Volunteers Matter: Communicating their contribution and impact (AU)

18/09/2017

Volunteers are strategic and mission-critical organisational resources with the on-going ability of many NFP organisations to serve its constituency being both dependent and vulnerable to the availability and participation of volunteers. Although the contributions of volunteers to society are recognised at a national level, reporting at an organisation level is less obvious[1]. For many organisations the impact and contribution of volunteers, whilst significant, remains largely invisible and has the potential to lead, incorrectly, to the conclusion that volunteers don’t matter and have little impact on the operating capability and capacity of the organisation. While we generally find some information on donated financial resources received by an organisation, public disclosure on the amount and significance of donated non-financial resources in the form of volunteer contributions is less common.

A recent study conducted by a QUT researcher[2] investigated the perceptions of key organisational personnel on the reporting of volunteer contributions of services. Respondents (n=166) were unequivocal in their view that organisations should acknowledge and report the contribution of their volunteers. Respondents suggested that an elevated level of acknowledgement, beyond a mere “thank you”, promotes volunteering as a ‘legitimate’ community activity, is an organisational expression of ‘respect’ for the volunteers, creates a sense of being ‘valued’ and feelings of ‘achievement and satisfaction’ on the part of the volunteers, and facilitates greater [P]olitical awareness of the significance and impact of volunteers to the sustainability of NFP organisations and the broader sector.

Enhanced reporting requires consideration of the form and nature of that reporting. The majority of respondents consider that a statement of volunteer contributions should be included in the financial statements to give a more complete presentation of organisational performance and position. However, the nature of what to report was less certain. Twenty percent of respondents were of the view that any reporting should be in narrative form and 67% of the respondents were of the view that volunteer contributions should be quantified and reported in either financial and/or non-financial terms. Notably, and in terms of actual practice, of the 115 (69%) respondents that noted that their organisation maintained records of volunteer inputs, only 64 (39% of all organisations) quantified and reported volunteer contributions measured by time (hours contributed) and 22 (13% of all organisations) quantified and reported volunteer contributions in financial terms.

Common reasons cited for maintaining records included: ‘Volunteer recognition’ (e.g. promotional and recruitment initiatives, inclusion in annual report), ‘volunteer management’ (e.g. work health and safety), ‘program evaluation’ (including benchmarking), ‘required to report to funder’, and ‘preparation of grant applications’ (e.g. in-kind contributions). Common reasons cited by respondents from organisations that did not maintain records of volunteer inputs included: ‘not required to do so’, ‘lack of resources to keep records’, ‘too many volunteers therefore too difficult’, and ‘never thought about it’. Not unsurprising, those organisations that had a designated paid volunteer management position (either full-time or part-time) had a stronger tendency to maintain records and report volunteer contributions than those organisations without such a designated position.

In summary, although NFP organisations place a high value on volunteer contributions, the benefits and impact from volunteer contributions are rarely reported. Thus, a key message from the study is the need for practitioners and other stakeholders with an interest in the NFP sector to give their combined attention to the development of a best practice model for reporting on volunteer contributions. Ultimately, an organisation’s reporting on volunteer contributed services is ‘the right thing to do’.

[1] For example, an Australian study by O’Brien and Tooley (2013) examined the web-based disclosure of volunteer information and concluded that there was a “general state of deficiency”.

[2] Further information on the study can be obtained from stuart.tooley@qut.edu.au. Comment and feedback on this important topic is also welcomed.