Volunteer Management – Training

The process of stimulating and preparing volunteers to acquire knowledge and to develop attitudes and skills necessary to enable them to be successful in their volunteer roles. This includes ongoing training through a variety of delivery methods.

Staff Development Tools:

• Wisconsin Volunteer Development Website This web site developed by Wisconsin includes a variety of guidelines, tools and resources for staff. It is updated periodically.
• Wisconsin began required annual volunteer leader trainings for 4-H clubs in 2008. At minimum, one volunteer from each club must attend. The same lesson is taught by county staff across the state. Teaching dates are posted so volunteers with schedule conflicts could travel to a neighboring county. The session is also taught at the Statewide Volunteer Fall Forum Conference, where there is a delegate from each county. Those delegates are invited to co-teach the session with the county staff person.Annual Volunteer Training 4-HMeetings that Shake Rattle and Roll and Annual Volunteer Training Safe and Effective Club Meetings

Volunteer Training Materials:

• 4-H EZ: Recipe for Community 4-H Club Success These modules are useful for youth and adult 4-H Volunteers and 4-H Extension professionals. Includes are a series of tips, resources, and activities to help make operation your 4-H Club “EZ”. The application guide allows for reflection on how to best use these resources in 4-H Community Club setting.
• Illinois 4-H Volunteer Courses – A variety of online courses for 4-H volunteers developed in Illinois. Topics include 4-H Club Program Planning, Public Presentations, Parliamentary Procedure, and Working with Committees.
• Indiana 4-H Leadership Summit – series of breakout sessions designed for youth and adult volunteers. Summit included recognition of youth scholarship recipients, Volunteer Awards of Excellence, and Tenured 4-H Volunteers
• Iowa Volunteer Training Options This Iowa Volunteer Training web site includes modules on communications, safe environments and a link to training in risk management.
• Michigan Chaperone Module – Chaperones play an important role in helping young people have successful experiences by building positive relationships that helps encourage their participation, answer their questions, and calm their apprehensions. This module provides information and policies critical to the success of volunteers that will be chaperoning overnight events
• Michigan Communicating through Conflict – Volunteers often take on leadership roles and as a result, they may encounter conflict from time to time. This module provides participants with tools and techniques to handle heated situations and interpersonal conflict more effectively
• Minnesota face to face and online Training for 4-H volunteers.
• Minnesota’s Youth Worker Training
• Nebraska Volunteer Training Resources
• North Dakota Who is Generation Z Training
• Wisconsin Volunteers in Preparation (VIP) Training – This training provides an opportunity for Extension staff to provide a general orientation to UW-Extension and principles in working with youth.