Gone are the days when nonprofits would just put out the call for volunteers and they magically became available – and then kept showing up week after week.  Today’s prospective and current volunteers have to be selected and placed with the same care as in a for-profit employer – and you can’t try to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Among the key points we’ll cover:

• Why it’s good to (gently) try to scare away prospective volunteers
• Why the time between the volunteer agreeing to start and his/her first day is so fragile – and how to protect it
• How to avoid all the typical mistakes nonprofits make when getting new volunteers oriented
• How to invent and use dirt-cheap or free ways to reward and recognize your volunteers

Gil Gordon

Gil Gordon is retired from Gil Gordon Associates in Monmouth Junction, a management consulting firm specializing in telecommuting/telework and other alternative work arrangements, and in strategic employee retention.

He has a B.S. in Business Administration from Northeastern University and an M.S. in Organizational Behavior from Cornell University.  Before starting consulting in 1982, he worked for almost ten years in human resources with Johnson & Johnson.

He has been extensively involved with nonprofits in greater Mercer County for more than twenty five years as a volunteer and leader, and as a trainer and informal consultant on issues of governance, volunteer recruitment and management, and more.

His volunteer positions include construction worker and interim construction supervisor at Habitat for Humanity in Trenton, former board member and board chair of VolunteerConnect, board member and president at The Jewish Center in Princeton, board member with Jewish Family and Children’s Service and a member of the “Chore Corps” for its Secure@Home program that enables seniors to age in place.

He is a volunteer and board member at Princeton Cornerstone Community Kitchen (see www.princetoncornerstone.org): his newest venture there is the Princeton Period Project to help girls and women in low-income households get a reliable supply of feminine hygiene products they need (see www.princetonperiod.org).

He sits on the Biomedical Ethics committee at Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center and on the board of Goals of Care Coalition (see www.goalsofcare.org), to strengthen communication between health care providers and patients nearing the end of life.

Most important, he joyfully grandfathers three very cute grandchildren.