Volunteer Request Form: Fill & Download for Free

Have a thorough and organized process for recruiting, training and evaluating your volunteers. Set clear expectations about volunteer roles and how they benefit the mission of the organization.Treat potential volunteers as potential donors. Make a good first impression. Always return phone calls promptly. Make them a priority.Ask questions early on that help you and the potential volunteer determine whether they’re a good fit. Be helpful & kind. When someone is not a good fit, have a list of other organizations to refer them to. They’ll appreciate your help, which will reflect well on you and your organization.Be careful not to scare people off or be condescending. Remember that this may be their first experience with volunteering, and their first experience with your organization.Create a volunteer handbook, similar to your organization’s HR handbook, and have all volunteers sign off on it. Include policies and procedures, confidentiality disclosures, rules and regulations, disciplinary steps, safety procedures, crisis management, and anything else they need to know about your organization.Create specific volunteer job descriptions with time requirements and shifts. For example, if you need volunteers to help answer phones in the office, you may want them to commit to a weekly four-hour shift. Positions that are more involved require a greater commitment.Don’t place volunteers in critical roles until you know they are trustworthy and dependability. If your organization depends on volunteers for critical day to day operations, it is important that you find committed people to fill those spots.Work closely with your staff to identify/modify volunteer jobs, tasks and projects. Create tasks that are worthwhile and beneficial to the organization. Avoid giving them remedial tasks just to keep them busy.Identify skills and talents in your volunteers and find ways to USE them!Maintain a volunteer work schedule, but be flexible. You want your volunteers to respect their position as if it were a paid job, but never forget that they are volunteering their time.Create a hierarchy of responsibility for your volunteers. If you have “high functioning” volunteers, offering them increased levels of responsibility will keep them engaged and helps the organization. Seasoned volunteers can train new volunteers, help with the recruitment and application process, or manage your volunteer program altogether. I once had a volunteer that eventually became a board member.Communicate regularly with your volunteers. Provide lots of opportunities for them to give feedback and share ideas.Again, treat your volunteers as donors. Your volunteers are some of the most engaged members of your organization - and many volunteers eventually become loyal donors. Thank them often, build relationships, recognize them every chance you get, include them on your fundraising mailing lists, encourage them to get their friends involved, etc.Quantify the time your volunteers give into dollars. Look up the national value for volunteer time ($22.55 for 2013), multiply this by the hours your volunteers log, and you’ll have a pretty impressive statistic to share.Host social events specifically for your volunteers. They will appreciate the chance to relax, share stories, and form friendships. These can be very casual, like donuts and coffee, light luncheons, etc.Solicit donations and gifts for your volunteers. Gift certificates, tickets to local events and shows - these small gifts will go a long way to make your volunteers feel appreciated and are generally easy to get.Nominate your volunteers for awards. Volunteer or service awards may be offered within their company, a social/civic club, or at the national level (some even come with a donation for your organization if they win!).Get creative with the volunteer opportunities you offer. Think of the volunteer requests you turn down and see if there’s any way to accommodate them. In my experience, the hardest volunteer requests to accommodate are youth (especially young children) and large groups. If you can come up with opportunities for these groups, it will significantly strengthen your volunteer program and bring added awareness to your organization.Work with corporations to create volunteer opportunities. Also find out if your volunteers work for companies that offer matching grant programs. Several companies offer matching funds to nonprofit organizations based on the hours their employees volunteer.Meet with other volunteer managers and share best practices. Identify organizations that have exemplary volunteer programs, and find out what they do that makes them successful.Be a volunteer yourself! There’s no better way to gain insight into the world of volunteering than to get out there and do it yourself.

I sought the opportunity to serve as a drill instructor when I was a Corporal. I came into our work section complaining about Marines that had reported to the command through the accession pipeline (boot camp, MCT, MOS school and first duty station) were pathetic. As an NCO I was constantly correcting these newly joined Marines to the unit for simple things like shaving their faces before departing the barracks, maintaining their uniforms, or giving the correct greeting of the day. I said, “What the hell are they teaching them at boot camp they obviously are not instilling any form of self-discipline in these new Marines.” The Sergeant who was the Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of the section looked at me and said, “You think it is so easy to be a DI, I have not seen your request for orders to DI school.” I immediately went to a typewriter ( Yes they existed then and administrative action form (AA form) was in a pads that you tore off and inserted into a typewriter.) grabbed an AA form researched quickly the DI school class at Parris Island that would be starting upon my completion of the tour in Okinawa and typed up the AA form and gave it to Sergeant Sanchez. He took it, looked at, and smiled, “Are you sure this is what you want to do?” I said, “Absolutely.” A few months later I received orders to DI school class 4–97 at Parris Island, South Carolina. Funny thing is the same day I received my orders to DI school, I was on a message from Headquarters Marine Corps to be screened for recruiting duty. Thankful I had DI school orders. Upon completion of school, I served 3 years as a Drill Instructor and Senior Drill Instructor.Today Marines can request through a RELM a reenlistment extension lateral move request form submitted by their unit career planner to be assigned to a drill instructor duty. Also, Headquarters Marine Corps identifies Marines through personnel data that require screening for a special duty assignment. Marines then immediately volunteer for DI duty or they usually ended up being assigned to recruiting duty sometimes Marine Security Guard duty. I tell all Marines who are on the second enlistment pick your special duty assignment before Headquarters Marine Corps picks it for you.

My answer is limited to contribution of RSS and starts with how haters blame RSS for everything:During the Bangladesh War of Independence, RSS volunteers maintained law and order in the country when most of the government machinery was deployed in the War effort.The RSS was at the forefront of voluntary work during the India- China war of 1962; then Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru even invited the RSS to take part in the Republic Day parade of 1963.During the 1965 war between India and Pakistan RSS was again involved in voluntary work and then Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri requested RSS cadres to help control traffic in Delhi, so policemen could be freed for defence duties.In April 1954, the RSS formed a coalition with the National Movement Liberation Organization (NMLO), and the Azad Gomantak Dal (AGD) for the liberation of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. On 28 July, volunteer teams of the RSS and AGD captured the territories of Naroli and Phiparia and ultimately the capital of Silvassa.In 1955, RSS leaders demanded the end of Portuguese rule in Goa and its integration into India. When Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru refused to provide an armed intervention, RSS leader Jagannath Rao Joshi led the Satyagraha agitation straight into Goa itself. He was imprisoned with his followers by the Portuguese police. The peaceful protests continued but met with severe repressions.An organization sacrificing its blood, sweat and tears for the unification of the nation deserves gratitude and respect, not accusations of being an anti-national front.On 18th Oct 1947, then Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, requested the 2nd Sarsanghachalak M.S. Golwalkar to meet Maharaja Hari Singh to persuade the Maharaja to accede to India.RSS volunteers not only provided early leads to the Indian Army about Pakistan’s upcoming attack at that time but also protected Hari Singh by mobilizing 200 volunteers.Today, the Muslim Rashtriya Manch has more than 4,500 workers in Kashmir valley, with around 800 NGOs working with them.Seva Bharti, an RSS inspired community service organization, has adopted a hundred children from the insurgency and militancy affected regions of Jammu and Kashmir. There are Hindus and Muslims both. Their stay and educational needs are funded by the Seva Bharati and today, many of them are studying in boarding schools in Delhi.In addition, Sewa Bharati run by RSS swayamsevaks, has extended a helping hand in flood-hit areas of Jammu & Kashmir and also regularly organizes blood camps. It also looks out for the interests of the poor, down trodden and weaker sections of the society.The Uttarakhand flash floods saw the RSS volunteers come out in huge numbers to assist in relief work. In 2006, RSS participated in relief efforts to provide basic necessities such as food, milk and potable water to the people of Surat, Gujarat who were affected by massive floods in the region. The RSS volunteers carried out massive relief and rehabilitation work after the floods ravaged North Karnataka and some districts of the state of Andhra Pradesh.RSS helped in protecting Sikhs during 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots. Sikh intellectual and author of ‘A History of the Sikhs’, Khushwant Singh, credits members of the RSS with helping and protecting Sikhs who were being targeted during the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots.Sangh has also worked on empowering women via formation of a women’s wing of RSS. There are two kinds of RSS setups, one for males called the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Rastra Sevika Samiti for females. Both have been thriving in India for decades and acknowledge the importance of women as building blocks of a progressive nation.