Volunteer Engagement 101

About the Workshop:
Volunteer Engagement 101
Volunteers can support your organization in a myriad of ways: time, resources, connections, and more. But how do you create and maintain a strong volunteer program which meets the needs of your agency while ensuring that volunteers are happy and engaged? In this interactive workshop, we’ll discuss best practices for the basics of volunteer engagement, such as:

• Volunteer recruitment
• Volunteer intake (application, interview, background check, etc.) and orientation
• Volunteer job descriptions, handbooks, release forms, and other essential documents
• Volunteer retention and appreciation

Participants will leave the workshop with a comprehensive understanding of basic volunteer engagement best practices, plus excellent resources to help them design and/or update their volunteer engagement program.
About the Presenter:
Julie Strassman
Julie Strassman is an experienced volunteer engagement professional and educator, dedicated to helping organizations build mutually beneficial relationships with volunteers. She currently works at Kingdom House, where she has utilized best practices to recruit and retain individual volunteers and volunteer groups, achieving such successes as a 78% increase in volunteer groups over 2 years. She passionately believes in engaging volunteers to not only help meet an organization’s immediate needs for service, but their ongoing needs for financial support and community buy-in.
Julie serves on the United Way Volunteer Center Certification Committee and is an active member of The Metropolitan Volunteer Management Association. She has presented on volunteer engagement best practices for the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri, Send Me St. Louis, and the Gateway Regional District of the UMC.
In addition to her work in volunteer engagement, Julie is an active volunteer in the St. Louis community, currently serving with Bridge Bread, Eden Theological Seminary, and St. Lou Fringe Festival. She has been featured in St. Louis magazine for her involvement with “Let Them Eat Art” and has been awarded three keys to the City of Maplewood. She would love it if you could tell her what they actually unlock.