How Top Fundraisers Succeed: Managing Volunteers to Help Raise Money

The problem: Keeping volunteers involved in raising money—an especially tough task for an organization like Indian River Medical Center Foundation, in Vero Beach, Fla., a region that sees an influx of “snowbirds” every winter who travel back to other parts of the country as the weather turns hot.

The solution: “Make sure to stay both connected and highly accessible to your volunteers,” says Jan Donlan, the foundation’s president. “Keep them informed and treat them as part of your inner circle.” That means making sure that valued volunteers, like your charity’s key officials, are never surprised.

The nonprofit’s volunteers are invited to join leadership committees in eight major Vero Beach communities. The committees meet on average 12 times per season and work to get their friends and neighbors interested in supporting the center, following up with people they think might become big donors, and, planning fundraising activities. .

The payoff: The volunteers also give generously; all members of the leadership committees are members of Indian River’s Eagle Society, which honors people who give $10,000 or more.