Quantifying the value of your volunteers Presented By Jessica Lindohf

People volunteer for a lot of reasons Traditionally people volunteered to benefit the community Increasingly people volunteer for their own benefit Short term volunteering is becoming more common The “big society” is putting a new spin on volunteering

Some key facts about volunteering The investment in volunteering in UK is 400 million The value of volunteering in the UK is 12 billion Volunteering has a positive impact on some aspects of social and mental health. In a survey of volunteers walk leaders displayed increased sense of purpose, self-esteem and confidence. Volunteers are considered the primary asset by walking for health schemes

Keep and open mind Do we evaluate to prove what we are worth Do we evaluate to improve what we do

What is the Question What do I want to know? What data do I need? Who do I need to ask? What resources do I need? What methods should I use? What am I going to do with the results?

Economic value of volunteers Estimate the value of the time the volunteers contribute by assigning a wage (minimum wage) to the activity Volunteer Hours X Minimum pay Volunteer Hours Volunteer Pay £5.93

Economic value of volunteers Calculate the true value of the volunteer contribution by assigning wage rates to different activities Volunteer Hours X Role X pay Volunteer Hours Admin £7.50 Volunteer Pay £5.93 Volunteer Hours Strategic £15.00 Volunteer Hours Project coordination £10.65

Economic value of volunteers Translate the hours volunteers contribute in different capacities to full time equivalent staff Role X posts Volunteer Hours Admin X No posts Volunteer Pay X no posts Volunteer Hours Strategic X No posts Volunteer Hours Project coordination X No posts

Social Return on Investment It provides a method for non-profit making organisations to show what value they create. It provides a way of calculating value that takes into account a broader concept of value. It is an analytic tool that enables the calculation of social, environmental and economic costs and benefits and as such it provides a more holistic picture of how value is created.

Tools to evaluate volunteers contribution Who do you need to ask: volunteers users families and relatives of users/volunteers What methods do you use: Focus Groups Questionnaires Monkey Surveys What do you need to ask and how open questions have an open mind use different tools to optimise ask why….

Evaluate the impact on Health Health Impact Assessments (HIA) helps identify the impact organisations have on the health and wellbeing of their staff, their service users/clients and on the communities where they operate from, and into. It supports organisations to maximise their positive benefit on health.

Equality Impact Assessment Equality impact assessment (EQIA) is all about considering how what you do may impact, either positively or negatively, on different sectors of the population in different ways. This EQIA guidance and tool helps you to identify who these people may be and what specific needs they may have that you will need to consider.

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