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Be sure volunteers are told during their initial orientation that they will be asked to complete a survey at some point about their experience (the Virtual Volunteering Project tells potential volunteers that completing such surveys is part of their duties as an online volunteer).

You can use all or part of the following survey to gather feedback from volunteers who have been involved with your organization virtually . These questions are designed to help you see the strengths and weaknesses in your management of volunteers who work offsite via their home and work computers.

Send this survey via e-mail rather than the Web (you will get a better response rate), with an introduction that notes why you are asking for this information ("to help us improve our interactions with and management of volunteers," for instance), and what you are going to do with feedback (will it be available for all staff members? will it be published in any reports?).

You may want to put in these assurances:

"I would greatly appreciate your honest feedback, and hope you will be candid -- while I may pass on comments to others at our company, I will not identify the volunteers who said them, if you request such anonymity."

What type of volunteer services did you provide for our organization:

Who was your primary contact at our organization during this/these assignment/s?:

What other staff members or volunteers did you work with during this/these assignment/s?:

How much of your volunteer experience with us was "virtual" (working via your home or work computer) and how much of it was spent onsite at our organization?:

How many hours would you say you have spent as a volunteer for our organization to date?:

Do you feel you completed all assignments? If not, why?:

Other than your computer and Internet access, what tools and resources proved most valuable to you in completing online assignments?:

How long have you volunteered/did you volunteer with our organization, on or offline?:

What did you expect out of your volunteer support at our organization?:

Did your volunteer support at our organization meet your expectations? Please provide details in support of your answer:

What did you like about volunteering via the Internet, as opposed to volunteering in-person/face-to-face?:

What did you dislike about volunteering via the Internet?:

How did our organization recognize/reward you for your volunteer support?:

What would make your virtual volunteering experiences with our organization more satisfying to you?:

What types of virtual volunteering opportunities do you wish were available that you haven't yet encountered?:

What are your impressions of our organization and our programs?:

Would you volunteer with us again? Why or why not?:

Other comments/suggestions:

If you use this material to help your organization, please e-mail us and let us know!