Dialogic communication as a way of recruiting and retaining volunteers online

Abstract

While nonprofit organizations are facing the challenge of recruiting and retaining volunteers, public relation practitioners are studying the problems behind the issue and finding ways to change them. Volunteers are an important asset to nonprofit organizations and finding the right tools to help recruit and retain them is important for these organizations. The purpose of this study is to obtain useful information from museum Websites in the state of Indiana which may help support the questions behind the retention and recruitment of volunteers. This study explores what web tools nonprofit organizations, in this case Indiana Museum Websites, are utilizing as well as lacking in the recruitment and retention of volunteers. Through content analysis of 75 museum Websites, determining what web tools each organization is utilizing can help to better understand the issues and create new ways to resolve them. The study will also determine if there is strong communication established between the organization and its publics since communication is a vital element to have in order to retain and recruit volunteers.