20+ volunteer survey questions to improve your program

Your volunteer program has been in operation for some time now, and participants appear to be engaged, happy, and productive. But how can you be certain that your program is running as smoothly and effectively as possible? You can send a volunteer survey.

Volunteer surveys allow nonprofits like yours to determine the effectiveness of their volunteer programs and the satisfaction of their volunteers. They also provide a positive touchpoint between volunteers and your nonprofit’s staff, which is crucial for engaging supporters over the long term. A study published in the Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs found that interactions with nonprofit staff members were a positive predictor of volunteer retention.

This guide explores the ins and outs of volunteer surveys, from the best questions to ask to top tips for making the survey process a success. We’ll cover:

• What are volunteer surveys?
• The benefits of asking the right volunteer survey questions
• Best volunteer survey questions to ask
• Volunteer survey best practices and tips
• How Bloomerang makes the volunteer feedback process simple

Volunteer surveys are an excellent tool for engaging volunteers and understanding their genuine opinions about your volunteer programs. To maximize the impact of these surveys, asking relevant questions to the right individuals is essential. Let’s begin!

What are volunteer surveys?

A volunteer survey is a list of questions sent to prospective, current, or former volunteers to gather their feedback and gain insight into various aspects of the volunteer program. These surveys allow you to understand your volunteers’ recent experience with any event or program and should be sent shortly after they have volunteered to get their immediate feedback.

When conducted effectively, volunteer surveys help your nonprofit improve various areas of your organization, including programming and recruitment efforts.

A study from the Do Good Institute found that nearly half of nonprofit CEOs see recruiting sufficient volunteers as a significant challenge for their organization, with many citing it as a “big problem” to find volunteers who are available during the traditional workday (38.4%) and possess the necessary skills (35.4%). Surveys are a valuable tool for understanding volunteers’ availability, skillsets, and other crucial information that will help you assign them to the right roles.

Surveys are also one of the best ways to empower your volunteers and demonstrate that their feedback matters, thereby boosting volunteer satisfaction.

Types of volunteer surveys

Let’s take a look at the different styles of volunteer surveys:

• Recruitment survey: A recruitment survey is sent to prospective volunteers or to those who have just signed up for a volunteer shift or training session. Use this type of survey to determine your new volunteers’ skills and interests and gather information about how they discovered your organization.
• Satisfaction survey: A satisfaction survey is sent to volunteers immediately after they participate in a volunteer opportunity. These surveys help assess how satisfied volunteers were with the volunteer experience and gather their feedback on what could be improved.
• Engagement survey: An engagement survey is sent to current volunteers at regular intervals, typically every six months or twice a year. Leverage these surveys to gather general feedback on volunteers’ engagement with your organization.

Remember, some volunteers may want to give anonymous feedback, so be sure to send the occasional anonymous survey. This format provides volunteers with an opportunity to offer honest feedback, which is highly beneficial for your organization.

The benefits of asking the right volunteer survey questions

Volunteer surveys can provide valuable insights into the state of your volunteer program. They can also make volunteers feel more comfortable expressing their honest opinions. Taking feedback from your volunteers through surveys demonstrates to them that you value their input and prioritize providing a positive, memorable experience.

Additionally, volunteer surveys provide insight into what’s working and what isn’t, enabling your program to continually improve by making adjustments based on your volunteers’ feedback. By sending volunteer surveys, you can:

• Gain valuable feedback on your volunteer program. You can adjust your volunteer program strategy based on the input from volunteers. For instance, if volunteers feel that your virtual volunteer opportunities aren’t very engaging, you can change your approach to offer more hands-on or interactive opportunities.
• Boost engagement and productivity. With a recruitment survey, you can engage volunteers from the moment they register and demonstrate your commitment to creating a valuable experience for them. The feedback you receive from volunteer surveys will enable your organization to improve and grow, ultimately increasing engagement and productivity. When your volunteers enjoy the opportunities you offer, they’re more likely to continue volunteering for a longer period.
• Express appreciation for volunteers. By asking for and incorporating volunteer feedback, you show volunteers that their opinions matter. Your volunteers’ experience is crucial, as they are the foundation of your organization; therefore, it’s essential to make them feel like their voices are heard.

Best volunteer survey questions to ask

So, what should you include in your volunteer survey? It can be challenging to narrow down the list of questions you want to ask. Remember, the goal is to collect feedback on your volunteer program, the experience of volunteers working with your nonprofit, and what they would like to see differently next time. The best volunteer survey questions to ask should be relevant and easy to answer!

First, determine the type of volunteer survey you want to send. Then, select your questions based on the information you hope to receive. You can begin with a volunteer survey template that includes standard and straightforward questions, and then customize it according to your organization’s needs and the goals you aim to achieve with your survey.

We’ll guide you with some examples. Here are a few questions to ask for each type of volunteer survey:

Volunteer recruitment survey questions

1. How did you find out about our volunteer program?
2. What motivates you to volunteer with our organization?
3. What do you hope to gain from your volunteer experience?
4. Do you have any specialized skills that would support our projects?
5. What types of volunteer opportunities are you most interested in?
6. When is the best time of the week/day for you to volunteer?
7. How many hours are you looking to volunteer per week/month?
8. Are you comfortable with us conducting a background check?
9. Can we contact you for future volunteer opportunities?

Volunteer satisfaction questions

1. How satisfied are you with your volunteer experience?
2. Is there anything you would change about the experience?
3. How would you rate your volunteer training experience? Do you need more training to volunteer effectively?
4. What challenges did you encounter as a volunteer, and how can we help address them in future opportunities?
5. How much of a difference do you feel volunteering made?
6. Do you have any recommendations for how we can improve our volunteer opportunities?
7. Would you recommend our volunteer program to a friend?

Volunteer engagement questions

1. What is your preferred method of communication?
2. How often would you like to be contacted about upcoming volunteer opportunities?
3. Do you feel like a valued member of our organization? How could we make you feel more appreciated?
4. How likely are you to continue volunteering with future opportunities?
5. What motivates you to volunteer with us?
6. What skills do you hope to use or develop as a volunteer?
7. What was your most rewarding experience as a volunteer with our organization?

Remember, your survey questions should focus on the volunteer experience to keep them engaged with your nonprofit. These survey questions will help you find out how your volunteers perceive your organization and whether it’s offering the type of experience they had in mind.

Volunteer survey best practices and tips

1) Stay on topic.

If you have too many questions on different topics, it may convey to volunteers that your organization lacks a clear strategy or direction.

Choose your volunteer survey type, whether it’s a recruitment, satisfaction, scheduling, or engagement survey, and design your questions accordingly. This will help you receive effective, detailed feedback on one area, and your volunteers will also have a clearer understanding of the purpose of your survey.

2) Avoid biased or leading questions.

Keep your questions as neutral and objective as possible. You don’t want to sway your volunteers toward submitting an answer that they don’t really mean.

For instance, avoid questions like “On a scale from 1-10, how great is our volunteer program?” Instead, you should ask, “On a scale from 1-10, how would you rate your satisfaction with our volunteer program, with 1 being the least satisfied and 10 being highly satisfied?”

3) Ask for additional information.

Ask an open-ended question at the end of the survey for volunteers to submit anything else that’s on their minds. For example, you can ask, “What can we do differently in the future to improve your experience?” This type of inquiry gives your volunteers the space to mention any additional thoughts that came to mind while completing the survey.

4) Keep your survey short and to the point.

A lengthy or complex survey may deter participants from completing it. Keep your survey to fewer than 10 questions to achieve a higher response rate. The last thing you want is for your volunteers to feel frustrated and overwhelmed with too many questions.

5) Test your survey before sending it.

Have your nonprofit staff members test your survey by taking it a few times to ensure everything’s working correctly. Verify that any integrations, such as with your nonprofit CRM, work smoothly. Having multiple people review your survey can also help you avoid spelling and grammatical mistakes.

6) Send your survey to the right audience.

Ensure that you send your survey to the correct volunteers. For instance, you should only send your satisfaction survey to volunteers who have just completed a volunteer opportunity. In contrast, you should send your engagement survey to all volunteers to gain a wide range of perspectives. This ensures you send relevant questions to each volunteer segment, guaranteeing you receive the highest quality of responses.

7) Launch your survey at the right time.

Send your survey at a time when volunteers are likely to check their emails and have a minute to spare to fill out the form. For example, MailerLite’s email marketing study reveals that the highest email engagement occurs between 3 and 7 p.m., and that Monday is the day of the week with the highest average open rate. Of course, you should also review your own CRM and engagement data to identify patterns within your own supporter base.

8) Store your results using your volunteer management system.

Once your volunteers have completed your surveys, you can sort them based on general information, such as age or volunteer roles, to organize your data.

You can easily record your insights using your volunteer management software system. This will give you a reference point when planning future volunteer opportunities. It also allows you to better understand the feedback you received based on the demographics of your volunteers.

9) Thank volunteers for their participation.

Don’t forget to thank volunteers for filling out your survey. You can even offer an incentive, such as entering the names of all volunteers who completed the survey into a drawing for a special prize. Check out Bloomerang’s volunteer appreciation guide for more great ideas!

How Bloomerang simplifies the volunteer feedback process

With the help of Bloomerang Volunteer, you can organize and store all your data in one central location. This will help you understand your feedback better and identify patterns and trends.

Bloomerang Volunteer elevates the entire volunteer management process with features such as:

• Impact-focused reporting tools
• Simplified volunteer signups
• AI-assisted scheduling
• A volunteer mobile app
• Automated volunteer appreciation emails
• Milestone badges, shoutouts, and leaderboards for recognizing volunteer impact
• Built-in background checks

You can even use Bloomerang Volunteer to identify which volunteers would likely become donors to your cause. Personalize your outreach to these supporters and cultivate deeper relationships with our unified giving platform.

Wrapping up

Now that you’ve learned what volunteer surveys are and their benefits, examples of volunteer survey questions, and best practices and tips to help you thrive, it’s time to start brainstorming! Your hardworking volunteers donate many hours to support your cause, and their experience directly impacts the performance of your organization, which is why it’s crucial to collect their feedback.

If you’re interested in more information about how to optimize your volunteer management process, check out these additional resources:

• Volunteer engagement | Strategies for smart organizations. This article examines how your organization can ensure that every volunteer has a meaningful and positive experience through a well-planned volunteer engagement strategy.
• 18+ top volunteer management software picks for nonprofits. Interested in upgrading your volunteer management system for even greater volunteer engagement? Review the top tech solutions available to help make your choice.
• Your go-to volunteer management guide: tips for nonprofits. Explore this article to get up-to-date information, best practices, and guidelines required to manage your volunteer workforce successfully.