Title: Net Benefits: Weighing the Challenges and Benefits of Volunteers
1Net Benefits Weighing the Challenges and
Benefits of Volunteers
- Jeffrey L. Brudney Mark A. HagerUniversity of
Georgia Urban Institute
2Realizing Payoff from Volunteers
- How does a charity know if it is gets a pay-off
from involving volunteers? - This research creates a metric to assess the
pay-offs of involving volunteers. - Most research considers only the benefits of
volunteer involvement. - New metric combines benefits as well as
challenges of volunteer involvement.
3A National Survey
- Data collected from organizational
representatives by phone in Fall 2003 - Sampled 3,000 charities from Form 990 filers
- N1,753 charities, 69 final response rate
4Our Definition of a Volunteer
- Works on regular, short term, or occasional
basis - Provides services to charity/congregation or
those served - Not paid as a staff member or a consultant
- Excludes board of directors -- unless they
provide services beyond traditional governance
duties - Excludes special events participants -- unless
they are volunteer planners or workers at these
events
5A Few Background Findings
- Four in five charities have volunteers.
- More than half use volunteers primarily in direct
service roles. - 3 in 5 charities have a paid staff person
responsible for management of volunteers. - The typical such staffer spends only 30 percent
of time on volunteer management.
6 Benefits of Volunteers to Charities
Percent of Charities
7Challenges in Volunteer Management
Percent of Charities
8Net Benefits Score Benefits Challenges
- Weighting For Each Benefits Question
- Beneficial to a Great Extent 2
- Beneficial to a Moderate Extent 1
- Weighting For Each Challenges Question
- Big Problem -2
- Small Problem -1
9Net Benefits and Organization Size
Net Benefits Score
10Net Benefits and Scope of Volunteer Use
Net Benefits Score
11Net Benefits and Number of Volunteer Assignments
Net Benefits Score
12Net Benefits and Adoption of Management Practices
Net Benefits Score
13Net Benefits and Adoption of Management Practices
Net Benefits Score
14Major Influences on Net Benefits
- Positive Impacts
- - Adoption of Management Practices
- - Volunteer Coordinator
- - More Volunteer Assignments
- Negative Impacts
- - Volunteers primarily do administrative
tasks - - Many volunteers under age 24
- - Relative dependence on staff vs. volunteers
15More information
- Reports and other study details available at
http//www.volunteerinput.org
Mark A. Hager, Ph.D. Senior Research
Associate Center on Nonprofits and
Philanthropy The Urban Institute 2100 M Street,
NW Washington, DC 20037 Phone (202)
261-5345 Fax (202) 833-6231
Jeffrey L. Brudney, Ph.D. University of
Georgia School of Public and Intl Affairs Dept.
of Public Admin. and Policy 104 Baldwin
Hall Athens, GA 30602-1615 Phone (706)
542-2977 Fax (706) 583-0610