At last! The results of the survey of volunteer management software launched by Rob Jackson (robjacksonconsulting.com) and Jayne Cravens (coyotecommunications.com) — ME — are compiled and ready for release!
In March and April 2012, Rob and I drafted and circulated a survey regarding software used to manage volunteer information. The purpose of the survey was to gather some basic data that might help organizations that involve volunteers to make better-informed decisions when choosing software, and to help software designers to understand the needs of those organizations. We also wanted to get a sense of what organizations were thinking about volunteer management software.
At long last, we’re publishing the results of the survey here (in PDF). It includes an executive summary of our findings, as well as the complete responses to questions and our analysis of such. Rob and I did not have time to analyze all of the comments made in answer to some questions; for all questions, we listed the comments made, but we did not always offer any observations about such, or group the responses into categories.
We welcome the efforts of other researchers to offer their own analysis of the data provided.
Software companies and designers: you can learn a LOT from this report to improve your products and your communications with customers!
Have a comment about the survey? Offer it below, or via UKVPMs.
Thanks to everyone who responded to the survey!
Can’t wait to see the results!
Wait no more!
I would guess that for many who responded that their organization has fewer than 100 volunteers but their software manages more than 100, the difference is in lapsed volunteers. I would definitely guess that I responded n that way because, although my database contains information related to over 100 people, we would never have over 100 active volunteers at any given time. I hope that this interpretation of the question does not skew your results; I was just trying to respond as accurately and honestly as possible!
That’s a great comment. Who is and isn’t an *active* volunteer is always up for debate. For instance, if a volunteer isn’t in an ongoing role – if that volunteer has shown up for just a couple of episodic volunteering activities (like a beach clean up) or done a couple of very short online volunteering projects with definite start and end dates (microvolunteering), is that person an *active* volunteer, or an *inactive* volunteer? If a volunteer is tracking 100 volunteers or more, I consider that organization as working with 100 volunteers – even if they have only a few volunteers onsite at any given time. That would have been a good thing to report in the report — sorry that I didn’t! Again, great comment!