Measuring the Impact of Volunteers

A Balanced and Strategic Approach

book cover Measuring the Impact of Volunteers
 

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Description

This book will help you:

  • Move from measuring the traditional "inputs" of volunteer time to focusing on "outcomes" achieved by volunteer work
  • Set goals that align volunteer services with the mission of the organization
  • Write meaningful reports that spark action from organization leaders  

The authors use a unique Volunteer Resources Balanced Scorecard (VRBSc) to help you evaluate and plan a volunteer engagement strategy that aligns with the priorities and goals of the organization and the needs of clients.

As a planning tool, the VRBSc helps leaders of volunteers ensure that volunteer service is in sync with the overall goals of the organization. As an evaluation tool, the VRBSc allows decision makers to take an honest look at all aspects of volunteer involvement, balancing four different perspectives that, together, lead to success. Directors of volunteer resources can assess where volunteers are having the most impact and what they should be doing next. As a reporting tool, the VRBSc shows progress and achievements to stakeholders in concrete ways that are meaningful to them.

Using illustrations, worksheets, and a comprehensive appendix including survey tools, this book takes readers step by step through the process of creating and using their own VRBSc.

Sample the Book

The Limits of Statistical Reporting

By Christine Burych, Alison Caird, Joanne Fine Schwebel, Michael Fliess, and Heather Hardie
From Measuring the Impact of Volunteers, Energize, Inc., 2016, pp. 1-2

Imagine if the only measure of a salaried employee’s worth was the number of hours worked. Is the way to improve performance to work more hours? Or is it to work smarter or to be innovative?

We have already mentioned the limitations of purely statistical reporting on the number of volunteers and the number of hours they serve. If you focus only on these data (in the current climate of continuous improvement), the only thing open to improvement is the number of volunteers and hours! So volunteer resources managers burden themselves with having to constantly provide more and more and more volunteers year after year. There is no way to achieve this expectation successfully, because the number of volunteers and the hours per staff assigned to manage them (i.e., our span of control) are finite. We are setting ourselves up to fail.

Even more important, increasing the number of volunteers may not address real needs and may even be a detriment. Is it better to have 100 volunteers each giving ten hours a month or 25 volunteers giving ten hours a week? Both groups are giving 1,000 hours a month; however, you are managing seventy-five fewer volunteers in the second example. And are all volunteers interchangeable? It may be that an organization has many volunteers but they cannot work on the schedule needed or are not qualified or trained to do the most pressing work. And does the staff possess the skills and the time to properly support endless numbers of volunteers?

Another statistic often reported but woefully misunderstood is turnover rate: whether we are retaining volunteers over time or continually bringing in new volunteers while losing veterans. Long-term retention is seen as a self-evident desired goal. What does proof of longevity really tell us? Given the current trend of most volunteers to prefer fewer, more productive hours of service, a six-month commitment may become the norm for many organizations. If an  opportunity is advertised as a six-month commitment and a volunteer fulfills that commitment, then you have a reliable volunteer. The question is whether something meaningful was accomplished. We in volunteer management must consider the trends and changes that have taken place in volunteering and offer volunteer opportunities that are more short term. Yet if our executives continue to look at turnover from the “old school” perspective, volunteers will be incorrectly seen as unreliable simply because they move on.

To be clear, it is not that measuring hours, numbers, or other types of statistics is necessarily wrong; it’s just hugely insufficient. Such data are only part of the equation. But the volunteer management field has stayed to a great extent with traditional measurements, even though these no longer assist us with improvement or effective evaluation. The tools we use for measuring have not kept pace with our changing responsibilities.

Proving the Point

Here is a powerful story illustrating why a greater number of volunteers does not equal a greater impact.

Based on his own experience while a patient in an intensive care unit (ICU), a hospital patient advisor approached the volunteer services department with a need he now recognized: having people skilled in lip reading to assist patients temporarily unable to vocalize during the recovery process after surgery. The volunteer services department enlisted two volunteers who were hearing impaired and were excellent lip readers. A lip reading program began for ICU patients who fit a number of criteria, such as being alert enough to attempt communication and being unable to vocalize. The number of volunteers for this program was exceptionally small (two) and the number of patients and families who requested this service at the time was also small (twenty-nine), but the impact was significant.

An article about this innovative program in the Toronto Star reported how, with a volunteer lip reader’s help, one patient was able to express some clinical needs to the nursing team, who acted quickly to relieve his discomfort. The patient’s son said,

My father was able to tell us he loved us . . . He was able to tell us he appreciated everything we were doing for him. We needed to hear that . . .The lip reading experience made us feel better about an awful experience. It made our final time with him less unfinished than it might have been.

…Using only the statistics of head count and hours served, this program would hardly have been a blip on the radar screen. But by gathering and reporting feedback from patients, family members, and the volunteers involved, the volunteer services department was able to state the importance and incredible impact of a service provided by “only” two participants. 

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Table of Contents

Measuring the Impact of Volunteers toc

Details
Publisher 
Energize, Inc.
Publication Year 
2016
Pages 
108
ISBN 
Paperback: ISBN: 978-0-940576-72-8 | PDF e-book: ISBN 978-0-940576-73-5 | ePub: ISBN 978-0-940576-74-2 | Kindle: ISBN 978-0-940576-75-9
Editorial Reviews

A terrific contribution to answering the question that has remained elusive for years: How do we fully capture and demonstrate the social and economic value and impact of volunteering? Impact is seen in the capacity of an organization, their services and programs, the quality of life of those they serve, the links to and the social cohesion of neighbourhoods, and, of course, in the growth and wellbeing of volunteers themselves. This book provides a guided tour through the theory and models of measuring the value and impact of volunteering with a step-by-step approach to creating a “Volunteer Resources Balanced Scorecard.”

—Paula Speevak, President and CEO, Volunteer Canada / Bénévoles Canada 

Finally, a step-by-step plan on how to put into practice what we all know we should be doing—making [the story of] volunteer impact greater than numbers and ensuring that volunteer work is meaningful. This book will help leaders of volunteers verify volunteer involvement is aligned with the organization’s mission and, then, demonstrate volunteer activity outcomes in reports that will impress stakeholders. I believe following the plan to use a “balanced scorecard” will elevate the volunteer services department in the eyes of others.

—Patricia M. Wright, CDVS, Director, Volunteer Services, Western Maryland Health System and  Board Member, Southeastern Healthcare Volunteer Leaders

…An engaging text for anyone interested in a holistic approach to measuring volunteer impact. Not only does it provide clear guidelines and worksheets, but it also gets us to think strategically about how volunteer resources are engaged in order to drive behavior towards the maximum achievement of an organization's mission.

—Laurie Mook, Assistant Professor, School of Community Resources and Development, Arizona State University and Co-author, What Counts: Social Accounting for Nonprofits and Cooperatives  

A welcome, needed and valuable resource for leaders of volunteers! This book not only provides a unique perspective on demonstrating the true impact of volunteers, it includes practical tools and examples for doing so. Definitely a book I will reference and use within my organization.

—Katherine Alexopoulos, Director, Volunteer Resources, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

A valuable contribution to the profession and one's own work, regardless of whether you're new to volunteer engagement or seasoned. This book is sure to provide food for thought and practical ideas that will add value and rigour to your work. Well worth adding to your library shelf!

—Erin Spink, MA Leadership, Founder of spinktank Consulting and former President of Professional Administrators of Volunteer Resources – Ontario

Increasingly and encouragingly, the non-profit sector is talking impact—how do we measure the incredible impact of our programs and organizations?  And in the volunteer engagement world, we are asking, “How do we tell the story of volunteer impact specifically?” With this book, the authors have provided a practical tool to help tell this important story, deepening the understanding of all that volunteers contribute to agencies and communities. With a strong focus on connecting volunteer activities to organizational priorities and mission, this approach will help organizations engage volunteers in the most effective ways for the greater good.

—Christine Martin, Senior Manager, Volunteer Engagement, Evergreen

A must read for any leader of volunteers who is looking for a tool to evaluate the impact of their volunteer program that goes beyond number of hours and number of volunteers. This easy to read book will guide you through a process that will assist you in validating your program and its impact to your board and senior management.

—Lisa Rae, President, PAVR - O, and Volunteer Services Manager, Circle of Care - Sinai Health System

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Comments from Readers

Submitted on
Anonymous, Danbury, CT, USA

I am interested in learning more about impactful programming.