Evaluating your Volunteer Program
Conducting an evaluation of a volunteer program is not commonly an event that is looked forward to with great enthusiasm. Many volunteer programs, therefore, cannot even claim to have a process for volunteer program evaluation, except in a very loose sense of receiving the odd piece of volunteer feedback. Evaluation, however, is not something to be avoided, especially if you realise that it can actually be a very positive management device.
When evaluating your volunteer program try to ensure that all your stakeholders have input. For example form an evaluation committee consisting of volunteer representatives, volunteer co-ordinators, supervisors, possibly a representative from your local volunteer resource centre to provide guidance around best practice options. By including as many parties as possible in the process and allowing all parties opinions and views to be heard, any changes that are made are more likely to be accepted.
Feedback Sources
While it is great to include all the parties in the evaluation discussions, it is also important to seek information and feedback on the program from a variety of sources. Often when people are given the anonymity of a survey or completing an exit interview they are much more candid about their volunteer experience than.
Possible sources of feedback that can be incorporated into your evaluation include:
- Volunteer performance assessments
- An annual supervisor and volunteer survey
- Exit Interviews
- Informal feedback from daily operations
When evaluating your volunteer program it is important that you obtain feedback for and systematically evaluate each of the areas represented in this manual. On completion of this process, the final stage should be to go back and ensure that your volunteer policy represents your new processes and therefore, is ready for your next group of volunteers.
