I help small nonprofits build volunteer programs coordinators can lead and EDs don’t have to manage.
Senior volunteer leadership that supports your coordinator without adding a full-time senior-level salary.
Your holding the volunteer program together with sticky notes and spreadsheets.
You are not alone. I have seen these pain points over and over…
Volunteer hours are recorded in an Excel sheet, on paper, and sent via email. You shuffle between stacks on your desk and plan to eventually consolidate everything digitally, but the pile keeps growing.
Every time a volunteer asks a question, you give a slightly different answer depending on what seems most urgent, because there’s no standard procedure to follow.
Volunteers disappear after a few weeks without warning. You don’t know who’s still interested, who’s burned out, or who deserves recognition, and you scramble to keep morale up.
Volunteers show up confused about where to go, who to report to, and what’s expected because there is no orientation.
There is kind of an orientation, but not every volunteer completes it. Tracking is a “hopefully one-day" thought.
One day, a volunteer wants to do admin work, another wants to interact with clients, but you are always scrambling to fit them somewhere useful.
Background checks, safety training, and waivers are stored haphazardly. Volunteers start without all their paperwork completed because there was no clear checklist.
Volunteers come because they believe in the mission.
Volunteers stay because there is a program built for them.
I know what it feels like to watch a volunteer slowly disengage because the structure was never built for them. I have been that coordinator, working without a roadmap, doing the best I could for missions I loved.
I have spent over ten years working inside nonprofit volunteer programs. I have done everything from coordinating and recruiting to managing teams and building infrastructure from scratch. I have served on boards. I have written the first real job descriptions an organization ever put on paper.
I hold a Master's in Social Justice and Human Rights and several professional certificates in nonprofit leadership, fundraising, and marketing. I am currently working toward my Certification in Volunteer Administration (CVA).
Volunteer programs are often left without strategic leadership. The role gets handed to whoever appears to have time, a relevant job title, or is simply new to the field and eager to help. In small nonprofits, Executive Directors are already stretched thin, and volunteer leadership ends up reporting directly to them with no real support in between. Volunteers deserve programs that have been planned for before a coordinator ever enters the picture.
I have seen what breaks at different stages of growth. I have watched coordinators leave not because they were not capable, but because the strategic support was never there. I know the difference between a program that looks functional and one that is built to last.
A US study shows that only 15% of nonprofits train paid staff on how to work with volunteers. That means most coordinators doing this work every single day were handed the role without preparation. Not because anyone set them up to fail, but because the sector has never built the infrastructure to set them up to succeed.
As a Fractional Chief Volunteer Officer, that is the gap I help your organization close.
Here is what it looks like to work together.
Three steps:
The assessment. This is where we get to know each other and the ground your program is built on. I come on-site to meet your staff, spend time with your coordinator, and get a real look at how your volunteer program operates day to day. What is working, what is not, and where the gaps are.
Build the plan. I develop a 12-month volunteer management plan with every activity, deadline, and retention target laid out clearly. You know what is happening, when, and what to expect.
Implement alongside your coordinator. I work with your coordinator to put the plan into action. I am not handing you a document and leaving. I support the implementation process.
What your organization plans and builds for volunteers, we see that…
Volunteers know exactly where to go, who to report to, and what is expected before they walk in the door.
Every question has a real answer. Your coordinator is not improvising, and neither is the volunteer.
You know who is engaged, who needs a check-in, and who deserves recognition. Nothing slips through unnoticed.
Your coordinator has strategic leadership and coaching, not just a job description and a pile of "other duties."
Staff know how to work alongside volunteers. The friction that made everyone avoid the relationship goes away.
Background checks, waivers, and training are tracked in one place. No one starts until everything is complete.
Growth does not break the program. The structure holds through busy seasons, staff turnover, and whatever comes next.
Before: Improvised onboarding. Scattered paperwork. Volunteers coming and going without anyone sure why. A coordinator doing their best without a roadmap and an ED who does not have time to provide one.
After: Onboarding that runs without you. Paperwork that is complete before day one. Volunteers who stay because someone planned for them. A coordinator who knows exactly what comes next.
Every week without a structure in place, another volunteer quietly stops showing up.
Volunteers do not leave because the mission changed. They leave because no one built the infrastructure that would have made them feel worth planning for.
And it is not just volunteers. Without a foundation, your coordinator burns out trying to hold it together. Staff decide volunteers are not worth the hassle. Compliance gaps go unnoticed, until they are not.
The program you are trying to grow becomes the thing you are constantly managing around.