Growth and Retention
- Dec 15, 2023
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 30, 2024
For my Growth and Retention section, I will be supporting my Girlguiding division with the recruitment of new volunteers. After having conversations with our division commissioners, here are the ideas I have come with:
Posting the Girlguiding volunteer recruitment videos on Facebook pages regularly, after looking at our towns Facebook groups I have found 6 groups which allow advertising.
Going around town to put up posters around the Kendal area.
Hosting a stall at our local college open evening
Holding a fundraiser at our Rainbow and Brownie units to try to recruit parent helpers
Advertising Online on the following websites:
Prior to our new Division Commissioners starting their term in early 2024, I was working with our old DC to hold recruitment events also. This was during the period of working towards my QGA.
These include:
Having a recruitment stall at our local leisure centre family fun day
Attending a volunteer recruitment day at the Town Hall
Creating our division a Facebook Page
Holding a recruitment stall in our town centre
Planning a recruitment day out of a local cafe, however this was cancelled due to the snow
The ideas above for my now recruitment project come after discussing ideas with the new DCs to see how we can help the division grow.
Posting on local Facebook groups
On the 6th of March, I posted the following advertisement, alongside a Girlguiding volunteer recruitment video, on Facebook into our local community groups. I will be posting these once a month to regularly keep popping up on peoples newsfeeds.
On 8th April, I reposted a similar post into the same groups as last month, but added a new video. Also very happy to report that one of these posts has had 1 new volunteer sign up!
On 10th May, I reposted another similar post back into the same group with another video.
Poster Distribution
I've started looking into getting some posters ready to be printed to put around our town, looking at other division and county posters for inspiration, I have created the following posters ready to be printed and distributed:
I've created a poster for young leaders, ages 14 to 18, which I am hoping schools can put up around sixth form areas or libraries, as well as for our local college. The leader posters all have the same wording, however have different photos to show the different aspects of Girlguiding.
Update, April 22nd: I went in to Rymans to use their printing service, I managed to get 72 prints printed and organised, ready to put up around town.
Update, May 10th: Today Ellie (Barrow Division) and I went in and around Kendal's high street handing out the posters, we manged to get posters into 32 locations, a mix of churches, shops, charities shops, cafes, restaurants, community centres and more. At some locations we were able to hand out more than 1 poster, which means we have distributed the majority of the 72 printed. Some posters have gone up in a mix of staff rooms, shop windows and community boards, but every location we went in were really welcoming to taking a posterfrom us! Below are some of the places we managed to get posters placed at:
Locations that are photographed are posters that were able to be put out straight away, some places took posters to get approved from management before getting put up on boards or in windows an will hopefully start to appear over weekend. Here is a map of locations where posters were given too:
Recruitment stall at our local college
On April 16th, myself and a Leader in Training from my unit went to set up a recruitment table at Kendal college, the aim was to be seen in our community. We attending from 3.40pm to 6pm, with the open day being held for school leavers aged 16 to 18, and adult learners.
A few people came to look at the stall and we chatted to a few people, I am hoping to get some posters to the college in the future.
We had a range of information for our stall, including information about different roles, UMAs and Skills Builders, leaflets, posters and cards to take away.
Parent and/or Carer helper recruitment
On April 28th, we held a fundraiser evening at my Rainbow and Brownie unit to go alongside my Community Action project. At the event, I set up a small information section, including using the board and 'we need s'more volutneer' cards seen above at the Kendal College recruitment evening. As well as the table, I made some information print outs for parents to be able to read whilst attending the fundraiser. We had a few responses with parents and/or carers we are more then happy to lend a hand a couple of times a term!
Online recruitment
As many people search for opportunities online, I am wanting to post opportunities to the following websites:
Doit Volunteer Website
General application for Kendal Division
Application for 2nd Kendal Rainbow and Brownie Unit
Application for 5th Kendal Guides unit
Application for 8th Kendal Rainbow, Brownie, Guides and Rangers units
Indeed Volunteer Post
General application for Girlguiding Division
Cumbria CVS
Reflection
Describe your activity or role. | For my Growth and Retention project I have been aiming to help out Girlguiding division to grow volunteer numbers, this included creating posters and distributing them around the local area, running recruitment stalls, attending events and posting online. |
Why did you choose it for this section? | In Kendal, our Girlguiding units are always looking to grow our volunteer numbers, according to GO, we do have units that are running on the minimum volunteers needed to be there, I felt it would benefit all units if we can grow in size and have more adult volunteers supporting in units. |
What have you learnt from the activity or role? | I have learnt more about the recruitment process within Girlguiding and how to be more visible within the community. As well as different ways to try to recruit volunteers, both in person and online. |
What core skills have you developed and how? | Teamwork - Working with our Division Commissioner team to create stalls and organise what is needed. Communication - Communicating with members of the public to express what Girlguiding is all about in a fun but professional way. |
What would you change or improve on if you did this activity again? | I would have liked to create more small events, or one large event to get members of the public more involved to see what volunteer for Girlguiding is actually like, and get more of our young members being activitly involved. Due to having a small number of adult volunteers able to help at stalls, creating a larger event unfortunately wasn't an option to try. |
If applicable, how has it made a positive impact in Girlguiding | Kendal Division have had a couple of new volunteers start in units due to seeing posters and opportunities being posted in town or online! |
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