helping. supporting. organizations.
Empowering organizations to use your platform effectively is crucial for creating meaningful and successful connections between volunteers and the causes they support. Partners who have developed effective training approaches for their networks see higher application rates on the platform, as well as stronger engagement from organizations. Since each organization has unique needs, tailoring your training approach can make a real difference. In this article, we’ll share best practices gathered from other partners on training strategies that work.
We have structured the tips as following:
Welcoming new organisations
The first interaction with your platform sets the tone for the partnership with any organisation. By making this first step warm and thoughtful, you can help them feel confident and supported as they begin using your platform. You can ensure that new users feel at ease navigating the system and encourage organisations to fully embrace the platform’s potential. Since your platform requires approval for new organisations to join, you have a unique opportunity to support their onboarding journey.
A Friendly Welcome Phone Call
A quick phone call to introduce yourself and welcome the organisation is a great personal touch. This can include:
- Acknowledging their approval and thanking them for choosing the platform.
- Asking if they have any immediate questions or challenges.
- Offering guidance on how to get started with key features
An Onboarding Email
An onboarding email that provides resources and step-by-step instructions can help the organisation begin using the platform effectively. This email might include:
- A brief welcome message.
- Links to user guides, training videos, or FAQs and tips. Feel free to link to our helpdesk or use our youtube organisation training video’s.
- Contact information for your team.
- Find a template in our Communications Toolkit
Pro tip: You can update the automails that are send to new organisations to include your own welcoming text and resources. So no extra manual work for you! Read more about that here. The names of the automails can be cryptic: "organizationApproved" is the email that is send to the organization creator once the organization has been approved, so that's the one you might want to use. Please do note that this is less personal and has less formatting options that sending an email yourself. You can also save an email as a template in your mail to make it easier to send out to organizations.
An Invitation to Training
Use this initial contact as an opportunity to invite the organisation to your training sessions. Highlight how these sessions can empower them to maximize the platform’s value and address their specific needs.
Webinars and trainings
Training sessions are a cornerstone of empowering organisations to use your platform effectively. Whether conducted online or offline, webinars and training provide an invaluable opportunity to engage users, answer questions, and guide them through the platform’s capabilities. For concrete examples from partners, please see our Communications Toolkit.
Different formats
Webinars and training sessions can be tailored to meet the diverse needs of organisations:
- Online Webinars: Convenient and scalable, these sessions can reach organisations regardless of location and allow for interactive elements like Q&A or polls.
- In-Person Training: Ideal for a more hands-on approach, in-person sessions can create stronger connections.
- Recorded Sessions: By recording your webinars and training sessions, you create a valuable resource for organisations to revisit or share with their teams. These recordings can also be shared with those who couldn’t attend the live session, ensuring no one misses out.
You can track attendance and recording views to track the reception and usefulness. High attendance and view counts might indicate topics of significant interest, while less engagement can signal areas for improvement or rethinking the delivery.
Covering All the Bases
When planning your training, consider structuring sessions to cover a range of topics:
- Basics: Help organisations get started with essential functionalities.
- Advanced Features: Showcase how they can unlock the full potential of your platform.
- Best Practices: Share strategies and insights from other successful organisations to inspire their approach.
By offering multiple levels of training, you accommodate organisations at different stages of their journey and ensure they find the support they need.
Adapting to Evolving Needs
Our partners have found that the interests and needs of organisations often evolve as they become more familiar with the platform. For example:
- A newly onboarded organisation may initially focus on understanding core features.
- Over time, they may seek deeper insights into advanced tools or ways to streamline their workflows.
Keep this in mind when planning training schedules. Offering periodic follow-up webinars or refresher courses can help sustain engagement and meet users’ changing priorities.
Sharing Resources and Tips
Empowering organisations goes beyond training sessions—it’s about providing them with ongoing support and inspiration. Sharing helpful resources and actionable tips ensures organisations feel equipped to navigate your platform confidently and maximize its potential.
Formats for Resources
Different organisations prefer consuming information in various ways. Offering resources in multiple formats helps you cater to diverse preferences:
- Videos: Short tutorials or how-to guides that visually demonstrate key features or workflows.
- PDFs: Comprehensive guides, checklists, or step-by-step manuals.
- Images: Infographics or visual cheat sheets that simplify processes.
Channels for Distribution
You can reach organisations through a variety of channels, ensuring your resources are accessible wherever users engage most:
- Newsletters: Send regular updates featuring tips, new resources, and success stories. Keep the tone friendly and informative.
- A shared board: Create a shared board where you can regularly upload new resources. Collaborative platform like Padlet, Mural or Trello makes it easy for organisations to explore and access materials in one place.
- Social Media: Share quick tips, video snippets, or infographics on social media platforms. Social media is a great way to connect informally and encourage interaction.
- Knowledge base or resources library: Host resources on your platform for easy, on-demand access.
- Advanced tip: Community Forums or Groups: Engage users by sharing tips in a discussion group where organisations can also exchange ideas and experiences.
We hope you can support your organisations better with these tips! Staying in regular contact with organizations can help you understand what’s working, allowing you to make adjustments and continuously improve the experience. You can also communicate and gather feedback through surveys, as some of our partners do; find examples of surveys (and other resources!) on our Communications Toolkit. We'll keep updating it so make sure to keep checking it out for new ideas.