Proof Positive: Developing Significant Volunteer Recordkeeping Systems, 21st Century Edition

Susan J. Ellis and Katherine Noyes Campbell

This book will help you:

Create your own forms from many samples

Collect and communicate volunteer information in easy and effective ways

Write reports that get your executive's attention

Electronic version: Energize, 2003, 67 pages, ISBN 0-940576-29-5
Print version: Energize, 2003, 67 pages, ISBN 0-940576-37-6

Electronic version:


Price: US$10.00

Print version:

Price: US$14.95

Susan Says:

Coordinate volunteers with all the facts about them at your fingertips and develop meaningful reports on volunteer accomplishments. PROOF POSITIVE, the step-by-step guide to the basic elements of a volunteer recordkeeping system, has been helping volunteer program managers since its first edition in 1980. Now fully updated for the 21st century, the new edition makes sure you make the most of your computer software -- in fact, it can help you decide what you need before you buy. (People still keeping manual files will find all the original "on paper" hints in the Appendix.)

You learn the why and how of application forms, volunteer data files, assignment records, time and activity reports - for individual volunteers, groups, and off-site service, too. Lots of sample forms, ideas for documenting hard-to-track activities, and ways to demonstrate the work you do in running the program.

 
Readers' Reviews

We're always interested in receiving readers' reviews.

(When you've completed the book, remember to e-mail us at and share your review!)
 
Brief Excerpt

Before you put fingers to keyboard, think through what you are most likely to want to know about volunteers on a regular basis, what information you need to store but won’t necessarily look at often, and how you expect to use the system. This is much, much more than a complicated “mailing list.” This is data you will actually use in managing the volunteer program. For example, consider questions such as:

  • Do you need to contact volunteers on a daily or weekly basis?
  • Do you make contact by phone? E-mail? Postal mail?
  • Are you likely to want to search often for such things as special skills, schedule availability, or other data? What do you want to store vs. what do you want as searchable?
  • Will you want to enter dates for such things as training or recognition received, or will a simple check-off do?
  • How likely are you to want to write notes into the record? About what?
  • Who will enter the data into the system—and make decisions about what to say and where to put data?
  • How many people will access the records and for what purpose?
 

Table of Contents

View the Table of Contents

Concerned about whether you can view an electronic book?
 Viewing the table of contents linked above is a good test to see if you can easily view electronic books. If you can successfully click on the link and open the table of contents, you should have no problem viewing the book. If you have problems, you probably need to install or upgrade Acrobat Reader. Click on the graphic below to download the latest version from the Adobe website. It is an easy download. They also have a support area if you continue to have problems with viewing.