In 2018, the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference conducted a volunteer program assessment to understand where the volunteer programs and volunteer experience stood in order to make strategic and valuable change.
The health of our trails and public lands depends on volunteers–they are the sustaining force behind trail building/maintenance and land stewardship.
The volunteer landscape is changing though. Organizations are faced with new demands from a base that is multigenerational with varying desires and increasingly wants more episodic opportunities instead of long-term commitments.
Many volunteer frameworks no longer maximize volunteers’ work and experience–or maybe they never did. How do you course correct? By conducting a volunteer program assessment that uncovers current volunteer needs.
The resources and documents listed here (below) will help you take control of your volunteer program’s future by helping you plan and implement a successful assessment. The qualitative and quantitative data you collect through the process can then be utilized to create change that will ensure the community you’ve built over the years is happy, strong, and sustained for decades to come.
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Additional resources to help you through the process:
- VolunteerPro
- HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Change Management
- Volunteer Management Audit by Susan J. Ellis
