Seeking Older Volunteers: Cleveland Charities Experiment With Approaches

After Jim Hilliard, 57, was laid off from his job as a records manager at a Cleveland bank in 2003, he

concluded he’d had enough of the corporate world. He decided to get a degree in public administration and look for work at a nonprofit group, academic institution, or government agency.

When Mr. Hilliard heard that the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, in Cleveland, was looking for skilled volunteers, he offered his services as a way to get some experience while seeking a paid job.

Since March, he has been volunteering about 20 hours a week to help the advocacy group develop a records-management system and a plan for continuing operations after a crisis.

“For me, it is an ideal learning tool, to get an in-depth look at a nonprofit organization,” he says.

Social-Justice Charities

Mr. Hilliard was recruited as part of a pilot project to develop effective ways to attract older volunteers to social-justice work.

The project, which focused on helping Cleveland groups, got started last year with a $50,000 grant from the Cleveland Foundation. The Civil Liberties Union and its three partners in the project — Hard Hatted Women, the Adoption Network, and Greater Cleveland Community Shares — have been learning the best recruiting techniques by trial and error.

Michelle Simko, associate director of Hard Hatted Women, a group that helps women who work in blue-collar jobs, says she and her colleagues first tried placing notices in libraries, newspapers, and other outlets that resembled job ads — for example, listing a job title, the skills desired, and the hours required. They got no responses.

They also tried unsuccessfully to recruit volunteers at “senior fairs” that market products and services to older people.

“Don’t waste your time,” says Ms. Simko. “You’re not going to find them there.”

The most successful technique, the groups found, was to recruit volunteers through their own networks, for example by sending out e-mail messages to supporters.

In advertising for volunteers, Ms. Simko suggests naming specific tasks — whether human resources, finances, or clerical — because otherwise candidates emerge who want to help, but aren’t sure what they want to do.

The pilot project has attracted 14 volunteers on either a short-term or continuing basis, including Tamara Host, 59, a semi-retired commercial auditor who now sits on Hard Hatted Women’s finance committee and offers budget advice. The group has been so pleased with her work that it has asked her to join the board.

Ms. Simko says the experiment has shown that experienced volunteers can help charities save money. “We were able to find professional talent that is willing to donate their time in professional positions that otherwise would cost us large dollar amounts,” she says.