How to Find Volunteers for Events

Paint Savvy

How to Find Volunteers for Events: Lucy Daniels Center Bookmarked! 2012 Event Chair Deshelia Watson shares some of her strategies on volunteer recruitment.                       

A common challenge facing non-profit event planners is finding volunteers, and this is particularly the case when help is needed during typical working hours. I had an opportunity to interview event chair Deshelia Watson right after the Bookmarked! 2012 event she organized, a ten day community reading festival throughout the Triangle area to promote reading awareness and raise funds to support the center’s child mental health programs. Deshelia faced some challenges with recruiting volunteers for the ten day festival, which had events taking place in the morning and afternoon. Deshelia brought up some excellent ideas for finding help when help is hard to find:

"To find volunteers leading up to the event week, I relied on our event internal resources.  I asked committee members, colleagues and fellow board members to tap their internal and professional networks for volunteer recruitment.  We were very fortunate to recruit volunteers who unselfishly devoted their talent, time and service to be a part of something bigger than themselves.  Our volunteers were a vital part to our event success.  Also, strategic partnerships with our sponsors allowed opportunities for volunteer recruitment as well.  Using these established connections and key partnerships can be an integral part for event volunteer recruiting."

On a smiliar tack, Deshelia suggested revisiting past partnerships when looking to build or add-on to a recruitment network, not only for the connections, but also for the logistics that have already been established.

Deshelia concluded our interview by expressing her gratitude to Paint Savvy.  "I had the privilege to work with Paint Savvy on several occasions with a previous employer for family network events.  Paint Savvy does extraordinary work in children's face painting and temporary tattoo artistry that has brought smiles to children and families.  I look forward to working with Paint Savvy in the near future."

Paint Savvy was a part of the 2012 Bookmarked! Family Fun Concert, their services were sponsored by BJ's Membership Club.

Deshelia Watson is the Bookmarked! 2012 event committee chair for The Lucy Daniels Center.  The Lucy Daniels Center is a nationally recognized model for childhood mental health education and services, celebrating 20 years of service to children and their families.  The Center is the largest and most comprehensive agency in the Triangle region for children's mental health services.  Lucy Daniels provides mental and emotional support for children up to age 11 through mental health assessments, family counseling, therapy in both on-on-one and classroom settings and early childhood programs.

For more information, please visit www.lucydanielscenter.org . Deshelia Watson can be contacted at
dkhwatson@hotmail.com

paintsavvy.com