If you are asking people to give your organization their time, make it dead simple for them to give it.
Volunteers are not being paid to help your organization grow and succeed. Their time and energy could be spent anywhere: with family, pursuing hobbies, or actually relaxing and recharging.
That time has real economic value. Independent Sector and the Do Good Institute currently estimate the value of one volunteer hour at $36.14.
But volunteers do not owe organizations their labor.
They are intentional in their choice to help. They have agency in this relationship: to support—or not. Every point of friction in your onboarding makes “not anymore” more likely.
Friction compounds
I have volunteered throughout my life, and I currently support a handful of organizations. One role is taking far more of my limited free time than expected—and causing genuine frustration and remorse.
Its onboarding mirrored a recent free-trial experience:
An email with a list of documents and “we’ll get back to you in two or three days” support.
The onboarding materials have real gaps. I have flagged them. More than once.
Nothing has changed.
On any single day, that may seem like a small thing. But it compounds.
Every new volunteer encounters the same gaps. Asks the same questions. Waits for the same answers.
Good onboarding is not administrative housekeeping. It is a retention strategy.
Human support changes the experience
Research involving 49,378 food bank volunteers over five years found that having an experienced volunteer present during a new volunteer’s shift increased new-volunteer retention by 52%.
People are more likely to stay when they have the information and human support they need to succeed.
Here is what should concern any organization that relies on volunteers:
The people showing up to help are often among your most invested and forgiving stakeholders.
If your onboarding frustrates them enough to disengage, that is not a minor process gap. It is a warning.
Make it dead simple
- Create a complete, role-specific onboarding path—not a document dump.
- Design for different levels of experience, accessibility needs, schedules, and comfort with technology.
- Pair new volunteers with someone who knows how things actually work.
- Give them a clear way to get timely help, especially during their first week.
- Fix documented gaps so every new volunteer does not encounter the same problems.
- Treat onboarding as the beginning of the relationship—not a one-and-done task.
The same promise applies: build the experience that allows people to succeed at what you asked them to do, and keep it current.
If you want volunteers, onboard them like you mean it.
Keep your promises. Keep your volunteers.
Keep growing. Keep going.