Last fall, United Way of King County launched a survey to better understand the challenges and opportunities nonprofits in King County face in engaging and managing volunteers.  The response to the survey was astounding- over 600 people, representing a broad spectrum of the nonprofit sector in King County, completed the survey. Respondents filled a wide variety of roles in their organizations, with 27 percent being volunteer managers and 19 percent being CEOs.

I am excited to announce that United Way of King County has just released a report,  “Volunteer Management: Challenges and Opportunities Facing Nonprofits.”, based on the results from this survey.  The report,  written by Rick Lynch,  a leading expert in the field of volunteer management, addresses challenges of volunteer engagement, hopeful signs, and implications for organizations, leadership, and funders.  

Overall, the study found that several key issues which have long troubled the field of volunteerism continue to challenge local nonprofits:

• The critical role of the volunteer manager is undervalued and underutilized.
• Nonprofit staff lack time and skills to manage volunteers effectively.
• Volunteer retention rates are low.
• Effective recruitment strategies for “hard to fill” opportunities are lacking.
• Nonprofits do not effectively measure the impact of volunteer contributions.

The survey results also suggest some signs of improvement in volunteer engagement efforts:

• The critical role of volunteers within local nonprofits is valued.
• Nonprofits are seeking the professional skills of volunteers.

We hope this report will be used to guide nonprofits in investing time, money and other resources into their volunteer engagement efforts and stimulate funders to explore how service is – or could – be supported in their work.  

I encourage you to take the time to read through the report and share it with your nonprofit peers.  You can access the report here. 

Let us know what you think.