Free Volunteer Management Trainings

Michigan Community Service Commission Volunteer Management Basics Series

This series is aimed at helping those newer to the Volunteer Engagement arena learn how to build and improve the experience for volunteers at all stages of their engagement with an organization. These sessions are perfect for organizations with one or more volunteers as we present applicable lessons and tools that can be put into place with ease.

Recorded trainings

You can view past trainings on our YouTube Channel.

Below is a description and direct links to view individual past trainings.

Developing Meaningful Volunteer Roles 
This session will guide volunteer management professionals through the process of understanding the difference between a paid role and a volunteer position.  We'll cover risk management assessments and the process to engage others in developing mission-orientated volunteer positions that will provide meaningful impact to the volunteer and the organization. Participants will come away with several easy-to-use tools to help assess ideas for volunteer engagement.

Volunteer Interview and Placement Techniques
This session will cover background checks, interview practices and tips on how to handle red flag in potential volunteers. We'll provide sound practices for risk management in handling declining a volunteer, how to ensure your volunteer interview process is consistent with applicable laws to avoid discrimination.  This session will also provide tips on how to successfully support individuals with disabilities in the volunteer workforce.

Volunteer Orientation and Training 
This session will address how volunteers are introduced to the mission and culture of the organization during their "onboarding."  We'll cover what volunteers typically expect to learn in an orientation and methods to help volunteers learn their roles through a variety or training strategies that touch on multiple learning styles. 

Engaging and Supporting Volunteers 

This session will guide volunteer management professionals through the volunteer engagement cycle and will provide tips and tools to help create opportunities to meaningful and lasting engagement that will positively impact volunteer retention. 

Engaging Volunteers - This session will guide volunteer management professionals through the volunteer engagement cycle and will provide tips and tools to help create opportunities to meaningful and lasting engagement that will positively impact volunteer retention.

Volunteer Recognition - This session will cover a variety of recognition ideas that are aimed at building engagement and reinforce retention of volunteers.  The presenter will discuss trends and sound practices in balancing traditional forms of recognition with innovative processes that touch on a volunteers recognition needs throughout their volunteer career.

Leveraging Your Story - This session teaches participants how to tell a story by highlighting the most impactful information a donor, supporter, volunteer might need to know to cause them to want to learn more and form a relationship with your organization.  The presenter shared a number of insightful tips and examples to model the lessons from.

Grant Writing for Nonprofits - This session will cover where to find grant opportunities, how to read a grant application, defining your organization’s case for funding as well as understanding what funders need in a budget proposal.  This session is ideal for new granters, those with intermediate and advance grant writing skills.

Grant Writing Basics - Grant Writing's Optimum Role in Your Organization ~ And the Process to Fully Realize This fast paced and interactive workshop will assist you in assessing grant writing's role in your overall fund development efforts and using your strategic planning process to guide your grant applications. We will review key policies and practices that every organization should deploy, how to get key players involved in the development process, and what makes a good application great.

Youth Engagement - This session is appropriate for organizations that are interested in engaging young people but feel ill-prepared as well as those who would like to strengthen their current youth engagement practices.

Comprehensive Volunteer Screening - This session is presented by MSU Extension leader Lisa Bottomley. The session will explore a variety of tools that can be used to screen potential volunteers. Participants will learn how to choose the right tools for their volunteer program based on volunteer roles.

Volunteer Recruitment - This session will cover different recruitment strategies and trends to help a developing volunteer management professional create a plan for their recruitment needs.  Participants will leave with a much better understanding of the ideas and tools to help make recruitment easier to plan, track and implement to benefit their organization.

Communication Strategies for Thriving Teams - Ms. Reid has a long history of volunteer management and uses these experiences to help nonprofits increase their capacity to engage volunteers through strategies that enhance communication and the sense of belonging and empowerment.  This session is ideal for new volunteer management leaders, those with intermediate and advance volunteer management skills.

Volunteer Interview and Placement Techniques - This session will cover background checks, interview practices and tips on how to handle red flag in potential volunteers. This session will also provide tips on how to successfully support individuals with disabilities in the volunteer workforce.

Volunteer Recruitment - This session will cover a variety of recruitment strategies and trends to help a developing volunteer management professional develop a plan to address recruitment for their organization.  Participants will come away with several ideas and tools to help make recruitment easy to plan, track and implement to benefit their organization.

Asset Based Language - Join Tamela Spicer, a Senior Program Manager of the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy, as she discusses the importance of storytelling within an organization. It can be a challenging within any institution to find individuals who relate to your groups message and key values. By using certain language, diction, and communications methods your organization can see an increase in the number of individuals who connect with your group.

The Accidental Trainer: Facilitation Techniques to Elevate Your Organization's Learning Initiatives - This video breakdowns topics such as the motivation for why individuals serve and ways to implement the learner engagement model to create a deeper connection. Additionally, this webinar will also cover tips for virtual learning, as well as ways to combat zoom fatigue.

Build Back Better - Beth Steinhorn, President of Volunteer Strategies, joins the Michigan Community Service Commission to explore ways to turn obstacles brought on by the pandemic into opportunities. From understanding motivation for virtual volunteer engagement, to key insights from other organizations regarding tactics that worked best for them in 2021.

Building Rapport While Being Apart Mentoring in the Modern Age - In partnership with the City of Lansing, this volunteer training webinar focuses on how to engage young mentees during the pandemic. Not only from organizer perspectives, but from the perspective of students and young volunteers who are participating in these virtual mentorship programs.

Assessing Resources offered by MCSC - Please join the United Way of Genesee County and the Michigan Community Service Commission (MCSC) to learn how to develop a meaningful project that helps build your organization's volunteer corps and earns your organization a reputation for great service to the community. The MCSC will review the three National Days of Service and what resources we have available to help support projects.

Nonprofits Tapping Social Media to Recruit Volunteers and Raise Awareness - This session lead by communication and social media experts will help participants get the most out of social media. The session will cover the advantages of using social media to communicate with the public and how to craft message to recruit volunteer and donor support.

Getting the most out of hosting a National Day of Service Event - Our National Days of Service are important times for Michiganders to serve, reflect and pay respect. Please join the United Way of Genesee County and the Michigan Community Service Commission (MCSC) to learn how to develop a meaningful project that helps build your organization's volunteer corps and earns your organization a reputation for great service to the community.

Accessing resources offered by MCSC- Get Connected Training for Agencies - Learn more about Get Connected from the Michigan Community Service Commission.