valuing and managing volunteers
TRANSCRIPT
A Modern Approach To
Managing and
Valuing Volunteers
• How much is this woman worth to your organisation?
Why Place a Value on Volunteers?
• To compare the value of different types of volunteers
• To compare volunteer value to other types of supporters
• To make a case for investment in volunteers
• To understand which types of volunteers offer the highest
value to your organisation
• To understand which types of volunteer fundraising
activities offer the highest value to your organisation
• To understand how much you can afford to invest in
building relationships and supporting different types of
volunteers
Why Place a Value on Volunteers?
Instead of treating volunteers as an ‘amorphous
mass’ we need to:
• differentiate types of volunteers
• understand what makes each different
We then need to create a comprehensive list of
volunteer types for:
i.groups
ii.individuals
Making a start: Segmentation
Managing Volunteers
• Recruiting
• Managing
• Rewarding
Recruiting volunteers
• Clarity of request
• Job description
• Hours, location required
• Support, training offered
• Who they’ll be working with
• Interview, recruit
Optimising my volunteer’s time
How do I get them to focus their energies on what is most
important for the business?
Value Days
Assign a weighting to different activities undertaken depending upon their value to the organisation and the individual’s job
Monitor time against those activities
Calculate a weighted number of hours/days to measure performance
Set targets for the number of value days per month or per year
Value Days
Monthly Timesheet
Activity Value Time spent Value Target Variance
(Hours) Hours
Administration 0.1 10 1.00
Sending out mailings 0.5 9 4.50
Calling supporters 1.0 0 0.00
Attending HNWI events 1.5 5 7.50
Finding new supporters 1.2 4 4.80
Pledger/HNWI Care 1.5 2 3.00
Total 30 20.80 30 -9.20
Optimising my investment
How do we know where we should be investing our time
supporting fundraising volunteers?
Hierarchy of Support Framework
Band Social
Community
Groups
Informal
Crowds
Individuals
High
Medium
Low
value:support matrix
Used to plot the portfolio of community groups assessing their value (most often financial) against their required level of support. It can help organisations to better understand where each community group sits in terms of their actual performance relative to their support needs and how to assess what their future could be.
low
high
high
VALUE
SUPPORT
value:support matrix
low
high
high
VALUE
SUPPORT
value:support matrix
contribution:value matrix
The logical next step as it goes beyond cash… It is designed to help fundraisers place a value beyond financial on their community groups and can be used in two ways: • to assess actual value • to assess potential value
contribution:value matrix
To use this model effectively, an organisation must be clear about how it measures value. A key benefit of using this model is it enables the organisation to think about actual value as well as potential value. So before making use of it, you must be able to list value measures – both soft and hard.
contribution:value matrix
•To assess value, the fundraiser should: •decide how the organisation would measure value (e.g. income, time, activities etc.) •give each a score: 3 (high) – 1 (low) •you may wish to assign a relative value score •plot each measure •score each group
REMEMBER – this is about actual and potential value
contribution:value matrix
Value measures might be: • active campaigners • their status in the real/virtual community (e.g. mayor, celebrity) • confident public speaker • Sneezer • understanding of the cause / personal experience • self-sufficiency • loyalty • longevity
contribution:value matrix
Then offset value against investment in each group/individual, so follow the same process: • decide how the organisation would measure investment e.g. staff time, costs associated with the group e.g. travel / materials / resources • give each a score: 3 (high) – 1 (low) • plot each measure • then score each group against this
contribution:value matrix
Rewarding volunteers
• Why do I volunteer?
• Passionate belief in the cause
• Because I was asked by a friend
• I want to put something back
• I want to improve my CV
• The job looked interesting
Rewarding volunteers
• Thank them
• Celebrate
• Treats
• Anniversaries (personal and corporate)
• Social activities
• Lapel pins (silver, gold, diamante)
• Training
• Promotion