Nonprofit Volunteer Drive Set: 3 Print Picks That Fill Every Shift
A volunteer drive fails in the gap between interest and commitment. Someone hears about your cause, means to help, and never writes down a date. These three printed pieces close that gap in order, first explaining the mission, then asking for one specific shift, then thanking the people who showed up.
The nonprofit volunteer drive set is three print pieces that run a recruiting cycle end to end. Nonprofit brochures explain the mission to people meeting you for the first time. Nonprofit postcards carry one dated ask to supporters who already know you. A shaped thank you piece closes the loop with volunteers and sponsors, so the next drive starts with names instead of strangers.
The picks
Postcards, brochures and a thank you gift, from $15.00
Start here. These are the three pieces we would print for a volunteer drive of any size, in the order they get used. Postcards and brochures both leave in 3 business days, so size the run to your list and your budget before committing.
Design and print help
One shift ask across postcard, brochure and gift
The set only works if every piece looks like it came from the same organization. These four tools keep the color, the layout and the deadline consistent from the first brochure to the last thank you.
How they work together
Print in the order commitment builds
Each piece owns one stage of the decision a volunteer makes. Skip a stage and the drive stalls, either because nobody understands the work or because nobody was ever given a date.
Hand the brochure to anyone who slows down at your table, your info night or your partner lobby. It carries the story your volunteers cannot tell in ten seconds.
Mail or hand the postcard to everyone who already knows you. One date, one shift, one way to reply, and a deadline that makes people answer this week.
Close the loop after the shift. A shaped thank you handed to volunteers and sponsors turns a one time helper into a name you can call again next season.
1. Nonprofit brochures: the piece that explains the whole mission
Most people who consider volunteering do not lack goodwill, they lack information. They do not know who you serve, how a shift actually runs, whether they need training, or where the money goes. A brochure is the only piece in this set with enough room to answer all four questions in one sitting, which is why it belongs in every hand that pauses at your table.
Sequence the panels the way a stranger thinks. Panel one names the problem in one sentence. Panel two shows the people, with real photographs rather than stock. Panel three explains what a volunteer does on a normal Saturday. The last panel carries the ask and the contact. For structure worth borrowing, company brochure examples shows how organizations move a reader across folds, and best paper for flyers covers the stock choices that decide whether your handout feels funded or flimsy.
Print more than you think you need. Brochures live for a full year in partner lobbies, church foyers and school offices, quietly recruiting on days when nobody from your team is in the room.
2. Nonprofit postcards: the dated ask that fills the schedule
The postcard carries the volunteer drive because it survives the mailbox. Nothing to open, nothing to unfold, the message is already visible while someone walks from the curb to the kitchen. That single property makes it the cheapest way to put a specific date in front of a supporter who meant to help last year and simply forgot.
Write it as an appointment, not an appeal. Name the shift, the date, the place and the one thing you need done, then give a deadline that makes replying this week feel necessary. Campaign structures in brilliant examples of direct mail marketing and seasonal timing angles in Labor Day marketing and direct mail ideas both translate cleanly to a recruiting drive.
Mail in two waves. The first postcard goes out about three weeks ahead to set the date, the second lands five days before as a reminder. The reminder is usually the one that fills your last open slots.
3. Wine bottle shaped gift set: the thank you volunteers keep
Retention is cheaper than recruiting, and the moment that decides retention happens in the week after the shift. A die cut piece shaped like a wine bottle does something an email cannot. It gets propped on a desk, shown to a spouse, carried into an office. Volunteers who feel recognized answer the next postcard, and sponsors who feel recognized fund the next drive.
Use it two ways. Hand one to every volunteer at the end of the day with a real signature on the back, and send one to the local business that donated coffee, van space or a meeting room. If you want the gesture to feel personal rather than corporate, the framing in unexpectedly cool save the date ideas and the seasonal warmth in Easter marketing ideas both apply to a thank you piece.
Order these last, once the drive is scheduled and you know your headcount. It is the smallest line on the budget and usually the one that decides whether next season starts from scratch.
Specs and pricing
Nonprofit brochure panels, stock and the price ladder
The brochure sets the stock, the fold and the color standard the rest of the drive follows. Check its sizes and quantity breaks first, then match the postcard paper to it.
| Quantity | Price Per Unit | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | $1.14 | $57.11 |
| 100 | 82.4¢ | $82.38 |
| 200 | 53.3¢ | $106.55 |
| 300 | 41.0¢ | $123.02 |
| 400 | 34.9¢ | $139.49 |
| 500 | 31.2¢ | $155.97 |
| 600 | 26.7¢ | $160.36 |
| 700 | 23.5¢ | $164.75 |
Wally explains the drive set
Three pieces, one cycle, printed to fill every shift
Wally thinks of a volunteer drive as three conversations rather than one campaign. The brochure is the long conversation with someone who does not know you yet. The postcard is the short one with someone who already does, carrying a single date and a deadline. The thank you piece is the quiet one that happens after the work, and it is the reason the same person answers next season. Print all three together and the drive holds.
Shop the nonprofit collection →See it in use
Volunteer print charities have sent out
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Where to go next
By the numbers
One set, printed to fill every shift
Common Questions
Common questions about the nonprofit volunteer drive set
What is in the nonprofit volunteer drive set?
Three print pieces that cover a full recruiting cycle. Nonprofit brochures carry the mission, the programs and the proof for anyone meeting you for the first time. Nonprofit postcards carry a single dated ask to people who already know you. The wine bottle shaped gift set closes the loop as a thank you for volunteers and the sponsors who feed them.
In what order should I print and use these three pieces?
Print the brochure first, because it takes the longest to write and it feeds the copy for everything else. Print the postcards next so they land two to three weeks before the shift date. Order the thank you pieces last, once you know roughly how many volunteers and sponsors you will need to recognize after the drive is over.
How many volunteers should one postcard mailing bring in?
Response depends entirely on your list, your cause and your ask, so treat any promised number with suspicion. What you can control is the structure. A single shift, a real date, a named contact and a reply deadline consistently outperform a general call for help. Track replies by source so the next drive starts from your own numbers, not an average.
Do I need a brochure if I already mail postcards?
Yes, because the two pieces do different jobs. The postcard is a reminder for people who already trust you and has room for one idea. The brochure is what you hand a stranger at a community night, a school table or a corporate lobby, where you need space to explain who you serve, how the program runs and where the money goes.
How do I keep all three pieces looking like one campaign?
Repeat three things on every piece. Use the same logo lockup in the same corner, the same two brand colors with nothing extra, and one photo family shot in the same light. Then keep the type simple, one display face for headlines and one plain face for body copy. Consistency reads as competence, and competence is what makes a stranger sign up.
What should go on the volunteer postcard itself?
A headline naming the need, one sentence of context, the date and time of the shift, the location, what the volunteer will actually do, and one clear way to reply. Add a QR code to the sign up form and a phone number for people who will never scan anything. Leave white space. A crowded postcard reads as noise.
Can I add more pieces as the drive grows?
Yes. This set is a starting point, not a ceiling. Chapters that run recurring drives usually add name badges, table signs, a donor buckslip tucked into mailings and a small poster for partner windows. Everything sits in the nonprofit collection, so you can reorder the three core pieces and layer the extras on the same brand.
Get Started
Order 50 nonprofit postcards at $16.48 for the volunteer list
Order the full drive set from one place so the brochure, the postcard and the thank you piece share a look and land on schedule. Live pricing on every product page, no minimums to figure out first.
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