Measurement & Assessment

Valuing volunteer contributions to charities

Few charities communicate quantitative assessments of their volunteers’ contributions, leading to an under-valuation of this key resource. New, more informed methods help charities provide more than a thank you to volunteers in their annual reports, however, they require charities to commit to valuing the impact of their essential volunteers.

Staff and volunteers’ perceptions of the volunteer programme: an alternative use of the Net Benefits Index

The Net Benefits Index was developed to measure the performance of volunteer programmes. This article extends the NBI by demonstrating its use as an internal programme evaluation tool within two health non-profit organisations. It also highlights reasons for divergent scores between volunteers and staff and the improvements that can be made to a volunteer programme’s effectiveness as a result of measurement.

Volunteers: Valuable but invisible to accountants

Volunteer input is vital for achieving the organisational objectives of third-sector service-providers, but volunteers are often invisible in these organisations’ financial reports. This paper acknowledges valuation challenges and assess models developed by Mook et al, (2003) for usefulness. It analyses volunteer effort in New Zealand early childhood education centres to extrapolate a more informed understanding of the cost of childcare services.

Reimagining Volunteering

New Zealand Red Cross conducted research on Reimaging Volunteering. The findings present a refreshed approach to volunteering within New Zealand Red Cross. Furthermore, the research outlines volunteering research including the definition of volunteering; statistics; motivation, and barriers to volunteering particularly focusing on different ethnicities and ages; trends in volunteering; new emerging types of volunteering; and finally volunteer management comprising recruitment, training, and retention in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Measuring Volunteering: In giving, how much do we receive? The social value of volunteering.
Speech given by Andrew G Haldane, Chief Economist, Bank of England. A Pro Bono Economics lecture to the Society of Business Economists, London 9 September 2014.

Here the Chief Economist (in 2014) of the Bank of England gave a 32 page speech about the social value of volunteering in England. He discusses volunteering and its contribution to society.

Profiling Volunteerism: An Alberta Non-profit/Voluntary Sector Initiative Discussion Paper of the Value and Contribution of Alberta Volunteers
Government of Alberta, September 2020.

This report provides a summary of the state of volunteering in Alberta, Canada. 50% of adult Albertans are engaged in formal volunteering, which is higher than Canada’s national average of 44%. If informal volunteering is also considered, 70% of Albertans report helping someone outside of their immediate family. Volunteers contribute $5.6 billion per year in terms of the value of time spent volunteering for non-profit organisations. The critical role, value, and contribution of volunteers in the non-profit sector are further highlighted with interesting statistics and evidence. The report also provides important insights into key considerations, volunteer trends, volunteer motivations, and multiple actors of the voluntary sector in Alberta.

What is the Future for NGO Governance?
Centre for Social Impact in partnership with the Superdiversity Institute for Law, Policy and Business. August 2019.

A report into the future of governance for New Zealand’s 114,000 (NGOs) has identified a need for considerable investment into NGO governance capabilities. NGO boards are facing a range of opportunities and challenges now and into the future. This report outlines the critical ones. 

Catalyst for Change: A Roadmap to a Stronger Charitable Sector
The Senate Special Committee on the Charitable Sector
Senate, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. June 2019.

The Senate Special Committee on the Charitable Sector held extensive consultations with charities, non-profit, and volunteer groups to learn how Canada could better support their important work. The committee makes a number of practical recommendations to address those issues and more.

Time well spent: A national survey on the volunteer experience
Davies, John; Dobbs, Joy; Hornung, Lisa; Jochum, Veronique; McGarvey, Amy. National Council for Voluntary Organisations, January 2019.

This report analyses the findings of a nation-wide survey on volunteering, conducted in the UK, of more than 10,000 people, by YouGov for the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO). “It provides the most detailed analysis of volunteering for a decade.” 

True to label: Measuring value in the non-profit sector in Aotearoa New Zealand
Page, John.  Sport New Zealand, June 2018.

This is a major research report looking at how value is measured in the non-profit sector in Aotearoa New Zealand. It looks at 55 organisations including 15 sport and recreation bodies, examining publicly available documents. It asks how an interested party can tell what has been achieved using time and money provided by others. 

Recognising volunteering in 2017: Summary report

Volunteer Canada, 2017.

This report approaches the question: How do we recognise volunteering? Through the likes of social media and technology, the way Canadians interact with community organisations has changed, and this paper seeks to investigate that. Excerpt: “Four key areas where individuals choose to advance social good outside of formal volunteering activities: consumerism, technology and data, investing and business owner practices.”

The New Zealand cause report: Shape of the charity sector

McLeod, John. JBWere, March 2017.

This report covers two main areas: first, the bigger picture of what the not-for-profit sector is, where it fits in a New Zealand and global context, and more significantly, the changes seen over the last decade and the implications of this into the future; secondly, a close look at the individual charity sub sectors. One of the most important aspects of the report is to demonstrate how important the not-for-profit sector is to New Zealand society.