boston cares data analytics presentation
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Analytics in the Field: Using Data Mining to Improve Volunteer Retention
Abram Guerra, Eric WhitneyManoj Prakash, Joel Samen
December 5, 2011
What is Boston Cares?
“Boston Cares mobilizes more than 25,000 volunteers annually in support of Greater Boston schools and non-profit agencies. We offer a wide array of programs and opportunities that make it easy for you to volunteer no matter how busy your schedule is.”1
1www.bostoncares.org/about_us
VolunteerOrganization with Project
Boston Cares
Boston Cares Has a Wealth of Data
1,796 Organizations
3,597 Opportunities
20,071 Occurrences
43,531 VolunteersDatabase
Connecting the Dots
Missing Data Values
Calculated Variable: Distance
Volunteer Home Addresses
Volunteering Locations
Our Target Variable
Time
Orientation Volunteer Instance Volunteer Instance
Lifespan
Moving to SAS
Interesting Initial Findings
Setting Up in SAS
The Story the Data Tells UsParameter Coefficient Explanation
Avg_Group_Size -0.9 Smaller-group volunteer opportunities help
increase the lifespan of an active volunteer.
Education Level
– Graduate degree
139.4 Volunteers with graduate degrees volunteer more
than 4 months longer.
Education Level
– Some college
-41.3 Volunteers who have only partially completed their
education are active volunteers for less time.
Education Level
– Some high school
-44.6
Environment_ZeroesAdded 26.1 Each time a volunteer participates in an
environmentally-oriented opportunity, they are
likely to volunteer for another month.
Profile Name – Volunteer -128.1 Volunteer Leaders (as opposed to regular
Volunteers) are active more than 4 months longer.
Reliability -74.90 The most reliable volunteers are active for shorter
periods of time.
So What?
Volunteers who participate in large-scale, one-time events may have no ties to Boston Cares
Improve marketing efforts at large-scale events to raise brand awareness of Boston Cares
Volunteers with graduate degrees are more likely to have longer lifespans
Work with graduate schools to get students involved with Boston Cares, create alumni events that focus on service
Volunteers who participate in an environment-based project are likely to have longer lifespans
Increase availability of environment-based community service partnerships, finding more of these kinds of events for participants
Finding from Data Managerial Recommendation
Lessons Learned
Be Aware of Assumptions
Scrubbing Data is aFull-Time Job
SAS is a Tool
There is Always More Data You Want
Data is Often Poorly Documented
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