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Forbes
19 hours ago
- Business
- Forbes
10 Data-Driven Ways To Boost Volunteer Engagement
Volunteers are an invaluable resource for nonprofits. With many organizations operating under limited budgets and staffing constraints, people freely offering their time and skills significantly increases operational productivity and efficiency while reducing costs. However, nonprofits do face challenges when it comes to retaining volunteers. Strategically leveraging data can offer nonprofit leaders key insights, helping them gain a better understanding of where volunteer programs are going wrong, boosting volunteer engagement, and driving real, sustainable change. Below, 10 Forbes Nonprofit Council members share how nonprofit leaders can use data to effectively measure the impact of volunteer engagement and improve their volunteer programs. 1. Take A Dual Approach To Uncover Patterns The most valuable insights often come from a combination of open-ended survey responses and longitudinal trend analyses. This dual approach not only reveals meaningful patterns, but also uncovers personal narratives that inform more empathetic and targeted improvements. It also fosters psychological safety by helping volunteers feel seen, heard and genuinely valued. - Yujia Zhu, 2. Determine Why Volunteers Disengage Looking at the volunteer retention rate is a great indicator of engagement. This data can help nonprofits identify patterns and understand what is causing increased attrition among volunteers. By understanding which volunteers may be more likely to disengage and why, nonprofits can prioritize their outreach efforts to keep individuals involved. - Scott Brighton, Bonterra Forbes Nonprofit Council is an invitation-only organization for chief executives in successful nonprofit organizations. Do I qualify? 3. Examine The Reach Of Volunteer Messaging And Resources Empower your volunteers with a clear message and a toolkit to share it, then track how far it travels. Measuring shares, referrals and peer-to-peer reach gives you real data on their impact. This approach helps volunteers feel like true partners while giving your organization insight into what messaging or activities move people to act. - Karen Cochran, Philanthropy Innovators 4. Determine What Drives Engagement And Retention Track volunteer retention and reengagement rates alongside post-engagement surveys. This data reveals not just who shows up, but also who stays and why. This helps leaders strengthen training, drive recognition and match volunteers to roles where they will thrive and stick around for the long haul. - Michael Bellavia, HelpGood 5. Initiate More Face-To-Face Conversations Please get out and speak to volunteers to improve volunteer programs! People are afraid these days to have face time and ask the important questions, but human interaction is important when you want true data. Not everything will be answered via a survey, as people want to talk and express themselves. - Rhonda Vetere, Laureus Sport For Good 6. Ask Questions 'Philanthropy' refers to the giving of time, talent, treasure or testimony. The best data tool is to simply ask questions. Find out who's connected and why they are supporting your cause. The word 'question' comes from the root word 'quest,' which means to go on an adventure. Collect stakeholder data by going on an adventure. - Aaron Alejandro, Texas FFA Foundation 7. Capture And Prioritize Impact Stories Track stories, not just hours. The real value of volunteer engagement isn't how much time was given; it's what changed because someone showed up. That's qualitative data. Capturing those stories helps you improve the experience and gives you powerful narratives to share. Using data this way turns volunteer work into word-of-mouth fuel that builds belief, trust and long-term support. - Cherian Koshy, Kindsight 8. Link Volunteers' Time To Outcomes Measure hours served against program outcomes. For example, track volunteer time alongside community impact metrics to see where contributions make the most difference. This can help refine roles and better allocate resources. Nonprofits can start by linking volunteer data to mission results. - Alan Thomas, Association for Materials Protection & Performance 9. Purposefully Share Data If you are going to collect data, then make it available. If you have exceeded your volunteer recruitment goal, let people know. If your nonprofit logged more volunteer hours than in the past, share the news. If you have compelling data that indicates volunteer involvement had a significant program impact, don't just hide that in your annual report. Instead, make sure you deliver that message loudly. - Victoria Burkhart, The More Than Giving Company 10. Turn Feedback Into Action The simplest form of data is feedback surveys. Ask volunteers what their needs and benchmarks for success are and whether those needs are being met, and quantify those results with your strategic plan. You will be surprised what you find out when you simply ask questions for planning. - Erin Davison, Scouting America
Forbes
06-06-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Why Every Nonprofit Needs A Trauma-Informed Virtual Safe Space
Yujia Zhu, MSc, MSCS, MBA, is the founder and creator of world's first comprehensive AI platform for skills coaching. The urgency of digital healing spaces is emphasized by the current mental health crisis, social fragmentation and rising inequality, which collectively demand innovative solutions to support vulnerable populations. Trauma-informed virtual safe spaces (VSS) emerge as crucial public goods, offering more than just digital tools. These spaces are guided by trauma-informed care principles, which emphasize understanding the impact of trauma and creating environments that prevent re-traumatization. In the context of online platforms, trauma-informed design involves creating compassionate and ethical digital spaces that consider the prevalence of trauma and aim to support users' mental health and resilience. Trauma-informed design principles, which prioritize user safety, well-being and healing, must be recognized in the creation of compassionate online environments. Nonprofits, therefore, must champion trauma-informed VSS as essential infrastructure, leveraging these spaces to foster community resilience and promote systemic equity, ensuring that digital environments serve as inclusive and supportive public goods for all. Imagine a nonprofit that serves youth who've aged out of the foster care system. The organization could implement a VSS where young adults can connect with mentors, access mental health check-ins and join peer-led support circles—all in a space designed to feel safe, empowering and nonjudgmental. A VSS can be conceptualized as an essential component of social infrastructure, akin to libraries and community centers, particularly for digitally dependent and marginalized communities. Eric Klinenberg's framework of social infrastructure emphasizes the importance of spaces that foster sociality and public life. VSS can serve as critical platforms for connection, much like physical libraries and parks, which are vital for democratic resilience and community building. By functioning as participatory social infrastructures, VSS can empower individuals to contribute creatively to collective projects, enhancing community well-being and resilience. Moreover, just as physical public spaces should be accessible to all, VSS must be designed to accommodate diverse needs, promoting inclusivity and preventing digital oppression. For example, a VSS might offer multilingual interfaces, screen-reader compatibility and customizable visual settings to support users with disabilities. It may also provide text-only options, simplified language and low-bandwidth modes, ensuring that individuals across varying levels of literacy, neurodiversity and technological access feel equally seen and supported. These aren't just technical enhancements—they are expressions of dignity and care, quietly affirming to every user: "You belong here." In this way, VSS can fill the gaps left by overstretched or inaccessible physical services, providing a shared public good that supports social inclusion and community engagement in the digital age. Nonprofits occupy a unique moral and social position that enables them to be well-suited to lead in trauma-informed digital design. Their focus on social innovation and impact, which involves creating ethical business practices and management strategies that prioritize social change, can enhance their reputational standing and ensure they can effectively demonstrate their impact through concrete outcomes. This further reinforces their role as leaders in addressing complex social issues. By leveraging these advantages effectively, nonprofits can help bridge the gap between public needs and systemic change, ensuring that digital solutions are both inclusive and responsive to the needs of those they serve. While there are a number of trauma-informed tools and organizations available rooted in virtual safe space design, a personal example in practice is an AI-powered platform I created for emotional and life coaching support, intended to serve as a 24/7 digital sanctuary—free, anonymous and globally accessible, offering trauma-informed support in over 95 languages. As part of the Canadian federally registered nonprofit For A Safer Space (FASS), the tool embodies how nonprofits can harness ethical technology to scale compassion, expand access and reimagine healing as a digital public good. At the heart of my design is a commitment to psychological safety and radically inclusive care, which shapes every interaction on the platform, reflecting its core mission: to offer deep, empathetic presence for the full spectrum of human experience. Everyone deserves at least one place where they will never be denied. This place doesn't have to be a partner, lover, family member or even friend—it can be as simple and profound as an anonymous online presence. Just one such space is enough. With it, even the deepest suffering becomes survivable. That space is compassion. VSS can play a transformative role in redefining civic life and restoring institutional trust by serving as digital sanctuaries that counteract institutional betrayal. The erosion of trust in public institutions, as highlighted by the Covid-19 pandemic, emphasizes the need for innovative approaches to governance that prioritize care and belonging. By integrating care ethics into institutional frameworks, VSS can foster environments where individuals feel valued and connected, addressing the moral vocation of belonging in a world facing existential threats (registration required) like climate change. These digital sanctuaries can provide secure platforms for community engagement and policy development, enabling citizens to participate actively in governance processes and rebuild trust in public systems. To effectively implement and scale VSS as a 21st-century care infrastructure, a collaborative effort among public, private and nonprofit sectors is essential. This partnership can leverage diverse resources and expertise to create inclusive, resilient systems that support societal well-being and institutional legitimacy. By reimagining governance through the lens of care and belonging, VSS can help bridge the gap (registration required) between citizens and institutions, fostering a renewed faith in democratic processes and public administration. In an age marked by deepening social fragmentation, mental health crises and systemic inequality, digital platforms, when designed ethically, inclusively and intentionally, can serve not only as sanctuaries for marginalized voices but as transformative public goods that reimagine the very architecture of social care, community and governance. Forbes Nonprofit Council is an invitation-only organization for chief executives in successful nonprofit organizations. Do I qualify?
