Increasing volunteer recruitment and retention

City Harvest, the world’s first food rescue organization, works to end hunger in New York City. In addition to food rescue and distribution, City Harvest’s Healthy Neighborhoods program increases availability of affordable produce, offers nutrition education, and provides other resources to maintain healthy food-secure diets. Due to ambitious goals in City Harvest’s long-term strategic plan, its Volunteer Services department faces challenges recruiting participants with the skills necessary for its Nutrition Education and Evaluation programs, as well as retaining qualified, interested, and available volunteers. To understand potential volunteer pools and seek new targets, the Capstone team undertook an analysis of City Harvest’s current Volunteer Services practices, as well as an extensive environmental scan of the NYC volunteer marketplace. In addition, the team studied strategies and techniques to enhance volunteer recruitment and retention. The team’s final report outlines a detailed profile of volunteers within City Harvest’s operating market and presents recommendations to reach and retain them.