Data informs your nonprofit’s approach to budgeting, compliance, and grant applications, but it can also play a critical role in your volunteer management strategies. Knowing how to collect, analyze, and act on data will unlock your volunteer program’s full potential.
The Importance of Collecting Volunteer Data
Volunteer data can help you get an accurate picture of your volunteer program, which in turn guides you to more effective decisions.
When you have a comprehensive volunteer database, you can refine your volunteer management strategies to:
- Streamline your volunteer program
- Optimize resource allocation
- Improve role assignment
- Engage volunteers more effectively
- Raise more funds
- Build strong grant applications
Simply put, data-driven volunteer management strategies are the key to your volunteer program’s success.
How to Collect Volunteer Data
Collecting volunteer management data begins with choosing the metrics you want to track. There are a myriad of data points you can collect, but you want to pick the metrics that will have the biggest impact on your program.
Ask yourself: what aspects of the volunteer program do I want more insight on? Where can the program improve? What are the program’s short-term goals? Long-term goals? The answers to these questions will inform your data collection choices.
Key volunteer management metrics to consider include:
- The number of volunteers
- Volunteer participation rate
- Volunteer roles
- The amount and monetary value of volunteer hours
- The number of tasks completed
- The number of beneficiaries served
- The amount and value of services delivered
- Satisfaction rates
- Retention percentages
- Interests
- Skills and qualifications
- Demographics
- Donations received
- Volunteer fundraising
- Community impact
Once you know the data points you want to measure, you can begin the data collection process. The methods you use will vary depending on your metrics, but the best volunteer management strategies incorporate multiple data collection methods, including:
- Volunteer database reporting. A robust volunteer database can track any metrics you need, and you can generate reports based on the information.
- Volunteer surveys. Volunteer surveys can give you valuable, on-the-ground feedback, and they are especially important for quantifying difficult-to-track data, such as satisfaction rates.
- Case studies. Case studies effectively demonstrate volunteer program impact by combining emotionally charged narratives with compelling statistics. You can write case studies about specific programs, beneficiaries, and/or volunteers.
- Focus groups. Focus groups allow you to evaluate your program from multiple perspectives. You can bring in distinct volunteer segments or multiple stakeholders, including beneficiaries, donors, and staff, to get different points of view. Use focus groups to identify areas for improvement, gauge interest in new initiatives, and brainstorm.
The Top 5 Data-Driven Volunteer Management Strategies
Use these top 5 data-driven volunteer management strategies to turn data into action.
Organize the Volunteer Database
Your volunteer database is home to all of your data, so you must keep it organized. You need to be able to quickly retrieve and interpret information—while being certain that it is accurate.
Organize your database to:
- Identify and resolve data entry errors
- Determine data gaps
- Ensure all volunteer contact information is up-to-date
- Run meaningful reports
While you are organizing your volunteer management data, you also want to segment your volunteers. Segmenting volunteers allows you to improve communication, role assignment, and engagement. Sample volunteer segments include:
- Age
- Location
- Skills
- Qualifications
- Interests
- Role preferences
- Organizational history
- Availability
- Contact preferences
With careful database organization, you will always have the information you need, when you need it.
Analyze Your Volunteer Management Data
With your data organized, you are ready to analyze it. The process of turning data points into actionable insights can be difficult, so use these tips and tricks for effective analysis:
- Quantify as much as possible. Numbers are much easier to analyze than words. When possible, turn open-ended answers into data points like numbered scales and percentages. You can also pull out the most commonly used terms from written survey answers to identify pressing concerns.
- Input data into volunteer management software. Volunteer management software like VolunteerHub offers robust database options, allowing you to collect and store data, run insightful analytics, and generate actionable reports.
- Use visuals. Organize your data points into graphs, charts, and other visual tools to see trends more easily.
- Leverage artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence (AI) can be very helpful in organizing and analyzing data. Try AI-powered analytics software like Sisense or Google’s Big Query.
- Look for relationships. Consider how your data points interact with each other. Where are there correlations? Which metrics seem to have an impact on others?
- Pay attention to recurring problems. Some data points may be outliers, or some survey suggestions may simply be unrealistic. However, if you notice a recurring issue, the problem needs your attention.
Data plays a powerful role in your volunteer management strategies—but only if you take the time to analyze it effectively.
Target Your Communication
It’s important to engage your volunteers with clear, consistent communication, keeping them in the loop about all the important news within the volunteer program and the organization as a whole. However, when your volunteers receive dozens (if not hundreds) of emails, texts, and notifications a day, unnecessary communication will quickly become annoying—or result in your messages getting sent straight to spam!
Follow these steps to make sure that your communication is targeted and relevant:
- Contact relevant volunteer segments. Use your volunteer management data to make sure you reach out to specific volunteer segments that need to hear your message. For example, if you need a Spanish translator, contact your volunteers with language skills. If you are sending procedures for a specific event, you should only reach out to the volunteers who are participating in it.
- Understand your purpose. Each message should have a clear goal, such as encouraging volunteers to take a specific action or conveying important information. If you try to address too many ideas in one message, volunteers are more likely to miss something. However, if you send a message without a clear purpose or call to action, volunteers will be less engaged the next time you contact them.
- Send the right message at the right time. Carefully consider your timing. Communications should be scheduled alongside important events and announcements. You should also be thoughtful about the time of day you send a message. 6 am or 11 pm will hit volunteers just when they’re getting up or going to bed, and they are more likely to miss your communication. However, a 6 pm message, when many people are getting home from work and checking their emails, increases your chances of getting a timely response.
- Tailor your communication style. Make sure you include your volunteers’ personal communication preferences in your database and reach out accordingly. Consider generational communication differences, such as Baby Boomer’s preference for phone calls and Gen Z’s inclination towards texting and social media messaging.
When you leverage data to target your volunteer communication, it’s a win-win. Your volunteers are more engaged, and you can easily reach the people you need.
Optimize Your Volunteer Program
Leverage your data to directly improve your volunteer management strategies. With the insight you glean from your volunteer segments, impact data, and surveys, you can make your program the best it can be.
Look at your data and reflect on the following:
- Resource allocation and budgeting. How much money does your organization currently invest in the volunteer program? How are you spending it? How much value does each volunteer hour generate? How can you maximize your return on investment?
- Role assignments. How do you match volunteers with available positions? Are you taking the volunteers’ interests into account? Are you effectively utilizing each individual’s skills and qualifications?
- Are you missing volunteers from a specific demographic or skill set? What volunteer positions need to be filled? How can you make your volunteer program more accessible?
- Are there any skill gaps in your volunteer base? How can you best prepare for success on the job?
- Satisfaction and retention. What feedback do volunteers have? How can you improve the volunteer experience?
It is critical to act on your data to streamline your volunteer management strategy, improve volunteer program impact, and increase volunteer satisfaction.
Demonstrate Impact
Finally, you can leverage volunteer data to demonstrate your program’s impact. Your organization’s goal is to make a positive difference, and your volunteer program plays a key role in making that difference.
Volunteer data helps you articulate your volunteer program’s impact both to the community and to internal stakeholders, combining gripping, emotional stories with persuasive figures.
Impact sharing allows you to:
- Recruit more volunteers. If prospective volunteers see the impact your volunteer program has, they will feel inspired to join in.
- Build community and corporate partnerships. Local government, civic organizations, and corporate sponsors will be eager to partner with a nonprofit that has already demonstrated success.
- Boost fundraising efforts. Donors and grantors want to know that your organization is a wise investment. Articulating impact with compelling data plays a key role in converting donors, encouraging repeat giving, and winning grants.
- Reduce volunteer turnover. When volunteers know that they are making a difference, they are significantly less likely to stop working with your organization.
- Raise awareness. Sharing your impact can increase organizational awareness within your community, reaching potential beneficiaries, volunteers, donors, and other stakeholders.
Your impact-sharing volunteer management strategies will vary depending on your intended audience. Social media infographics can be a great way to connect with community members, and potential volunteers will likely be moved by success stories and testimonials. However, your board will find formal reports more impactful.
Leverage Your Volunteer Data with VolunteerHub
VolunteerHub has all the resources you need to collect, analyze, act on, and share volunteer data. We are the premier volunteer management software with over two decades of experience working with nonprofits just like yours.
Our data management solutions include:
- A customizable, easy-to-use database
- Robust analytics
- Secure, cloud-based data storage
- Volunteer self-management options
- Automated hour tracking
- Standard and advanced reports
In addition to optimizing your approach to volunteer data, VolunteerHub’s comprehensive platform also offers solutions for every step of the volunteer lifecycle, including scheduling, volunteer fundraising, automated communication, and rewards and recognition.
