This document was created by an individual or individuals who submitted a proposal so he / she / they may present at the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiative’s 2011 Conference on Service and Volunteerism (GCSV11). This proposal was approved by the Indiana Commission on Community Service and Volunteerism (ICCSV) and other community partners. Sharing this document is a courtesy extended by the OFBCI to conference attendees who may want to reference materials covered at the GCSV11, and the OFBCI in no way not responsible for specific content within.
1. Increasing Executive and
Organizational Support
Facilitator:
Alan Witchey, Volunteer Center Director
United Way of Central Indiana Volunteer Center
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2. How do you increase executive and
organizational support?
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3. Building Blocks to Executive
and Organizational Support
1. Volunteers and Donations
2. Volunteers as Resources
3. Volunteers as Fundraisers
4. Skills Based Volunteers
5. Mission Critical Volunteers
6. Volunteers As Gateways
7. In-kind Support
8. Staff Training
9. Evaluate and Report Success
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5. Volunteers and Donations Pop Quiz
Are the following statements true or false?
1. Volunteers are less likely to give a donation than non-
volunteers because they already feel they are giving
through their volunteering.
2. Volunteers give at a lower rate than non-volunteers
because they usually cannot afford to give as much.
3. It doesn't matter if someone is asked to volunteer or
donate first. The person’s donation will be the same either
way.
4. Volunteers are more likely to increase their donation in the
following year compared to non-volunteers who donate.
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6. Quiz Answers
• 78% of volunteers donate versus 38% of non-volunteers.
• Volunteers' donations are 10 times greater than non-
volunteers.
• Asking someone to volunteer before donating leads to an
almost 50% increase in average gift. Volunteering equates
to an emotional ask while financial requests equate to a
value.
• 32% of volunteers compared with 26% of non-volunteers
report that they will increase donations in the coming year.
Answers: 1. False; 2. False; 3. False; 4. True
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7. Your Goal: Volunteers As Donors
• Track your organizational giving rate for volunteers by
average gift and compare it to non-volunteers
• Track volunteers that give more time separately
• Report your findings to the development department, the
CEO and other appropriate people
• Do not allow your volunteers to be exploited for donations
or it will turn them off
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9. Types of External Resources From People
For Nonprofits
• Volunteering – Volunteer time to help a nonprofit
• Funding – donations/grants/financial support – more likely
to come from volunteers and increased from volunteers
• Talent/Skills – skills and experience from
volunteers/professionals
Effective nonprofits recognize that volunteers are key to
success. If this is true, why aren’t volunteer managers
higher ranked in organizations?
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10. Your Goal: Volunteers as Resources
• Build a better understanding in your organization that there
are three critical ways for people to get involved and
increase capacity of your organization
• Two of the three involve volunteers as a foundation
(volunteers and talent/skills)
• The third is enhanced when volunteers are involved
(funding)
• Effective management of volunteers will enhance your
organization’s ability to complete it’s mission
What can you do to increase this awareness in your
organization?
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12. Volunteers Want to Fundraise
• Fundraising is the number one volunteer activity among all
volunteers in Indiana
• 28.1% of all volunteers in Indiana volunteer to fundraise
according the US Dept. of Labor statistics
• Fundraising volunteers are often
recruited/managed/evaluated separately from other
volunteers in the organization
• This separation helps minimize other volunteer programs
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13. Your Goal: Incorporating Fundraising
Volunteers
• Make sure board members and other fundraising
volunteers are seen as part of the overall organizational
strategy for volunteer engagement
• Assure that they are part of the volunteer communication
and recognition efforts
• Incorporate volunteer evaluation into board, fundraising
events, etc. – take charge of the evaluation if you can
• Make sure fundraising volunteers are aware of your other
volunteer needs
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15. Nonprofits and Skills Based Volunteerism
Source: 2006/2007 Deloitte/Points of Light IMPACT Studies
Nonprofit Organizations & Skill Based Volunteerism
62% of nonprofits do not work with corporate volunteer
programs
56% of nonprofits think that the best contribution a company
can make to a nonprofit is money – only 1% of nonprofit
funding comes from companies
45% of nonprofits match volunteers’ skills with appropriate
assignments
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16. Skills Based Volunteering Defined
Volunteer efforts that match a volunteer’s work experience,
professional skills, educational background or other abilities to
the work they are doing
Examples:
• HR professional might write an employee handbook for an
organization
• An IT person might install a new server or updated software
• A lawyer might provide legal services for free
• A graphic designer might design a brochure
• A landscaping company might upkeep the grounds for a year
• A corporate executive might lead an organization through a
strategic planning process
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17. Skills Based Volunteerism
Nonprofit Benefits
• Dramatically increases the value of volunteer service to an
agency. Skills based is valued between $40–500 an hour
depending on the market value of the specific job function.
Current value for traditional volunteering is $20.85.
• Nonprofits are often struggling with capacity or infrastructure
issues and lack the funding to improve them. Skills based
volunteerism offers an alternative to hiring vendors or depending
on staff to fill functions they are not skilled in
• Using skill based volunteerism allows nonprofits to reallocate
budgetary funds to mission critical areas
• Often leads to deeper engagement with a company, including
financial support and other volunteer support
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18. Your Goal: Skills Based Volunteering
• Find projects that can be completed by skills based
volunteers
• Try to have at least one project done each year
• Make sure you assess the full value of that volunteer
project and report it to your executive team
What are some potential skills based projects
in your organization?
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20. Mission Critical Volunteers
Volunteers that are critical to the completion of your
organization’s mission. Their efforts contribute to the overall
organization mission:
• Mentoring organization = mentors
• Food preparing organization = kitchen workers
• Museum = docents
• Financial literacy program = tax preparers
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21. Your Goal: Calculating the Value of Mission
• Put a monetary value on the mission critical volunteers –
what would it cost to hire, train, manage staff to do the
same work?
• Assure your connection to the mission critical volunteers is
known by all
• If you don’t have mission critical volunteers, plan for a goal
of implementing one opportunity in the next year
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23. Hearts & Hands Volunteers
Hearts and Hands Volunteers do “feel good” volunteering
• Often one-time volunteer opportunities such as painting,
landscaping, outside clean up
• Could be ongoing such as administrative functions,
tutoring, ongoing cleaning, support group facilitation, food
delivery, etc.
They are completing work that does not require specific
professional skills or education
These volunteers may at anytime become donors, board
members, skills based volunteers, or more deeply committed
to your organization
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24. Developing Corporate Partnerships
Source: United Way Worldwide, 2010
Elements Considered By Executives when
selecting partner organizations in order of
importance:
1. Organization Characteristics - mission overlap, strategic
direction, stability in staffing, and funding
2. External Factors - brand presence, positive audience
association, and other corporate partnerships
3. Organization Capacity - evaluation and efficiency
4. Volunteering Opportunities - local/national volunteering for
employees to leverage impact
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25. Your Goal: Gateway Volunteers
• Track the names and contacts of as many as you can
• Include them in your ongoing communication
• Invite them back to be involved again
• Assess their abilities and interests
• Connect them in more meaningful ways to your
organization when possible
• Track and report volunteers that become donors, skills
based volunteers or engaged in other ways
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26. In-kind Support From Volunteers
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27. In-kind support is the collection and/or donation of products to
support your organization’s mission, such as food, toiletries,
school supplies, and other items that your organization does
not need to buy
Oftentimes, in-kind support is connected to volunteers but we
don’t always track it or report it that way
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28. Your Goal: Connect In-Kind Support To
Volunteerism
In-kind support may be tracked as:
• Hours and value of hours of volunteers collecting and
sorting items
• Estimated value of the products collected and distributed
Make sure you connect the donations and their value to the
volunteer program which often adds:
• Expansion of services and scope for the organization
• Budgetary savings from funds that will not be expended
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30. Training the Staff How to Work With
Volunteers
• 19% of nonprofits train paid staff to manage the volunteers
they supervise (Source: Management Capacity in
America’s Charities and Congregations, 2004)
• Training should be organization-wide when possible –
required for anyone working with volunteers (board,
mission critical volunteers, etc.)
• Cover the basics: orienting volunteers, training them,
providing ongoing supervision and feedback, evaluating
them, and recognizing them
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31. Your Goal: Train Staff To Be Good
Volunteer Managers
• Remind everyone that volunteers are resources and can
increase the scope of the agency’s work, increase capacity
of the organization, and can bring valuable resources to the
table
• Set yourself up as a professional – you know the best ways
to manage and retain volunteers
• Educate everyone about the successes of your volunteer
program
• Help staff manage, recognize, and retain volunteers better
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33. Evaluation Builds Your Credibility
• 30% of nonprofits evaluate the impact of their volunteer
programs annually (Source: Management Capacity in
America’s Charities and Congregations, 2004)
• Measuring volunteer satisfaction is not enough – you must
go beyond surveys and into actual data
• Showing impact is probably your most important way to
develop support, increase organizational understanding of
volunteers, and to increase your perceived value to the
organization
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34. Your Goal: Make sure everyone knows the
impact of volunteers and your programs
• Create an annual impact report to share with the executive
and others
• Possible measures might include:
o Organization-wide data about all volunteers for the
organization
o Your volunteers’ donation history
o Savings to the organization due to volunteer efforts
o Values of in-kind donations and skills based volunteering
o Corporate relationships built from volunteering
o How much volunteers raise in funding
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36. Final Thoughts and Practical Suggestions
1. Create a strategic plan for your volunteer program (it
should include existing program goals and plans to
expand awareness of volunteer impact and/or meaningful
opportunities)
2. Educate staff and board about the importance of
volunteers
3. Find a board member ally
4. Create an impact report annually that includes
suggestions for growth – ask to present it to the executive
director
5. Create a group of supportive volunteers that have larger
influence in the community
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37. Your Commitment
What will you commit to do
over the next year to build,
increase or encourage
executive level and
organizational support?
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38. Questions?
Questions?
Alan Witchey, Director, Volunteer Center
317-921-1366
alan.witchey@uwci.org