On the August 16, 2024 Friday Power Lunch, co-hosts Carrie Short, Katherine White and Finale Norton explored the topic of how best to work with volunteers: What motivates them, what types of actions keep volunteers going, and how to make it meaningful for the volunteers, while ensuring that what they are doing is needed and makes a real difference.
GUESTS
SUSAN LABANDIBAR, (Co-founder, Swing Blue Alliance) has compiled a list of actions volunteers can take in support of political campaigns and movements, and has graded them based on levels of engagement. Carrie and Susan talked about how these actions are perceived in terms of investment of time and personal risk taking and how those perceptions might influence volunteer willingness to do them.
KRIS NELSON (Warren County Democratic Chair & Regional organizer of the Coordinated Campaign) is known throughout rural Virginia for her creative and caring approach to volunteer coordination. She also has a talent for building super volunteers. Finale and Kris spoke about her approach to empowering volunteers.
SUSAN LOESBERG (Vice Chair, Virginia Beach Democratic Committee) takes a grassroots approach to volunteer management. She finds unique and meaningful actions that sometimes fall through the cracks in campaigns and offers relational leadership to her volunteers. Carrie and Susan talked about the lasting benefits of using a grassroots approach.
Susan explained the codes she uses when working with volunteers:
- Don't waste a volunteer's time. Be ready for them. Make sure you have everything that they need, so they're comfortable, and they'll come back
- Make sure volunteers receive the necessary information and/or training to be successful at the task they have been asked to do
- Gratitude. Make sure that these volunteers know that we are so grateful
ABOUT THE FRIDAY POWER LUNCH
The Friday Power Lunch is a weekly podcast produced by the badass women of Network NOVA to amplify the voices of the Grassroots on politics, culture, and women making change.
To get tickets to attend the recording of the live Zoom program, https://fridaypowerlunch.com