Need Volunteers for Your Event? Partner Employees to the Rescue!

Your corporate and community partnerships are some of the best ways to generate pre-event revenue and fill your room, which helps ensure the success of your fundraising before the first bid card hits the air. But we have another way for you to engage these same partners in helping with your event preparation and execution: have them send a group of their employees or community members to become your day-of-event volunteers!

We’ve seen organizations like Latino Network deepen strategic partnerships with corporate sponsors like Nike, Inc. by engaging them to volunteer at their annual gala. Similarly, Adelante Mujeres and Community Action have developed their affiliation with local college Pacific University, bringing students to help on event day for both class credit and valuable experience. We’ve also seen Bradley Angle leverage a longstanding partnership with a local chapter of the sorority Alpha Chi Omega, bringing several members along to provide vital annual support for their big night, GlamHer.

 

One of the reasons we recommend this strategy is that there are huge advantages beyond filling your volunteer roles. Here are some of the biggest:

• Many corporate volunteers are experienced in representing the brand they work for. They’ll be just as reliable representing yours.
• Companies are often looking for team-building opportunities to deepen their staff members’ relationships with each other. Spending time together on your event site is a great one! Building community outside the office will expand their community when they’re back in the office.
• Your sponsors and community partners support you because their values are aligned with yours. Bringing a team of volunteers in as supporters will deepen both the knowledge and affinity of this alignment after the event is over.
• Putting on a great event takes help from many different communities at different times. This kind of ask reminds your sponsor that there are plenty of ways to be a helpful stakeholder in your organization’s development around the event and beyond.

 

How many volunteers should you request? We find teams of 8-12 to be optimal as both a good size for team-building and a versatile addition to fill your needs. We recommend encouraging your sponsor to send a consumer-facing team, since many roles at fundraising events require these skills. And we recommend you start and end with gratitude, making sure to express your appreciation when you ask for this support, when you confirm and when you reach out post-event to say thank you.

We hope the next time you’re looking to fill in your volunteer roster, you’ll think about the corporate and community partners you’d like to develop a deeper partnership with. Asking them for day-of-event volunteers could be just the way to do it!