If your organization uses or relies on volunteers, chances are their hard work and dedication goes unthanked most of the time. After all, they’re not at your organization full time, if at all, and you may not often see the results of their time. 

This April 18-24 is Volunteer Appreciation Week, and the entire week is dedicated to making sure volunteers receive the appreciation they deserve. I have a few examples and ideas to share with you that I hope will inspire you to reach out to your volunteers this month and express how much you appreciate their efforts. 

Last year, the team at Baudville undertook a significant marketing initiative – to re-launch the brand with a new focus, hundreds of new products and a marketing campaign to announce our changes to the world. It was a lot of work and a ton of fun, and at the end of it all I think we all felt great about the outcome of our efforts. Best of all, our customers responded with praise and orders. By all accounts it was a success, and then came the icing on the cake: we received notice that the international direct marketing community had taken notice as well, as we were nominated for a John R. Caples award for our promotional campaigns.

Last week, I travelled to New York City for the awards gala – a fancy big city event attended by some of the highest-profile advertising agencies in the world. My table alone was represented by four countries, which, as I learned, was a pretty big deal. So when the time came for our category to be announced I brimmed with excitement. “How could our work not win?”, I thought. But the envelope opened and… we lost. 

Spring is filled with appreciation events: Volunteer Appreciation Week, Administrative Professionals Week, Teacher Appreciation Week and National Nurses Week all happen in quick succession! It’s also a time of year when we hear and share great appreciation event ideas from our customers. One of my favorite appreciation event stories recently came from Mount Prospect, Illinois. 

As Volunteer Coordinator for the Mount Prospect Public Library, Janet Keena is responsible for an annual appreciation event for over 100 library volunteers. “We annually throw a special brunch in their honor to say thank you for their services,” she explained. The entire event revolves around a theme, which is followed down to the finest detail. 

Great workplace lists pop up all over the place these days. Organizations vie for a spot on Fortune’s list of 100 Best Companies to Work For or the Wall Street Journal’s Best Small and Medium Sized Companies. Then there are the plethora of local lists, like the West Michigan 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For that has honored Baudville the past four years. 

Baudville has been active on Twitter for almost a year. We post tips, offers and content that’s relevant to employee recognition and engagement. My favorite thing about Twitter – other than engaging with interesting and knowledgeable professionals – is discovering and sharing new content.  

On any given Friday, you’ll see a multitude of tweets including #followfriday or #ff for short. Follow Friday was started by a single Twitter user who wanted his friends and followers to each suggest a person to follow, and the trend grew. Follow Fridays have been going on for over a year now. In social media years, that’s old!