Volunteer Management Capacity Study: Summary Results

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Volunteer Management Capacity Study Summary
Results
Mark A. Hager, Urban Institute
mhager_at_ui.urban.org Jeffrey L. Brudney,
University of Georgia
jbrudney_at_uga.edu
2004 National Conference on Community
Volunteering and National Service
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Sponsors

• Corporation for National and Community Service
• UPS Foundation
• USA Freedom Corps
• Research conducted by the Urban Institute (Hager,
  PI)

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Government Promotion of Volunteerism

• 1989 Points of Light Foundation awards
• 1991 VOLUNTEER National Network
• 1993 National and Community Service Trust Act
• 1997 Presidents Summit for Americas Future
  Volunteer Protection Act
• 2001 USA Freedom Corps Citizen Corps
• 2002 Presidents Call to Service

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Supply and Demand for Volunteers

• Most efforts have focused on expanding the number
  and diversity of volunteers.
• Research suggests that organizations do not
  always manage their volunteers well.
• Observers question whether organizations have the
  capacity to properly accommodate more volunteers.
• Apprehensions heightened by Presidents Call to
  Service.

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Impetus for Study of Volunteer Management

• No systematic knowledge of extent of volunteer
  involvement in charities and congregations.
• No systematic knowledge of the adoption of
  recommended practices in volunteer management.
• No systematic knowledge of capability of
  organizations to accommodate additional
  volunteers.

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Methodology

• Data collected from organizational
  representatives by phone in Fall 2003
• Sampled charities from Form 990 filers
• N1,753 charities, 69 response rate
• Sampled congregations from American Church Lists
• N541 congregations, 69 response rate

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Our Definition of a Volunteer

• Works on regular, short term, or occasional
  basis
• Provides services to charity or those charity
  serves
• Not paid as a staff member or a consultant
• Excludes members of board of directors -- unless
  they provide volunteer services to the charity
  beyond traditional governance duties
• Excludes special events participants -- unless
  they are volunteer planners or workers at these
  events.

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Broad Scope of Volunteer Use

• Four in five charities have volunteers.
• More than half use volunteers primarily in direct
  service roles.
• Four in five congregations have social service
  outreach activities.
• About one in three congregations manage
  volunteers in these activities.

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Low Investments in Volunteer Management

• 3 in 5 charities (with volunteers) and 1 in 3
  congregations (that manage volunteers in social
  service outreach activities) have a paid staff
  person responsible for management of volunteers.
• The typical such staffer spends only 30 percent
  of time on volunteer management.

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Challenges in Volunteer Management
Percent of Charities
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Key Findings About Challenges

• Charities with recruiting challenges are more
  likely to try a range of recruiting methods, such
  as speaking before groups, Internet, printed
  materials, and special events.
• The more time that paid staff member spends on
  volunteer management, the less likely the charity
  reports problems in recruiting.

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Adoption of Management Practices
Percent of Charities
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Adoption Linked to Charities

• With larger budgets
• With greater scope of volunteer use
• That use volunteers primarily in direct service
  roles
• That operate in the health field
• With paid staff members who spend greater amounts
  of time on volunteer management.

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Retention of Volunteers Associated With

• Recognition, training, and screening
• Less supervision and communication
• Funding, institutional support
• Engaged, productive volunteers
• Older volunteers

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Benefits of Volunteers to Charities
Percent of Charities
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Investments and Benefits Feed Each Other

• Adoption of management strategies and
  investment in paid staff coordinators linked to
  greater benefits from volunteers.

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Taking on More Volunteers

• 91 of charities and 96 of congregations said
  they could currently take on at least some
  additional volunteers at current capacity.
• The typical organization says that it currently
  can take on 20 new volunteers.
• The more time that paid staff members spend on
  volunteer management, the more new volunteers
  charities say they can accommodate.

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Congregations and Religious Charities

• Spring and Grimm, CNCS
• Most congregations operate social service
  out-reach activities, but few do so on their own.
• Congregations tend to utilize volunteers to
  manage other volunteers.
• Charities with a religious mission more likely to
  have a paid coordinator than charities with a
  secular mission.
• The majority of charities with a secular mission
  do not have partnerships with religious
  organizations.

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A Few Conclusions

• A broad array of charities and congregations
  engage volunteers on a broad array of tasks.
• Volunteer management practices have not made
  universal inroads nonetheless, prevailing
  reported level of problems in managing volunteers
  is low.
• Investments in volunteer management returns
  benefits, including retention of volunteers.
• Future work should focus on characteristics and
  practices of volunteer managers and
  organizational supports.

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Contacts

• Reports and other study details available at
  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 [phone]
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 [phone]