Community engagement can sometimes be lacking when it comes to volunteer work. Fortunately, there are different ways to improve involvement and get others excited to donate their time and efforts. Leadership is key to engaging with fellow community members, including families, businesses and especially young people. Getting people excited about volunteering can be a difficult task, but here are a few ways to improve your strategies.
Get to know your community
One of the first steps to achieving more community involvement with volunteer work is by taking the time to get to know members in your community. Lunches, dinners, and other fun outings can give you the opportunity to learn more about the people who are interested in volunteer work and what their particular strengths are.
Listen to what they have to say
In order to get to know the people in your community, you must listen to what they have to say. Listen to their problems and take what they are saying into consideration. People will be more apt to share their visions with volunteering and what needs to be done in their community and work with you towards these goals. Everyone wants to feel like they are being heard and their suggestions are being taken into consideration. This is the best way to gain trust and ensure more involvement among your community.
Give people the chance to lead
Especially for younger people, letting them know you trust their skills and judgment by giving them the opportunity to lead different community service efforts is going to spark a great interest in volunteerism. Making that spark happen at a young age will benefit themselves, your community and the world greatly. This also goes for anyone looking to get involved and volunteer within your community. Most people would love to be able to lead an initiative to make their community a better place.
There are many different strategies to use when you are looking to increase the involvement of the people in your community. Gaining interest for people to volunteer their free time can be a difficult task. Getting to know the people in your community and hearing about their specific interests and goals, will assist in figuring out what types of volunteer projects and events to put together.
Originally published at StephenGeri.org on October 25, 2018.
