Enhancing Volunteer Retention: The Role of Experienced Volunteers

Abstract

Problem definition: Volunteers play a pivotal role in the daily operations of nonprofit organizations (NPOs). However, retaining volunteers remains a critical challenge for NPOs because of declining volunteering rates and high turnover. We explore a cost-effective approach to improving volunteer retention by leveraging the potential of experienced volunteers. Methodology/results: Using data from 49,378 volunteers at a food bank over a five-year period, we explore how interactions between experienced and new volunteers affect the latter’s retention. Our findings indicate that the presence of experienced volunteers on a shift increases new volunteer retention by 52%, with a substantially stronger effect (125% increase) for group volunteers. However, we find that increased familiarity among experienced volunteers negates this positive effect. This negative effect depends on the uncertainty inherent in the tasks undertaken by the volunteers. Managerial implications: Based on our findings, we propose a strategic reassignment policy for NPO managers. This approach involves reassigning willing experienced volunteers to concurrent shifts that lack experienced volunteer presence. With volunteer consent, this reassignment policy could mitigate the potential negative effects of strong social bonds among experienced volunteers while improving new volunteer retention by 14% on shifts that initially lacked an experienced volunteer, based on conservative estimates. History: This paper has been accepted as part of the 2025 Manufacturing & Service Operations Management Practice-Based Research Competition. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2025.0327 .