Agencies Who Recruited Online Volunteers:
Responses January 1999

The 105 agencies who had posted online volunteering opportunities on VolunteerMatch in January 1999 were contacted directly via email the last week of January with a brief survey to complete. The goal was to find out how many of the organizations had followed up with volunteers expressing interest in online volunteering, what those follow up steps were, if any assignments had actually been made or completed, etc. A SUMMARY of findings is available here on our web site.

32 agencies (more than 30%!) responded to this survey.

The name and contact information for those who responded is not shown in this archive.

1. Organization's City, State, and Geographic Service Area served

2. Position and Role in Working with Volunteers

3. Have you had any responses to your virtual volunteering posting via Volunteer Match? If so, how many? (remember, we are asking ONLY about reponses to ONLINE volunteering opportunities, not opportunities that are onsite at your agency)

4. For those individuals who responded, saying that they were interested in volunteering with your organization -- what was the next step after you received this email of interest?
   (did you call them with more information about the assignment? email them with more information about the assignment? have them complete an online application?)

5. How many of these respondants are currently working on an online assignment, or, have completed an online assignment for you?

6. If there are respondants who never received an online assignment, please detail the obstacle(s) that has/have kept this from happening: (you weren't sure what the next step should be, the email address of the respondant no longer worked, you have not had time to send the potential volunteer more information, etc.).

7. For those online volunteers who found you via VolunteerMatch and are currently working on an online assignment for you OR have completed an online assignment for you, what was the nature of the assignment(s) performed or currently being performed?

8. How did you screen/orient the volunteers you involve(d) via the Internet?
   (how do you evaluate their skills, do you do reference checks, how do you tell them more about your organization and what its like to volunteer with your agency, etc.)

9. How do you/did you supervise and recognize/reward online volunteers for their contributions?

10. What factors in your organization have promoted the success of involving volunteers virtually? (having written task descriptions, having a volunteer manager, getting staff buy-in, etc.)

11. What factors in your organization have impeded the success of your virtual volunteering program? (staff reluctance to work with "unseen" volunteers, lack of pre-planning, etc.)

12. In what areas do you need the most assistance in working with online volunteers?
    (writing task descriptions, developing an online orientation, knowing how to evaluate people online, how to record online volunteer hours and progress, etc.) Please add any other comments you would like to send to us:

13. Please add any other comments you would like to send to us: