Best Practices: Creating Diversity through Volunteer Recruitment and Retention

Free Arts NYC is an organization that delivers creative arts programs directly to low-income, homeless, abused, and neglected children. Volunteers act as mentors and create an environment for the children to express themselves through art projects. The Capstone team's goal was to advance Free Arts NYC's strategic plan of program expansion by growing and diversifying their pool of trained volunteers. The team conducted a demographic analysis of active Free Arts NYC volunteers; gathered volunteers? feedback through focus groups and interviews; analyzed best practices of similar organizations; and extensively researched new partnerships and volunteer sources in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. Through a systematic process for recruitment and retention of a diversified volunteer base, the Capstone team will present a statistical report of existing volunteers, recommendations for recruiting new volunteers, and a list of potential new local partners in each of the operating areas.