50+ Lifestyles

Lead With Experience

By Dave Layton
Program Director
Retired and Senior Volunteer Program of Eastern Iowa and Western Illnois

Reaching Seniors Online

In 2006 about 30 percent of active RSVP members had email. Now almost 70 percent do, and this fact has changed how we communicate with our members. We still mail via USPS letters to our folks without email, and we still call all our members at least once a year wishing them a happy birthday and making sure their records are up-to-date. We also call people when we haven’t heard from them or they haven’t reported hours for a while. Plus we call people for special events.

We now send out an e-newsletter each Friday, where our members can read the latest volunteer needs of our partner agencies. Every week a good number of our members respond to those requests. Since instituting these weekly “e-blasts,” our weekly volunteer recruitment rate has increased. We use a free web-based email service called MailChimp that allows us to send secure e-newsletters to 700+ members. These members can read the message without any threat to their privacy or security. Should they decide they no longer want to receive these weekly emails, they can “unsubscribe” with a simple click. With that said, very few do opt out. It’s important to know that we never share your personal information.

We place a lot of effort in making these weekly newsletters intriguing, attractive, and informative. The graphics are aimed to allow the reader to quickly discern whether a particular request will fit with their interests. We sometimes experiment with various styles, to see if there are ways we can improve our communication with our members.

Our volunteers are also interacting more and more with our Facebook page, which not only posts volunteer opportunities (including links to our weekly newsletter), but also shares human interest stories and videos relating to community service, seniors, and volunteering. Over 100 people check in to our Facebook page every week. Facebook is also an effective way that RSVP connects with our partner agencies. When you go to our FB page, you’ll see links to pages of other community service organizations. Likewise, people who go to the Facebook pages of other organizations can link back to ours. Facebook is not only a tool to recruit new members, it also strengthens partnerships with other agencies.

Other online tools we use for outside recruitment are volunteer matching websites such as Davenport Volunteer Connection, Volunteer Match and All for Good. When anyone – regardless of their age – responds to those postings, the response comes as an email to me. I will thank them and refer them to the agency the posting is for. If I don’t know that they’re too young to be members I also send them registration forms that they can type into on their computer and email back to me if they have an electronic signature. In truth, most of the people volunteering through those websites are younger, but that’s okay because they often respond to requests for activities that might not be best suited for senior volunteers. This is a great service to partner agencies seeking volunteers.

We also use Twitter, which is useful for linking to some of our professional partners – especially CNCS and the State commissions, but honestly Twitter isn’t as popular with seniors. In fact, I’ve never tried it. However, I’m a little more backward than most seniors. I don’t even use a smart phone! However most of our members do, and it’s a just a matter of time before the Boomer Generation becomes a Tweeter Generation.
That brings me to one last important point. We use technology as a tool, but we still value traditional communication and do our best to give personal attention to our volunteers. If something in the e-news peaks your interest, please call RSVP to learn more. One of our staff will answer within a few rings. You won’t have to go through the rigmarole of button pushing to get the information you need. We will only share your contact information with another agency with your express permission.

If you want to learn more, check us out on Facebook “RSVP of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois.” If you’d like to receive our weekly e-newsletter, send an email to jross@wiaaa.org  You don’t need to be an RSVP member to be on the list. Or you can contact me by emailing rsvp@wiaaa.org. And finally, we are always happy to talk to you on the phone at (309) 793-4425.