Volunteer Marketing and Recognition Resources

We must always remember how vital our volunteers are in furthering our mission to help those in need. People choose to volunteer with our organization for many reasons, but one consistent motivation is that they want to feel part of a community that is making a difference. The Behind the Shield brand was created to help recognize and reinforce our volunteers’ critical role within The Salvation Army. The more connected to our organization our volunteers feel, the more likely they are to take responsibility for, feel pride in and be committed to the work.

We have created a variety of Behind the Shield marketing and recognition resources to help foster a feeling of belonging and appreciation among the volunteers you supervise. These have been designed for you to use at your discretion. Each volunteer situation is unique, but every volunteer should receive one or more of these items during their time with us.

Below is a guide to each item to help you determine when best to use these resources. Come back and check this page often as we are consistently creating new items to further the Behind the Shield experience.

Bookmarks

The bookmarks are a great way to welcome a new volunteer or acknowledge a job done exceptionally well. They are a simple but meaningful gift that are handled, seen and used many times over.

There are two bookmark options. The general bookmark should work for the majority of your volunteers, while the youth version was designed with younger volunteers in mind. Whichever bookmark you choose, print it out on the nicest paper you have available at your location. If you are giving the bookmarks to a large group of people, consider having them laminated at a local print shop.

Brochures

The brochures are an effective way to inspire enthusiasm in potential volunteers and move them from thought to action. These brochures should be given out to anyone who shows interest in The Salvation Army or volunteering in general.

There are two brochure options. The general brochure should work for the majority of possible volunteers, while the youth brochure was designed with younger potential volunteers in mind.

Whichever brochure you choose, there are two print versions available. If you are printing the brochure onsite at your location, make sure to use the in-house PDF. You will know that it is the correct version as it is labelled as such and does not have any crop marks.

If you are printing a larger quantity of brochures at a print house, make sure to use the printer version PDF. You will know that it is the correct version as it is labelled as such and has visible crop marks in the corners.

Certificate of Appreciation

It is important that we not only express our appreciation for our volunteers verbally but that we also express it in a palpable way. For this reason, we have created a volunteer appreciation certificate for you to give to your volunteers. This certificate should be given to volunteers when they have completed their current service with us, but also when someone has gone the extra mile or given more than what was expected or required of their role.

Emails

Volunteer email stewardship is an integral part of thanking and recognizing volunteers. It is also the key driver in volunteer retention and encourages volunteers to help bring new volunteers into our organization.

The amount, frequency and timing of the emails will vary depending on your ministry unit/corps and what works for you. We have created sample emails for your use, but much like the plan, you are encouraged to customize them to fit your needs.

Ideally, the communication schedule will look as follows:

Send a "Thank you for choosing to volunteer with us"email within 24-76 hours to someone applying if they have applied directly with your ministry unit/corps.
Send an email when the candidate has or has not been selected.
Send an email within 24-48 hours when a volunteer has completed their volunteer service with us.
Send a "Would you volunteer again?" email twice a year (May/June and November/December) to past volunteers who are not currently volunteering with us.

Name Tag

Wearing a name tag builds a sense of community and belonging to the Behind the Shield team. In addition, communication is enhanced between people when they know each other’s name. Make sure all your volunteers have a name tag and encourage them to wear them.

Recognition Thank You Cards

There are many ways to recognize your volunteers but one of the warmest gestures that can be made is to give them a card. These thank you cards should be given most commonly when the volunteer begins or has completed their time with us. However, they can be given at any time during our volunteer's journey.

There are two print versions of both a general and youth thank you card available. If you are printing the card onsite at your location, make sure to use the in-house PDF. You will know that it is the correct version as it is labelled as such and does not have any crop marks.

If you are printing a larger quantity of cards at a print house, make sure to use the printer version PDF. You will know that it is the correct version as it is labelled as such and has visible crop marks in the corners.

Letterhead

A letterhead is one of the most important printing collaterals in any organization. More than just a means of correspondence, it is also a physical representation of our Behind the Shield program. It is an essential part of our marketing communications strategy and you are encouraged to use it for any and all correspondence involving volunteer services.

Please click on the links below to access the files for each Behind the Shield resource. All resources are available in both French and English. For some of these resources we have created a version that can be printed on any printer you have access to and a version that should be used if you are outsourcing to a print house. Please read the file names carefully and choose the resource that best suits your needs.