Summary of Survey Results

The VRM Roundtable survey ran from Thursday, March 23 through Friday, March 31, 2006.  It was publicized on the VRM Roundtable website, the VRM-ROUNDTABLE discussion list, and various other listservs composed predominantly of US volunteer resources managers and stakeholders.  Additionally, a number of nonprofit organizations circulated news of the survey internally, and via inter-agency networks.  There were 737 completed survey submissions. 

The survey was created and overseen by the VRM Roundtable Survey Workgroup. The Survey Workgroup is responsible to:

• Develop survey methodology and questions designed to elicit from volunteer resources managers their perspective on the attributes that a new professional association would need to have in order to meet their needs. Related questions will no doubt be included.
• Set policy for and oversee the distribution of the survey to volunteer resources managers.
• Oversee survey tabulation.
• Set policy for and oversee dissemination of survey reporting.
• Ensure that the survey and its reporting are publicly available on this web site, and that it is in the public domain.
• Ensure that personally identifying information elicited from the survey is protected and not disseminated.

Volunteer members of the Survey Workgroup are: Millicent Boykin, Caroll Chickowsky, Donald E. Currie, Florence Davenport, Pam Warwick Feldmann, Nancy Gaston, Kelly Moore, Suzanne Marsh, Pat Norberto, and Celeste Sauls. 

Use of this Survey

This survey is publicly available on the VRM Roundtable web site, at http://vrm-roundtable.org. It is contributed to the public domain by the volunteers of the VRM Roundtable project, for all to use.  Please cite the survey as “VRM Roundtable Survey 1.” 

VRM Roundtable

VRM Roundtable is a community of approximately 400 nonprofit-sector and public-sector colleagues who have come together to engage in open, professional-level dialog on these questions:  What would be the attributes and characteristics of a professional organization that optimally serves the US community of volunteer resources managers? What is the process whereby such an organization should be created? How can diverse stakeholders be brought together to bring about the efficient formation and development of such an organization?

The VRM Roundtable professional community engages in public, and public domain, discussions via a donated email-based discussion list (or forum) created on March 6, 2006.  The discussion list, VRM-ROUNDTABLE, is hosted as a no-charge public service of CharityChannel.  It is open to any person with an interest in the topic, and who wishes to participate with others who genuinely desire to contribute to the professional advancement and capacity of the US community of volunteer resources managers.  To subscribe to VRM-ROUNDTABLE, send a blank email to vrm-roundtable-subscribe-request@charitychannel.com. If you need assistance in subscribing, please write to support@vrm-roundtable.org. 

Summary of Results

NOTE:  This is a summary of the survey responses and does not constitute an analysis of the results.  Questions that asked respondents to rank a variety of products and services have been prioritized here to ease of use.  To view the responses to the “Other” response options, please see the Free-form Responses report.

Support for the Creation of an Independent Volunteer Management Association

Eighty-seven percent of the respondents responded favorably to the formation of an independent professional association dedicated to meeting the needs of US volunteer resources managers.  Fifty-four percent support the formation of a new organization and 33% are leaning in favor.

What specific resources do you want a new organization to provide volunteer resources managers? 

1. A compilation and publication of best practices – 93%
2. Reproducible guides, forms and other resources – 90%
3. Training and evaluation resources and forms – 90%
4. Training for volunteer managers – 90%
5. Code of ethics for the profession – 90%
6. Evaluation guide – 88%
7. Training for seasoned volunteer managers – 88%
8. Calendar of events, conferences, trainings… - 84%
9. Risk management guidelines – 84%
10. Recognition ideas and products – 76%
11. Job Bank for volunteer managers – 75%
12. Position descriptions – 75%
13. Recruitment materials – 75%
14. Journal featuring applied research – 68%
15. Magazine information the general public about the profession and professionals - 52%

Here is a list of possible missions that have been suggested for a new organization.  Please indicate how important each is, in your view.

1. Encouraging well-managed volunteer programs by providing resources to volunteer resources managers on recruitment, supervision, recognition, evaluation and retention - 91%
2. Promoting professionalism through certification, ethics training, management standards and ongoing education. – 87%
3. Creating and distributing tools to help with the management of volunteer programs. - 85%
4. Developing high quality volunteer managers by teaching essential skills - 82%
5. Advocating for the profession and volunteerism. - 79%

In what other services are you interested, if any?

• Program support to local networks, chapters or support groups – 81%
• Advocacy regarding legislation affecting volunteerism - 79%
• Credentialing/certification in volunteer management – 78%
• Online forums and discussion groups – 75%
• Online trainings – 75%
• National conference – 73%
• Subscriptions to journal or other publications - 70%
• Scholarships to conferences – 71%
• Professional mentoring program – 61%
• National recognition for volunteer managers - 57%

What should be the focus of the new organization’s website?

• Educational resources for members – 97%
• Information about professional development opportunities - 92%
• Forum to discuss topics – 86%
• Links to other related sites – 82%
• News about volunteerism and volunteer management from media sources - 79%
• Directory of member organizations/chapters/affiliates – 75%
• Advocacy – 74%
• Job bank of professional opportunities – 74%
• Directory of individual members by locality - 67%
• Directory of individual member organizations/chapters - 62%
• Public education about the profession – 61%
• Advertising vehicle for products and services offered by the organization - 40%
• Advertising vehicle for vendors who offer applicable or related services - 29%

What should the mission statement primarily stress?

• Equipping and supporting professionals in volunteer management – 56%
• A better society through effective volunteer management – 19%
• Effective management of volunteer programs – 13%
• Other – 6%
• Effective citizen involvement – 5%

From the following list of possible products and services of the new organization, please indicate the priority the organization should give to each.

• Training for volunteer managers – 93%
• Information sharing about events, conferences, trainings and seminars -91%
• Reproducible guides, forms and other resources - 89%
• Code of ethics for the profession – 86%
• Program support to local networks, chapters or support groups - 85%
• Online forums and discussion groups – 81%
• Credentialing/certification in volunteer… 81%
• Public advocacy for volunteerism – 78%
• National conference – 74%
• Professional mentoring program – 71%
• Scholarly research – 69%

Mentoring has been cited as a possible service of the new organization.  If a mentorship service were offered, would you?

• Be willing to serve as a mentor – 59%
• Seek a mentor – 35%
• No response – 15% (of 737 possible responses)

The dues or membership fee structure for the organization should be:

• Flat – the same price for every member – 34%
• Scaled by budget – 28%
• Discounted memberships for affiliate members – 12%
• Other – 10%
• Scaled by the number from that organization who join – 6%
• Scaled by the size of professional staff managing volunteer resources – 5%
• Scaled by the size of volunteer force – 4%

What classes of membership should there be?

• Individual – 86%
• Organization – 77%
• Associate – 66%
• Corporate – 57%
• Other – 6%

How important are local or regional chapters/affiliates?

• Very important/crucial – 61%
• Somewhat – 31%
• Unimportant – 8 %

How would you judge the success of the new organization in five years?

• Helpfulness of resources – 56%
• Awareness of its existence among volunteer managers – 51%
• Number of persons actively involved in the organization serving on committees, holding office, working on projects – 39%
• Size of membership – 34%
• Number of useful publications and resources – 31%
• Strength and size of local and regional chapters/affiliates – 27%
• Financial stability/size of reserves – 25%
• Impact on public policy – 23%
• Number of persons holding the credential – 9%
• Mention in the mass media/popular press – 6%

What words would you like to see in the name of the new association?

• Professional – 64%
• Association – 50%
• Volunteers – 56%
• Leadership – 38%
• Volunteerism – 36%
• Management – 31%
• Managers – 21%
• Administrators – 19%
• American – 15%
• Administration – 12%
• Profession – 8%
• United States – 7%
• U.S. – 6%

Do you now belong to a DOVIA, NOVA or local/regional network of volunteer managers?

• Yes – 52%
• No – 48%

Why do you belong to a DOVIA, NOVA or local/regional network of volunteer managers?

• Networking – 50%
• Training – 37%
• Information sharing about events, conferences, trainings, etc – 37%
• Local advocacy for volunteerism – 24%
• Educational materials – 19%
• Conference – 17%
• Reproducible guides, forms, and other resources – 16%
• Mentoring – 15%
• Professional recognition – 15%

In what sector or area do you work?

• Social service – 29%
• Health care – 28%
• Children and youth – 23%
• Education – 23%
• Seniors/elderly – 16%
• Religious/faith based – 12%
• Museums – 9%
• Environmental concerns – 8 %
• Arts other than museums – 7%
• Disaster and emergency response – 7%
• Recreation/parks – 5%
• Library – 5%
• Corporate volunteer program – 4%
• Public advocacy – 3%
• Other – 24%

Demographics:

From the results in the demographic section, the respondents are overwhelmingly female (84%), between 41 and 60 years of age (62%), with a higher education (85%), almost evenly divided between large organizations and smaller organizations (49% versus 45%), almost evenly divided between large volunteer programs and ones with less than 250 volunteers (48% versus 50%), and have managed volunteer programs for longer than five years (68%).

Country of Origin

Ninety-five of the survey respondents identified themselves as being from the United States.

Highest level of education attained

• Graduate degree – 34%
• Some graduate school – 15%
• College degree – 36%
• Some college – 14%

What is your gender?

• Female – 84%
• Male – 16%

Age Group

• 51-60 – 36%
• 41-50 – 26%
• 31-40 – 17%
• 21-30 – 10%
• 61+ - 10%

How many employees does your organization have?

• 61+ - 42%
• 1-3 – 12%
• 6-10 – 10%
• 11-20 – 8%
• 21-40 – 8%
• 4-5 – 7%
• 41-60 – 7%
• No employees – 6%

How many volunteer does your organization have?

• More than 500 – 32%
• 101-250 – 17%
• 251-500 – 16%
• 51-100 – 10%
• 26-50 – 8%
• No volunteers – 6%
• 16-25 – 4%
• 1-9 – 3%
• 10-15 – 2%

How many years have you managed volunteers?

• 6-10 – 27%
• 11-15 – 16%
• 4-5 – 13%
• 21+ - 13%
• 1-3 – 12%
• 16-20 – 12%
• Less than 1 – 5%
• Never – 2%