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Developing Relationship Marketing in the Voluntary Sector

Helen Bussell a; Deborah Forbes a
a
Teesside Business School, University of Teesside, Middlesbrough, UK

To cite this Article Bussell, Helen and Forbes, Deborah(2006) 'Developing Relationship Marketing in the Voluntary Sector',
Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 15: 1, 151 174
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URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J054v15n01_08

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 Helen Bussell and Deborah Forbes 169

and schools). In a more competitive environment the alliances with other

voluntary organisations may become increasingly important. The or-
ganisations and bureauxs promotional activity can be supported by
local and central government initiatives. Again this depends on the re-
lationship the organisation has developed with these agencies and other
sources of funding.
In the relationship between the voluntary organisation and its volun-
teers, marketing objectives shift at this stage away from a transactional
approach to a relationship-marketing framework. For volunteering to
occur the organisation must keep to its promise and volunteer expecta-
tions should be met. When marketing an intangible product the key ar-
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eas to be considered go beyond the traditional Four Ps (Booms and

Bitner 1981). Creating the right organisational climate to encourage
volunteering is crucial. The processes employed to ensure the organisa-
tion responds in a professional and understanding manner to initial en-
quiries, such as telephone skills, response times, follow up calls to
progress enquiries within a certain time scale. A key area identified was
the generic customer care skills of all staff, paid and voluntary, in deal-
ing with enquiries from interested volunteers. In particular it is impor-
tant that the concepts of internal marketing (Berry 1980) and the
part-time marketer (Gummesson 1991) are clearly articulated through-
out the organisation to ensure the volunteer, as a customer, receives a
cohesive message about the organisation at all points of contact.
The physical aspects were seen to be a factor that may affect the deci-
sion to volunteer for the potential volunteer visiting the organisations
site. To what extent does it meet expectations? Lottery grants have en-
abled premises to be rebuilt or refurbished where all issues of the
Servicescape (Bitner 1990) could be optimally controlled. For those
with limited funds the focus should be on the front of house elements,
such as the reception area.
Some screening was carried out by participants but mainly to meet
statutory obligations. No one wanted to turn away a willing volunteer
but it was accepted that determining necessary volunteer jobs and de-
veloping appropriate volunteer roles to match recruits requirements,
experience and age resulted in volunteers feeling wanted and helped to
meet the needs of many of the participants who volunteered. This will
also benefit the organisation as previously neglected tasks were now
being completed. There is also evidence to indicate that matching
programmes reduce turnover (Starnes and Wymer 2001).
It has been pointed out above that relationships change throughout
the cycle. Starnes and Wymer (2001) describe how the longer people
 170 JOURNAL OF NONPROFIT & PUBLIC SECTOR MARKETING

volunteer the more committed they become to the organisation, its

cause and its staff. The objective of the marketing strategy at this stage
is to tie in the volunteer, to move from relationship to loyalty marketing
(Rentschler et al. 2002). While many volunteers may already be sup-
porters or advocates for the organisation, for the marketer managing the
volunteer experience becomes a challenge, moving the volunteer up the
loyalty ladder.
For the voluntary sector time is of a premium, volunteers in general
commit to limited and clearly defined periods of time. This leaves the
volunteer co-ordinator or equivalent with significant management chal-
lenges. The evidence from the research indicates that to develop the re-
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lationship through to a committed volunteer all aspects of a volunteers

participation needs to be managed. For one of the participating organi-
sations IIP [Investors in People] had been the mechanism used to dis-
play to both volunteers and paid staff the organisations commitment to
them as fully contributing members.
Retention strategies used by the groups were many and in the main
dependent on the benefits gained from volunteering. Being nominated
as employee of the month appealed to public recognition, ego and
self-esteem needs. For the more altruistic recognition through a simple
thank-you and awareness of their contribution was sufficient. Younger
volunteers were more responsive to direct acknowledgement of their
contribution through awards linked to skill development but the mature
volunteer sought more social rewards.
People continue volunteering as long as the experience continues to be a
positive one (Starnes and Wymer 2001) but not everyone goes on to be-
come a committed volunteer. Our research showed that volunteers do dis-
continue serving. This may be due to factors beyond the organisations
control and often a volunteer may leave an organisation but is not necessar-
ily lost to the sector. The Volunteer Life Cycle has a point at which volun-
teers can re-enter and the process begins once again. However, losing
experienced volunteers is costly for the organisation and this emphasises
the importance of effective recruitment and retention strategies.

CONCLUSIONS
The findings of this research have clearly indicated that voluntary or-
ganisations have definitely recognised the necessity to view their volun-
teers as well as beneficiaries as customers. For several of the participating
organisations a wake-up call had resulted in seeing fellow voluntary or-
 Helen Bussell and Deborah Forbes 171

ganisations as competitors and as such a need to position and diversify

themselves with something unique and of value to the volunteer. How-
ever, this may not be sufficient if the organisation wishes to retain its
volunteers. Todays volunteer is an active participant in the exchange
process. Managing the relationships becomes as important as recruiting
volunteers.
Those voluntary organisations based in the community must focus on
why individuals volunteer, what benefits they are seeking. Research
does not have to be costly. Questioning existing volunteers, conducting
an ongoing research project asking new volunteers and those making
enquiries about volunteering opportunities and systematic analysis of
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the data already held could produce much useful information. From this
the organisation can identify segments to target.
An understanding of the benefits the organisation offers volunteers is
another vital starting point to the marketing effort. These can then be
communicated in the most effective manner to the target market using
personal appeals, word of mouth, publicity, local media and other meth-
ods known to be successful in attracting the target group. The media
used must capture the attention of potential volunteers and the message
should stress that organisations unique selling point in order to differ-
entiate it from the competition.
Matching the needs of the volunteer with the benefits offered by the
organisation is a vital first stage in the relationship. Good human re-
source management practice is as essential for volunteers as for paid
staff. Job specifications (derived from the organisations needs) should
be drawn up and matched against individuals requirements, skills and
experience. A structured induction should be made available for every
new volunteer and regular personal development reviews for the more
established. Retention strategies such as those highlighted by the group
participants above should be developed. Volunteer managers have to
understand the relationships central to the volunteer experience and
how these may change over time. This includes maintaining contact
with ex-volunteers to allow for reactivation and to ensure that they are
not lost to the sector.
Finally, although a wide variety of organisations were represented in
this study, it is accepted that the relationships identified should be ex-
amined using a larger sample. It is the intention of the researchers to
conduct a larger survey of organisations, volunteers and ex-volunteers,
which, it is hoped, will confirm the findings from these initial group dis-
cussions and literature review.
 172 JOURNAL OF NONPROFIT & PUBLIC SECTOR MARKETING

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Received: June 18, 2003

Reviewed: July 15, 2003
Accepted: December 22, 2003