Improving Volunteer Retention with Nonprofit Organizations Through Implementing Onboarding Training

Many nonprofit organizations are staples in the community as they provide services for disadvantaged and marginalized groups that seek services that are not easily accessible to them through for-profit organizations. Hence, the retention of volunteers is a challenge for many nonprofit organizations as they depend on volunteers to assist with the day-to-day tasks that cannot be accomplished by paid employees (Garner & Garner, 2011). During the time of this project, One Step Further, Inc. (OSF) Community Support and Nutrition Program (CSNP) was faced to deal with the national pandemic of COVID-19, leaving this organization to depend on paid staff exclusively. As a result, my project explored the retention of volunteers and analyzed why some volunteers continued their volunteer efforts with the organization, while other volunteers ended theirs when the assignment reached completion. To meet the needs of Guilford County’s homebound population with grocery assistance, OSF CSNP welcomed the implementation of a consultancy project to learn and examine the nature of retaining volunteers. As a result, the goal of the project was to ensure that paid staff and volunteers would have a better understanding of the roles and expectations of volunteers and improve communication by allowing volunteers to have a voice in determining their duties and responsibilities.