This course is offered by our partner 

Maintaining volunteers strengthens organizations and programs. Explore common issues affecting the retention of volunteers and develop strategies to overcome these. Equally important to retention is volunteer recognition - and each volunteer is unique in how they wish to be recognized. Learn ways to develop meaningful acknowledgement of the impact volunteers have in achieving an organization’s mission and measure satisfaction with the volunteer experience and project outcomes.

This class takes a scholar-practitioner model and participants will be referencing their current or past programs to strengthen them and help them grow.  Course participants will complete various activities using information from their organization (where one works or volunteers) to develop an Appreciation Toolkit. This collection of ideas will help organizations find ways to acknowledge volunteers and their work and discover what needs to improve to increase volunteer impact. Upon completion of the course you will be able to:

Explain methods for retaining volunteers and keeping them focused on your organization’s mission

• Describe the impact of storytelling as a retention and marketing tool
• Discuss motivation and recognition strategies for youth and adult volunteers
• Understand that not all volunteers like to be recognized the same way
• Match the right project to the right volunteer and provide the best recognition
• Create your Appreciation Toolkit

This is a self-paced course with no instructor-led forums and you have 90 days from registration to complete all course elements. All readings are provided in the course or the course manual. It should take you approximately twelve hours to go through the material, complete the readings, assignments, and assessment, and take any quizzes. Additional time may be spent exploring optional readings. This course is the second of five in the Volunteer Engagement Professional Program.

This course has been pre-approved for 12 CE points of continuing education credit toward the Certified Animal Welfare Administrator credential offered by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement.

Full Members of The Association can save $50 off the registration fee -- learn more. Registration takes place on the website of the Academy of Prosocial Learning.

This is the second course in a five-course Volunteer Engagement  Professional program (VEP) designed for both emerging and experienced nonprofit professionals, created by the Academy of Prosocial Learning in partnership with The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement.