For nearly a year, we’ve been delving deeply into the organizational aspects of volunteer work through the Gro Aktivister project. Through interviews, workshops, and support activities, we’ve had the opportunity to take a close look behind the scenes at five young Nordic climate activist groups. In our new handbook, which we’ve titled *The Little Handbook on Recruitment and Integration in Climate Grassroots Groups*, we explore some of the challenges we’ve encountered within these organizations and provide examples of strategies that can help address them.
At the heart of the handbook are four recommendations for actions that core members of the groups could potentially benefit from:
- Recruiting and integrating new members is everyone’s responsibility—including those in leadership positions. If activists whom others look up to participate in assigning tasks and recruiting new members—for example, through “phone banking”—it can foster a culture where others are encouraged to do the same.
- Organize people and tasks rather than events. By shifting from organizing, for example, a specific poster-hanging event to focusing on what needs to be done, why it’s important, and how volunteers can participate in a meaningful way, you create opportunities for people with less time to take on tasks and, over time, become more involved.
- Help newcomers become part of the group. This may sound obvious. But we see three levels at which one must integrate in order to become part of the group. One must have the opportunity to take on and complete tasks—autonomously, but with support. Social relationships matter more than you might think, so it’s important for core members to spend time getting to know newcomers. And you need to be part of and understand the shared knowledge and narrative about who the group is.
- Be intentional when you’re mobilizing. Be mindful of exactly who you want to recruit—it’s no coincidence that marketing agencies love target audience analyses. The more volunteer communities can speak to people’s personal stories and motivations, the easier it becomes to get them to take that first step into the community.
The handbook contains much more than just these four recommendations. Find the full handbook here. We look forward to continuing our work on how volunteer communities can engage more people and continue to be important voices in our democracy.
On June 17, we held a webinar where we presented the project and some of our findings. You can find a recording of the webinar below. The accompanying slides are available here.
The project is supported by Nordic Cultural Contact.
Photo: Kamille Funding.