Volunteer Needs Assessment for Your Office

The following is an excerpt from the Earth Team Handbook for Volunteer Supervisors, which is available from LANDCARE.

The Needs Assessment

The needs assessment is relatively easy. Discuss with your staff how volunteers can be used to expand services in your office. it's important to involve the entire staff because individuals view their jobs differently, and each person may see different opportunities for the use of volunteers. To conduct the needs assessment:

1. Use a flip chart and divide a page into four columns.
2. Label column 1, "Activities That Must Be Accomplished." With your staff, list activities that your office must accomplish and write them in column 1.
3. Label column 2, "Activities Not Being Accomplished." After completing the first column, begin listing activities that aren't being accomplished. Write the activities in column 2. Some of the activities listed in column 1 may be included in this list.
4. Label column 3, "Activities We'd Like to Accomplish." Column 3 is the wish list. Write down activities that you and your staff would like to accomplish if you had ample time and staff.
5. Label column 4, "Activities Volunteers Can Accomplish." Now that you have completed the first three columns, you are ready to identify those tasks that a volunteer could do. Begin by reviewing column 1. Transfer any activity that you feel a volunteer could accomplish from column 1 to column 4. Complete this same process for columns 2 and 3. You may want to break down larger jobs into specific tasks that volunteers can perform.

Consult the Handbook for Volunteer Supervisors for more information about how to successfully use volunteers in your office to accomplish agency goals.

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Last Modified: 06/20/2007