Meaningful volunteer recognition

This resource was developed by Volunteer Toronto.

Volunteer recognition is an ongoing, year-round component of meaningful volunteer engagement that centres the impact volunteers make. Different methods of appreciation may be an attractive factor for potential volunteers to join your organization.

Recognition Types

Meaningful recognition must reflect the goals of volunteers. Ideally, recognition is honest, sincere, and delivered in a timely and appropriate manner. This means it aligns with what volunteers want and happens soon after or during their involvement.

There are generally two types of recognition:

1. Formal recognition could include events, certificates, reference letters, awards, milestones, announcements, etc. Formal recognition often requires time, money, or both.
2. Informal recognition could include saying thank you, asking for input, allowing room for growth, treating volunteers as team members, maintaining open communication, etc. Informal recognition is integrated into volunteer engagement practices.

You don’t need to categorize your recognition approach as either type, but it’s helpful to be aware of the cost or time commitment needed. For example, if volunteers want to be recognized by a charitable donation made on their behalf, it doesn’t take as much time as planning an event but would still require a budget to make the donation.

Recognition examples:

• Formal events: Awards, banquet/gala, end-of-year or end-of-program party, milestone (service hours or years) recognition event.
• Informal events: Potluck, barbecue, movie night, games club, impact gathering.
• Giveaways: Thank you cards, notes from clients, messages of support, coupons, gift cards, charitable donations, physical awards or trophies, certificates.
• Community projects: Team cookbook, team playlist, digital art project, design contest, volunteer “feature” in newsletter or social media.
• Professional growth: reference letter, workshop/webinar, conference, professional development budget, resume assistance.

Integrating Impact

The most successful approach to recognition integrates the specific impact a volunteer has made. Impact statements help volunteers see that their time, skills, and strengths are contributing to the mission and making change.

Be specific and use data to illustrate this impact in a clear timeframe. Do not simply rely on the number of hours a volunteer has contributed. Go deeper into the real change they have helped make, such as long-term client outcomes, or organizational process improvements.

Example impact statements:

• Thanks to your efforts as a Meals on Wheels Delivery Driver over the last three months, 80 families have reported that their quality of life has improved.
• Over the last year, you have connected with 450 donors, sharing how their donations have contributed to barrier-free access to youth programs. 80% of donors reported they were highly satisfied with the organization, and 35% increased contributions.
• Your assistance in cleaning up our database over the summer has helped us improve efficiency, remove hundreds of duplicate entries, and translated to nearly 100 hours of time savings for our team. In addition, the updated database has already enabled us to bring in an additional $1200 in donations.
• At the end of the After School program where you assisted as a Program Lead, every child involved rated their participation as a four or five out of five. Three children said they had the “most fun” in the program, and over 80% said that they felt less alone.

Planning Recognition

The best approach to planning recognition is to provide what volunteers are looking for, and giving yourself time to deliver it appropriately. Ask yourself these questions:

• What type of recognition do our volunteers want? How recently have I asked them, and have their preferences changed?
• What volunteer motivations will this recognition meet? (E.g. Meeting new people, learning or practicing a skill, etc.)
• How long will it take to plan, implement and deliver this recognition? How will volunteers find out or know about it?
• How will impact statements be integrated?

Note: National Volunteer Week takes place every year in April, and International Volunteer Day is December 5th. While these are valuable times to celebrate volunteer impact, don’t limit your recognition efforts to only these two times of year.

Monetary Compensation and Honorarium

While a gift card can be an appropriate form of recognition, there are limits around providing cash or payment to a volunteer. Volunteers can be reimbursed for reasonable expenses, following your organizational policy. Expenses could include travel, food or materials. Reimbursements are non-taxable payments, and must have supportive documentation (such as receipts). In many organizations, pre-approval is also required.

Honorariums may be provided to volunteers as “payment for services for which fees are not legally or traditionally required” (Canada Revenue Agency). This is a nominal amount that is a one-time payment. Honorariums are often provided as a “thank you” for a guest speaker or specialized service. The amount must not exceed $500 for an individual in a calendar year. Honorariums above this amount become employment income, requiring your organization to treat the individual as an employee. View our sample volunteer honorarium policy to help you navigate this step.