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RELAY REFRESH

Michael Jacobson

Laura McCormick

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What is Relay For Life?�

Why Relay For Life?

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What is RFL?

Global Relay For Life Standards:

Must be called Relay For Life
Event must be held on an annual basis
Event must include:

Opening, Luminaria and Closing Ceremonies
Survivorship and Caregiver activities
Fundraising activities
Mission activities

Team participation required
Tobacco free environment required
Tobacco sponsorships not allowed

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Why Relay For Life?

Unique Event
Community Presence
Volunteer Led/Staff Supported
Celebrates Survivors/Caregivers
Creates Ambassadors

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Re-defining Community

What is a community of focus for you?

How do you define that community?

By geography?

By sector?

By demographic?

By ethnicity?

By program?

Who are the key volunteers that you need to meet and what is the culture of this given community like?

What are key areas where engaging volunteers will further the understanding and impact your organization can have with the community?

What are the values and culture of this given community?

What barriers do I personally need to overcome to be an effective staff partner for this community?

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Creating a Community Assessment

How many people are diagnosed with cancer in this community each year?

How many cancer survivors are there in this community?

What does your organization do to support cancer patients in this community?

What relationships does your organization already have in this community?

Who are current Volunteers you can ask to join you as you work in this community?

A community assessment is like a personalized yellow pages. It is a way for you to track who is who, who you know, and who you want or need to know. Additionally, it will help you form questions to ask as you talk to more people in the community and your peers who are also working in your defined community.

Talking to your co-workers to see where you already have events/relationships/programs will help you know where you are starting.

Volunteers will bring a deeper understanding than you can get from logistics research within your office. By asking for their involvement, you are respecting their community, practicing your listening skills, and are on the road to building relationships and overcoming barriers. By having a strong definition of your community, you can now start to build out a snapshot of your community demographics, stakeholders, movers and shakers, and leaders.

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Community Mapping

...

Community Mapping is a process where you physically plot the current or potential relationships you have found through your Community Assessment work on a physical map of your defined community. Through community mapping, you can gain a strong visual of the geographic gaps of corporate, organizational, volunteer, program, service representation.

The community mapping process has been used for several years in volunteer recruitment and event planning to mark out where key teams, volunteers, and donors are located within a community. By mapping out this information, event leadership staff and volunteers can see where they have already penetrated the geography of a community, where there are areas of the community without representation, and then prioritize recruitment and engagement efforts and strategies to better engage this market.

The final product of a Community Map is a resource that you can use to plan your strategy to inform larger plans such as market plans or even account plans. It should be a fluid resource that you revisit often and continue to add to and refine over time.

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Reducing Staff and Volunteer Burnout�

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Staff Burnout

Retention vs. Recruitment

It’s not just about the pay

“Quiet Quitting”
Doing less with more
Impact of remote and hybrid work environments
Staffing profile

Type of candidate
History of youth engagement

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Volunteer Burnout

Constant argument of quality vs. quantity
Identifying volunteers’ passions and determining the

best roles for their abilities

Set expectations on day one
Communication
Flexibility
Freedom
Fun

Always struggle. Is one quality volunteer better than three okay volunteers?

Not if you burnout your one quality volunteer.
Finding a balance. And identifying good sources for new volunteers. Asking them to recruit friends or colleagues.
Determining leaders vs. utility players. Everyone’s skill sets are different. Build the role around them instead of the other way around.

It’s not a one size fits all approach. Can’t fit a square peg into a round hill.

Have a conversation day one of their volunteer role. What do they want to do and where do you have a need. Don’t just assume they want to work in a role.
example: Just because I’m in PR doesn’t mean I want to volunteer in marketing/communications. That may work for some people. Or others may be looking for a break from their day-to-day.

Set expectations

Part of that conversation on day one. Avoid any surprises later one. Works better for everyone and reduces chance for disappointment.

Communication:

helps keep everyone accountable on the progress of their expectations. Schedule regular check ins as needed.
Stay reliable. Keep regular check ins and don’t put last minute appointments or meetings on calendar, when able. Don’t make them ad-hoc.
MAke sure you always have a pulse on how they are feeling and be able to adjust as needed.
Volunteer/staff relationship is built on trust, more than anything else. Communication back and forth is the best way to maintain that trust.

Flexibility

Especially after the pandemic, life conditions change.
At work. At home (did they have a kid?) School commitment.
I know it can be frustrating if they can’t do exactly what you want, when you want it done. But giving flexibility will pay off in terms of long-term engagement. and build loyalty.
Understand that day job and family always come first.

Freedom

Letting volunteers fly as long as they have guard rails set up. Let them deviate
May not get done the way you wanted or envisioned.That’s okay!
Brand standards are the most important component. Everything else should be negotiable and flexible.

Most importantly, it needs to stay FUN for volunteers.

In most cases, they are doing this for personal fulfillment.
Break from work. Break from home. Break from retirement.
Except in rare cases, can’t view volunteers as full-time colleagues.
show appreciation. recognize, find ways to have fun.
Doesn’t take much. Even the smallest actions matter.

International volunteer day. Video from Matt and his kids. Awesome touch.

Sense of community and family.

the more they’re connected on a personal level to RFL, the more they’ll be willing to do more.