Your Experience with Managing Volunteers

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Hi! I'm Kevin, a UX Design student with a background in church communications and teaching. UX Designers make apps, websites, and other products to make people's lives easier. I'm working on project that explores how volunteers and nonprofits work together through volunteering. Can we make it easier? Better? More impactful?

If you currently work with volunteers at a nonprofit or have ever managed volunteers, I'd love to learn more about your experience.

It just takes a 5-minute survey. At the end, you can let me know if you'd be open for a 30 minute conversation with me to dive deeper into your joys, frustrations, stories, and memories with managing volunteers. I'd love to buy you a coffee, drink, or connect over Zoom for a fun and insightful conversation about your experiences.

Thank you so much for helping with this project and supporting volunteering, nonprofits, and social impact!

Privacy Note

Your response will only be seen by me (Kevin Bowen) and my faculty advisor (James Pikover), and will be used only for my student project in the Springboard UX Design online bootcamp program. The results of this project will be published on my portfolio website, and will only include overall trends from this research. Your individual response won't be published or shared. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at kevinthomasbowen@gmail.com

1. How many volunteers engage with your organization each month?

Less than 20

20-100

100-500

500-1000

More than 1000

Clear selection

2. How many full-time staff work at your organization?

1-2

3-5

6-10

11-20

20-49

50+

Clear selection

3. In a typical month, what is the ratio between new vs. returning volunteers at your organization?

Your best guess is okay

10% new / 90% returning

20% new / 80% returning

40% new / 60% returning

50% new / 50% returning

60% new / 40% returning

80% new / 20% returning

90% new / 10% returning

Other:

Clear selection

4. How much of your total weekly work time do you spend finding and managing volunteers?

100%

75%

50%

25%

10%

Other:

Clear selection

5. In a typical work week, what concerns you most?

My organization staying on budget

Getting enough donations/giving

Keeping operations going smoothly

Managing constituent relationships

Getting through everything on my plate

Finding enough volunteers

Delivering upcoming programs and/or events

Responding to all my emails

Managing staff

Doing my own work and deliverables well

None of the above

Other:

6. What are the primary reasons your organization uses volunteers?

Choose your 2 top reasons (I know there may be more!)

To supplement paid staff and reduce the expenses of our budget

To be able to operate and deliver our core services

To provide connection, growth, purpose, career and life skills for volunteers

To increase the engagement of members

As an entry point or re-engagement tool for potential donors

To expand or scale our core services

As an outreach tool to connect new people to our organization

Volunteering is part of who we are and why we exist

None of the above

Not sure

Other:

7. How effectively does your volunteering process or program achieve those organizational goals?

Very Effective - Volunteering provides exponentially more value than the effort/cost to manage volunteers

Effective - Volunteering provides consistent value toward our organization's mission/goals

Somewhat Effective - Managing volunteers is time consuming, but it's ultimately worth it

Minimally Effective - Managing volunteers may cost us productivity, but it's just how we do things

Ineffective - Volunteers sometimes feel like more hassle than their worth

Not sure

Other:

Clear selection

8. How do you typically find and coordinate volunteers?

Choose up to 3

Talk to them in-person

Pen + paper

Phone call

Text message

On our website

A shared online document or form (Google Docs, Google Forms, etc)

A 3rd party website (Signup.com, Signup Genius, Doodle Poll, or other)

A volunteer management software

A smartphone app

They don’t sign up; they just show up at a given time.

Not sure

Other:

9. What best describes your experience of finding and managing volunteers?

Choose up to 3 words

Easy

Fun

Friendly

Fulfilling

Exciting

Rewarding

Efficient

Impersonal

Fine

Inconsistent

Challenging

Stressful

Tiring

Frustrating

Overwhelming

Neverending

None of the above

Other:

10. Have you ever been disappointed or frustrated while working with volunteers?

Very Frequently

Frequently

Occasionally

Rarely

Never

Clear selection

11. What part(s) of your experience managing volunteers have you found to be the most challenging, or needing improvement?

Finding enough volunteers

Finding the right volunteers for a role

Matching people to the right opportunities

Signing up method / process

Scheduling

Defining tasks and roles

Feeling prepared

When volunteers first arrive

Training & support

Expectations (Volunteers have different expectations)

Direction (Volunteers doing a task/role in a different way than you discussed or hoped)

Organization

Interpersonal leadership / feeling confident

Managing personalities/attitudes of leaders and other volunteers

Giving recognition, appreciation & feedback

Leaving gracefully (Knowing when I'm done, when people have everything they need)

Getting a break / some rest

None of the above

Other:

12. If you were granted one wish and could get one of these indefinitely, which would you choose?

Always having enough/more volunteers

Volunteers following directions, doing a task in the way we discussed, intended, or needed

Volunteers growing their skills, relationships, and reaching their potential

Having better reports and insights about volunteers

Getting to spend more face-to-face time with volunteers

Needing spend less face-to-face time with volunteers

Not sure

None of the above

Other:

Clear selection

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