Vermont Guardian ad Litem program

Recruiting volunteers for abused and neglected children

Vermont Guardian ad Litem (VT GAL) was struggling to recruit enough volunteers into the GAL training program. There was a shortage of trained GALs to cover the state sustainably, and many GALs were required to carry too large of a case load in order to meet the demand. 

Focus Areas

Health & Safety

Social Equity & Community

Government Agencies

Related Services

Branding Strategy & Positioning

Traditional Marketing

The Challenge

What were the current barriers preventing potential GALs from applying and participating in the program? We needed to know the answer before launching into a recruitment campaign.

Insight: Current volunteers are the best recruiters for future volunteers

Current volunteers were highly motivated and engaged in Vt GAL's work. We needed to minimize their frustrations with state communications and leverage what they shared that inspired them.

GAL Vermont logo

Strategies & Services

  • Conduct focus group with volunteers statewide
  • Develop communications platform with audiences, key messages, and recommended media channels
  • Apply Vermont branding to print and digital collateral materials
  • Create a PR Toolkit for regional coordinators with instructions and links to downloadable resources
  • Draft a budget with priorities for second national grant application
  • Implement budget priorities when second grant was received

Be the difference for me with photos of children

How We Helped

Through a national CASA grant to Vermont Judiciary, Marketing Partners conducted research on the barriers and motivators for GAL volunteers, developed an initial set of resources for recruitment, and developed budget options and priorities for a second CASA grant. The second grant enabled us to develop a toolkit of materials to support ongoing visibility and recruitment at the regional level and update the website to match.
 

It's All About the Children

GALs are motivated by the children they serve. Building on available national images, we applied the Vermont GAL program brand and developed a series of posters and digital ads for regional use. These were supported by statewide radio underwriting, local advertising, letters to the editor, and other public relations efforts.

VTGAL posters titled, Be My Difference

Impact

Regional recruitment coordinators now have a toolkit of materials.

Vermont GAL received an FY2018 CASA grant to expand the toolkit and assist in implementing the recruitment program.

VTGAL brochure