Manatee --
First let me say that you have some great tools to work with: a
product that evokes romanticism and nostalgia. And a great website
that's graphic and well-organized. Tell the Director of volunteer
services that he's handsome too!
My area of expertise is computer market segmentation and one of the
models we use for analysis is the "Technology Life Cycle Adoption
Curve":
http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~fmb/articles/lifecycle/
Luckily here we're not talking about steam engines because we'd be
late-late-late adopters in that model. But since I'm active in
aviation, community and school volunteer activities, I thought that
I'd try to help with the segmentation.
The key to segmentation analysis is INFORMATION backed by details on
the organization's mission and needs. Once you've put that together,
you can proceed to some interesting brainstorming on how to get from
here to having more volunteers than you can handle!
I'm lucky because this will be the first time where the Google Answers
researcher asks more questions than the customer!
SEGMENTATION
-------------
You can segment a market to reach volunteers by any creative way
thinkable. Here would be some:
· by activities within the community (Civil War re-enactors; local
historical societies; genealogical research groups; school teachers;
historians; model railroaders).
· by current volunteers (using skills; encouraging husband-wife
participation; understanding motivations of current volunteers; using
their personal networks). Often these people are the ones with the
enthusiasm and leadership to attract others, though the risk is that
the organization becomes incestuous.
· by looking at "people with time." When do you need your volunteers
-- and who's likely to be available? Is it:
o weekends
o summers
o holidays
· by the objectives of the organization, matching yours with other
community organizations.
· by organizations needing fund-raising activities. This assumes that
W&WRR can make a financial contribution or honorarium for people who
work at a function. For example, the gift shop might pay the high
school music boosters $40/day for working at the gift shop.
· by analyzing which Wilmington-area corporations encourage
volunteerism or community activities.
If you decide to pursue any of these paths, some careful research and
planning to profile these people precisely is wise before devising a
program to try to reach them.
WHO VOLUNTEERS?
----------------
The Internet is useful in telling us who and why people volunteer. A
group called Independent Sector has studied volunteerism in the U.S.
The Texas Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service has
published this excellent summary "Who Volunteers":
http://www.txserve.org/mgmt/volrec/vols.html
Q: Does it help W&WRR focus on who to recruit?
WHAT DO YOU NEED?
------------------
There are 8 functions specified for volunteers on the W&WRR website --
which is a great start to getting people to self-qualify themselves.
For each you should be asking:
· what job functions do we need to fill?
· what are the minimum qualifications? Remember this isn't a
corporation, where you're seeking world-class talent. Many people may
be eager to work for free to develop additional skills.
· what are regulatory restrictions (licensing, child labor laws,
etc.)?
I won't go into each of the 8 functions, but use the first one as an
example:
TICKET AGENTS:
· who's made the best ticket agents?
· should they be dressed in period outfits? is it a role for an
aspiring actor or actress?
· can teenagers perform the function?
· it's a weekend function -- is this a job with minimum time
commitments (say only 2 hours per day)?
· does it require training or is the schedule so simple that people
are interchangeable day-to-day?
Obviously these issues are more important as you get to technical
personnel, such as track or engine crew -- but it helps focus on where
the volunteers are likely to come from.
SOURCES OF VOLUNTEERS
----------------------
This is the next likely place to consider your segmentation, looking
at what fits with your needs. High school and college students are
actively encouraged to participate in community activities, though it
will be the rare candidate who'd be perfect for the engine crew.
Common sources of volunteers are:
* churches
* hobbyist groups (e.g., model railroaders)
* SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives)
* schools
* fraternities/sororities
* fraternal organizations (Eagles, Elks)
* corporations
* genealogical groups
* Lions Club, Kiwanis, Knights of Columbus, Chambers of Commerce
* retired railroad employees
* current Amtrak or commuter RR employees
THE ACTION PLAN
---------------
You didn't really ask about this, but inasmuch as there are 8
different job functions you might well have as many as three "targets"
for getting volunteers for EACH of the jobs. It's not a problem, as
long as one person isn't responsible for everything.
Here, the director of volunteer services should help facilitate those
people building the network of volunteer contacts. Otherwise they'll
find themselves stretched very thin.
Google search strategy:
"who volunteers?"
"market segmentation"
Good luck with the planning and execution -- and let me know if we're
missing any pieces here!
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA |
Clarification of Answer by
omnivorous-ga
on
22 Oct 2002 07:38 PDT
Manatee --
I wanted to avoid specific recommendations for segmenting, but rather
emphasize two things:
1. analyze the types of people you're seeking
2. use knowledge of the local market
The best that I can offer is tools like the Independent Sector
analysis, which tells you what characteristics volunteers in general
have:
http://www.independentsector.org/PDFs/GV01keyfind.pdf
But the fact that women volunteer more than men or that people
involved in volunteering before age 18 are more likely to volunteer as
adults may be of little use to you. And focusing on people within 30
minutes of Wilmington has advantages for some targets (teenagers with
limited transportation) but could miss other valuable populations --
such as retired RR employees quite willing to drive 1 hour and having
valuable skills.
Again, I'd look at 3-5 "targets" for each of the job functions you
describe on your website.
Here are some things that Independent Sector says about volunteers
that I think can be useable to you:
· 44% of adults volunteer -- making just about everyone a potential
candidate IF you can match available times.
· volunteers average 24 hours per month of volunteer time. Can you
increase the time of your low-time participants?
· people who attend religious services volunteer at a rate 66% higher
than those who don't. How can you exploit it? Can you involve a
religious group?
· Individuals ASKED to volunteer were more than twice as common as
people who weren't. So, even with clear appeals on the website, the
key is a personal request.
· about 90% of people who make charitable contributions also
volunteer. Can you work a cooperative relationship with an
organization associated with giving? A corporation? A community
association? A public TV station?
One value of the "Technology Life Cycle Adoption" model is that it
tells us to use the innovators and early adopters to communicate to
the rest of the population. If you're seeking NUMBERS of volunteers,
your best assets are getting current volunteers to seek them out and
use community resources close to volunteering (schools, clubs like K
of C and Lions, churches, fraternal organizations, corporate community
relations people). Still, I wouldn't skip affinity groups close to
railroading -- retired Conrail or Amtrak employees; model RR clubs;
historical societies.
I hope that this is helpful and specific enough to get you to the next
step. If not, please don't hesitate to ask for further clarification.
I'd be happy to cite what's done in three organizations in which this
family volunteers:
* an aviation group (http://www.mooneycaravan.com)
* high school music boosters
* homeowners association
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA
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