As we move into a new reality, this is an ideal time to survey volunteers and sort through their thoughts on volunteering past and volunteering future. By gathering their opinions, we can create data that supports our advocacy for a vibrant volunteer initiative.

Ask volunteers to write down their thoughts on their past volunteering along with their visions for the future. The shorter “list-type” sections help volunteers hone in on specifics. From these survey questions, you can extract key words, phrases and topics and connect the dots.

For example, under the question “how can technology support your volunteering” on page 5, 80 of 100 volunteers surveyed used the phrase, “keeps us more informed.” On the same page under “volunteers need,” 85 volunteers wrote “training.” Finally, in the box asking, “volunteers feel supported when,” 92 volunteers wrote “when we are included.”

By connecting the dots, you then can say:

• 80% of volunteers surveyed will use technology to stay informed
• 85% of volunteers surveyed want more training
• 92% of volunteers surveyed feel supported when they are included
• conclusion: training and technology can be used to help volunteers feel included which supports volunteers and keeps them engaged.

Hope you can use this, or at least I hope it might stimulate your creative thinking on how to gather data from your volunteers.

Happy Productive surveying!

-Meridian