SOURCE: Freepik
Volunteering is a noble act of kindness where selfless hearts contribute their precious hours of the day to help make someone else’s life better. Furthermore, they’re an inseparable part of your organization, handling every big-to-minute task with sheer dedication and compassion. Whether it’s hosting a one-time community event or managing a long-term volunteer program, it’s their hard work and passion that keep your organization functioning smoothly.
Thus, you, as an organization, must take regular surveys to discern the satisfaction and fulfillment of your volunteers with your programs. This can help you understand how satisfied your volunteers are with their work so that you can work on improving accordingly. If your volunteers aren’t happy and satisfied, then it’s a big red flag for your organization, and you must work on that. But then you may be wondering how you can work on improving these issues. Even in that case, taking a volunteer survey can help.
However, to get the most useful answers, you need to ask better questions to discern reality. So for that, you must check out the most comprehensive volunteering survey questions before making your questionnaire. Let’s see six important questions to help you get started!
Questions to Include in Your Volunteer Survey
SOURCE: Freepik
1. Why Did You Decide to Volunteer?
Your organization must know what inspires people to come and support your cause. Knowing this reason will help you work harder on it so that you can make your volunteers' journey even more happy and fulfilling. Understanding what motivates them can also help you tailor their programs accordingly, which in turn will deliver higher satisfaction from the work they do for you. Furthermore, to make this question more specific and help you understand it more comprehensively, you can ask them to mention their favorite names for volunteer groups they love contributing to. This can help you understand which program helps you attract more volunteers, and then you can work on identifying the reasons and do the same for other programs.
2. What Were Your Expectations Before Volunteering?
Knowing the expectations of your volunteers can help you in many ways to improve your programs and work culture. The first thing this question will help answer is what people perceive and expect from you as an organization. This will help you know how well you’re attracting new people and what message you’re sending them, as both shape their expectations of you. Besides that, it can also help you know what they were hoping to experience or do by joining your organization. This can help you know the new things you must add to your program's curriculum.
3. How Would You Rate Your Overall Volunteer Experience?
For you as an organization, knowing how well your programs are performing is of utmost importance. If your people aren’t satisfied with the work you’re offering them, then there’s a higher chance they’ll leave and not recommend anyone to join. That’s why taking surveys and asking them how their experience has been so far can help you work on improving it. Furthermore, it can also help you discern what’s working and what’s not so that you can take immediate measures.
4. What Was the Most Rewarding Aspect of Volunteering?
Volunteering isn’t completely selfless. Most people volunteer to derive a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment by helping communities in need. Thus, the reward for volunteering is satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment, knowing they've made a positive impact. So, your organization must offer such rewarding and fulfilling tasks to your volunteers to give them a fully satisfying experience. Furthermore, by asking this question, you can get to know whether you’re offering such fulfilling tasks, and if you aren’t able to, then you can work on improving them.
5. What Challenges Did You Encounter While Volunteering?
As an organization, giving your volunteers a satisfying and smooth journey should be your priority. If they can’t work smoothly and effectively, it’ll hamper their productivity, which in turn can impede your organization’s growth. Thus, offering them a smooth sailing journey is crucial for you. Besides that, asking your volunteers about the pain points and problems they encounter can help you tackle them promptly and make others' journeys better.
6. Do You Have Any Suggestions for Improving the Volunteer Program?
The whole point of taking a volunteer survey is to improve your programs and offer your volunteers the most satisfying, smooth, and fulfilling experience. Thus, you must ask them for their suggestions to help you better yourself. As they’re the ones handling the everyday tasks of your organization, they have first-hand experience with everything, so they can effectively tell you about the areas for improvement.
Final Thoughts
Volunteers are the most crucial part of your organization. Without their support, you can’t function optimally and fulfill your purpose as effectively. Thus, your organization must look after their needs and requirements to give them a satisfying and fulfilling experience. To do the same, conducting regular volunteer surveys can help. Furthermore, we hope that our above-shared questions help you craft an impactful survey.
