How to Request Volunteers: A Planning Guide for Organizations

Events, ongoing programs or roles inside your organization: here is how to plan your volunteer needs and how MiVolunteer recruits the people and hands you your roster.

Ask anyone who runs a nonprofit or community organization what keeps them up at night, and volunteers will be near the top of the list. Not having enough of them. Having people sign up and not show. Spending hours every week posting, emailing and chasing people when that time should be going into the actual work.

That is the problem MiVolunteer exists to solve. We are a volunteer agency. You tell us who you need, we recruit them, confirm them and hand you your roster.

A lot of organizations assume that only works for big one-day events. It does not. We recruit for events, yes, but also for ongoing programs that need the same people every week, and for positions inside your organization. This guide explains what you can ask us for, how to plan a request so it gets filled well, and what happens after you submit it.

Three kinds of volunteer needs

Most requests we see fall into one of three groups.

One-time events and drives. Festivals, fundraisers, galas, food drives, clothing drives, park cleanups, community days, conferences and tournaments. You have a date, you need a certain number of people for certain roles, and you need them to show up.

Long-term and ongoing positions. A weekly meal program that needs servers every Thursday. A tutoring program that runs from September to June. Drivers for a seniors' outreach service. Seasonal help for a garden or a summer camp. These roles need people who will keep coming back, which makes recruiting and matching them properly even more important.

Internal positions. Roles inside your organization that keep things running: front desk and reception, office and administrative support, data entry, program assistants, event coordinators, and volunteer coordinators. Many small organizations depend on volunteers for these roles but never have time to recruit for them properly.

You can request any of these through the same form. The difference is in how you describe the role, which is where good planning helps.

Start with the role, not the numbers

It is tempting to open a request with "we need 20 volunteers." The better starting point is "what exactly will each person be doing?"

For an event, list every role separately: setup, registration, guest services, food service, activity stations, runners, cleanup. Each one suits different people. Someone who loves talking to strangers will be great at the welcome table and miserable hauling tables at 7 a.m., and the reverse is also true.

For ongoing and internal positions, write a short role description, the same way you would for a part-time job posting. What does a normal shift look like? What are the main responsibilities? Who will they report to? What training will you give them? What does a great volunteer in this role look like? A clear description attracts people who actually want the role and are more likely to stay.

Then work out the numbers and the schedule

Once you know the roles, work out how many people you need for each and when.

For events, think in shifts. Long days are much easier to fill with two or three shorter shifts than with one eight-hour block. Remember that setup and teardown often need more hands than the quiet middle of the day.

For ongoing roles, be specific about the commitment. "Every Tuesday from 4 to 7 p.m., September to December" is much easier to recruit for than "a few hours a week." Be honest about how long you hope people will stay. We recruit differently for a one-season commitment than for an open-ended one.

Note your requirements

Include anything that narrows down who can do the role: a minimum age, languages, physical demands like lifting or standing for long periods, access to a car, or any checks your organization requires for roles with vulnerable people. It is far better for everyone if these are clear from the start.

Give us enough time

We ask for at least 35 days notice before you need volunteers to start. Recruiting and confirming people who will actually show up takes time. That window lets us post the role, get it in front of the right people, screen interest, match people to your roles and schedule, and send reminders.

More lead time almost always means a better roster, so submit as soon as your date or your start date is known. If you do end up with less notice, still submit the request and tell us. We will do what we can.

Submitting your request

Use the request volunteers form. You will be asked about your organization, the role or opportunity, the number of volunteers, the location, the date or start date, and a contact person.

Submit one request per role or opportunity. If you need an event crew and a weekly front desk volunteer, that is two requests, because they are recruited differently.

If you already collect applications or sign-ups on your own website, add the link. Volunteers log in to MiVolunteer to get it, which means we can track interest and record hours, and then it takes them to your site to register.

What happens next

Our team reviews your request and gets in touch if we have questions about the role, the schedule or the requirements. Once it is approved, we post the opportunity and start recruiting from across Ontario.

We match volunteers to your roles and schedule, confirm them, and then hand you your roster, so you know exactly who is coming and when. For events, we can also set up and run check-in on the day, so you always know who is on site.

Every volunteer who checks in has their hours recorded and receives a Certificate of Hours. That matters more than you might think. Students need hours for graduation, newcomers need proof of local experience, and people building their careers want documentation. Offering it makes your opportunity more attractive to exactly the people you want.

Making the most of the people we send you

Recruiting is only half of it. How volunteers are treated once they arrive decides whether they come back.

Name one point person volunteers can reach easily, and make sure the volunteers know who that is. Give people a real welcome and a short orientation on their first day, even if it is only five minutes. For ongoing and internal roles, check in with them after the first couple of weeks and ask how it is going. And say thank you, specifically, with a sentence about what their time made possible.

We wrote a longer piece on this: getting the most from your volunteers.

In short

Figure out the roles first, then the numbers and the schedule. Write down any requirements. Give us at least 35 days. Submit one request per role. We recruit, confirm and hand you your roster.

If you want the step-by-step version, read how requesting works, or see everything we offer on our for organizations page. When you are ready, submit a volunteer request.