Tobi's Nonprofit Management Blog

Volunteer Satisfaction Surveys: Ten Ways to Get It Right

Gathering candid opinions from your volunteers will help you gain insights around what you need to improve.  Despite our best efforts, however, sometimes our surveys raise more questions than insights and don’t help us understand the specific actions we need to take next.  If that’s the case for you, here are some suggestions that I hope will help generate the rich, actionable feedback you need.

10 Ways to Build a Bang Up Survey Questionnaire

1) Keep it simple.  Show respect for your volunteers’ time and the suggestions they are about to share.  Keep your survey short.  Even though it’s tempting to add a potpourri of inquiries, keep it to less than ten questions (or less than a few minutes) to complete.  You'll also help yourself out -- the longer the survey, the more respondent burden, and the less likely they are to finish it anyway.   

2) Keep it easy.  In order to make it manageable for both you and your volunteers, use free or low-cost online survey software, such as Survey Monkey.  Send out invitations via email to easily capture and automatically report your responses.  Make paper surveys available to those few who don't have internet access.  And, just like other communications, stay away from jargon or acronyms that will confuse readers, regardless of how long volunteers have been onboard.

3) Always “bookend” your survey with a short introduction at the beginning and an authentic thank you at the end.  Satisfaction surveys are another way to build relationships with your volunteers.  Let them know why they’ve been invited, what you hope to gain, and when they will hear back from you with your next steps.  Thank them and give them a specifc contact person, the event they have questions or experience problems.

4) Focus on using structured questions.  Rather than using primarily open-ended questions, ask a few volunteers to help you brainstorm all the possible answers to a question.  Then, categorize your answers into neat, multiple choice options.  Add the category of “other” and allow respondents to add their own responses, but try to make your list as exhaustive as possible.  This also reduces respondent burden and makes it much, much easier to analyze results on your end.

5) Always ask volunteers to rate how likely it would be for them to recommend their volunteer experience to friends and family.  This question gets at perceived value, which is the core of what drives our satisfaction with people, things, and experiences.  If a person believes something is valuable to them, they'll rave about it.  If you track this metric over time, you’ll see whether your value goes up or down in the volunteers' eyes.  Also, if you ask why they chose this rating, in a subsequent open-ended question, you can find the root cause of their delight or disdain.

6) Always, invite volunteers to share additional comments in an open-ended question at the end.  That sends a clear message to volunteers that your ears are open and you are willing to hear candid comments, even if they don’t fit into the neat boxes in your survey.

7) Test, test, test.  Have a few volunteers test your online and paper survey instruments.  Make sure they understand what your questions are really asking.  Also, you can confirm with your testers that your list of multiple choice options include a broad enough selection.

8) Make sure your stats stack up.  You want to be able to defend your survey results and have confidence in your analysis.  So, you need to make sure you have enough data.  First make sure you have collected enough responses to generalize your results (collect a “statistically relevant” sample size) -- the smaller the population, the larger percentage of responses you must collect.  Free online calculators can be found, like this one, to do the math for you (note, when using this tool, industry standard is a 95% confidence level with a +/- 5% margin of error).  Also, make sure that if you are asking volunteers to rate something, they will need at least five data points to chose from (called a “likert scale).”  Click here for a few sample scales to choose from.

9) Be prepared for the “halo effect.”  In the nonprofit world, volunteers and service beneficiaries alike are reluctant to give negative feedback to nonprofit staff.  If they are bothered by something, volunteers will often leave the organization before they will tell staff about their frustrations.  To gather as much information as possible, collect responses anonymously and let volunteers know their privacy will be protected.  When reporting the results, choose representative statements from the open-ended comments and do not associate them with an individual’s name. Finally, pay attention to complaints; they are likely the tip of the iceberg.

10) When you have a survey that works, stick with it through several survey seasons.  Your survey is succesful when it gets you the info you need to take action, not neccessarily just because it generates a glowing report.  Once you have a design that is feeding you valuable insights, resist the temptation to tweak your core questions each time.  That way you can build a baseline of trustworthly trending data to work from.  If you change up your annual survey every year, you’ll never know whether the changes you make have an impact. 

 One More Thing...

Surveys aren’t the only way to evaluate volunteer satisfaction.  You can use social media to facilitate conversations within your volunteer team about their needs.  You can take a look at your volunteer retention numbers, analyze where and when people are leaving, and ask why.  You can also do exit interviews with volunteers to get their final suggestions on their way out the door.

Also, recognize that no satisfaction survey will get you all the information you need.  If your survey results raise additional questions, think about facilitating a volunteer focus group to get at some of the deeper dirvers of satisfaction.  If you're worried they won't be totally honest with your or your staff, hire an outside facilitator to manage it for you.

 

Corporate Volunteer Programs: What Do They Want From Nonprofits?

There’s quite a bit of buzz about corporate responsibility lately.  In the midst of scandals, declining trust, and lost profits, businesses are increasingly concerned with maintaining a positive reputation in the public eye.  This represents a potential windfall for nonprofits who are looking to leverage needed resources from the business community, including volunteer support.  
So, what does business want?

This focus on brand reputation is a relatively new phenomenon, as chronicled in a recent Harvard Business Review post.  According to the author, “People have become increasingly concerned with business's impact on the world, and search engines...make it trivially easy to find out who makes a product and how, where they operate, who they have offended, and what causes they have supported. Social media makes it easy to learn more, and spread the word.  Suddenly, a brand's paternity is not only easy for customers to discover, it's important to them to consider.  And they have no trouble boycotting products from companies that they believe fail to live up to their standards.”

It’s a cold world for business when the public shuns you, so some companies are taking proactive steps to prevent it, including stepping up their volunteering.  Despite (or maybe because of) the economic downturn, new corporate volunteer programs are popping up across the country.  In the past, corporate support was offered mostly in the form of donations and grants to charities.  Now, private industry is looking to donate time either in addition to, or instead of, cash.  

It's a surprising role reversal.  For-profits are now turning to nonprofits for support and connecton to community.  And, lest you think this is an insignificant development, just take a look at the long list of conferences this year devoted to corporate citizenship and volunteering from the Realized Worth website. 

Three Corporate Volunteer Program Expectations

So what are corporate, or skilled, volunteering programs hoping for when they partner with you?   Here are a few themes I’ve noticed as I listen in on webinars and read posts about corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs.  And, they are things to think about, if you plan to approach a business for help.

1) Impact Focus
CSR programs are deeply interested in generating concrete outcomes.  They hope that the experience of volunteering will encouraging greater teamwork amongst employees, will lead to enhanced skills development, and will result in deeper job satisfaction and retention.  They also hope the program will have an impact on the community and advance the cause they are investing in.

2) Strategic Alignment
Corporations are also keenly aware of how they use their valuable resources.  They seek to form strategic partnerships with nonprofits that align with their own corporate culture, values, and organizational objectives.  And, more and more, they are looking to build a portfolio of volunteer opportunities that are in direct alignment with their brand.  If their brand is about kids, they’ll most likely look to help programs that benefit children.  But, this isn’t always the case.  Sometimes, the focus is in helping the community refresh it’s economic vitality which, in turn, will make it a better place to do business.

3) Efficiency
Coordinators of corporate volunteer programs are also under pressure to make the most of their employee’s time.  Many are experimenting with different models of episodic, or short-term, volunteering that give the best “bang for the buck.”  Their staff are working under time constraints that make volunteering a potentially expensive proposition, so they want to be sure their investment in time is well spent.

If nonprofit volunteer programs are aware of these needs, find ways to meet them, and are able to find private partners who are closely aligned with their cause, a fruitful mutually-beneficial collaboration can be forged.  It’s an interesting proposition -- the private-public partnership.  And, although it’s not new, it appears to be making a comeback.  Is this an opportunity your organization can take advantage of?

Have you had experiences with corporate partnership?  How have they worked out?  Do you have any wisdom to share?

 

Reclaim Valentines Day!

If you haven't heard, there's a movement afoot to take back Valentaines Day and transform it into something with a higher purpose -- Generosity Day!  

It started last year on Sasha Dichter's Blog and has spread like wildfire.  The seed was a personal generosity experiment Dichter conducted (click here to see his TED Talk on this).  He found that by giving unabashedly, without reservation, to each and every person who asked for money over a 30-day period something amazing happened.  He found these small actions changed his world view in a fundemental way.  He became more open, more action-oriented, an more generous....and became a better fundraiser along the way.  

So, if you're interested in practicing generosity and seeing what it does for you and for others, check it out. Share the love, and go BIG!  Reboot your Valentines Day!  Watch the video below and take the pledge here. 

 

 

 

6 Ways to Get Busy College Students Involved in Service

I have a new friend who is an engineering professor at a local university.  He’s been struggling with implementing a new student service program in one of their dorms.  He asked for suggestions, so I thought I’d share them with my readers, too.

The Challenge: Building Student Community Service 

The university is a small school that recently inaugurated a new dormitory.  The idea behind the dorm is to create a strong sense of community and to introduce volunteer service as a community building experience.  They have invited local nonprofits to talk about their volunteer opportunities, but students don’t appear interested.  They suspect students aren’t responsive because they are so busy (many work jobs and take six courses at a time).  They are considering making the service component mandatory.

Six Suggestions to Inspire Student Volunteering

There’s no doubt that starting a volunteer program can be daunting, especially if you don’t know where to start or have had limited success.  But believe me, it can be done!  In fact, according to the latest Volunteering in America report, one in four (26.7%) college students volunteered between 2008 and 2010.  And in 2010, 8.3 million charity-minded young people (age 16-24) dedicated 844 million hours of service to communities across the country.  That's a signifcant contribution and not too different from the volunteering rates of other age groups (and, in fact, higher than some).

So how do you tap into the passion and energy of youth?  Here’s how...

1) Build a Volunteer Program -- Although volunteers work for “free,” volunteer programs aren’t.  Marshaling the human potential of volunteers takes infrastructure and planning.  Similar to teams of paid staff, volunteers need a human resources system that engages and supports them.  A “build it and they will come” approach of merely offering opportunities and calling it a day probably won’t work.  For more info on how to set up a volunteer program, check out my eBook The New Volunteer Manager: The First 90 Days.  It’s free and will give you step by step instructions on how to get your program going.

2) Involve Students in Planning -- Work with the existing student government or committee.  Let them know what you're trying to do, why you think it matters, and how they can help.  Everyone, regardless of their age, appreciates being included in the decision-making around activities that might affect them.  If the students have a hand in designing how service learning works, they will be more likely to support it, and there won’t be a need to make it mandatory.  Also, if they take ownership, they will spread the word and get their friends involved.

3) Tap Directly Into What Motivates Students -- Students are indeed busy people, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have time for volunteering.  Consider all of the service hours sororities, fraternities, and service clubs put in across the country each year.  It can happen.  But, why do students volunteer?  I can think of two good reasons -- 1) to gain work experience (check out our college intern Kierra Warren's comments on volunteering, for an example) and 2) to have fun with their friends.  So, find opportunities that help students develop skills specific to their field of study.  Bill them as “service learning opportunities” and communicate clearly what will be gained (i.e., what will they be able to put on their resume, who will they meet and be able to network with, etc.).  If there’s any way to give credit hours for service, make it happen.  

4) Get Social -- Use social media and your web page to share photos and videos about service opportunities and the achievements of students.   Post before and after pictures, interviews with student volunteers, and kudos from organizations who have benefitted from their help.  Work with students to set up a You Tube channel, a Facebook page, and a Flickr account to share what’s going on.  To drive traffic, hold polls, contests, and drawings for everyone who contributes comments.  Work with your college radio station or newspaper to pump up your vibrant social media service community.  

5) Give Schwag -- People like free stuff, especially young people.  Give t-shirts, for example, to students after they complete a certain number of hours of service.  If you don’t have the budget, see if local businesses, like local radio stations that serve the younger demographic, might sponsor your shirts.  To make sure it appeals to young people, hold a student t-shirt design contest and use the winning design for your signature shirt.  T-shirts aren’t just a giveaway either; if they’re cool, they can help brand your volunteer program and “service tribe.”

6) Most Important, Make the Heart-to-Heart Connection -- Most people who are lifelong volunteers don’t volunteer because they’re told they have to, they volunteer because they feel strongly about a cause and they want to do something about it.  Students are still growing and may not have yet found a cause that resonates with them.  Find ways to help their learn about community needs.  Share authentic, heartfelt stories (see #4 above) about how people’s lives have been touched by the work of local charities and their volunteers.  Rather than have nonprofit staff pitch opportunities, why not have the people who have benefited from nonprofit services share how their lives have changed because of the help of caring people?

I believe that virtually anyone, regarless of age, can get motivated to volunteer given the right circumstances and opportunities.  Busy students want a fun environment, where they can hang out with friends and gain career skills and connections.  If your volunteer opportunities have those elements, you should be able to make a go of it.  

Does anyone else have some good ideas for my friend?

 

Hot Volunteer Retention Tips From the New Team at Tobi Johnson & Associates!!

 We are thrilled to announce that   we’ve expanded here at TJA.  We now have two new team members!  Please join me in welcoming them aboard!

I took a minute to ask for their advice on volunteer retention. Check out our interviews below.

For more info on their passions and talents, check out our team page here.  

 Kierra Warren, Training Development Intern

Kierra’s a super smart and talented senior at the University of Tennessee, and will soon graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business, with a focus in international human resources.  Kierra hopes to be a consultant herself on day, and she’s doing all the right things to make her dreams a reality.  I was curious what lessons we could learn about human resources in the business world.  Here are her thoughts.

Tobi:  In your exprience, what are the similarities between managing paid staff and managing volunteers, and what do you think volunteer managers can learn from well-run, cutting edge HR shops?

Kierra:  As a business student with experience in both nonprofit and for-profit companies, I would definitely say that similarities lie on the fact that both employees and volunteers are human capital to the company, no matter what industry it may be. Volunteers can be as important, if not more important, than employees.  That being said, volunteer managers could learn that being available for volunteers, as much as HR managers are there for employees, is critical.  For instance, many employers offer career coaches that help guide employees into the ideal position.  If volunteer managers guide volunteers toward their goal -- whether it be hours toward a certain credit or experience in a potential field -- retaining volunteers would not be as much of an issue as it appears to be in some organizations.  This is because by helping the volunteer achieve, a two-way relationship is created.

Liz Tredennick, Training Subject Matter Expert 

Liz joins us from her virtual office, in Denver, Colorado.  She has had extensive experience working with skilled-volunteers to provide Medicare counseling to seniors and people with disabilities.  Liz has had the opportunity to train a number of new volunteers over the years, and gets high marks from them for her ability to make a connection.  I wondered what words of wisdom she could share about keeping highly-skilled volunteers motivated.  

Tobi: You’ve trained hundreds of volunteers and work along side them often.  What types of experiences do you think today's highly-skilled volunteers are looking for, and how can we keep them happy?

Liz: Volunteers want meaningful work – making a difference in people’s lives.  State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) volunteers do that [Note: SHIP volunteers help Medicare patients and their families understand complex insurance choices].  They get their satisfaction from helping people understand Medicare, make good choices, avoid problems, and resolve issues.  It’s the “thank you” and the “I couldn’t have figured it out without your help” and all the other phrases of gratitude that keep the SHIP volunteers motivated.  The variety of questions and situations give them new challenges each day.  There is so much to learn that there never is a dull moment, and the phone never stops ringing.  Volunteers are busy, productive, and essential to these programs, and that’s what keeps them coming back.

What great advice from two savvy women!  

Photos: Kierra Warren (top), Liz Tredennick (bottom)