On the morning of February 28, 2024 more than 100 CASA recruiters, volunteers and staff became detectives and set out on the ultimate two-day challenge: improve volunteer recruitment. Not only did attendees create plans to achieve this, but they also shared a multitude of ideas on creative recruitment, how to effectively make first contact with potential volunteers, how to use volunteers as sources for recruiting and much more.
The Volunteer Power Unleashed Summit occurs every two years, and was created to be a collaborative and community-centered opportunity for the CASA network to learn from one another. This year’s event took place in San Antonio with multiple out-of-state attendees traveling from across the nation to learn about the CASA network in Texas.
Spread across various tables and workgroups, attendees listened to insightful speakers with first-hand experience working with volunteers, shared ideas on overcoming the barriers to volunteering and reflected on what the future of volunteering holds for the CASA network. They also discovered that unlocking the recruitment code isn’t possible without understanding the data. Senior Director of Community Engagement for CASA of Travis County, Catherine Jones, and Texas CASA’s own Operations Data Analyst, Dylan Bednar, dove deep into how data can be used to accomplish goals and understand who is applying to volunteer across the CASA network.
“I thought the Summit was super helpful and full of valuable information,” said Jennifer Brown, volunteer coordinator of Child Advocates of Fort Bend. “I can’t wait to put so many of these things into practice.”
Keynote speaker Brooke Waupsh shared her personal story of overcoming both physical and mental adversity while simultaneously building Swoovy, a volunteer dating platform that eventually became a corporate impact software company that provides organizations with a streamlined employee volunteer platform to boost corporate social responsibility.
Attendees spent time discussing the strengths and barriers to volunteer recruitment with their tables. A few strengths across the CASA network include great community relationships, social media and an engaged board, and common barriers involved the time commitment of a CASA volunteer, specific funding and rural areas competing with other nonprofits for volunteers.
Participants also reviewed how valuable CASA volunteers are to the CASA network and the children and families in need of an advocate. CASA volunteers are out-of-the-box thinkers, have fresh eyes and ideas, hold a plethora of community connections, are consistent and are invaluable to achieving the CASA mission.
Shellie Tyrrell, recruiting manager for Child Advocates of Montgomery County, shared key insights to a volunteer pool, which included having an active social media and website, working with businesses who are looking for partnerships and keeping a strong database. Tyrell discussed her tips for developing a strong database of volunteers, donors and general people interested in the mission of CASA programs — including both physical and email addresses for newsletter communications — and reminded attendees that it’s important to revisit what worked and what didn’t when it comes to recruitment.
“To see the energy, kindness and creativity that all of the attendees brought to the Summit was truly amazing and I can’t thank everyone enough who attended or helped to make this Summit the best one yet,” Lindsey Lee, Texas CASA campaign marketing and media manager, said.
No matter the activity or speaker, the energy and spirit of the attendees of the 2024 Volunteer Power Unleashed Summit was contagious, and we’re so excited to continue the momentum of growth into this year and beyond.
The next Volunteer Power Unleashed Summit will take place in early 2026. Stay tuned for the latest updates on our signature events by following Texas CASA on social media.