stories

Your volunteers may lose interest in your organisation if they don’t feel like their efforts have any real impact. To demonstrate the connection between their roles and your mission, share compelling stories on your blog of how volunteers made a difference. 

For instance, a nonprofit that supports children with autism might tell the story of how volunteers helped nine-year-old Sarah develop the confidence to engage in social interactions and make friends at school. When possible, call out the volunteers in your stories by name to support your volunteer recognition strategy. Fundraising Letters’ guide to volunteer appreciation explains that publicly spotlighting your volunteers helps to increase loyalty and grow your volunteer retention rates. 

Sharing content about your mission regularly will not only indicate that your blog and website are up to date but will also make sure you’re communicating the most recent and relevant information about your organisation. This timeliness is necessary for connecting with both your donors and your volunteers and fostering strong relationships that will benefit your organisation over the long term. 

Develop educational content to support your volunteers’ growth

Your blog isn’t just a great place to share updates about your mission! You can also develop content that will contribute to your volunteers’ skills and knowledge development, making them more successful in their roles and strengthening their ties to your organisation. For instance, you might create blog posts around: 

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Suggested alt text: This chart shows different educational topics nonprofits can write about to keep volunteers invested. ‍

• How to create social media graphics that bring attention to your events and programs, including best practices for developing eye-catching captions and hashtags
• How to organise successful events, from developing a strong marketing plan to decorating your venue with an engaging theme in mind 
• Industry updates in your nonprofit’s field, such as any new policies that may affect the way your organisation operations (and in turn affect your volunteers’ work) or emerging trends that could streamline your entire team’s operations
• Tips on writing successful grant proposals so interested volunteers can join in on the efforts to secure new revenue sources for your organisation 
• Best practices specific to different volunteer roles, from tech support to budgeting tips and tricks for volunteers helping with finances 

Instead of uploading educational content to your main blog, which might get confusing for volunteers only looking to learn more about your mission, you might choose to create specific pages displaying only the segments you want to show, whether these segments are general information, information about your mission, stories of volunteers, or a newsletter. The right nonprofit website builder will equip you to create pages that only display the segments you want to show to your volunteers on any specific page, instead of putting every type of content on a bunch 

Your CMS should also make it easy to create a cohesive blog that aligns with your brand as well as optimise your posts (and website as a whole) for mobile, allowing your volunteers to access educational content on the go. Do your research to invest in a website builder that fits within your budget and will streamline your web and blog design. Deedmob provides custom volunteer management platforms with a build-in CMS to maximise your organisation’s social impact. If you’re curious about our offering, consider requesting a free demo.

Get volunteers involved in content creation

Your nonprofit has a full plate, and chances are, you won’t always have time to contribute content to your blog. So, why not ask your volunteers to play a role in the content creation process? Your volunteers will appreciate the opportunity to speak on their experiences and will feel special for being asked. You might ask your volunteers to share personal stories, such as:

• Why they chose to volunteer with your organisation
• Their most memorable volunteer experience at your nonprofit
• The impact they’ve witnessed in the community
• The skills they’ve developed through their roles
• The strong relationships they’ve built with other volunteers and members of the community

This type of content will inspire prospective volunteers to get involved and encourage your existing volunteers to increase their involvement in your mission. Plus, it’ll help donors learn more about your nonprofit’s work, which can lead to more revenue down the line. 

Set up a content calendar so you can schedule volunteer-written pieces ahead of time, and reach out to volunteers who may be likely to contribute a post. Then, provide your volunteers with clear instructions on how to write and share their blog entries on your website, such as accessing a pre-set blog template, plugging in their content, and hitting publish. Make sure you have a staff member available to answer any questions and provide advice. 

Wrapping Up

Your volunteers are the backbone of your organisation, so it’s critical that you retain their support to push forward your organisation’s goals. As you develop content, consider asking your volunteers for feedback so you can better tailor your posts to their interests. With the help of your website builder, you can also track metrics, such as total time spent on each page and clickthrough rate, to assess the engagement levels of your blog and identify ways to increase your blog’s quality.