Not-For Profit Pulse on Volunteerism: The Results are In!

The long-awaited Not-for-Profit Pulse on Volunteerism has arrived...with some very interesting results! Read on for the highlights:

Volunteer Levels Holding Steady Despite Downturn

Despite a very difficult couple of years for the non-profit sector, volunteerism levels haven’t declined as some would have expected.  In fact, most of the participants in this survey saw little or no change in the ratio between volunteers to staff over the past two years.

Participants are also fairly positive about the future, with most predicting the ratio between volunteers and staff will hold steady or grow in the next five years.

NFP’s Continue to Rely on Traditional Methods for Attracting Volunteers

Participants continue to rely heavily on ‘tried-and-true’ methods when it comes to attracting volunteers.  Leveraging existing donor and other stakeholder networks as well as targeting the private sector are the most common ways for participants to mobilize volunteers to join their ranks. 

Social media and the internet is growing in popularity as a way to attract volunteers but just a fraction of participants feel that it is effective at achieving this goal. As appears to be the case in many areas to do with this evolving medium, while non-profits seem to recognize the potential of social media and the internet to attract volunteers, they haven’t yet seen a significant ‘return’ on the time, money and energy they have invested...at least, not yet.

Formal Volunteer Training Not Widely Offered by Non-Profits

There is very little being offered by participants in the way of formal training to their volunteers.  While most offer informal on-the-job training or at least some general information to their volunteers about their organization or cause, a surprising one-fifth offer absolutely no volunteer training, whatsoever.

NFP Opportunities Evolving to Meet Hectic Volunteer Schedules:

Shorter, project-based volunteer opportunities are becoming more popular as non-profits struggle to align with peoples’ hectic schedules. Looking forward, participants expect project-based volunteer opportunities to continue to replace a growing number of the ongoing opportunities that currently exist.

Despite their relative newness in non-profit circles, virtual volunteering (volunteering remotely via the internet) and micro-volunteering (volunteering in short, task-based bursts remotely via computer or mobile phone) is also being offered by a significant number of participants. 

That said, micro and virtual volunteering are still not widely perceived by participants to be the most effective method of volunteerism – As appears to be the case with social media and volunteerism, it seems as if people are still working out how to leverage this new technology effectively in this arena.

Free Access to the Full Not-for-Profit Pulse Highlight Report

If you would like to access the full highlight report (PDF), complete with tables and statistical analysis, please access it here. For those interested, we are also offering free access this week to the first two editions of the Not-for-Profit Pulse on Social Media and the Generation Shift.

If you like what you see, please sign up here to participate in our upcoming NFP Pulse on Recruitment and Retention of Members and Donors, scheduled to be launched in just a few days.  Results are always free to participants.

What Would Reverse Innovation Look Like in Your Not-for-Profit?

Essentially, reverse innovation takes something as it is now, strips out all of the ‘bells and whistles’ that may be nice but are not essential to have, and turns it into something that fits the local market and delivers the same result or output.

Take G.E. for example, which, among many other things, makes medical equipment. They develop high end products for North American and other ‘developed’ countries, and then reverse-innovate the expensive versions to fit the needs of emerging nations. 

I am just back from an eye-opening two weeks in India where I had the opportunity to tour the G.E. Healthcare facility in Delhi and see what they are doing, firsthand. The ECG seen here in this commercial has been reverse-innovated to be lightweight, portable and sells at a fraction of the price to meet the desperate need for basic medical equipment in rural villages across the country.

Here’s another, non-profit example of a reverse-innovation called “Embrace.”  What looks like a miniature sleeping bag is actually a portable and affordable alternative to an incubator. It is designed to help premature babies in developing countries survive by retaining their body heat. Oh yeah, and it costs $25, which is about 1/800^th of the price of a hospital incubator.

...So simple and yet still effective...AND well-targeted to the needs of the communities they are serving. 

It’s no big surprise that all of this reverse innovation has gotten me thinking about NFP's.  So here is my big ‘What If’ for the week:

What if non-profits incorporated reverse innovation into their organizational model? 

Some questions to ask yourself:

-          Why do members really belong to your association?

-          What is your association doing to make sure you are delivering on that ‘why?’

-          What are the activities your association is doing that are absolutely critical to its success?

Now, how can you retain these core activities and deliver the same result while making it simpler? To take it a step further, how can you strip down what you currently offer while simultaneously deepening the value and meaning you are providing?

Is there room for reverse innovation in helping your association to:

-          Cater to the unique needs of your members by giving them only the things they want and not the things they don’t?

-          Simplify your association structure and make the barriers between the leadership, administration, and members more transparent?

-          Empower and take advantage of your most important asset – your members?

What would a little reverse innovation look like in your association?

Don’t be the Boiled Frog: Complacency No Longer an Option for NFP’s

Did you know that if you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will try to jump out? But if you put that same frog into a pot of water at room-temperature and heat it up gradually, the frog will let itself be boiled to death? While reinvention is not easy, it is definitely achievable. For NFP’s that want to survive and thrive into the 21st century, complacency just isn’t an option anymore...Just ask the frog.

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Volunteerism in a Changing World: How is Your NFP Adapting?

Volunteerism is an evolving phenomenon that is having a significant impact on associations and charities alike.  Whether they manage your organization at the board or committee level, support your staff, or carry out your mission through their day-to-day activities, volunteers are clearly the lifeblood of the not-for-profit sector.

We received a lot of great topic suggestions for our upcoming NFP Pulse but a surprising number of you asked for a survey on volunteerism.  Specifically, you wanted to know what other NFP’s are doing in the way of volunteer recruitment and retention in an era where changing demographics, priorities and lifestyles are conflicting in many ways with the traditional way in which people have volunteered in the past.

The March edition of the Not-for-Profit Pulse will be launched next week and we hope you will take the opportunity to participate.  Your input will be used to help you and other NFP's to better understand how associations and charities are positionning themselves to succeed in light of this evolving trend. 

More information about the NFP Pulse can be found here. As always, participants will be provided with a free copy of the results as a thanks for their participation. 

Stay tuned, more info to come soon!

Everybody’s Doing It...Social Media, That Is: But is it Right for Your NFP?

I don't mean to sound like your Mother but, if everyone was jumping off of a cliff would you do it too? Despite all the hype suggesting otherwise, social media isn’t for everyone. Just like you would for any new strategic initiative, you should carefully think through whether it is a ‘fit’ with your organization. I see the decision framed around three central questions...

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