Volunteer Feedback: Gather Ideas To Improve Volunteer Management

Where would nonprofits be without the dedicated volunteers who support them? Those who devote their time, energy, and care to your organisation’s mission without expecting anything in return are truly crucial to your success. A great way for nonprofit organisations to show their appreciation for their volunteers is to collect and implement their feedback.  

A successful volunteer program creates experiences that benefit both the organisation and its volunteers. For example, a volunteer who lends their photography skills to capture key moments at a conference gets to build their portfolio while supporting a mission they care about. To retain the valuable support of volunteers, your organisation must figure out what resonates with them most.

In this guide, we’ll discuss the importance of listening to your volunteers, how incorporating their feedback can benefit your organisation, and tips for collecting and acting on volunteer ideas.

Benefits of Volunteer Feedback

Gathering feedback lays the foundation for strong, long-lasting volunteer relationships. When volunteers feel as though their voices are valued, they’re more likely to continue donating their time to your organisation. By collecting and incorporating feedback from volunteers, organisations can:

• Recruit more volunteers: By actively seeking and incorporating feedback from volunteers, organisations demonstrate a commitment to improvement. Positive experiences shared by current volunteers through word of mouth can serve as a powerful recruitment tool, attracting new volunteers who are reassured by the organisation's dedication to creating a positive and fulfilling volunteer experience. 
• Retain existing volunteers: Just as nonprofits with membership programs rely on consistent member feedback to keep their members engaged, regular volunteer feedback mechanisms allow you to address concerns and implement changes that enhance the volunteer experience. Doing so not only increases satisfaction among current volunteers but also fosters a sense of belonging, reducing volunteer turnover and ensuring a more stable and dedicated volunteer base over time.
• Tailor opportunities based on volunteer preferences: Understanding the preferences and strengths of volunteers allows you to customise your volunteer opportunities, ensuring that volunteers are engaged in tasks they excel at and enjoy. This enhances the volunteer experience and maximises the impact of their contributions, leading to increased satisfaction and a higher likelihood of volunteers continuing their involvement. For example, if many volunteers enjoy event planning for your organisation, you could consider building more opportunities for them to support your events in the future.
• Show volunteers that their input matters: Actively seeking and valuing volunteer feedback demonstrates that their opinions are respected and integral to your organisation's growth. This acknowledgment fosters a sense of empowerment and investment among volunteers, reinforcing their commitment and creating a positive feedback loop where they are more likely to provide ongoing input.

Ensure that your volunteers feel valued and secure their long-term support by creating an environment of continuous improvement and a sense of shared ownership in your organisation's success. This collaborative approach fosters a mutually beneficial relationship between the organisation and its volunteers, allowing them to maximise their impact on their community and at large.

Collecting Feedback with Deedmob

Collecting feedback is easy when you're using a Deedmob platform. In only a few simple steps, you can create a feedback form for the volunteers and organisations on your platform and use this feedback to reap all aforementioned benefits. This short guide shows you how to collect feedback on a Deedmob platform.

‍

Key Areas for Volunteer Feedback

Now that we’ve established why volunteer feedback is important, let’s look at the areas where volunteers most frequently have concerns. Listening to your volunteer base in these crucial areas demonstrates to volunteers that you care about their experience and actively want to improve it as much as possible.  

Recruitment

Send out surveys to learn more about your volunteers' motivations, skills,  and specific interests. Consider asking questions like:

• What motivated you to volunteer with our organisation? 
• Are there specific skills you hope to gain or develop through your volunteer experience? 
• What areas or projects are you most interested in contributing to? 

By understanding volunteers' motivations and interests, organisations can tailor their recruitment efforts to target individuals who align with the organisation's mission and values and build connections between volunteers who share similar skills. This targeted approach not only increases the likelihood of recruiting dedicated and passionate volunteers but also enhances the overall effectiveness of your organisation's volunteer team.

Satisfaction

After a volunteer opportunity, assess how well it met the volunteers’ expectations and whether the experience was fulfilling. Potential questions may include:

• Did the volunteer opportunity meet your expectations? Why or why not? 
• What aspects of your volunteer experience were most fulfilling? 
• Are there areas where we can improve to make the experience more satisfying? 

Improving the volunteer experience is essential for recruiting and retaining volunteers. Satisfied volunteers are more likely to become advocates for your organisation, sharing positive experiences with others and potentially attracting new volunteers. A fulfilling volunteer experience also contributes to volunteer retention, since satisfied volunteers are more likely to continue their involvement and remain dedicated to your organisation's mission. 

Engagement

Regularly seek feedback on volunteer engagement to understand why volunteers choose to offer support and what inspires them to continue volunteering. Potential questions to ask include:

• What motivates you to stay engaged as a volunteer? 
• Are there specific aspects of the volunteer experience that inspire you to continue volunteering?
• How can we enhance your engagement and make your volunteer experience more meaningful?

Boosting volunteer engagement is crucial for maintaining a committed and motivated volunteer base. Actively involving volunteers in decision-making, recognising their contributions, and providing opportunities for growth and development not only increases satisfaction but also inspires volunteers to continue dedicating their time and effort.

 By collecting feedback in these three key areas, you can strategically enhance your volunteer recruitment, satisfaction, and engagement strategies, leading to a more effective and thoughtfully built volunteer team.

3 Tips for Collecting and Implementing Volunteer Ideas

Remember that prioritising volunteer experiences at all stages is crucial to maintaining long-term support. If you’re eager to start collecting volunteer feedback but aren’t sure where to begin, here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Use an online suggestion box: A virtual suggestion box gives members a quick, easy, and anonymous way to submit feedback and ideas whenever they want. This can pertain to a recent volunteer experience or any identified opportunity for improvement. For example, your technical volunteers might ask for more training to understand your organisation’s online payment processes or other software specifics. With a Deedmob platform, you can easily integrate this by creating a form on your page and asking the your feedback questions.
2. Use volunteer management software: Similar to membership management software, these tools allow you to gather specific details about each volunteer, such as their demographics and interests, to guide and inform your interactions with them. Deedmob also allows you to ask specific questions, such as age, location, or interests, when creating an account. In addition, with Fathom Analytics we use a Google Analytics counterpart that does value privacy. So you can confidently use specific data to improve the way you work.
3. Identify major areas or themes in feedback: While it may not be possible to take every volunteer suggestion into account, look for consistencies or overarching themes to inform which changes you prioritise. By identifying major themes in feedback, organisations can make changes that resonate with their volunteers, fostering a sense of connection and actively involving volunteers in shaping the organisation's initiatives. 

Collecting and implementing volunteer ideas demonstrates your organisation's commitment to continuous improvement and reinforces the value placed on volunteers' contributions. This inclusive approach lays the groundwork for long-term volunteer support and engagement. 

________

Building strong, long-term volunteer relationships hinges on a commitment to improvement, responsiveness to volunteers' needs, and a shared sense of ownership in your organisation's success. Thoughtful expressions of gratitude acknowledge the invaluable contributions of volunteers and solidify a positive and collaborative relationship.

By prioritising volunteer feedback and expressing genuine appreciation, your organisation can cultivate a dedicated and motivated volunteer base, ensuring the long-term, sustained success of your mission.

‍