Evaluating a Volunteer Recognition Program to Improve Volunteer Retention at a Student-Run Free Medical Clinic

Background: The Lighthouse Free Medical Clinic (LFMC) provides healthcare to uninsured and underinsured patients in Buffalo, New York. Volunteer teams consisting of medical students, residents, and attending physicians run the clinic, which operates every Friday from 5-9 PM. Recruiting upperclassmen volunteers can be challenging due to demanding clinical requirements. Currently, students do not receive recognition for volunteering. To address this, we introduced a recognition program for upperclassmen who volunteer five or more times in an academic year. Up to five students receive a Lighthouse Distinguished Service Award and are recognized during the annual fundraising gala. Methods: Frequency of clinic volunteers were documented from June 2022 to June 2024. To determine a reasonable volunteer target, we reviewed data from June 2022 to June 2023, finding that 16 students volunteered three times, 8 volunteered four times, and 2 volunteered five or more times. Consequently, we believed that given the added incentive of the Lighthouse Distinguished Service Award, five or more times was a reasonable target for the designation. Results: Following the introduction of the award in June 2023, 8 students volunteered three times, 10 volunteered four times, and 16 volunteered five or more times—compared to only 2 students reaching the five-shift threshold in the previous year (p < .001). The total number of shifts covered over the academic year also increased from 242 to 332, corresponding to a significant rise in the average number of shifts per student, from 1.57 to 2.37 (p < .01). Conclusion: This initiative successfully increased volunteer continuity at the LFMC and offers a framework for other organizations to assess and improve volunteer retention in their own clinics.