The Real Lives of Volunteer Coordinators
A Blog for us to Learn from Each Other
Written by Kasey Murphy Volunteer Coordinator Resource Community Recap Dec 14 - Dec 21
Oftentimes, it is quite hard to guage how your volunteer program is doing without a little bit of input, self-reflection, and constructive feedback. Can you think of a better way to do this than conducting a volunteer experience survey?
A volunteer experience survey is a great way to see exactly how your volunteer program is doing from a volunteer perspective. You can also ask about your volunteer management proficiency in a volunteer experience survey!
Volunteer surveys can provide new ideas, information, opinions, and even spark some creative ideas for restructuring or reorganizing you volunteer program and policies!
The idea of volunteer experience surveys might be intimidating, but just remember that volunteers are so willing to help and you can keep the surveys anonymous if you feel there might be some more sensitive information or opinions!
If you would like to comment on this post, or view all of the comments - click here!
What Others Had To Say About Volunteer Experience Surveys
“I sent something similar out back in August, as I needed to do a report for management to see how good our volunteer programme was. Unfortunately I didnt get much back in terms of feedback however you may get a better response!”
“We do a survey that we send out about 3 weeks after a volunteer starts their service.”
“Yep! We send out surveys (I find that Google Forms is the most accessible free tool) regularly. But overall we only see about 30% engagement as far as responses go.”
Resources For Volunteer Experience Surveys
Inactive Volunteers
Within a pandemic, you might have experienced a lack of volunteers. Whether your program shut down or continued on, you’ve probably seen some volunteers slow down or just become inactive.
Your volunteer program should have a process nailed down for filing volunteers as inactive or even for contacting them - but maybe this has changed?
Regardless of your program’s current status or COVID status - it is easy to come up with an inactive volunteer ruling - especially if you have a volunteer time tracking software!
What The Comments Had To Say About Inactive Volunteers
“1 year of no hours = Inactive
6 months of no hours = Reorienting (have to complete training)
I inactivated it based on the amount of time our location was closed. So, for example, we closed volunteer opportunities for 2 months. If a volunteer was becoming inactive in October, I extended their inactivation date by 2 months, so it didn't happen until December!”
“At my organization (fine arts museum), we have opted not to bring our volunteers back to service until our state enters the next phase its reopening plan. As such, we have waived this year’s minimum hours requirement to earn a year of service, and those earning milestone anniversary awards will receive theirs at year end. We had debated lowering the requirement to 50% of the normal requirement and allow them to earn hours through at-home training and enrichments online, but realized that would exclude those without access to online resources. We have only deactivated volunteers who have requested it. Ultimately, it’s been very well received and greatly appreciated.”
“Our program makes any volunteer not currently giving hours "inactive". They remain on our mailing list and our team reviews the list monthly to keep our database accurate. We have the ability to record why they are inactive as well e.g. our services were suspended for 3 months due to Covid.”
To view all of the advice and comments about inactive volunteers, click here.
Resources For Inactive Volunteers
Extra Extra, Read All About It!
Some extra light content to catch up on!
What Does Your Volunteer Coordinator Day Look Life?
If we took a day in your life and role, what would it look like? We know all volunteer coordinators have different jobs and responsibilities, so we thought the comments to this post were interesting!
Here are some of the comments - but we would love to hear more! Comment your average day here.
“Checking, double checking, and triple checking all of the different schedules to make sure I haven’t missed any volunteer needs, and texting volunteers to try to fill all of the volunteer needs. This unfortunately takes up most of my time each week.”
“Scheduling, rounding, answering emails and phone calls, interviewing and onboarding.”
“Scheduling classes, recruiting , volunteer contact , tracking info”
“Answering volunteer and prospective volunteer emails and phone calls, recruiting within our volunteer force for training and special programming, coordinating with other staff members on fundraising, volunteer staffing and scheduling. Updating records for volunteer awards, managing volunteer FB page and engaging with our organization's social media platforms. I could go on, but... So busy and so awesome!!”
Fun Apps For Social Media Graphics
Collaging and creating fun social media images has become many Volunteer Coordinator’s roles throughout the years of social media being around. Here are some fun apps to consider using to help your social media!
Comments included:
Canva
PicMonkey
Adobe Spark
To see all the comments, or add recommendations of your own - go here!