Let's start things off with a favorite topic of many conversations around volunteerism: Annual Volunteer Appreciation Celebrations
Do you do them?
What do they look like?
How do you keep them affordable, but still meaningful?
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Jan 21, 2026 4:54 pm
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Jan 28, 2026 10:26 pm
At our annual awards luncheon, we...
-> mail invitations
-> feed them lunch
-> give an attendance gift to all who come to the lunch
-> give out awards (t-shirt for 1st year served, pins for 100/200/300... hours served)
-> do an art activity (we've done printmaking, pressed flowers, origami)
-> we are the venue, so I am able to use our supplies for tablecloths, vases of silk flowers, various bits of table decor, we have a slide show of volunteer photos throughout the year and ambient music running
Money saving tips: I make and print the invitation in-house. We order the food, but no caterers. The attendance gift is meaningful for the year and based around local vendors - for example, I made "tea" baskets for last year because we launched our "volunteer tea times" - this had local honey, local bakery tea cakes, etc. The t-shirts are bulk ordered once a year. The pins were bulk ordered and we will never run out (we also have the volunteers turn in their previous years' pin before receiving their next step up pin). The art activity is run in-house by our education team.
Even with that, it is still a major event that costs. We spend between $60-80 per volunteer each time when all the costs (food, awards, gifts, art materials) are tallied up.
Feb 11, 2026 9:29 pm
@kaellynn This is fantastic! How many volunteers do you have and what types of roles? Do you have good attendance at the luncheon?
Feb 11, 2026 9:42 pm
We do an annual volunteer appreciation brunch for our regular volunteers. The brunch is catered and on the lawn of our historic house. The executive director attends and thanks the volunteers. This past September was my first time planning it. I aim to have recognition pins! The ED this year verbally thanked the volunteers who have served for 5 years or more. Guests could choose between a guided house tour with the history curator, a walking tour of the local historic neighborhood with our public programs manager, or printmaking with the youth educator. We have about 80 weekly volunteers and I had almost 40 attend the brunch. (75% of our volunteers are historic house docents, 25% help out with field trips and in our interactive art space)
I only pay for the catering (and fresh flowers, which I buy and arrange) which was about $1200 this year. I send out evites through Constant Contact. Staff contribute their time and expertise which is priceless!
Attached is a photo from 2024.