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Questionaire volunteering in social institutions in the Netherlands

A: Information about the social institutionsIn total, the survey was completed by 52 organizations. Ranging from welfare organizations to neighborhood/resident initiatives and spread throughout the country.

Responding organizations are sometimes run entirely by volunteers and sometimes there are a few professionals. In some cases it seems that there are more professionals than volun-teers and sometimes it is the other way around.

It is striking that many organizations do not appear to distinguish between employees and volunteers. This is a known phenomenon in volunteer organizations, in which the importance of volunteers and how much they are valued, are also expressed by naming them as active equivalent. It makes it harder to interpret the data however, as we suspect that in some cases 'the number of employees' includes the number of volunteers and vice versa.

Number of benificiariesWhen asked how many beneficiaries are being supported, delivers a very varied picture. A number of organizations offer their services to a target group consisting of 3 beneficiaries and there are also a small number of organized that expand to a global audience.

Target group

Questionaire Volunteering in Social Institutions – SoVol/short term joint staff training event 2017 – 16/1/KA204/22920

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Elderly people are best represented as a target group, among the respondents (53,8%). Fol-lowed by children/youngsters (44,2%) and people living in poverty or with low incomes (38,5%). A small number of respondents (12%), have only elderly people as a target group. The majority however provides care for more than one target group. There are not many organizations (15%) that serve only one target. All other organizations offer support to at least two groups or for anyone who relies on them. The least mentioned target group are the homeless (7,7%) and the addicts (9,6%).

Working areaThe question of how the working area is operated, or what services are offered, produces such a varied picture that it cannot be interpreted clearly. Some respondents have given the geographic working area. We then see that 21% of the respondents indicates that they work on a local level, other (15%) work on a regional level and 2% of the respondents indicate they are operating nationwide. The other respondents have given an indication of the services and activities they provide. They position themselves on services, ranging from a buddy project to day care support to administrative support to preservation of cultural heritage.

B: information on volunteering in social institutionsAll responding organizations are working with volunteers. The number ranges widely from 1 to 35,000. One respondent did not know how many volunteers are working for his organiza-tion.

Most respondents indicate that they could (always) use more volunteers, sometimes speci-fied in a particular group, such as young people. This need for volunteers is sometimes a result of a high turnover caused by inefficient volunteer management.

When asked about the reason for working with volunteers, they provide both instrumental (cost reasons), additional (in addition to professionals) as ideological (it is the right thing to do, demonstrate community involvement, more social support) reasons. Usually a combina-tion of these two reasons are given. Instrumental (without volunteers we cannot get it done) and additional reasons (it is complementary to what we are already doing) are mentioned most: both 19,2%. Then there are other considerations such as or it is found that working with volunteer matches the image/mission/vision of the organization (ideological).

The tasks performed by volunteers or the positions they fill vary widely. There are volunteers with executive tasks such as administrative work, and volunteers that manage, coordinate or even have management tasks.

Mentoring and coordinationAll respondents recognize the need to prepare volunteers for their volunteer work. 69% of the respondents prepare volunteers via an intake or interview. Almost all organizations provide training or work integration and also maintain contact during the training period with the vol-unteer and evaluate experiences periodically.

Questionaire Volunteering in Social Institutions – SoVol/short term joint staff training event 2017 – 16/1/KA204/22920

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Over 86% of respondents have appointed one or two volunteer coordinators. Only 9,6% of respondents have no volunteer coordinator and in nearly 4% of the cases coordination is invested elsewhere in the organization.

Where a volunteer coordinator has been appointed, in most cases they are paid employees with multiple tasks, including volunteer coordination (50%). Nearly a quarter of the respon-dents (23,1%) invested in a volunteer coordinator. The rest of the respondents have this task entirely (5,8%), or partially (13,5%) invested with one or more volunteers.

The majority of the respondents (86,3%) have identified someone within the organization as a mentor for the volunteers. 11,8% of the respondents did not, and not even 2% of the re-spondents say this is not applicable. The mentoring is done mostly by designated staff. In other cases mentoring is not a specific task, but is picked up by different people (professionals as well as volunteers).

TrainingMost respondents (92%) offer training to the volunteers in some way. These are self-catered or purchased from experts. In some cases it is possible to follow an external training pro-gram.

The courses can be categorized in three sections:- How-to-training on the level of knowledge- How-to-training on the level of skills and competences- Training on preconditions: rights and obligations

The duration of the courses ranges from two hours to several sessions spread over one day to several months. Sometimes a training or workshop is given once and sometimes repeated courses over a year. No exact numbers can be given here.

Cooperation professionals and volunteersFrom practice we know that the cooperation between volunteers and professionals is not always easy. There may be difficulties that arise in the collaboration for various reasons. Most problems are due to unclear arrangements and/or continuity expectations or a lack of support. When organizational changes or budget cuts are imminent, staff experiences pres-sure and uncertainty about the future. That can result in situations where volunteers are seen as a threat. It is sometimes hard to find a good balance in the collaboration between profes-sionals and volunteers.

Almost half of the respondents explicitly appoints collaboration as respectful, friendly and based on equality. Other respondents indicated that cooperation was "good in itself, but it is still searching for the right balance between formal and informal care. A number of respon-dents indicated that there probably should be more time to invest in good cooperation, and that professionals are not always sufficiently supported in learning to deal/work with volun-teers. A number of respondents indicated that cooperation is governed by the organizational policy.

Impact

Questionaire Volunteering in Social Institutions – SoVol/short term joint staff training event 2017 – 16/1/KA204/22920

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Most respondents are well aware of the impact of their volunteers, without them we would not be here! It is also seen that volunteers add many extras and are a valuable addition to the work of professionals. In some cases people research the impact and other times will be measured by hours worked.

There is no specific way of measuring the impact, but mostly organizations use the number of volunteers and the hours they contribute. More and more organizations measure impact by calculating how much money was saved with the deployment of volunteers.

Not every organization communicates about the impact of volunteering, but when they do they communicate to:

- Local community - Volunteers, clients and staff - Board- Funding partners- Network partners - Other stakeholders

Most communication is done online (website or social media).

ChallengesThe challenge that is most mentioned by the respondents is the collaboration between staff and volunteers. What that implies is not mentioned. In addition, respondents say that they struggle with the position of the volunteer in the organization. They also indicate that they have questions about how to keep motivating and inspiring volunteers to suit their own needs as well as the objectives of the organization. Working with volunteers is in most cases an instrumental component, the goal is to get something done. Sometimes there is tension be-tween what is needed for the organization, with the accompanying pressure, and what a vol-unteer wants.

Benefits of working with volunteersIn the answers given to this question about the benefits of working with volunteers, we again see the instrumental, ideological and additional perspectives. Respondents realize very well that without volunteers they could do much less or maye even nothing. Sometimes the cost issue is the main advantage (instrumental), the assumption is that it is inexpensive to work with volunteers. While it may indeed reduce costs in some ways, one of the respondents says very aptly: "Volunteering is not free."

Most respondents also see that volunteers can provide much added value to the work of pro-fessionals. They can give more attention to the client and therefore support and enhance the work of professionals. Also, the expertise of the volunteer offers added value the professional might not be able to provide. Respondents appreciate this very highly.

Also from an ideological perspective value is perceived. Volunteers help clients, but also themselves. Beyond that volunteering is rewarding and a helpful way of spending the day. Volunteering can increase self-esteem and personal strength in the volunteer. Volunteering

Questionaire Volunteering in Social Institutions – SoVol/short term joint staff training event 2017 – 16/1/KA204/22920

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can also be seen as a stepping stone to paid employment. Connecting people and their tal-ents provides possibilities for the volunteer as well as the organization.

And last, but certainly not least: the enthusiasm and energy that volunteers bring into the organization, is inspiring for both employees and clients.

Questionaire Volunteering in Social Institutions – SoVol/short term joint staff training event 2017 – 16/1/KA204/22920