Make your events stand out from the crowd
Version: v1 & EVS’07
We’ll start small with our tips in the new AngelPoints community. This set of tips & guidelines works well whether you’re using v1 or EVS’07. You don’t need to follow these rules to the letter, but rather use them as helpers to build a good event description.
Title: a good, descriptive title will help a volunteer decide whether or not they want to see more about it. Try to use the sponsoring organization name in the beginning and keep the rest of the title to as few words as possible while maintaining the essence of what the event is about.
Date & Time: even though both EVS systems automatically show the date and time of the event, it’s always good to repeat it in the description of the event.
Lead Paragraph: make sure to cover who the event will benefit, what general causes it supports, a little about the sponsoring organization and of course what the volunteers will be doing. These four things (along with when the event will happen) will help the volunteer decide if this is the right event for them or not.
Preparation: is there anything the volunteer needs to do to prepare for the event, or do they need to be screened beforehand? Make sure to list out what they need to bring, if anything, especially if the event will be outdoors: hats, sunscreen, water, etc.
Get the Word Out: besides using EVS to promote the event by email, you can create some simple flyers and post them on your company’s community bulletin boards. Tell people about the event and provide a link in any internal email discussions related to the event’s cause.
There are probably many other tips to help your next volunteer event be more successful. We’d love to hear what you think. Tell us about some successes you’ve had!
I've been using AngelPoints' amazing reporting and communication features to recruit volunteers for our events and it's been really successful!
After I build an event, I click on Reports and download all of the related "Profiled Skills" Reports to get a listing of the individuals who have identified themselves as being interested in supporting the particular event that I've built.
I download all of the Profiled Skills email addresses into an Excel spreadsheet. Then I go back to the AngelPoints event & click the "Tell Others" option and copy/paste the email addresses in so that I can forward the event to the individuals who have identified an interest in the topic.
This provides individuals with an email straight to their inbox, referencing the event and it's opportunities, but most important, it provides the employees with a one-click link to the registration for the event. I've noticed a fantastic improvement in participation by using this feature. I also train departmental Team Managers to use this as a best practice to maximize participation in their volunteer events.
We have recorded a substantial increase in our 2007 volunteer hours and overall participation and I can find a direct correlation between using all the AngelPoints features to have achieved this improvement.
I manage AngelPoints' Volunteer Program and found these ways to make my events really stand out:
Provide Pictures: Make your event interesting and fun to read. I usually add funny pictures of previous volunteers or add specific pictures about the volunteer event or nonprofit that we are partnering with.
*To add pictures to your event, simply click on the "Insert Image" Icon in the description editor, when creating or editing your event. After you click on the "Insert Image" you will be able to browse for your pictures.
Keep it Simple: Long descriptions with tons of information never get read. Don't make your event come across as a boring event full of work! Just include the most important and interesting stuff and link to all of the additional information.
*To create links in your event, simply highlight the text you would like linked and click the "Create Link" Icon (It's a world with a link sign). From there, just type in the web address that you want that specific text to point to and press the "OK" button.
--I think the more links within a volunteer event, the better. Links can often say what you're trying to say with better detail and graphics and they cause the eye to focus on specific words within your description. I always link the nonprofit we are partnering with, so employees can learn more about them and possibly want to volunteer more with them.
Hope that helps!