❖ Heads up! This article is intended for Agency Managers. If you're a Site Manager, click here. 

We know how important it is that your volunteer Needs grab the attention of volunteers. Simply posting volunteer Needs on your site may not always result in an outpouring of volunteer signups. But don't be discouraged if you aren't seeing responses right away! Maybe a little creative reimagining is just what your Needs require to shine. 

How to create effective Needs

You'd like to draw volunteers to your posted Needs. But how? Think like a marketer! Most often, marketing depends on understanding your target audience. When you know your audience, you can create content that grabs and holds their attention. Here are a few of our suggestions to get you started!

1. Be sure to use clear and concise titles. 

• Titles are one of the first things a volunteer encounters when looking at your Needs. 
• Titles should be clear and concise—you don't want them to be so short that they're confusing or so long that they're a description. 
• Have fun and get creative with Need titles—puns can set the tone and convey excitement for your volunteer Needs. 
• Match the tone to the work. 

2.  Include calls to action and attention-grabbing details in your Need titles and descriptions. 

• Calls to action are a good way to get volunteers to click on your Needs. 
• Try including attention-grabbing language or phrases. 
• Be specific—how does their volunteerism help your organization or community? What are your goals? 

3. Create detailed descriptions. 

• You don't have to create a novella for every Need description, but the text editor can help you spruce it up! 
• Be detailed. Your audience wants to know what they're signing up for. 
  • While creating visually fun-to-read Needs is a great place to start, you want to make sure your volunteers are well-informed about what they're getting into beforehand. 
• Use different fonts and headings, bold letters and font colors, images and videos, etc. 
  • With the text editor, you can get as creative as you want with your Need descriptions. 

4. Get creative! Use the text editor to create detailed and visually appealing Need descriptions. 

• This is your chance to let that creative muscle shine, you can: 
  • Add links to resources
  • Embed videos from services like YouTube or Vimeo
  • Upload images 
  • Play with font color and size

Here's a little infographic that breaks this down into three steps: