The following resources on recruiting and screening volunteer mentors have been developed by the National Mentoring Center and its various projects. These resources can help any mentoring program recruit appropriate adults for the mentoring role and ensure the safety of program participants through rigorous pre-match screening.

NMC Resources

Effective Mentor Recruitment: Getting Organized, Getting Results
This resource combines strategies for identifying and recruiting potential mentors with planning worksheets that can help organize a comprehensive recruitment campaign. It begins with an emphasis on planning and building a recruitment team, followed by sections that address broad-based program marketing and common recruitment strategies, such as formal business partnerships, presentations at community events, and coordinated “personal appeal” campaigns.

The US Department of Education Mentoring Program’s Guide to Screening and Background Checks
This guide, developed in partnership with the Nonprofit Risk Management Center, addresses all aspects of screening adult volunteers to serve as mentors to youth in school-based settings. It examines the key characteristics of effective volunteer screening practices, provides an eight-step framework for screening applicants, and includes sample forms and worksheets programs can use as they set up their volunteer screening process. Detailed information is provided about the many different types of background checks and how to interpret the information they provide. A special section on screening youth for peer mentoring programs is also included.

Webinar: Preventing and Dealing with Sexual Abuse in One to One Youth Mentoring Programs
One-to-one adult-child mentoring relationships have proven to be tremendously beneficial for children, especially when programs recruit the right type of caring adults to serve as mentors and when their mentoring relationships with children last over time. This session, developed in partnership with the Nonprofit Risk Management Center, will be beneficial for both staff members who are new to mentoring and to seasoned veterans. The information presented is based upon over 30 years of study of incidents reported in one-to-one mentoring programs, as well as from research in the fields of child and youth protection, offender treatment programs, and the justice system.

• Additional downloads: Slides from the presentation (PDF file); Handout: Preventing Sexual Abuse of Children (PDF file)

Marketing for the Recruitment of Mentors
This comprehensive guide connects the principles of marketing with the recruitment of volunteer mentors. Designed as a workbook, it offers numerous worksheets and tools to help your program plan for and implement a marketing plan. It covers everything from creating effective media messages to building a strong program "brand" in the community.

Putting the "Men" Back in Mentoring (Fact Sheet)
The recruitment of sufficient numbers of male volunteers is an ongoing struggle for most mentoring programs. This fact sheet provides tips for maximizing the number of men in your community who will commit to mentoring a young person.

Volunteer Motivation and Mentor Recruitment (Fact Sheet)
This fact sheet explores research into the common motivations of people who volunteer and how your mentoring program can turn those motivations into effective recruitment pitches.

Audio Presentation - Special Issues in Targeted Mentor Recruitment: Male Mentors & Hispanic Communities (mp3 recording) (98MB)
This seminar offers sound advice and useful tools for effectively recruiting the right mentors for your program. It focuses on applying the principles of targeted mentor recruitment to two specific areas: Recruiting Men to Mentor (presented by Juergen Kneifel) describes how programs can build a successful male recruitment strategy by assessing their needs and community resources and understanding male volunteer motivations to develop recruitment messages that work for males. Recruitment in Hispanic Communities (presented by Beth Senger) can help programs that are working primarily with Hispanic youth and families develop their capacity to find, train, and support Hispanic volunteers. Based on her personal experience in El Paso, Texas, Beth includes helpful tips on developing community relationships and involving families in the program

• Additional download - Special Issues in Targeted Mentor Recruitment: Male Mentors & Hispanic Communities (transcript of both presentations, plus slides, handouts, and supplemental reading)

Mentor Recruitment Postcard
Programs can download, print, and use this generic recruitment postcard (PDF format) as part of a campaign in which current mentors recruit friends and family members to volunteer. This can be a simple, but effective, way of boosting mentor recruitment.

Resources from Other Organizations

The following resources developed by other mentoring organizations can also help programs with mentor recruitment and screening. All links will open in a new window.

Checking Criminal Histories: Considerations Before You Begin (published by the Nonprofit Risk Management Center)

Energize, Inc. Website

Mentoring Across Generations: Engaging 50+ Adults as Mentors (published by MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership)

Mentoring Essentials: Risk Management for Mentoring Programs (published by EMT)

Recruiting Male Volunteers: A Guide Based on Exploratory Research (published by the Corporation for National Service)

Recruitment Tips for a Mentoring Program (produced by the University of Minnesota Extension Service)

SafetyNet Background Check Service (MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership)

The Wisdom of Age: Staff Guide (guide to recruiting older adults); accompanying Handbook for Mentors