We have kept a log of active volunteers in the office for the last two years at least. This has allowed us to report a gradual increase to a point that we now can identify 107 people who participate in WMUK activiites.

We have never claimed that it is more than a rough guide but it has done its job (and other chapters have complimented us on it) and been able to allay the anxieties that the chapter's volunteer base was shrinking .

But it has real weaknesses. It is not accurate enough. We miss people who are active and forget to take off people who have, for instance, left the country.

Apart from the issue of keeping it up to date and accurate it has two major weaknesses as a measuring tool.

a. The definition of an 'active' volunteer is quite broad and ranges from someone who does one thing a year to someone who does very many.

b. The 'thing' that they do is not recorded anywhere and again is very broad e.g. Trained Trainer, office admin support, press spokesperson, delivering a lecture, event organiser etc etc.

Hence in our new planning we have changed to measuring the actual units of activity and the type of unit. This way, through our CiviCRM database we have been able to identify realistic targets as to what we want to achieve.

In 2014-15 this will be based on a best guess from the previous year but we hope that we will create a good baseline upon which future targets can be more SMARTLy based.

On 9 April 2014 15:09, Fć <faewik@gmail.com> wrote:

Is there a place where I can find the monthly trend for the number of
leading (or active) volunteers? As a KPI agreed with the board of
trustees, this is required to be reported at least quarterly, however
for this measurement, it would make sense to report the trend in the
monthly report so that trustees and members of the charity can judge
if we are approaching the target agreed with the board and celebrate
the progress being made.[3]

Could someone explain why the operational target for 2014 appeared to
be adjusted from 150 in the FDC bid to a more modest 140 in the
recently published plan? I do not recall this being discussed with the
community, I may have missed it.

BACKGROUND

Reporting the number of active volunteers was a positive commitment
the chapter made in the last FDC bid[2] where it was stated that WMUK
was going to increase active volunteers from a reported 101 to 150 (in
2014). The specific phrasing was "Increase the number of active
volunteers to 150".

In the Strategy Monitoring Plan for this year[3], it was reported to
the board that in 2013 the number of "leading volunteers" was
estimated at 107 and a new target for 2014 has been set at 140.

Requests for reports on this number have been made for more than six
months. An upgrade to the CRM database was a reason for delays in
reporting this number in 2013.[1][4] From the monthly reports
available (including the drafts for February, March and April 2014,
this figure does not appear to be being publicly reported.[5]

Based on recent responses to questions by some trustees, I would like
to clarify that this is not a demand for employees of Wikimedia UK to
work for me, neither is it intended to be an order, sarcasm, trolling,
personal attack or personal criticism; it is an open question. Other
volunteers and members are interested in seeing this key performance
indicator for the charity as an outcome of the significant investment
of donor's funds in growth and improvement of our valued
volunteer-centric programmes and staffing, and will have an idea of
where to find this number if it has been reported on-wiki, so indeed
this may need no employee time to answer.

Links
1. Feb 2014 - https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Engine_room/2014#Community_consultation_-_Financial_and_Expenses_procedures
2. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals/2013-2014_round1/WMUK/Proposal_form#Programme_1
3. https://wikimedia.org.uk/w/index.php?title=Strategy_monitoring_plan&oldid=55387
4. https://wikimedia.org.uk/w/index.php?title=Volunteers/numbers&oldid=55418
5. https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports

Fae
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