Intended audience: DataKind Volunteers
Rewarding & Thanking Volunteers
There’s something at DataKind we call the “Ice Cream Principle”. It’s an embodiment of the Peak-End principle, that states that people remember their experiences of events based on how they felt at the peak of the experience and at the end. The study involved giving people ice cream at the end of a painful surgery, hence the name.
We use this principle in everything we do with volunteers so they have a pleasant memory (at least!) of DataKind projects. They just came through a slog - they might be over exhausted, they may have given up their free time for this, they may not have gotten the results they wanted. No matter how bad their peak was, we can control the end - give them the “ice cream”!
Celebrate them, socialize with them, and make the final close to the project a joyous and easy affair. At the very least, DataKind should say, by email or in person, some kind of specific congratulations that acknowledges the volunteer teams’ work and puts a bow on the whole experience. Here’s an agenda template of what a DataKind team celebration might look like.
Some tips to make the last stage of the project an extra-sweet experience:
- Some volunteers may be dismayed that they didn’t complete everything they wanted to. Remind them of all the ways they created positive change with the project! Also, remind them that negative results are actually a positive thing: learning what does not work is valuable to the partner organization, too.
- Make your volunteers look good. If you have the opportunity and the volunteer team is of reasonable size, call out each volunteer by name and acknowledge their contributions. We also provide recognition by shouting out volunteers on social channels.
- Do something fun: play a game of jeopardy customized for the project or the wikipedia game.
- Celebrate the friendships that were created throughout the project, and encourage everyone to stay connected! Don’t forget that one of the project outputs is the friends we made along the way :)
- If budget permits, we often give out simple, thoughtful, funny, and relevant gifts at the end of the project to say “thank you”. For intensive projects, we often give DataKind tee-shirts to the committed volunteers who have contributed substantially.
Additionally, consider ways that you can say thank you that support the volunteer’s professional development, such as giving them the opportunity to present at an event or conference, asking them if they want to write a blog about the project, or endorsing them on LinkedIn for their work.
Contributer(s): Daniel Nissani, Seward Lee
Contact us
If you would like to learn more about us, partner with us, or get in touch, email us at community@datakind.org
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