What are your volunteer engagement metrics?

1 Recruitment metrics

Recruitment metrics can be used to track the number of people expressing interest or applying to volunteer for your organization, helping you evaluate the success of your outreach, marketing, and communication efforts. These metrics may include the number of inquiries or applications received, the number of new volunteers recruited, the conversion rate of inquiries to volunteers, the diversity and demographics of applicants or volunteers, and the sources or channels of recruitment.

2 Retention metrics

Retention metrics can help you understand how long and how often your volunteers stay involved with your organization, as well as identify the factors that influence their loyalty, commitment, and satisfaction. Examples of such metrics include the number of active/inactive volunteers, the volunteer turnover/attrition rate, the volunteer retention/renewal rate, the average length/frequency of service, and reasons for leaving/staying.

3 Performance metrics

Performance metrics can be used to evaluate how well volunteers perform their tasks and contribute to organizational goals. These metrics can help monitor the quality, quantity, and efficiency of volunteer work. Examples of performance metrics include the number of hours or tasks completed, the output or outcome of volunteer work, feedback or ratings from beneficiaries, staff, or peers, recognition or rewards received, and skills or competencies gained or improved.

4 Engagement metrics

Engagement metrics can help you understand the drivers, barriers, and opportunities for improving your volunteer engagement. These metrics capture how satisfied, motivated, and engaged volunteers are with their experience. Examples of engagement metrics include measuring volunteer satisfaction or net promoter score, volunteer engagement or commitment score, volunteer motivation or values alignment, volunteer participation in activities or events, and volunteer referrals or recommendations.

5 Data collection and analysis

To effectively collect and analyze your volunteer engagement metrics, you need to have a clear and consistent system for gathering, storing, and processing your data. This could involve surveys or questionnaires, interviews or focus groups, observation or assessment, databases or spreadsheets, and software or apps. Additionally, you should define your baseline, benchmarks, and targets for each metric so you can compare and evaluate your results over time and against other organizations. To interpret the data, use descriptive and inferential statistics such as the mean or median, standard deviation or range, frequency or percentage, correlation or regression, and t-test or ANOVA.

6 Data usage and improvement

To use and improve your volunteer engagement metrics, you need to communicate and act on your findings. You could consider strategies such as reporting or dashboard, visualization or infographic, storytelling or case study, action plan or recommendation, and experimentation or testing. Involving your stakeholders, such as volunteers, staff, board, donors, or partners in the data collection process is essential. Additionally, it is important to review and update your metrics regularly to ensure they are relevant, reliable, and valid.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?