The document discusses strategies for assessing volunteer programs, focusing on the types of information available, including quantitative and qualitative measures. It highlights the importance of understanding the impact of volunteer work on both the community and the volunteers themselves, as well as the need for effective data collection and communication of findings. Key recommendations include gathering feedback from volunteers, analyzing both numerical data and personal experiences, and sharing insights with stakeholders through various channels.

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How to Strategically
Assess your Program
Jennifer Bennett @JenBennettCVA
CVA, Senior Manager, Education & Training
Matt Wallace @ItsMattWallace
Senior Associate, Nonprofit Relations

3. Agenda
• What kind of information is out there?
• What are you measuring now?
• What could you measure?
• Why does it matter to your program? Organization?
Volunteers?
• How can you find this information?
• What do your volunteers say?
• Now that you have this – Share It!
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4. What kind of information is out there?
• Quantitative – can be measured or counted with
numbers
– Hours given, trees planted, meals served
• Qualitative – descriptive, can be observed but
not counted or measured
– Compassionate, friendly, outgoing, skilled
Both can be used to describe volunteers and the
work they do, and the impact on your community
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5. What are you measuring now?
The usual stuff
• Number of volunteers
• Hours given per volunteer and an estimated
dollar value
• Amount of trees, meals, etc.
• Money donated
• Cost per volunteer to run your program
– not always a good measure of how successful your
program is or how engaged your volunteers are
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6. What could you measure?
It starts to get a little tricky…
• The Scarce Resources Model – ROI for
Volunteers
– Tony Goodrow, Better Impact
http://www.betterimpact.com/roi2/
• The actual value of the work
– Move beyond an average $ amount
• The impact on the community
– What difference does that tree, sandwich, etc. make?
• The impact on your volunteers
– Increased health, sense of contributing, place in the
community
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7. Why does it matter?
• What questions do you want to answer?
• What kind of information is persuasive?
• Who wants or needs this information?
– You, organization leaders? Funders? The
community? Volunteers?
• What story do you want to tell?
• What do you want others to know about the work
volunteers do in your organization?
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8. How can you find this information?
Quantitative Information
• What are you tracking now?
– Where is it, and is it easy to get it out? Reports,
queries, etc.
• Can you answer the questions you need to
answer?
– If not, why are you tracking that information?
• What other questions do you need/want to
answer?
– Where is that information? If you’re not tracking it
now, can you? And can you report on it effectively?
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9. How can you find this information?
Qualitative Information
• Surveys
– Clients, visitors, members. Volunteers – past and
present. Paid staff – program managers, those that
do/don’t work with volunteers
• Interviews
– As a volunteer what kind of change do you see in
your clients after they are comfortable reading?
• Evaluating impact from a different perspective
– Not just numbers. Volunteers planted 250 trees –
Why does that matter? What does that change?
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10. How do you find this information?
• Work with volunteers!
– Track the quantitative information effectively.
Database volunteer, best practices for data entry.
– Reports that work! SQL volunteers, database
administrator, applications engineer
– Ask the right questions. Surveys written and
conducted by volunteers, evaluated by volunteers.
– Ask your volunteers – Qualitative information about
their experience, the differences they observe in
clients, visitors, the community.
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11. What do your volunteers say?
It can be scary to ask, but what are you afraid of?
If you don’t ask, you wont know, and you can’t
change the problems.
• Evaluate the satisfaction level of volunteers
• How long do volunteers stay? Why and when do
they leave?
• How would volunteer rate their effectiveness in
the organization? The community?
• What would they change?
• What do they wish you would/wouldn’t do?
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12. Share this!
• Remember the questions and remember who
wants the information.
– Annual reports, funders, organizational leaders,
volunteers, paid staff
• Think outside the usual channels
– Blog or newsletter articles, town hall meetings – the
state of volunteering, promote to your constituents,
use social media.
• Solicit feedback
– What else could you do? What other questions can
or should be answered? Follow up – year over year
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13. Remember
• Figure out what you want to answer and then find
that information.
• Challenge yourself to find some of the tricky
information – don’t just do the usual stuff
• As volunteering changes measuring impact should
change as well
• You don’t have to answer all the questions at
once, but know where you’re going
• Get Help! Skills based volunteers, volunteer input
• Spread the word – you did the work, now share it
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Resources
Learning Center
Find upcoming webinar dates, how-to videos and more
http://learn.volunteermatch.org
VolunteerMatch Community
Ask and answer questions after the webinar – use keywords Volunteer Management,
Measuring Success
http://community.volunteermatch.org/volunteer
Upcoming Related Webinar Topics:
•Best Practices for Recruiting Online
•Creating a Comprehensive and Engaging Volunteer Training Program
•Where do I go from here? Evolving your program for more involvement

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Thanks for attending!Join us online:
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Follow us on Twitter: @VolunteerMatch
Visit Engaging Volunteers, our nonprofit blog:
blogs.volunteermatch.org/engagingvolunteers/
For any questions contact:
Jennifer Bennett
(415) 321-3639
@JenBennettCVA
jbennett@volunteermatch.org