OREGON PUBLIC BROADCASTING VOLUNTEER WEBSITE

Oregon Public Broadcasting
START A VOLUNTEER WEBSITE FOR YOUR VOLUNTEERS
http://www.opb.org/insideopb/volunteering/
Web Site Goals
- Keep it simple – translate our internal structure to something that makes sense externally
- Develop the relationship (it’s the start of a conversation)
- Tool to recruit new volunteers (or to send people to)
- Provide basic information – an overview of the program (enough to spark some interest)
- Invite them to join in and provide them the tools to do it
- Make it easy
- Show what volunteers are doing – it’s recognition and provides faces
- Forms automatic – goes straight to volunteer who does the next step who responds quickly
- More cumbersome – have to go through web team to change anything
http://volunteers.opb.org/
Username: volunteers
Password: opb
Web Site Goals
- Recruit volunteers already committed to OPB to specific roles
- Provide more details so volunteers know what they are getting into
- Provide them with more information about OPB to continue to build the relationship
- Provide them with choices for engagement
- Give even more recognition
- Educate through pictures (all captions give a little bit more info)
- Vast majority self maintained (blog software)
- Email all volunteers at least monthly with a summary of what’s going on right now and send them to the website
- Print out summary document of new info and mail to volunteers not on email or the web
- One more step for volunteers – have to make sure it’s worth going to
- Communication tool – adds value and saves time – available when volunteers are
- Limited room in email
- Provide more information – helped get volunteers more involved
- Provide choices about how and when to get involved
- Filled orientation need
- Information timely and conversational
- Provide training online
- Provide more info to leadership volunteers just prior to their shift
- Include volunteers more quickly in what’s going on
- Store the information so it’s accessible
- FAQs (searchable so volunteers can get answers without waiting for a phone call, especially during pledge)
Change took a while . . .
Planted seed and made changes over time
- Email recruitments
- Email scheduling
- VIC (computer sign in)
- Pledge computers
- Volunteers’ Only Website
- Next – scheduling online
- Provided tutorials – talking some folks through it all
- Still mail about 20 people monthly a print out from the website
- Tone of website helps with it being less personal
- Many, many ways – do all of it or none of it – just depends on your station (like with all volunteer roles, need to be clear with your expectations)
- Writing content (FAQs, compiling policies and procedures)
- Providing feedback
- Developing the website or pieces of it, helping to find the right software/system for you
- Taking pictures
- Testing it
- wordpress.org
- blogger.com
- blogspot.com
- webemail.us
- constantcontact.com
- jangomail.com
- yahoo or google groups
Holly Denniston, MPA, CVA
Director of Human and Volunteer Resources
Oregon Public Broadcasting
503-293-1928
hdenniston@opb.org