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Volunteer to Staff Ratios

  • Tuesday, December 06, 2022 1:24 PM
    Message # 13015853

    Hello Volunteer Engagement Professionals:

    I'm curious about your volunteer to volunteer-staff ratios.  I've done some research and appropriate staffing ratios related to volunteer mgmt is all over the place.  There are certainly several indicators to determine adequate staffing levels, such as the type of volunteers, roles, complexity of requirements, training, supervision required, etc. In general, the numbers vary across the volunteer management field.  For example, Red Cross uses a volunteer to staff ratio of 100:1 (100 Volunteers for every paid staff member), Pacific Vision reports 12:1 and CASA uses 30:1 as their guide.

    I'm wondering what the volunteer to staff ratios for healthcare organizations are, specific to only "active/regular" Volunteers, not including those on a leave of absence, applicants or those in-process (essentially, those that are reporting hours).  This is strictly volunteer to staff, not the total number of volunteer hours and the FTE calculation.  I'm inquiring with other non-healthcare volunteer programs too, but that's a tough comparison since (I feel) volunteering in healthcare is much more complex due to regulatory issues. 

    Thanks in advance for sharing your volunteer to staff ratios! 

    Christi Brown, MHA, CVA, CAVS, CDVS

    Senior Director - Volunteer Engagement

    WellSpan Health 

  • Thursday, December 08, 2022 12:48 PM
    Reply # 13018472 on 13015853

    I currently have 110 active volunteers and pre covid had 150.  I am allocated 26 hours a week.  Of the active volunteers only about 75 come on-site each month  due to vacations, gone for the winter/spring/summer, illnesses ect.  

  • Thursday, December 08, 2022 3:51 PM
    Reply # 13018839 on 13015853
    Amanda Landes (Administrator)

    Our current ratio is >200:1 FTE, counting active volunteers only (though defining "active" can be all over the place, too)

  • Friday, December 09, 2022 9:03 AM
    Reply # 13019604 on 13015853

    Pre-COVID ours was about 1:150-200 vols. 

  • Thursday, January 12, 2023 4:24 PM
    Reply # 13055042 on 13015853

    I have 786 active volunteers... we have 3 FTE in our Volunteer office.   We utilize 3 volunteers ( about 20 hours total) in our office to assist with paperwork.

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