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Does your chapter have special, unique or particularly successful ways of onboarding new volunteers? If so, please share in our Onboarding Action Team forum!
 

Hot Tip

Using this recipe in Louisiana, we now have 58% of new prospects accept our offer to talk on the phone or zoom.  It's now 50% in Mississippi and 25% in Alaska. If you want these same results, then follow our recipe for success.

1. Contact new prospects immediately.
2. Send a very short email. If they don’t respond, two days later, send a short text.
3. Message contains one question: Do you have ~30 to talk on the phone this week or next?

Hi (name),

My name is [YOUR NAME], and I’m a welcome volunteer with Citizens’ Climate Lobby. Thanks for signing up! 

Do you have ~30 to talk on the phone this week or next? The call would give you a brief overview of our organization and begin the start of finding a role for you.

If you’re interested in taking focused action on climate change, we’d love to have you join our local chapter! Let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you, and I hope to hear back soon!

Onboarding Welcome Team Program Resources

• Onboarding Welcome Team Manual
• Allocator Job Description
• Onboarder Job Description
• Onboarding Welcome Team Shared Spreadsheet - Template
• Onboarding Welcome Call Form - for use DURING your Welcome Call
• Welcome Call Script
• Onboarding Welcome Form - to send to your new prospect AFTER the Welcome Call

 

Role Descriptions & Email Templates

• Volunteer Role Descriptions
• Email Templates for Volunteer Opportunities

Tools for Sending Meeting Reminders

• Using Google Voice to text/call meeting reminders
• Using Remind to text meeting reminders

CCU Training: Growing Your Local Group

Additional Training

• Conference Presentation: Dallas/Ft Worth describes their Welcome Program.
• Slide Deck: First Engagement Email from HQ (less than 10 minutes) Review of the initial email that HQ sends to new prospects.  
• Getting New Volunteers Engaged - CCL Community Training
• Onboarding Best Practices Workshop
• Slide Deck: Onboarding: Building a Dynamic and Efficient Chapter Level Welcome Process for New Volunteers (25 minutes)

 

Meeting recordings and resources

• Sept 2021: Page Potter, NC Raleigh Durham, Onboarding Teamwork (Chat)
• Oct 2021: Garrett Pennell, TX Dallas-Fort Worth - Organizing Tools
• Nov 2021: Brett Cease, Staff Member, Climbing the Pyramid of Engagement
• Dec 2021: Stuart Collins, Monthly Meeting Dos & Don'ts for Retaining Volunteers
• Jan 2022:  Nicky Robinson, Engaging New Volunteers
• Feb 2022:  Victoria Hendricks, Motivational Interviewing
• Mar 2022:  Hilary Conway, Mentoring New Volunteers
• April 2022: Ellie Sparks, Grassroots Outreach for Chapter Growth
• May 2022:  Sharon Bagatell, Youth Engagement in CCL Chapters
• June 2022: Jean Ritok, Empowering Your Requesting
• Aug 2022: Garrett Pennell, Structuring for Success
• Sept 2022: Elizabeth Dell/Linda Racine, The Onboarding Welcome Call
• Oct 2022:  Steffanie Munguía, Recruiting and Retaining College Climate Advocates
• Nov 2022: Brett Cease, Ways to Use Community to Grow Your Chapter
• Jan 2023: John Sabin, Using Motivational Interviewing in the Onboarding Call
• Feb 2023: Danielle White, Diverse & Equitable Outreach, Onboarding, & Retention
• Mar 2023: Elli Sparks, Empowering Chapters: Tips & Techniques for Effective Volunteer Engagement & Retention

 

An appreciation of onboarding

I just wanted to comment that the welcome call I received as a new member of the Austin chapter is what led to me being involved in the MCC campaign, the lobby team, and this new ad project we have. Without that call, I don’t know how long it would have taken me to get involved and/or if I would have ever gotten involved in the MCC campaign. Those welcome calls are great for getting people engaged, especially in the context of "what types of actions do you like," leading them right then and there to step into a campaign. - Matt Mire, TX Austin volunteer

Our Mission Statement

The mission of the Onboarding Action Team is to provide a place for education, sharing and resources for the onboarding process in a nurturing, interactive and enjoyable environment. We view onboarding expansively to include acclimating new and prospective volunteers, activating and retaining volunteers, and chapter development and organization.

We invite guest speakers from chapters which have a proven track record for successful onboarding, volunteer engagement and retention, providing resources and tools, and chapter development. We create a learning environment for group leaders and onboarding teams who are seeking information on successful onboarding processes for their own chapters.