Are you exploring new and innovative ways to build and sustain your community of volunteers? Curious about social media – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. – and wondering if it could be an effective way to connect with future and current volunteers?

In this webinar, Jayne Cravens from Coyote Communications and Erin Barnhart from Effective Altruism discuss tips and strategies for effectively using social media to find, communicate with, and build community among volunteers. This webinar, in recognition of National Volunteer Appreciation Week, is ideal for staff at any nonprofit or library who are interested in exploring how social media and other technologies might be used to strengthen their current volunteer program.

Topics of discussion:

• Review best practices for finding and retaining volunteers
• Learn how social media can be an effective tool for recruitment and communication
• Assess if and how social media might benefit your volunteer program
• Discover additional websites and online tools to explore

This work is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License. If you have any questions regarding redistribution or use of this work, please contact webinars@techsoupglobal.org.

Erin Barnhart has developed and delivered effective engagement tools, trainings, and resources for volunteers, volunteer resource managers, and organizations worldwide. The former Director of Volunteerism Initiatives for Idealist.org, Erin now serves as Principal/Founder of Effective Altruism, LLC and Managing Director of the Building Bridges Coalition (a consortium of individuals and organizations working collaboratively to promote and facilitate international volunteering). She also serves as Chair of the National Organizations Volunteerism Network (NOVN) and on the Editorial Board for the International Journal of Volunteer Administration (IJOVA), the Board of Directors for Volunteer Positive, and the Oregon Committee on Volunteerism. An AmeriCorps*NCCC alum, Erin holds an MPA in Public Policy and a Graduate Certificate in Not-for-Profit Management; she is also currently a doctoral candidate completing her dissertation on international volunteer engagement.

Jayne Cravens, MSc, is an internationally recognized trainer, researcher, and professional with more than 20 years of experience regarding communications, volunteer involvement/community engagement, and capacity building on a variety of topics for nonprofit organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs)/civil society, government-based community programs, and corporate philanthropy programs. Jayne is a pioneer regarding the research, promotion, and practice of virtual volunteering/online volunteering, and a veteran manager of various nonprofit and community-focused initiatives. Jayne became active in online communities focused on nonprofits in 1994, and she created one of the first websites focused on helping to build the capacity of nonprofits to use the Internet. She shares free resources from her work at www.coyotecommunications.com.