Just about all volunteer management systems now offer digital badges for volunteer achievements. It’s a form of gamification that’s supposed to keep volunteers engaged, and most organisations are embracing the idea. But I was curious: do volunteer badges really work?
I know gamification can, at least in certain areas. It makes training much more interesting, and people who have a competitive streak can get quite caught up in it. So, as long as the “game” leads in the right direction – toward fulfilling the organisation’s mission – I’m all for it.
Are the digital badges enough to gamify volunteer engagement, though? From what I’ve been able to find out, it depends very much on the badge and why it’s awarded. For them to be truly effective they need to be earned. It seems that some actual effort needs to go into achieving them.
Please understand, the information given below is generalised; there will always be outliers.
Some volunteer badges are weak.
And they tend to be the standard ones. A certain number of hours, for example. Being awarded just for showing up doesn’t motivate many people. Nor does seeing someone else awarded for showing up. There needs to be some level of acknowledged impact achieved during those hours to bring a sense of pride to a volunteer, or a desire to emulate in others.
Badges for hours or even years served should be awarded, but don’t expect a huge amount of excitement over them, or to see an uptick in engagement because of them.
Others, though, can be very effective.
Badges that take effort to gain are those that are truly valued. Achieving a badge for completing the 30+ hours of training needed to be a client-facing hospice volunteer, for example, is something to be proud of! That’s the kind of badge that a volunteer might post about on social media.
Think about the ways that a volunteer can make a real difference to your mission, and create badges for those. I think all the volunteer management software systems that have badges allow at least a few customised ones. Create ones that make the most sense for your mission.
Here are a few ideas:
- The Master of X Skill badge – Awarded after completing advanced training, such as the hospice training I mentioned earlier.
- The Community Connector badge – Awarded for recruiting new volunteers or securing local partnerships.
- The Impact Driver badge – Awarded for an idea or action that directly moved the needle on a core organisational goal or the mission itself.
- The Client Champion badge – Awarded for going above and beyond to help a client. (By “above and beyond” I mean really above and beyond; if it’s too easy to get, it won’t have the same value.)
- The Mentorship Master badge – Awarded for guiding and training newer volunteers.
- The Crisis Responder badge – Awarded for quick thinking and action during urgent or emergency situations.
Do badges work for volunteers who aren’t competitive?
As I mentioned earlier, any volunteers who have a bit of a competitive streak will love these and be genuinely motivated to achieve them. Not all volunteers are like that, though. If the majority of the volunteers in your organisation aren’t competitive, would badges still work?
Dan Pink, in his TED talk “The Puzzle of Motivation”, states that the three intrinsic motivators of people’s behaviour are autonomy, mastery and purpose. If your badges lean on these three things, even if a volunteer isn’t competitive the acknowledgement that you have seen their achievements in these areas will make the badges effective. For example, the Impact Driver badge acknowledges autonomy; the Master of X Skill acknowledges mastery (obviously!), and the Client Champion acknowledges purpose.
Beware, though. Badges alone are not enough.
They’re fun, and they sit on the volunteer’s profile on the volunteer management system, or are kept in their file for the volunteer and other people to look back on. But they aren’t the be all and end all. Other forms of appreciation still need to take precedence. Nothing shows your understanding of a volunteer’s value more than telling them, face to face, how their actions have been seen and appreciated. Awarding badges fits into “Tangible Gratitude”, which is only one of five different appreciation languages. The others are Informal Thank Yous, Public Acknowledgement, Practical Kindness and Appreciation Events. All of these languages need to be used with volunteers regularly. Badges alone don’t cut it.
So. Do volunteer badges really work?
The answer, of course, is “it depends”. It depends on the reason the badge was awarded, the way a particular volunteer is motivated, and the other forms of appreciation that accompany the badge. Yes. Volunteer badges work, if you design them carefully and bolster them with other appreciation methods. Good luck, and have fun!
