How can you tailor a volunteer performance evaluation framework to your needs?

1 Step 1: Define your purpose

Before you design your evaluation framework, you need to clarify why you want to evaluate your volunteers and what you hope to achieve with the results. Your purpose may be to improve your volunteer program, recognize and reward your volunteers, identify training and development needs, or communicate your impact to stakeholders. Your purpose will guide your choice of evaluation criteria, methods, and tools.

2 Step 2: Choose your criteria

The next step is to decide what aspects of volunteer performance you want to measure and how you will measure them. Depending on your purpose and data sources, quantitative or qualitative criteria, or a combination of both, can be used. Examples of such criteria include output (amount and quality of work done by volunteers), outcome (effect and value of the work done by volunteers), satisfaction (level of enjoyment and fulfillment experienced by volunteers), skills (competencies and abilities gained or improved by volunteers), and engagement (degree of commitment and involvement shown by volunteers).

3 Step 3: Select your methods

Once you have your criteria, you need to decide how you will collect and analyze the data. You may use different methods for different criteria, or use multiple methods to triangulate and validate your findings. Surveys, interviews, observations, records, and tests are all common methods used to collect data. Surveys involve questionnaires or forms that ask volunteers to rate or comment on their performance. Interviews are one-on-one or group conversations that elicit feedback and insights from volunteers. Observations involve direct or indirect monitoring of volunteer activities and behaviors. Records are documents or logs that track volunteer outputs and outcomes, while tests are assessments or quizzes that measure volunteer skills or knowledge.

4 Step 4: Implement your tools

The final step is to create and use the tools that will help you execute your evaluation methods. You can choose from existing tools, such as rubrics, scales, questions, checklists, and portfolios, or create your own depending on your resources and preferences. Rubrics are scoring guides that define the standards and expectations for each criterion. Scales are numerical or descriptive ratings that indicate the level of performance for each criterion. Questions are open-ended or closed-ended prompts that elicit responses from volunteers. Checklists are lists of items or actions that indicate the completion or quality of volunteer tasks. Portfolios are collections of evidence or artifacts that demonstrate volunteer achievements or learning. By following these four steps, you can tailor a volunteer performance evaluation framework to your needs and improve your volunteer management practices.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?