As corporate social responsibility rises to the fore, and many employers lever bigger budgets to support this growing movement, employers are increasingly needing to demonstrate what they are achieving from the programmes that support these agendas, including employer supported volunteering. There are many ways that employers chose to measure their programmes – from simply calculating numbers, to looking at how the programme may contribute to improved staff morale.
As discussed in the section on benefits, most employers and VIOs expect some return for the inputs – time, resources etc. they put in to their programmes. Reporting on the benefits and impacts of employer supported volunteering is not only about the number of employer supported volunteers who get involved, but can include a whole range of data at a number of different levels - from employee satisfaction through to raised local profile, and even more customers.
For employers, employer supported volunteering programmes, either on their own, or as part of wider community investment programmes, can be publicised and reported on as a way to:
- promote employer supported volunteering internally and externally
- demonstrate to management that the programme is worthwhile
- reinforce messages on the good work that is being done
- show a return on your investment
- improve the operation of the programme – through leverage of more resources
- provide a framework for benchmarking and awards schemes
- provide information to support wider reporting and management processes – support for HR, corporate social responsibility activity, marketing, public affairs etc.
- endorse management support for developing the programme
- encourage other organisations to get involved through best practice examples
- raise profile with key stakeholders in the community and more widely.
For volunteer-involving organisations, reporting and publicising how employee volunteers are contributing to the organisation:
- is a good way to recognise and thank volunteers and their employer.
- is an effective mechanism to increase awareness of activities and services
- can encourage more people to volunteer for your organisation
- impresses funders and potential funders
- demonstrates local commitment and interest in the organisation and its aims
- demonstrates active engagement and impact to all members of the community
For the broker, collecting data is key, and is a means to:
- Report back to employers that their employees are satisfied with the service you are providing, that you have the range of opportunities that they are interested in, and for you to demonstrate how many employer supported volunteers you have engaged, and what they have done
- Report back to local communities on the activities that employer supported volunteers have got involved in and the impact they have made locally
- Report back to funders that you are achieving your targets, and demonstrating further impact and benefits through media articles and leverage.
- Demonstrate active engagement and impact to all members of the community – general public, voluntary sector, potential volunteers, funders, local authority etc.
- Measure and enhance your own performance.
However, you can’t evaluate if you don’t plan, and you can’t plan if you don’t evaluate, and evaluating, monitoring, reviewing (all these definitions are interchangeable) are an essential part of the brokerage role.
What should we measure?
Establishing targets, monitoring outcomes and collecting data will inform all your planning requirements, as you develop your brokerage service. Setting down key performance measurements from day one is very important, and you will need to discuss with your funders and supporters what you plan to measure and how you will do this.
Meeting, and refining your goals and targets will enable your programme to demonstrate value, and show how it can respond to change and local needs.
Firstly you should look at:
Scale (quantitative i.e. outputs)
For example:
- Number of volunteering opportunities brokered
- Number of volunteers brokered
Impact
For example:
- Number of projects completed.
- Monetary value of projects completed by volunteers
- Leverage – did a service obtain additional funding because of support received?
Quality (qualitative i.e. outcomes)
- Customer satisfaction – volunteering organisations
- Customer satisfaction – employers
- Customer satisfaction – employees
- Staff development – employees
- User satisfaction – client groups, pupils
Look at what you are measuring and the methods you are using for measuring. It is more complex to measure outcomes – the positive changes/benefits that our customers get, and how will we know when they have got them? It can take a long time to assess whether a community centre has increased footfall after a building makeover, or whether a pupil has achieved better grades through being mentored.
Further measures to think about include:
- The breadth of the programme: the range of opportunities offered
- The depth of the programme: sustained community initiatives, more in-depth activity
- Planned growth: sustained growth in the range of activity and outcomes achieved
Checklist: Key Performance Indicators
The following is a list of the range of statistics you may wish to consider collecting:
- Number of employers engaged (paying, non-paying)
- Number of employer supported volunteers engaged – (this could include)
- Cumulative (those who volunteer long term)
- New each quarter
- Those who may have never volunteered before (demonstration of how your programme reaches new volunteers)
- Number of volunteers briefed/trained
- Number of opportunities available for employer supported volunteers (especially relevant if you are funded to work with groups in a particular geographic location)
- Number of projects completed (accounting for VIOs that may have a number of opportunities)
- Number of direct beneficiaries (mentees)
- Quantifiable data (i.e. number of meals served, number of elderly people entertained)
- Number of VIOs supported and what they do (community centre)
- Total number of volunteers, employers, VIOs and projects in Volunteers Week
- Number of volunteer hours or days
- Amount of money given by company or fundraised by employees to support their volunteering activity
Want to know more about evaluating, including guidance, checklists and templates?
Find out how you can purchase our publication Employer Supported Volunteering: a toolkit for Volunteer Centres
Volunteer Centres can download the toolkit free of charge from the members section of the VE website.
Also visit our Evaluation pages for lots more information on this subject area.
