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*The Volunteer Supporters Network‘s peer-to-peer learning sessions are a closed space for VSN members & liaisons to share experiences and learning around different elements of volunteer support within the movement. These meetings are not recorded, in order that attendees may feel more comfortable in sharing experiences amongst their peers, but we may share aggregated / anonymised reflections after the event where appropriate. These peer-to-peer meetings are paired with a Skillshare session on the same or a related topic, and these Skillshare sessions are open to all. We aim as part of this programme to share resources and learning with the wider movement. *

*We’ve held peer-to-peer learning sessions before, and the closed group format has been very useful throughout the VSN’s history. As part of the Hub pilot, we’re trying to refine the format to make it the most useful that it can be for participants, particularly as we learn more about cross-cultural work in our efforts to make this thematic Hub truly global. As we welcome new members & liaisons to the Network, it’s also important for us to get to know one another. *

In September, the Volunteer Supporters’ Network held a peer-to-peer learning session on Motivating Volunteers. This was a small group, but had representation from both the global North and South, with a range of types of volunteer supporters in attendance in terms of job role.

We had 6 questions to prompt discussion:

1) What does motivation look like? (What motivates your volunteers?)

2) How do you define “motivating volunteers”?

3) What have your experiences been in trying hard to motivate volunteers, but failing?

4) What successes have you had in motivating volunteers?

5) Are there Wikimedia Projects that volunteers tend to like more or less?

6) Are there other tools / strategies that are useful in motivating volunteers?

As we seek to become a more global network, we must pay attention to local context – although we might suspect, for example, that the motivation of volunteers to contribute to the Wikimedia projects might be broadly similar across the world, we cannot assume that this would be the case. Similarly, contributing to different language versions of the same project can be, as we know, a very different experience, although they are the same project.

Common themes in volunteer motivation included contributing to something bigger than ourselves, community & connection, and making information accessible. In motivating volunteers, we understand our role as supporters to be that of helping the movement thrive, and helping volunteers navigate the Wiki environment – there were strong themes here of volunteer stewardship, or of being guides. Our barriers to engagement were also broadly similar – restrictions on volunteers’ time and capacity to contribute to the project was cited by many attendees, as were negative experiences on the projects. Volunteers’ ability to contribute consistently was also mentioned.

This last point is particularly notable – within volunteer management, when looking at the development of a volunteer, we might be tempted to look at a linear or singular journey of small steps leading to more sustained engagement, or a pyramid model. However, much of that model may be based on the idea of consistent ability to contribute, or having a certain amount of time available – where that is not the case, then our engagement strategies must necessarily adapt accordingly, and that requires that we commit capacity to understanding the various and varying needs and profiles of our respective communities. I am reminded of the excellent Let’s Connect session at Wikimania in 2024 which focussed on matchmaking volunteers to particular activities – slide 15 in the linked presentation gives a breakdown of suggested volunteer profiles which those working to support volunteers in the movement may find very helpful.

Our discussion of successful strategies focussed mainly on the onboarding of new volunteers – including creating space and opportunity for volunteers to receive support after an introductory event, including off-wiki spaces such as Slack or Whatsapp, which can offer a less intimidating place for new editors to ask questions than openly on-wiki. I’ve noted the mention of Whatsapp, which has come up in conversations with colleagues in Africa as a useful tool; from my UK context I’ve tended towards Slack, or email. Similarly, although Telegram is used in many places across the movement, it is by no means universal. (With both these tools, reasons for not using them cite privacy concerns.) Examples of post-event or onboarding support included WMDE’s 30 day challenge, an email newsletter which guides newcomers through missions, and WMUK’s “Mini-Wiki” programme, a monthly prompt to engage in small tasks across projects which is useful to newcomers and established editors alike. Tasks on Commons were a popular option for promoting to time-poor volunteers, including engagement with campaigns such as Wiki Loves Monuments. Wikisource was discussed as a friendly project with lower community conflict than other projects.

We were also able to provide each other with a variety of tips, examples and suggestions – email newsletters, onboarding videos (both of which can reach newcomers at scale), looking at a variety of tasks (article translation, for example, instead of writing one from the beginning, which can be overwhelming), gamification, and promoting the newcomer homepage.

“Motivating Volunteers” is a broad topic, and the one hour format is short – however we are conscious that there are many demands on the time of those supporting volunteers, and a variety of experience levels in those roles. This format (and crucially, having regular meetings), allows both for knowledge exchange, and the opportunity for informal networking with international colleagues working in the same area, helping us toward our goal as stated in our Theory of Change: “to increase the quality of connection between those working in Affiliates and User Groups in the global movement who support communities of volunteers; improve their sense of community; and build their capacity to support volunteers..” The VSN has been in operation for some years now, so we are hardly starting from scratch, but as we look to build and grow the network, and are thoughtful to consider what we can offer as a Hub, we consider these kinds of activities to be foundational in achieving our aims.

*The next Volunteer Supporters Network Skillshare session (open to all) takes place on December 11th, ***How to Run an Impactful Training for Wikipedians as a Volunteer Supporter, **presented by Gosia Gramatnikowska from Wikimedia Poland.

VSN logo by Manfred Werner (WMAT), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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