Case Study: Follow Up and Thank Volunteers

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Case Study: Follow up and Thank Volunteers

In 2021, Sister District GOTV (Get Out The Vote) Fellows supported Organizing Staff in leading the National Phonebank effort. In addition to cohosting and hosting phonebanks, Fellows helped recruit and retain volunteers by conducting follow-up outreach to phonebankers following each shift. 

During the phonebank, Fellows recorded all volunteers who joined the Zoom. Then, following the phonebank, Fellows used Mobilize to pull a list of all volunteers signed up for each phonebanking shift and their contact information. Note: To find event attendees in Mobilize: click “Events,” select your event name, then select the day and time of the desired shift. 

Fellows texted all sign-ups the evening after phonebank to either thank them for their participation or encourage those who did not attend to try next time. Hot tip: Share a great story or stat from the phonebank to show volunteers a concrete example of why their work is important!

For Attendees:  Thank and Ask Them To Return

  • Example: Hey Lan! Oliver and I just wanted to say thank you for joining the phonebank today and great work! It was a pleasure to have you join us and we found 7 still undecided voters between all of us calling! We’d love to keep the team growing and have you back again next week 🙂 Thanks again! 
  • Check Mobilize to see if the volunteer is scheduled for an upcoming shift. Send a Mobilize link if they are not yet scheduled.
    • To see a volunteer’s future shifts: click their name, then find all future sign-ups under “upcoming shifts.”
  • Check if the volunteer filled out the dial tally form and send the link to the form if they did not. 

For Volunteers Marked “Cancelled”: 

  • Example: Hey Nicole! This is Madison from Sister District. I saw that you weren’t able to make it to the phonebank today but I hope you can join us for the next one! We had a great time today and found 7 still undecided voters for Nancy Guy. Our goal is to grow our phonebank every week. We’d love to have you join us next phonebank to reach that goal. Our next phonebanks are this Thursday at 5pm ET or next Tuesday at 12pm ET. Do either of those work for you?

For No Shows (Volunteers still marked as “registered,” “no-show,”  or “completed” but that did not attend):

  • Example: Hey Erin! This is Madison with Sister District. We missed you today at the phonebank.  We had a great time and found 7 still undecided voters for Nancy Guy. Our goal is to grow our phonebank every week. Our goal is to grow our phonebanks every single week.  We’ll be calling again Thursday at 5pm ET and next Tuesday at 12 pm ET, can you join us either of those days?
  • Note: Mobilize will mark volunteers as “Completed” if they clicked the Zoom link at any point regardless if they actually joined for the phoenbank. You cannot rely on Mobilize to show who attended the phonebank.  

Volunteers loved the sense of community these follow-up messages created and they helped encourage folks to come back for more. Sending follow-up messages individually helped each volunteer know they were a valued member of our team.  

Here are some text examples from our team: 

A happy volunteer, signed up again for the following week:

 

A volunteer who missed their shift, but signed up again for a shift later that week:

 

A volunteer ready to come back week after week: