Follow these steps to help gain leadership and funder support.
Share
Share data-supported information that will help your supervisor advocate on your behalf. Create reports illustrating impact by listing achievements in the form of both outputs and outcomes.
Partner
Partner with staff to encourage strategic volunteer engagement. Help them identify and develop volunteer roles. Recruit and train volunteers so they become partners in the work and build buy-in from staff and entity leaders.
Ensure
Ensure volunteer updates and concerns are on staff and organizational meeting agendas regularly.
Ask
Ask to be part of the annual planning process.
Set Up
Set up time with your supervisor to talk about strategic volunteer engagement. Actively listen and ask about the organization’s perspective and vision on both volunteers and volunteer engagement. Ask about both long- and short-term goals and strategize how your volunteers can provide support.