Save The Bay Volunteering... By the Numbers

As Volunteer Manager, I get asked on a weekly basis about the stastics of our volunteer program.  From staff, other volunteers and people that I meet with at other organizations. Everytime I give a lecture or presentation at a conference, one of the first questions is "what are your numbers?".  Everyone wants to know what your numbers are when you manage a volunteer program.

Numbers and data represent "the health" of your program in the world of volunteer management.  The more volunteers, the stronger your program and the more networking opportunities you have with individuals to become potential members and donors to the organization.

However, any volunteer manager I've met would tell you that "the health" of their program should not be solely based upon the number of individuals who contribute their time. Sure, numbers are great and look good on paper - but the numbers are not always an accurate representation of your program.

Some organizations are small and have a limited capacity for volunteers. Yet their volunteers are reliable, helpful and give hundreds of hours of service a year to their organization.  I would call that a good program! 

Other organizations are large and have a variety of opportunities year round to offer to their volunteers, yet some people may come only once to help out, while a handful of really helpful, reliable individuals give countless hours to the organization in a variety of capacities.  I would call that a good program as well!

Save The Bay's Volunteer Program falls within the second category of organizations mentioned above.  We have a lot of opportunities to offer throughout the year.  Some people join us only once for a cleanup or specific project.  Then there are those volunteers for Save The Bay that come out to countless projects and give multiple hours a year to the organization.  I consider both of these types of volunteers incredibly valuable to our programs.

I think that the way we have our Volunteer Program set up at Save The Bay really helps us to reach out to more individuals and to get them participating in our programs.  We don't have an hour commitment you have to give to volunteer.  You volunteer for the projects we have listed that best suit your schedule and interest.  That's it - you give what you can - and we appreciate every minute!  See - we're so flexbile!

So, if we had to actually look at the numbers, how does Save The Bay stack up?

Last Fiscal Year (July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009) Stats:
1,498 volunteers gave over 8,800 hours of service to the organization.

So KUDOS Volunteers!! You deserve it!