Research on Volunteer Engagement - Timing Edition

Here at Hands On Atlanta, we've been supporting hundreds of local nonprofits and their volunteer programs, for over 30 years now. That is 3 decades spent observing and monitoring how volunteers activate in their communities... it's safe to say, we've learned quite a lot over the years. And, we want you to know too!

For the purposes of this article, we define a 'high performing project' as a project that had a registration rate of higher than 50%. All data in this article is from a study we did on projects that were 'high performing' - to find out what common characteristics they shared.

How far in advance should I post the project?

The biggest and best thing you can do is - post your project early. We have a policy that all projects must be submitted 2 weeks in advance, because we know that any less time will result in very low registration. However, looking at the chart below - you can see that the further out, the better. We find that 2-4 months is the sweet spot, when volunteers have a good idea of their schedule and are less likely to cancel or no-show.

What's the most popular day to volunteer?

Saturdays! By a significant difference. Thursdays seem to be the lowest in popularity. That being said, we don't recommend prioritizing this data over your client's scheduling needs or your own... it's just good to keep in mind for special projects or projects needing large amounts of volunteers.

What about time of day?
Volunteers are early birds. The earlier in the day, the better. Actually, almost half of our high performing projects started before 9AM! We find that later in the day, it's more likely for the volunteer to have a conflict come up - they get stuck at work, get a last minute request, or get caught up in other things.... Where as in the morning, they wake up knowing the first thing they'll do is go volunteer with you.

How long is the ideal project?

We found that most high performing projects had a duration of under 5 hours. Very few projects with a longer duration performed well. Generally, we recommend 2-4 hours as the sweet spot - this allows volunteers to manage their day's schedule effectively. If your overall event is longer and you need volunteer presence for longer stretches of time, we recommend breaking it into shifts and allowing for overlap, so that the first shift can train the second shift.

Now, we offer up this research to help guide you when you are trying to decide when to post + host projects. We certainly don't recommend asking the clients you serve to change their schedules to align with typical volunteer schedules, or to change your operating hours because of this information. There are volunteers looking to serve at all times of day, and on all days of the week... but the more you know about the majority, the better you can plan.