Show Your Volunteers that you Care!

Ideas for Volunteer Appreciation

Volunteering is a fun and easy way to give back to your community and to also help others who are in need. There are numerous ways one can volunteer: they can help out at a food shelter, pick up trash in a park or ditch, take care of animals at an animal shelter, or serve food to the homeless at a local church or community center. Even taking a moment to help your elderly neighbor rake the leaves or shovel the snow goes a long way. The options and opportunities are there every day.

Volunteers are a huge part of achieving our community goals, without them giving their time, skills, and energy it would be difficult to keep the community we live in the place it is today. If you are part of a volunteer organization and would like to show your thanks to these dedicated volunteers, here are a few ways you can do just that:

Get Creative with Food or Treats!

This is a great way to show your appreciation for your volunteers because it gives them a little treat to snack on and it also lets them know that you are thankful for all of the hard work they have put in.

Sometimes it’s the Small Things that Count!

Even the smallest gift can send a big message. If you personalize a pack of gum, a stick of chapstick, or a scented candle, that is something that your volunteer will always remember.

Get Crafty!

If you would like to give them a unique gift that will save you a little money, show them you care by creating a gift for them! This will show your appreciation because the volunteer(s) will see how much thought and effort you put into each gift. 

                    

Here at Ashley Farm’s we truly appreciate everything that our volunteers do each and every day, and we find that it is very important to let these individuals know how much they mean to us. If you do not currently volunteer, we highly recommend it because it is one of the best things you can do not only for your community, but also for yourself. Just remember that even a little bit can go a long way.

Keep Parents Involved in School Fundraising

Getting parents and students involved is the goal in order to make fundraisers successful. According to one statistic, 77% of parents think their child’s school should fundraise and want to get involved. That’s a promising statistic, and although many parents want to help as much as they can, many aren’t consistently involved. This consistency is needed, but as life continues to become more hectic, parents have turned to helping every now and then or not at all. How can this be changed?

What really matters when it comes to parental involvement is making each parent feel connected. If a solid connection is made, parents will be more willing to continue helping with their child’s future fundraisers. To create this connection, here are some tips to follow:

Give parents hard data about previous successes and accomplishments.

A steady flow of reassuring information of what you are doing and that you are accomplishing great things is what parents need. Feeding parents hard data builds the schools credibility, gives parents confidence, and makes parents happy and satisfied.

Connect with parents often.

Send parents newsletters regarding how your fundraising efforts are going or went if the fundraiser is over. Another great idea is to send letters of thanks. Keeping communication going is extremely important for top of mind awareness for being involved in future fundraising efforts.

Be personal with parents.

You should be tracking parents’ various interests and their participation with various fundraisers. Doing this allows you to tailor mailings to parents’ specific interests, and if you are able to do this, it makes parents realize: “they know me, and they care about me.”

Make it simple.

Make it easy for parents to participate. Keep meetings short and post information about the fundraiser and upcoming events in a variety of outlets – school website, community website, Facebook (social media) and in the school bulletins whenever possible. The easier you make it for parents to get information, the more likely they will be involved.

Always communicate to parents what monies are doing.

This is extremely important! More than anything, parents want to know what their time and effort is accomplishing. Tell them before they get involved, keep them updated as the fundraiser continues with your progress, and follow up when the fundraiser is over with schools success.

Whether you use one or all of these tips, we hope that the idea of keeping parents involved is of new importance. Make 2014 the year that you spread the love and start to keep parents involved for the long run!

Doing Your Fair Share

A team can achieve far greater things together than they can apart. In order for this to be true, it is important that every individual is doing their fair share so the group can achieve their overall goals. When each member contributes their own unique abilities and efforts, the result can be something quite incredible.

For example, here’s how Jim Messina (President of Ashley Farms) relates doing one’s fair share to a musical performance:

"Everyone must attend all of the rehearsals, have a good attitude at rehearsal, there must be group discipline, students must work on their parts at home- or in other words, show up for the performance as prepared as you can be individually. That is the definition of doing your fair share.” 

Doing ones fair share can add up to something wonderful, in the case above: a flawless performance.

The concept of doing one’s fair share can definitely be related to fundraising as well. For example, if each student participating in an Ashley Farms’ fundraiser takes a brochure, shows it to friends and family and sells at least a minimal amount of 10 items, then two goals have been reached. The student has achieved an individual goal- which adds up to a collective group goal. 

Working hard alongside others to achieve a common goal (whether it is your teammates, group members, classmates or coworkers) is a skill that will be used throughout one’s entire life. Just remember- better results can be accomplished as a team, not only the collective results but the individual results as well!