Volunteer Services Report
2nd Quarter of 2009-2010
Prepared by Danielle Bartolomucci, VISTA Volunteer Coordinator
Reviewed by Chaun MacQueen, Education and Outreach Manager
Quarter in review
This year CEP became a host site for a Clara Barton VISTA Corps (CBVC) member, who is serving for one year as a Volunteer Coordinator.
CBVC members serve with local organizations who focus on preventing individuals and families from entering poverty or offering services to assist with transitioning out of poverty. They provide service through indirect, capacity building activities to ensure the organizations they are serving have the necessary resources to remain successful.
Some highlights from this quarter
- We gave 21 volunteer orientations
- We recruited and oriented 117 new volunteers
- We are hosting three interns through Easter Seals, Portland State University Masters in Social Work (PSU MSW), and Steps to Success.
- Of the 116 clients we served through In-Home Services, 42 (or 36%) of them had volunteer support
Data Collection
CEP staff gathers data to track our volunteer activities. Data for this report comes from other program reports and the following databases:
- Volunteer hours by program and individual
- Demographic information for volunteers
- Individual volunteer availability and interest
- Number of volunteer-focused community events in which we participate
- Volunteer recognition
- Hospitality
These data help us analyze effectiveness of volunteer coordination activities and helps identify gaps in volunteer recruitment. This also provides us the opportunity to gauge in-kind donations from the community, provide references for volunteers, and volunteer interests.
Volunteer Recruitment
This quarter the CBVC member participated in two volunteer recruitment activities.
We participated in the Student Volunteer Fair at Sunset High School on October 20th, 2009, which afforded us the opportunity to speak to high school students about volunteering with CEP.
CNRG Non-Profit Networking Night on November 19th, 2009 allowed us talk to a group of people about volunteer opportunities, community impact and collaboration, available programs and services, and partnerships building opportunities.
A. Volunteer Services Activities
Volunteer Time
Independent Sector is a Federal program that measures the value of volunteer time. Oregon’s dollar value for volunteer time is $17.90 per hour, which would total $26,689 in in-kind donations for the year. At the Federal rate of $20.25 per hour it would total $30,193. In the past few years, CEP has had a combination of a small number of interns who volunteer a large number of hours, and a large number of volunteers who participate in groups that come once or twice a year. This quarter, volunteers donated an average of 6.9 hours per person (range 1-172.5 hours).
| Program | Number of Volunteers Quarter | Number of Volunteers Year | Volunteer Hours Quarter | Total Hours Fiscal Year |
| Weatherization Workshop | 31 | 33 | 251.5 | 263 (17.6%) |
| Lead Poisoning Prevention | 7 | 11 | 44 | 52.5 (3.5%) |
| In-Home Services | 111 | 120 | 543 | 552 (37%) |
| Retail Fundraiser | 3 | 3 | 27 | 47 (3%) |
| Other | 5 | 7 | 189 | 576.5 (38.6%) |
| Total | *151 | *171 | 1054.5 | 1491 |
*Number of non-duplicated volunteers (as some volunteers work within more than one program)
All new individual volunteers receive a one-hour volunteer orientation. Those that commit to volunteering receive one-on-one training with the appropriate program staff member. Group volunteers receive an orientation and then work with staff in small groups. Volunteers assist with the following activities for each program:
Weatherization Workshop
- Data entry
- Weatherization Workshop Leader training
- Kit assembly
- Workshop registration
- Assisting clients with trade-in and bonus materials.
Lead Poisoning Prevention
- Kit assembly
- Workshop facilitation
- Data entry
In-Home Weatherization Services
- Weatherizing homes
- Registering clients
- Scheduling clients for services, returning phone calls
Retail Fundraiser
- Assisting customers with purchasing materials
- Answering questions and demonstrating products
Other
- Board Member time and research for new members
- Executive Director support
- Energy Educator: Train the Trainer
- Fundraising/Newsletter emailing list for Constant Contact
- Transferring management document templates to Google Docs
Volunteer Demographics
In order to get a better idea about the demographic composition of our volunteer base, we asked volunteers to complete an anonymous survey at orientation. The Race/Ethnicity categories were taken from Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Of 171 volunteers, 96 have filled out the anonymous survey so far. The results of the survey are as follows.
| Gender | Total for Fiscal year 2009-2010 | Total for Previous Year 2008-2009 |
| Male | 55 (57.8%) | 84 (58%) |
| Female | 40 (42%) | 62 (41%) |
| Other/No Response | 0 (0%) | 1 (1%) |
| Age | ||
| Under 18 | 2 (2%) | 8 (6%) |
| 18-25 | 24 (25%) | 31 (19%) |
| 26-35 | 35 (36.8%) | 47 (32%) |
| 36-54 | 26 (27%) | 51 (36%) |
| 55 and over | 8 (8%) | 9 (6%) |
| No Response | 1 (1%) | 1 (0%) |
| Race/Ethnicity | ||
| Hispanic/Latino(a) | 6 (6%) | 10 (7%) |
| White/European American | 64 (84%) | 110 (75%) |
| Black/African American | 7 (7%) | 5 (3%) |
| Asian | 2 (2%) | 9 (6%) |
| American Indian/Alaskan Native | 3 (3%) | 0 (0%) |
| Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander | 2 (2%) | 0 (0%) |
| American Indian/Alaskan Native & White | 1 (1%) | 1 (0%) |
| Asian & White | 1 (1%) | 1 (0%) |
| Black/African American & White | 0 (0%) | 1 (0%) |
| American Indian/Alaskan Native & Black/African American | 2 (2%) | 0 (0%) |
| Other/No Response | 7 (7%) | 10 (7%) |
| Disability | ||
| Yes | 2 (2%) | 2 (1%) |
| No | 90 (94.7%) | 142 (99%) |
| No Response | 2 (2%) | 1 (0%) |
| TOTAL | 95 | 147 |
With a more information about our volunteers, we can conduct volunteer recruitment activities to help diversify volunteer pool to reflect our client base.
Group Volunteer Activities
Group volunteer events set up three people or more that volunteer at the same time. Typically the groups come from an already established organization such as an employer or school. We can accommodate up to 15 people in a day, sometimes a smaller established group also allows individual volunteers from the community to join their teams on project days.
During this quarter we continued in the process of planning and logistics for 17 group volunteer weatherization project and well as hosting and facilitating project days.
Group events from this quarter include
Weatherization Workshop
Oct 03, 2009 Weatherization Workshop Kit assembly
Nov 14, 2009 Portland Energy Conservation, Inc: Fix-It-Fair Kits
In-Home Weatherization – Community Weatherization Teams
Oct 24, 2009 Portland General Electric
Oct 29, 2009 Constructing Hope
Nov 04, 2009 Portland General Electric
Nov 07, 2009 Portland Energy Conservation, Inc
Nov 14. 2009 Portland Community College Service Learning Students
Nov 20, 2009 Portland Community College Service Learning Students
Dec 19, 2009 Portland General Electric
Dec 09, 2009 Bonneville Power Administration
Dec 10, 2009 Helensview High School
Dec 12, 2009 Enoch Manufacturing (canceled due to weather)
Currently we have five more group events scheduled for next quarter.
Individual Volunteers
CEP conducted nine orientations and set up training/first services days for 17 new individual volunteers. We coordinated and set up projects 27 individual volunteers (new and returning).
Interns
CEP hosts interns every year in partnership with a variety of other organizations from Steps-to-Success to Easter Seals to local colleges. Depending on the time of year, an intern may support program activities in a variety of ways – enter data, answer phones, weatherize homes, assemble kits, assist retail customers, help clients with Oregon HEAT requests, make photo copies, or special projects as assigned.
This quarter we hosted four interns – one through Easter Seals, two through Steps-to-Success, and one through Portland State University’s Master of Social Work program.
One of our Steps-To-Success interns finished up her six-month term of service as an Executive Assistant, and in November was promoted to a staff member through Oregon Jobs Plus. She continues as the Executive Assistant, and is also training to be training to be a Lead Poisoning Prevention Workshop Leader.
One Steps-to-Success Weatherization Assistant works largely for In-Home Services. She provides direct weatherization services, intake for clients, scheduling, and returns phone calls. She aids with prepping and transporting materials for client’s homes, and has assembled Weatherization Workshop kits.
Our Easter Seals intern works as a Program Assistant, providing the backbone of our office support. Her activities include: data entry, installation of weatherization materials, assist walk-in and phone clients with information and referrals, workshop registration, In-Home Services registration, Oregon Heat energy assistance, and Retail Fundraiser sales.
We developed a new partnership with Portland State University’s Masters of Social Work (MSW) Community Based Practice fieldwork placement. Her placement emphasizes the person-environment interplay with a focus on collaborative partnerships between local citizens, leaders, associations, and institutions. Students in this concentration explore individual and community resilience while assisting in implementing local strategies that strengthen protective factors and lower risk factors for ethnically and culturally diverse families, schools, neighborhoods, and communities. Her internship is broken into several phases: 1. experiential service-learning, 2. application of course concepts and implementation of a new project, and 3. assessment/evaluation and final report. She is placed with the Education and Outreach manager and will work with CEO from October 2009 to June 2010.
Volunteer Workshop Leaders
Volunteer Workshop Leaders are a vital resource for workshop programs. They provide a fresh style to workshop presentations while CEP staff train them in the technical information and presentation techniques. They also help set up and put away materials before and after workshops, can at times provide translation services, support participants in completing workshop paperwork and add a measure of safety by being a presence while the coordinator loads and unloads kits and equipment.
This quarter we have oriented three potential Workshop Leaders who are progressing through the training process, one of which will be able to provide fluent Spanish language interpretation services for workshops. We currently have five total Weatherization Workshop Leaders in training
Board Members
CEP currently has eight volunteer board members. Board members determined our mission and purpose, create and approve official policy, and enhance our public standing. Members also attend meetings and functions, make personal financial contributions, find new members, and help to ensure the legal and ethical integrity of CEP, as well as maintain accountability. We are working on streamlining a way to better capture the time our volunteer board members have given to projects and meetings.
Board activity this quarter includes:
- Review of the CEP Annual Report, to be approved in January
- Progress in creating a strategic plan
- Progress in creating a business plan
- Rough drafts of board job descriptions to form a board recruitment packet
B. Volunteer Program / Material Development
CEP is continually bringing our volunteer services program to a higher standard. This quarter, which includes our three busiest and highest work volume months, our Clara Barton AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteer Coordinator has been mainly been focusing on volunteer recruitment, support, orientation, and training of interns, individual and group volunteers, planning and scheduling individual and group volunteer projects, while regularly facilitating group weatherization days. In addition to those activities she has also been using the experience to assess gaps in volunteer system, refine volunteer databases, Community Weatherization Team Orientation and Training PowerPoint. The experiences and observations of this quarter will assist her in future program organization and development.
Volunteer Coordinator Professional Development
Northwest Oregon Volunteer Administrators Association (NOVAA) hosted an Advanced Volunteer Managers Networking group on November 10th, 2009. This provided a forum for to sharing information exchange, problem-solving, community impact, and creative new ideas in volunteer management with a group of other experienced volunteer coordinators.
A second event was also through NOVAA: Living the Life of Your Dreams as a Volunteer Administrator on November 19th, 2009. At this event we were primarily trained on and practiced applying an efficient brainstorming and problem solving focused project development model.
Lastly, our Clara Barton AmeriCorps VISTA also participated in the WomenStrength Self Defense Class training series. It was a three week series on Tuesdays December 1st, 8th, and 15th of 2009. Through this class she was provided realistic and female oriented self-defense techniques and personal safety tips and tactics. This education, though hopefully would never have to be applied, is inline with CEP utilizing a empowerment approach and showing support of staff keeping safety and being prepared.
