Finding your first volunteer helpers

Sooner or later you can't do it all yourself: greeting every newcomer, answering every question, running every event. The good news is that your first helpers are usually already doing the job without the title.

Look for the helpers

Go through the last month of activity and note who answers other people's questions, welcomes newcomers or reports problems politely. Those are your candidates. Enthusiasm for the community matters more than experience.

Offer a small, specific role

• Greeter: welcomes new members twice a week.
• Ritual host: posts the weekly thread when you're away.
• Event helper: takes notes or keeps an eye on the chat during calls.

Say how long it takes ("about thirty minutes a week") and for how long ("let's try it for two months"). A fixed trial period makes it easy to say yes, and easy to step back later without guilt.

Look after them

Give helpers a private space to ask questions, thank them in public and check in every few weeks. Volunteers rarely quit because the work is hard; they quit because nobody noticed it.

This week's task: list three members who are already helping, choose one small role for each and send one invitation.