Volunteer numbers, hours, and financial value are often the industry standard for volunteer value. Unfortunately, many agencies treat them as a ceiling rather than an entry point. They omit additional numbers, quotes, images, or testimonials that would provide context about the results of all that volunteer time.
Ideally, your volunteer data (and activities) should flow from the agency’s mission and align with programmatic and operational goals. For example, instead of reporting volunteer numbers alone (an input), also share how many people those volunteers served (an output). Better yet, tell a story about how volunteers served the community or agency. (This might hint at an outcome or even impact). This approach shifts volunteers from being this thing we do on the side to an essential ingredient for achieving agency goals.
Check out the suggestions above to spark ideas about how you might tell a fuller story about volunteer value. Consider the value that cannot be captured with numbers or dollars. Given the agency’s mission and the reasons it involves the community as volunteers, what would you add?