The Connection Cookbook: 3 Positive Application Recipes for Volunteers at Face to Face

The Connection Cookbook is a curated set of interventions designed to generate momentum in volunteer engagement at Face to Face, a nonprofit organization serving the unhoused population in Germantown, Philadelphia. The initiative emphasizes strengthening connections through enhanced communication, interaction, structure, and recognition. From a menu of evidence-informed options, Face to Face selected three core strategies to implement: a quarterly email newsletter, structured rituals to open and close volunteer shifts, and a volunteer appreciation event. The accompanying "Cookbook" includes sample newsletter content, templates for rituals, an event agenda, evaluation guidance, and additional unselected intervention options for future consideration. These strategies are low-cost, relatively simple to execute, and can be delegated mainly to members of Face to Face's robust yet underutilized volunteer base—thereby minimizing the additional burden on the already overstretched Volunteer Manager at Face to Face.