7 Metrics to Track to Improve Volunteer Retention for Camps
Retaining campers is essential to maintain a healthy camp program. But, it’s equally critical to maintain relationships with your camp’s volunteers.
Your volunteers serve as counselors, fundraisers, and in other support roles that ensure your camps can run smoothly each year. A strong pool of dedicated, passionate volunteers allows you to continue offering campers a positive experience that encourages them to return each summer.
In this guide, we’ll review seven metrics your camp should track to help you improve your volunteer retention rate:
Volunteer retention rate
Email open and click-through rates
Volunteer recruitment rate and sources
Parent participation rate
Most engaged volunteers
Volunteer satisfaction
Volunteer donation rate
You can track this data with the help of your organization’s software, including your supporter CRM and communication platforms. Robust software tools allow you to track these metrics automatically and run reports to contextualize your data. Let’s take a closer look at each metric to assess while enhancing your retention strategy!
1. Volunteer retention rate
Before you can improve your volunteer retention rate, you need to know where your camp currently stands. To determine your current volunteer retention rate, divide the number of volunteers who returned this year by the number of volunteers who worked with your organization last year, and multiply by 100 to get a percent.
For example, if you had 110 volunteer counselors for last year’s summer camp and 75 of those individuals returned for this year’s camp, your retention rate would be 68%.
Monitor your retention rate using your volunteer management software to determine how changes in your volunteer stewardship strategy impact retention.
2. Email open and click-through rates
Email is one of the most important outreach platforms to stay in touch with volunteers. By tracking email engagement metrics such as your open and click-through rates, you can determine whether or not your emails engage your audience and support your retention strategy.
Your email open rate simply tracks how many recipients open your emails, while your click-through rate determines how many recipients click on the links in your emails to read more information on your website.
To elevate your email marketing and make your messages more engaging for volunteers, follow email best practices like:
Personalize messages with volunteers’ first names
Use enticing subject lines
Keep your messages brief and straightforward
Make CTAs visible and visually appealing
Between camp sessions, use email communications to tell compelling stories about volunteers’ impact on your camp. For instance, you might highlight the special relationships between volunteers and campers or testimonials from volunteers about the amazing experiences they’ve had. This can remind volunteers why they wanted to get involved with your organization initially and encourage them to participate in your next program.
3. Volunteer recruitment rate and sources
Improving your retention rate starts with recruiting the right volunteers. Focus your recruiting efforts on individuals who are more likely to stay involved with your camp over the long term.
For example:
High school students might be a good source of potential volunteers who can continue participating in the summertime even if they go off to college.
College students majoring in subjects like early childhood education can also be an excellent source of skilled volunteer support. Participating in your camp can help these students further their education and gain real-world experience.
Former campers who have aged out of your program and who had a deep connection to your camp may also feel inspired to volunteer to facilitate positive experiences for current campers.
Stay-at-home parents could be another potential source of support because they may be able to volunteer during weekdays.
Use a targeted outreach approach to contact these individuals and start building relationships with them. It can take several touchpoints to connect with a new prospective volunteer for the first time, so be diligent and reach out on several platforms, such as social media and email.
4. Parent participation rate
How effectively do you engage campers’ parents and guardians in your camp’s activities? Parents want to see their children thrive and have a positive camp experience, meaning they’re a natural fit as volunteers.
Parents can also provide significant support when it comes to volunteering as camp fundraisers. They can help manage fundraising events or spread the word about your fundraisers online.
Track your parent participation rates to understand how well you’re engaging parents currently and whether there is untapped volunteer potential within your parent group.
5. Most engaged volunteers
By identifying your most engaged volunteers, you can gain a better understanding of the characteristics that make someone more likely to become a longtime volunteer.
Use your volunteer management system to identify volunteers who have participated in your camps for the longest. Note their unique characteristics, such as their occupation, education level, geographic location, and age.
Then, use this information to create an ideal volunteer persona. Create tailored marketing strategies to recruit similar individuals to join your program.
For example, let’s say you discover that many of your top volunteers are local college students. You can use outreach strategies such as social media and targeted digital advertising to reach similar individuals and invite them to get involved in your camp.
6. Volunteer satisfaction
Understanding how you can improve the volunteer experience will help you make major strides in boosting your retention rate.
Send volunteers surveys to assess their satisfaction with your program. Ask questions like:
What was your favorite part of volunteering with our camp this year?
What do you think we can improve about the volunteer experience?
How likely are you to return to volunteer next year?
Would you recommend our volunteer program to a friend?
Summarize the survey results and meet with your team to discuss ways to boost volunteer satisfaction. For example, you might determine that your appreciation strategies could use a refresh. Fundraising Letters recommends writing volunteer thank you letters that are personalized to each volunteer and describe their impact on your camp.
You can also improve the volunteer experience by offering free perks like catered lunches or social events for volunteers to get to know each other.
7. Volunteer donation rate
Engaging volunteers in fundraising can grow their bonds with your organization and allow them to make an even greater impact on your camp program. Your volunteer donation rate lets you know how effectively you’re engaging volunteers in additional opportunities to support your organization.
In addition to straightforward donations, you can also track how many volunteers submit volunteer grants. Volunteer grants (also known as Dollars for Doers) are donations that companies contribute to nonprofits after their employees have volunteered with those nonprofits for a specified amount of time.
The easiest way to monitor volunteer donations is to use a donor management system that tracks volunteers and donors in the same database. Bloomerang recommends searching for donor management software that offers robust donor profiling where you can track every interaction supporters have had with your organization, including volunteer experiences and volunteer grant contributions.
Plus, you can use your donor management software to track volunteers’ employer information. Then, you can identify volunteers who work for businesses that offer volunteer grants but have not yet submitted a grant donation. Reach out to these individuals with information about how to apply for grants through their employers.
Improving your camp’s volunteer retention involves more than just tracking your retention rate. With a holistic metrics approach, you can assess your retention strategy from all angles and track how your strategy adjustments impact relevant data points.
Put your insights into action by changing up your outreach approach as needed to better connect with volunteers and maintain their support over time.
Guest Author: Joshua Meyer
Joshua Meyer brings more than 20 years of fundraising, volunteer management, and marketing experience to his current role as the VP of Demand Generation for Bloomerang. As a member of the Bloomerang marketing team, Josh manages the organization’s growth marketing efforts. Through his previous roles at the Human Rights Campaign and OneCause, he has a passion for helping to create positive change and helping nonprofits engage new donors and achieve their fundraising goals.
