Volunteering Measurement and Management: Evidence from Maryland

Volunteer work is a natural and renewable resourcethat can be effectively measured and evaluated by organizations that use unpaid workers to perform activities and to execute programs. We would like to examine howand whyU.S. nonprofit organizations measure this important resource and determine if that measurement affects the management of volunteer activities and programs. We studied the cases of four charitable organizations from Maryland with different dimensions, fields, and scope. In this explorative multiple-case study each organization confirmed the main hypotheses that the measurement of volunteer work positively impacts both the effectiveness, and the efficiency of volunteer programs and activities. We also consider other characteristics of these organizations that are impacted by measurement activities and other volunteer management practices. The results can be generalized to other nonprofit organizations that have the same structured system of volunteer management, but may exhibit different characteristics in terms of dimension, fields, and/or scope.