Volunteer Appreciation Week Gift Ideas

PLUS FREE OPTIONS

Volunteer Appreciation Week 2020 is April 19-25.

I have one job during Volunteer Appreciation Week. Make the volunteers feel appreciated. Obviously.

Over the years of managing volunteers I have experimented with my tiny volunteer appreciation budget to find the best low cost and free gifts.

Not only does the gift need to be inexpensive, but it also needs to appeal to all of my volunteers. I have an eighty year old man and a fifteen year old girl, what one thing can I get for both of them?

Luckily, in addition to being the volunteer coordinator, I am also on the Employee Appreciation Team for the whole city, so I have a fair amount of experience trying to make everyone happy.

What I have found is, it seems to always come back to the same thing. We have tried, shirts, bags, cups, lunch bags and everything else in the catalog. We have tried raffles for big items like grills, bikes and vacation days. When all the other options are on the table, everyone just wants food. Give someone snacks or buy them lunch and they are happy.

My current, go-to volunteer appreciation pack consists of either an inexpensive Totebag or a Tumbler and a variety of snacks. The Totebag and Tumbler end up being part of the presentation, kind of a DIY gift basket.  
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These are my current favorite options from positivepromotions.com:

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​I typically purchase the snacks at Costco or Sams Club. Everything needs to be pre-packaged. Also, be sure to include nut-free options.

Here are some ideas for what to include in the snack packs:
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Salty Snacks
Chips
Crackers
Microwave Popcorn
Mixed Nuts

Fruity Snacks
Cuties
Applesauce
Gummies
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Sweet Snacks
Full Size Candy Bars
Cookies
Rice Crispy Treats
Nutella & Go
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Drinks
Water
Soda
Juice
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Choose one item from each category and you’ll have snack packs that all your volunteers will enjoy. The snacks can be presented in an official volunteer appreciation item, like the Totebag or Tumbler or you can buy simple small gift bags. I promise, it will be all about the snacks!

I know that some libraries may not have a budget for volunteer appreciation or you may want to include more than you can afford. Here are a few volunteer appreciation gift ideas that are free:

• A Friends of the Library book voucher. This allows your volunteers to shop at the friends of the library to pick out a book that they choose for free.
• A certificate or letter of recommendation with their accomplishments and number of hours listed.
• You could offer them double hours for the week. So if they volunteer for one hour, they get credit for two.
• You could make Volunteer Appreciation Bookmarks. Or if you don’t have time, I can send you mine. Subscribe below and I will send you the file (no spam, I promise!). 

It can be hard to make everyone happy and there are lots of options out there. Hopefully this quick guide will help you narrow down your options so you and your volunteers can have a great week!
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What have you done for Volunteer Appreciation Week? Comment below:

Check back on Thursday for a No Spoiler Book Review of Sudden Appearance of Hope