Charities: Support your volunteers

The Institute of Fundraising has built this site as part of its commitment to supporting the highest standards in fundraising practice.

We hope that you will find it a useful resource, making your life easier, increasing your income and strengthening your relationship with your volunteer supporters.

Here are a few simple steps you can take to really maximise the benefit to you:

• Create your own unique co-branded site
• Add links to how2fundraise.org
• Remind volunteers about the resource in your newsletters and enews
• Use how2fundraise.org to support your campaigns
• Provide volunteers with information about your work on your site
• Offer materials such a leaflets and text for press releases

Add links to how2fundraise.org wherever you feel you would like to give additional support to your volunteers. A good place to start is by just adding the how2fundraise.org button to your volunteer fundraising pages. If you have a co-branded account, use your URL to take your volunteers straight to your co-branded site.

You can link to the homepage, but also consider creating hyperlinks in your text and images to pages that specifically support your own material. If you produce an A to Z list of ideas, why not create links through to the relevant how2guides. For example, if you mention gathering sponsorship, why not support this with a link to our know-how sheet on maximising sponsorship income.

We would be happy to work with you to add buttons, review your material and identify how the site can enhance it, just give us a call.

Next time you run an article in your news letter asking volunteers to fundraise, remind them that there is a wealth of information out there to support them on how2fundraise.org. If you need some editorial copy, please don’t hesitate to contact us and we will provide it.

Your campaigns

What’s your next campaign, as fun-run, coffee morning or penny trail? Why go to all the trouble of providing detailed advice on how to do it when we have already done so? We hope our efforts will leave you free to develop great brand awareness building materials. If you have a co-branded site, use your unique header to promote your campaign and link volunteer supporters back to your resources.

If we don’t already have a how2guide covering all the law and best practice issues, plus letter templates and auto-calculators, then get in touch. We may be able to write one.

Some things are down to you! Take a look at our templates, you’ll see that we are keen to get volunteers effectively promoting the work you do and reinforcing your brand. We encourage them to publicise your work when they ask for donations and at events. So if you can provide all the information they need in one easy-to-find location and add a link to how2fundraise.org so that your supporters can translate it into brilliant fundraising, that would be great team work.

You will find a range of articles on the Institute of Fundraising website designed to help you support your volunteer fundraisers. Here are some useful links:

• Codes of best practice for working with volunteer fundraisers of all types
• Codes of best practice for working with ‘in aid of’ volunteer fundraisers
• Links to other useful external websites relating to volunteering, working and learning
• Institute of Fundraising Scotland: Benevolent Fundraising Regulations
• Advice on pyramid fundraising schemes