Research Findings

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Research Findings March 2004
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Potential Volunteers A Demographic Profile
VolunteerMatch site users are

• Overwhelmingly female (84 women, 16 men)
• Highly educated (57 have at least a college
  degree), and of the 39 who do not have a degree,
  half are under age 18
• Young (50 are under age 30, only 32 are age 40
  or older) and
• Diverse (58 are Caucasian, 11 are African
  American, 10 are Hispanic).

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Potential Volunteers Motives For Volunteering I
Compared to other things you do in your life, how
important to you is your volunteer work?
Not very important
One of the most important things in my life
Somewhat important
68 highly important
The more frequently that Potentials volunteer,
the more likely they are to say that volunteering
is important in their life.
Very important
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Potential Volunteers Motives For Volunteering
II
Which of the following is the most important
reason why you volunteer?
To help others/feel like Ive made a
difference To be involved/feel connected to my
community To contribute to a cause that I care
about To use my skills in a productive way To
develop skills, knowledge, experience To meet
people, make new friends/acquaintances To
fulfill a community service requirement
By 60 to 40, Potentials prefer to volunteer
with others rather than on their own this is
especially true of younger volunteers.
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Potential Volunteers Areas Of Volunteering
Interest
Which two/three of these volunteering areas most
interest you?
Children/youth Animals Homeless/housing Education/
literacy Advocacy/human rights Community Arts/cult
ure Hunger Environment Women Health/medicine Crisi
s support Seniors
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Potential Volunteers Wide Spectrum Of
Volunteering Behavior
How often do you volunteer?
How many hours per visit do you volunteer?
Three or four hours
One or two hours
Once a week or more
Three times a year or less
One to three times a month
Four to 11 times a year
Five or more hours
Under an hour
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Potential Volunteers Expanding The Pool Of
Potential Volunteers
I had not volunteered before using
VolunteerMatch
I had volunteered before
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Potential Volunteers Using The VolunteerMatch
Site
How often do you use VolunteerMatch?
One to three times a year
At least two or three times a month
Four to 11 times a year
Once a month
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Potential Volunteers Finding A Match III
How many volunteer opportunities do you generally
respond to before finding the right place to
volunteer?
Two or three
One
Four to six
Seven or more
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Potential Volunteers Satisfaction With
Volunteer Experiences
How satisfied have you been with your experiences
volunteering with organizations you found through
VolunteerMatch?
86
59
41
14
December 2003
May 2001
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Potential Volunteers Making Their Mark Through
VM

• 63 of volunteers say that half or more of their
  volunteer activity in the past year has been with
  an organization they found through VM.
• 61 of volunteers report that they have become
  regular, ongoing volunteers at an organization
  they found through VM.
• 19 report that they have become members of an
  organization they found through VM, and 25
  report having taken on another role (e.g., donor,
  board member) in the organization.

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Potential Volunteers Impact Of Service
VM makes it easier for me to find volunteer
opptys I am more satisfied with VM than other
online services of volunteer info I am more
likely to find satisfying volunteer rela-tionship
because of VM I am more likely to volunteer
because of VM
86
86
82
79
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Nonprofits The Challenge Of Recruiting
Volunteers I
Which of the following challenges keep your
organization from making greater use of
volunteers?
Finding people who can commit enough time Finding
people whose schedules match our needs Finding
people with the skills and abilities we need Cost
of training and managing volunteers Cost of
recruiting volunteers Limited organizational
commitment to volunteer programs
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Nonprofits The Challenge Of Recruiting
Volunteers II
Most useful volunteer recruiting strategies
Word of mouth Our Web site Internet recruiting
services Live presentations to groups Events Newsp
aper ads Local volunteer center Relationship with
local corporations Direct mail Radio/TV ads
71 45 37 33 29 29 17 15 8 8
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Nonprofits Engaging Volunteers
On average, what proportion of the people who
respond are you able to engage as volunteers?
None ofthe people
50 to 100 of the people
1 to 9 of the people
20 to 49 of the people
10 to 19 of the people
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Nonprofits Satisfaction With VolunteerMatch
Volunteers
How satisfied have you been with the quality of
volunteers you have recruited through
VolunteerMatch?
Very/somewhat dissatisfied
Very satisfied
Somewhat satisfied
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Nonprofits Valuing Internet Services
Provides a valuable service to us Has helped us
reach out/ recruit volunteers we wouldnt have
found Makes it easier for us to find the right
volunteers Has helped us find the volunteers we
need Has allowed us to free up valuable resources
92
85
85
79
68
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Research Findings March 2004