gcsv2011 ceo buy-in-alan witchey

Increasing Executive and Organizational Support

Facilitator:

Alan Witchey, Volunteer Center Director

United Way of Central Indiana Volunteer Center

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How do you increase executive and organizational support?

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Building Blocks to Executiveand Organizational Support

1. Volunteers and Donations

2. Volunteers as Resources

3. Volunteers as Fundraisers

4. Skills Based Volunteers

5. Mission Critical Volunteers

6. Volunteers As Gateways

7. In-kind Support

8. Staff Training

9. Evaluate and Report Success


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Volunteers and Donations


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Volunteers and Donations Pop Quiz

Are the following statements true or false?1. Volunteers are less likely to give a donation than non-

volunteers because they already feel they are giving through their volunteering.

2. Volunteers give at a lower rate than non-volunteers because they usually cannot afford to give as much.

3. It doesn't matter if someone is asked to volunteer or donate first. The person’s donation will be the same either way.

4. Volunteers are more likely to increase their donation in the following year compared to non-volunteers who donate.


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Quiz Answers

• 78% of volunteers donate versus 38% of non-volunteers.

• Volunteers' donations are 10 times greater than non-volunteers.

• Asking someone to volunteer before donating leads to an almost 50% increase in average gift. Volunteering equates to an emotional ask while financial requests equate to a value.

• 32% of volunteers compared with 26% of non-volunteers report that they will increase donations in the coming year.

Answers: 1. False; 2. False; 3. False; 4. True


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Your Goal: Volunteers As Donors

• Track your organizational giving rate for volunteers by average gift and compare it to non-volunteers

• Track volunteers that give more time separately

• Report your findings to the development department, the CEO and other appropriate people

• Do not allow your volunteers to be exploited for donations or it will turn them off


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Volunteers Are Resources


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Types of External Resources From People For Nonprofits

• Volunteering – Volunteer time to help a nonprofit

• Funding – donations/grants/financial support – more likely to come from volunteers and increased from volunteers

• Talent/Skills – skills and experience from volunteers/professionals

Effective nonprofits recognize that volunteers are key to success. If this is true, why aren’t volunteer managers higher ranked in organizations?


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Your Goal: Volunteers as Resources

• Build a better understanding in your organization that there are three critical ways for people to get involved and increase capacity of your organization

• Two of the three involve volunteers as a foundation (volunteers and talent/skills)

• The third is enhanced when volunteers are involved (funding)

• Effective management of volunteers will enhance your organization’s ability to complete it’s mission

What can you do to increase this awareness in your organization?


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Volunteers As Fundraisers


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Volunteers Want to Fundraise

• Fundraising is the number one volunteer activity among all volunteers in Indiana

• 28.1% of all volunteers in Indiana volunteer to fundraise according the US Dept. of Labor statistics

• Fundraising volunteers are often recruited/managed/evaluated separately from other volunteers in the organization

• This separation helps minimize other volunteer programs


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Your Goal: Incorporating Fundraising Volunteers

• Make sure board members and other fundraising volunteers are seen as part of the overall organizational strategy for volunteer engagement

• Assure that they are part of the volunteer communication and recognition efforts

• Incorporate volunteer evaluation into board, fundraising events, etc. – take charge of the evaluation if you can

• Make sure fundraising volunteers are aware of your other volunteer needs


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Skills Based Volunteers


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Nonprofits and Skills Based VolunteerismSource: 2006/2007 Deloitte/Points of Light IMPACT Studies


Nonprofit Organizations & Skill Based Volunteerism

62% of nonprofits do not work with corporate volunteer programs

56% of nonprofits think that the best contribution a company can make to a nonprofit is money – only 1% of nonprofit funding comes from companies

45% of nonprofits match volunteers’ skills with appropriate assignments

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Skills Based Volunteering Defined

Volunteer efforts that match a volunteer’s work experience, professional skills, educational background or other abilities to the work they are doing

Examples:

• HR professional might write an employee handbook for an organization

• An IT person might install a new server or updated software

• A lawyer might provide legal services for free

• A graphic designer might design a brochure

• A landscaping company might upkeep the grounds for a year

• A corporate executive might lead an organization through a strategic planning process


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Skills Based Volunteerism Nonprofit Benefits

• Dramatically increases the value of volunteer service to an agency. Skills based is valued between $40–500 an hour depending on the market value of the specific job function. Current value for traditional volunteering is $20.85.

• Nonprofits are often struggling with capacity or infrastructure issues and lack the funding to improve them. Skills based volunteerism offers an alternative to hiring vendors or depending on staff to fill functions they are not skilled in

• Using skill based volunteerism allows nonprofits to reallocate budgetary funds to mission critical areas

• Often leads to deeper engagement with a company, including financial support and other volunteer support


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Your Goal: Skills Based Volunteering

• Find projects that can be completed by skills based volunteers

• Try to have at least one project done each year

• Make sure you assess the full value of that volunteer project and report it to your executive team

What are some potential skills based projects

in your organization?


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Mission Critical Volunteers


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Mission Critical Volunteers

Volunteers that are critical to the completion of your organization’s mission. Their efforts contribute to the overall organization mission:

• Mentoring organization = mentors

• Food preparing organization = kitchen workers

• Museum = docents

• Financial literacy program = tax preparers


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Your Goal: Calculating the Value of Mission

• Put a monetary value on the mission critical volunteers – what would it cost to hire, train, manage staff to do the same work?

• Assure your connection to the mission critical volunteers is known by all

• If you don’t have mission critical volunteers, plan for a goal of implementing one opportunity in the next year


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Gateway Volunteers


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Hearts & Hands Volunteers

Hearts and Hands Volunteers do “feel good” volunteering

• Often one-time volunteer opportunities such as painting, landscaping, outside clean up

• Could be ongoing such as administrative functions, tutoring, ongoing cleaning, support group facilitation, food delivery, etc.

They are completing work that does not require specific professional skills or education

These volunteers may at anytime become donors, board members, skills based volunteers, or more deeply committed to your organization


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Developing Corporate PartnershipsSource: United Way Worldwide, 2010

Elements Considered By Executives when selecting partner organizations in order of importance:

1. Organization Characteristics - mission overlap, strategic direction, stability in staffing, and funding

2. External Factors - brand presence, positive audience association, and other corporate partnerships

3. Organization Capacity - evaluation and efficiency

4. Volunteering Opportunities - local/national volunteering for employees to leverage impact


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Your Goal: Gateway Volunteers

• Track the names and contacts of as many as you can

• Include them in your ongoing communication

• Invite them back to be involved again

• Assess their abilities and interests

• Connect them in more meaningful ways to your organization when possible

• Track and report volunteers that become donors, skills based volunteers or engaged in other ways


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In-kind Support From Volunteers


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In-kind support is the collection and/or donation of products to support your organization’s mission, such as food, toiletries, school supplies, and other items that your organization does not need to buy

Oftentimes, in-kind support is connected to volunteers but we don’t always track it or report it that way

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Your Goal: Connect In-Kind Support To Volunteerism

In-kind support may be tracked as:

• Hours and value of hours of volunteers collecting and sorting items

• Estimated value of the products collected and distributed

Make sure you connect the donations and their value to the volunteer program which often adds:

• Expansion of services and scope for the organization

• Budgetary savings from funds that will not be expended


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Staff Volunteer Management Training


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Training the Staff How to Work With Volunteers

• 19% of nonprofits train paid staff to manage the volunteers they supervise (Source: Management Capacity in America’s Charities and Congregations, 2004)

• Training should be organization-wide when possible –required for anyone working with volunteers (board, mission critical volunteers, etc.)

• Cover the basics: orienting volunteers, training them, providing ongoing supervision and feedback, evaluating them, and recognizing them


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Your Goal: Train Staff To Be Good Volunteer Managers

• Remind everyone that volunteers are resources and can increase the scope of the agency’s work, increase capacity of the organization, and can bring valuable resources to the table

• Set yourself up as a professional – you know the best ways to manage and retain volunteers

• Educate everyone about the successes of your volunteer program

• Help staff manage, recognize, and retain volunteers better


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Evaluate and Report Success


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Evaluation Builds Your Credibility

• 30% of nonprofits evaluate the impact of their volunteer programs annually (Source: Management Capacity in America’s Charities and Congregations, 2004)

• Measuring volunteer satisfaction is not enough – you must go beyond surveys and into actual data

• Showing impact is probably your most important way to develop support, increase organizational understanding of volunteers, and to increase your perceived value to the organization


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Your Goal: Make sure everyone knows the impact of volunteers and your programs

• Create an annual impact report to share with the executive and others

• Possible measures might include:

oOrganization-wide data about all volunteers for the organization

oYour volunteers’ donation history

oSavings to the organization due to volunteer efforts

oValues of in-kind donations and skills based volunteering

oCorporate relationships built from volunteering

oHow much volunteers raise in funding


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Final Thoughts and Practical Suggestions

1. Create a strategic plan for your volunteer program (it should include existing program goals and plans to expand awareness of volunteer impact and/or meaningful opportunities)

2. Educate staff and board about the importance of volunteers

3. Find a board member ally

4. Create an impact report annually that includes suggestions for growth – ask to present it to the executive director

5. Create a group of supportive volunteers that have larger influence in the community


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Your Commitment

What will you commit to do over the next year to build, increase or encourage executive level and organizational support?


Questions?

Questions?

Alan Witchey, Director, Volunteer Center

317-921-1366

[email protected]

gcsv2011 ceo buy-in-alan witchey

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