American_Cancer_Society_Logo.svg

ACSResources.org

Recruitment Strategy

Whether an event needs event leadership volunteers or team captains, these basic recruitment steps will help a community get started with putting a successful recruitment strategy in place.

 

Assess your current volunteer situation (teams and ELT) and determine who is coming back so you know the current needs. Also assess, the event experience, what exactly are you recruiting volunteers to?

a.      Bring your existing volunteers together and dive into defining the way you speak about Relay in the community. How do you recruit to something if you are all talking about it differently and what the experience is? Check out this tool to guide your and your team in this discussion.

b.      Call or meet individually with all past team captains and ELT. This is important and the sooner it is done the better. As soon as you know where you currently are, you can determine how far you need to go to get to where you need to be. Plus, individuals who commit can help in the rest of the recruiting process!

c.       During your assessment spend time reviewing the needs of your event. What characteristics are needed on the planning team to help the event grow?   Check out all of the possible ELT/Committee Functions here.  

   
 Identify potential areas of the community for recruitment opportunities.

a.      Look at all areas of the community to make the event as diverse and successful as possible.

                                                              i.      Tools to help: The Recruitment Wheel,  RFL Community Assessment Tool, and Circle of Influence   

Put a plan in place, set goals and get everyone involved.

a.      Be sure to document the plan and hold people accountable.

                                                              i.      Tools to help: Recruitment Blitz Planning Guide, Social Media Assets


Take Action

a.      Put the plan in place and make the ask.

                                                              i.      Tools to help: Monthly Tracker

Follow-up, continue to go back to the plan, adding new opportunities and discussing/celebrating win

 
  

Recruitment Tips

  • Business Drop-In’s: The best way to get Relay on the minds of area businesses is to just drop in and leave something fun and memorable behind.
  • Pass The Baton- Team Recruitment– Get your teams and participants involved in the recruitment process by utilizing a community baton that gets passed from person to person. Each person with the baton should hold on to it no longer than 24 hours before they sign-up for Relay and then pass it on to the next person.
  • Existing Contacts– It is sometimes easy to get overwhelmed by the possibilities of where to recruit. Don’t overlook the groups that can offer the greatest potential. Look to last year’s registered survivors and participants. Pull reports from teams who relayed the years before but maybe not last year. Start with a postcard or email but then have current ELT make calls and personal asks.
  • Working the Track– Working the track is an important strategy for identifying teams and ELT for the next year. Simply put, working the track is walking around the track at this year’s event and starting conversations, thanking them for being there and for all their hard work as an ELT member or team member (or both). These conversations can help in the relationship building process necessary to move volunteers into the next phase of leadership. This activity sets the groundwork for all future recruiting activities.
  • ELT VIP Recruitment Party– There is no better time to recruit members of an ELT for next season than at this year’s event. Working the track is a great way to engage potential ELT members but what if you took things one step further? Invite them to a VIP Party that will take place, that day, at Relay. Planning a VIP Party doesn’t have to be hard.
  • Recruitment A-Z– List all the businesses or people the ELT know alphabetically, challenging the ELT to think of one for each letter A-Z. (A=All State Insurance, B=Best Buy, etc.) Once the list has been developed assign the people/businesses on the list to members of your ELT to start recruiting.
  • Social Media Recruitment– Train members of the ELT to identify potential ELT members and teams through social media. If people are posting about a loved one’s cancer diagnosis make sure volunteers know to connect them with ACS not just for volunteer opportunities to get them the help they may need through our many programs and services.
  • LinkedIn– Looking to get into a specific company to recruit a team or members of your ELT? LinkedIn is a great professional networking site that allows you to do a targeted search to find employees who work for the company you are trying to get into.
  • Community Tabling– Look for opportunities to set up a Relay table at busy community events such as a Friday night football game, a craft show, a community fair, business expo. This exposure and interaction with the diverse pockets of the community will help truly expand recruitment efforts.
  • Junior ELT– Adding a Junior ELT to an existing ELT structure can help bring new ideas and new people to an event. A Junior ELT can be made up of students of all ages and be assigned the task of recruiting their peers to form teams and volunteer. This can help give students some leadership opportunity without the burden of planning the entire Relay For Life event.
  • Letter writing campaign– Old school letter writing can be just as effective at recruitment as it can be at fundraising. Engage current ELT and Survivors to write letters to members of the community asking them to get involved in Relay by starting a team or joining the ELT.
  • Recruitment Bingo– Give all ELT members and team captains a recruitment bingo card and give them a set time frame to try to get a bingo. Award all bingos with a prize and special recognition.
  • Faith Based– Faith Based groups can help lead you to a diverse audience in a community that can narrow down your recruitment efforts.
  • Recruitment Challenge– Many individuals are motivated by a challenge or a prize, sometimes it is simply the pressure of having a deadline to register that can get people moving. Hosting a recruitment challenge for your ELT or Teams can help widen the net of your recruitment efforts. Maybe it is 30 teams in 30 days, challenging your ELT and Team Captains to get involved, prizes for the person who recruits the most. Perhaps it is an ELT Nomination challenge, asking everyone, teams, survivors, and ELT to nominate potential ELT members. Prizes for each nomination and an even better prize when the nominee commits.
  • Episodic Volunteers– Sometimes people want to get involved but don’t have the time that it would take to be an ELT member or a team captain. Recruiting individuals to help with certain tasks can help start a relationship with that volunteer and create the potential for more involvement in the future. Consider recruiting to episodic volunteer positions.
  • Calling Campaigns– Setting some time aside at each ELT meeting with a list of businesses and people is a quick and cost-effective way to recruit teams. Work of a list from the area chamber or a list of past teams and survivors. Have scripts on hand for all the callers and do a quick training in the beginning to help them get comfortable with the purpose of the calls.
  • Team Fundraisers– Many of our teams host fundraisers all throughout the year, these fundraisers often attach members of the community that haven’t necessarily attended the actual Relay For Life event. Work with your team captains to set-up a recruitment table at some of the larger fundraisers, have information, sign-up sheets and more how they can get involved in the fight against cancer.
  • Use those connections– Every person you meet with will not commit to getting involved, but they may know someone who will. Every recruitment ask should be followed up by, “who do you know in the community that I might be able to meet with?” This simple question can lead to many other open doors. Here is a real-life case study showing how ELT can be built through using those connections.

 

 

Recruitment Resources

2025 Relay For Life Team Captain Kit

For the 2026 Team Captain Kit, click here. The Relay For Life Team Captain Kit (2025 Edition) is a guide for team captains to lead successful fundraising teams. It covers

Leveraging Luminaria Toolkit

This toolkit is to help events build a plan and strategy around how to grow Relay For Life events through the luminaria experience.

Scroll to Top