A pan-European volunteer movement of 38,000+ members had no shared way to thank the people doing the work. I designed a peer recognition process that the organisation runs itself: volunteers nominate each other in categories set by the leadership, everyone votes, and the winners are announced on stage. 99 volunteers were nominated, more than 3,000 votes were cast, and 1,700 people were in the room. Runners-up received a personal thank-you written from their own peers' words, so nobody left the process feeling passed over.
About the Project:
Volt Europa needed a simple way to recognise outstanding volunteers throughout the year without excessive manual work or making recognition feel impersonal.
My Process:
I designed a lightweight awards process. Volunteers nominated peers (in categories chosen by the leadership) with a short reason. I tested the process with internal tools and later drafted a simple Lovable app.
Deliverables:
- A peer recognition process the organisation runs itself: volunteers nominate each other, vote, and see the results in one place
- Personalised runner-up emails written from the words their own peers used about them, sent before the event with an invitation to come and cheer for the winners
- The tech layer, owned by the client: a Lovable app on Volt Europa's own account at zero ongoing cost, with the emails generated by Mistral AI, EU-hosted. I am not a developer, I brief and build this layer myself, which is why tech people find me easy to work with
Results:
For the first time, Volt Europa could thank its own people in public, on a stage, in front of the whole movement. 99 volunteers were nominated by their peers, more than 3,000 votes were cast, and 1,700 people were in the room at the General Assembly, on top of those watching from home who could also vote. Volunteers who didn't win still received a personal thank-you built from their peers' own words, which turned a potential disappointment into a reason to show up and celebrate.
What the Colleagues Said:
“The Volunteer Awards were a genius idea and excellent execution by Ermal. They contributed to a higher attendance and better evaluation of our General Assembly. The awards created a strong feeling of recognition and belonging by our volunteers, and the logistics were smoothly handled by Ermal from start to finish.”
• Tetske Welling, former General Secretary @ Volt Europa
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