I volunteer with a local Therapuetic Riding Program and we are constantly short of volunteers and sometimes qualified horses. Does anyone have any suggestions for ways to get in contact with people that would be interested in volunteering?
Just came back from an event at a Maryland horse rescue. Our local 4-H horse club was there volunteering. 4-H stresses community service and many of our 4-H families volunteer for years after 4-Hers graduate.
For horses, don’t forget to check rescues for suitable horse. The rescue we were at today held a showcase and a volunteer from a therapeutic riding center was interested in evaluating one of our horses. Many horses are given up now for financial reasons so there are healthy horses looking for homes.
Good luck and thank you for what you do!
Advertising for volunteers is great, but in my experience what you really need to do is to increase your program’s visibility in the community. Through events, marketing and outreach, make sure that the people in your community know of your program. Then when people are looking to volunteer, they will contact you. Additionally, if you are well-established in the community and have a good outreach program you can advertise the fact that you are seeking volunteers. What other benefits/fundraisers/outreach programs do you currently have going on? How big is your client base? Volunteer pool?
Once you are established in the community, start calling local middle schools and high schools, both private and public. Most private schools require students to complete volunteer hours, as do many clubs in public schools. See what you need to do to put your program on those lists.
You can also put fliers up at tack shops.
If you have a high turnover of volunteers, examine your program closely. Are you requiring too long of a commitment? What sort of instruction/orientation is given to new volunteers? Do you have a rigid age limit? Are volunteers required to do the same thing every time and therefore are becoming bored? Ask yourself, why should they volunteer for your program over others in the community? What are the volunteers getting in exchange for volunteering?
Local advertising for volunteers. Check also with local equine clubs and orgs.
A good TRC will continually attract volunteers if their program, trainers and staff are safe, realiable, responsible and know what they are doing.
As for horses… make sure you have a solid policy on horse care and retirement. Far too many TRC’s just dump horses with dealers and auctions when they are done with them, which doesn’t always make the TRC look too swell in the public’s opinion, nor is any responsible horse owner going to consider donating their horse either.
I first volunteered for a therapeutic riding program before
I owned a horse so I could learn a bit about caring for
horses and equipment. You might be able to appeal to
horseless lovers of horses by offering a program where
they can learn about horse care via volunteering. Also
consider trying to recruit service organizations such as
the Boy and Girl Scouts to supply a few members every
session. If the same person does not need to come to
every session, you might have better luck getting them
to volunteer.
The way I found out about the local therapy center was a little program they had on the local cable access channel. I got involved in that. I had ridden some when I was a kid (not enough to qualify me as a “rerider”!) but it got me into the whole horse thing and I bought my own horse 18 months later. I’m still at that barn 12 years later.
One thing to think about is some sort of incentive for your volunteers. Ours are offered trail rides. A lot of people will want to volunteer in exchange for ride time. But it’s really not practical, in most cases. Some centers offer barn dollars that you can accumlate and trade in for a trail ride or a lesson or something like that.
I was a volunteer and a board member at a very large program in NE Ohio; volunteers fell into the “horsy” catagory and the “non horsy” catagory; Horse people got to lead the horses in lessons and/or act as side-walkers to support the student as needed, along w/ grooming, tack cleaning etc. The horse people could also hack school horses on some sort of a schedule (certain hours each week) to vary their work and keep them responsive to aids. These volunteers were recruited by a visible presence in the local horse shows, info at tack shops, word of mouth.
Office and other volunteers were sometimes parents, college students, or people from the nearby towns. This organization got a lot of PR in the local weekly paper, and nearby stores regularly did small fundraisers, which not only got a bit of money but visibility.
Last of all, board members were expected to be active - ie personalizing donor letters, stuffing envelopes for fundraisers, bringing people to benefits, etc.
There was an annual party to recognize volunteers, and a group of board members and staff were constantly tracking and evaluating ways to improve the volunteer experience.
