Introduction

Hi, I’m _____, and this is _____. Our goal in these interviews is to understand how the Volunteer Center web site can best serve the needs of non-profits and volunteers. To do that, we’d like to ask you some questions about your volunteering and your experience using the Volunteer Center web site. All together it will take no more than 1 hour.

Before we get started, there are a few things that you should know. First, when we write our report for the Volunteer Center, we may want to quote things that you have said, but we will not include your name or other identifying information. If there’s anything in particular that you really don’t want to be quoted, please let us know.

Also, this interview is completely voluntary – if for any reason you want to stop, please just let us know, we can end the interview at that point. We can also discard anything you’ve told us up to that point if you would like.

Third, if you would like, we can provide you with the final report once it is completed.

Finally, would it be okay if we audiorecord our conversation? This is just so we don’t miss anything – no one outside myself and the other people in the class will have access to the recording, and we would transcribe what you said before sharing it with anyone else.

Do you have any questions for us? Okay, let’s get started.

Warm up

• Is it okay if we ask your age?
• Do you go to school/work/retired? (adjust this based on age)
• When did you first start volunteering?
• Where do you volunteer now?
• About how often do you volunteer?
• What sort of things do you do for <organization name>?

The Volunteer Experience

• What motivates you to volunteer?
  • If they don’t bring it up, can ask about
    • Care about a specific cause
    • Give back to community / pay into system as they might need it down the road
    • Gaining skills, experience, resume item, etc.
    • Social interaction / sense of community
    • Provide purpose and meaning in life
    • Good way to use free time
  • Can also ask if they think their reasons are typical, or whether other volunteers they know have different reasons
• In what ways do you think you benefit from your volunteering?
  • Some of this may be redundant with the previous question, but for something like caring about a cause or giving back, the motivation and benefits may be different
• How do you think your volunteering contributes to <organization name>
  • If they don’t bring it up, ask about some likely candidates:
    • More hands to do the work
    • Specific expertise than in-house staff lack
    • Train future non-profit workers
    • Raise awareness
    • Bring in broader range of perspectives/experiences

• What would you say has been the biggest challenge for you as a volunteer?
  • If they aren’t sure what this means, can ask about some of the following:
    • Finding time to volunteer
    • Finding opportunities that are interesting/rewarding
    • Interacting with staff of the organization
    • Interacting with clients of the organization
    • Asked to do stuff beyond their skills/abilities

• If you were going to give advice to a person who was thinking about volunteering for the first time, what would you say?
  • If they don’t address these, can ask about them:
    • Finding an organization that is a good fit
    • Expectations about the experience
    • Expectations about impact (e.g., “I’m going to change the world”)
    • Dealing with other people

Volunteer Center Web Site

• How do you go about finding volunteer opportunities?
  • If they only mention the WVC web site, ask if they use other methods as well, like word-of-mouth, flyers, etc.
• What do you use the Volunteer Center web site for?
  • Finding opportunities?
  • Time tracking?
• How often do you use the Volunteer Center web site? [can ask separately for each kind of use]
• [for each kind of use] Could you think back to the last time you used the web site in that way, and tell us about that situation?
  • Ask if that was a typical situation; if not, could they give an example a typical situation
  • Can invite them to pull up the web site and show what they were doing
• What do you gain from using the Volunteer Center web site?
  • If they don’t bring it up: Can ask what they did before to find volunteer opportunities (if relevant)
• Have you experienced any challenges with using the web site?
  • Specific things to follow up about if they don’t bring it up:
    • Ease of use
    • Reliability
    • Couldn’t do what they wanted to do

• Are there specific features that the Volunteer Center web site doesn’t have, but that you would love to have? This can be pie-in-the-sky, don’t worry about whether it’s realistic. Could be things you’ve seen on other web sites.

Volunteer Center Goals – Community of Volunteers

• What role do you think the Volunteer Center plays in this community? (not just for you, but for the community overall)
• In your experience, do volunteers often form bonds with each other? (as opposed to with staff, clients, etc.) Why do you think that happens OR why do you think that doesn’t usually happen?
• What effect do you think it has when volunteers form connections with each other? Pros/cons of that?

Conclusion

Is there anything you think would be useful to know about how you use the Volunteer Center web site that we haven’t talked about yet?

[after any response they provide]

Thank you, that’s all of my questions. Do you have any questions you’d like to ask me?

[after their questions are answered]

Thank you again. If there’s anything you’d like to follow up on down the road, feel free to contact us via e-mail or phone. And here is a token of appreciation for giving us your time today. [ give them the gift card]