Arts patrons and volunteers have often been mythologized as snooty, wealthy and elitist. That appears to be making a dramatic change. Over the last ten years the number of people visiting museums or attending operas, plays and classical musical concerts has increased to 100 million or roughly half the US population. A new study of leisure activities shows that today's theatre goer is as apt to see a production of King Lear as visit the local bowling alley.

A survey of 40,000 households by Mediamark, as reported in American Demographics in June, analyzed the way people spend money and time during their leisure hours. Here are some snapshots from that report.

• There is a correlation between those who attend National Hockey League games and patronage of museums and live theatre.
• There are some National Football League fans who love jazz and Christian rock music.
• Adults enrolled in continuing education programs are patrons of the arts.
• Museum patrons watch dance performances and go to zoos.
• The Ordway Performing Arts Center and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts have as their primary competition for visits the games of the Minnesota Twins.

Might be time to re-think those recruiting strategies. Partnering with the local sports team or bowling alley might bring a whole new crop of volunteers.

Before you race into virtual volunteering check out this wonderful resource: The Virtual Volunteering Guidebook by Susan Ellis and Jayne Cravens. It is a free 133 page electronic book that tells how to recruit, manage, and evaluate volunteers who do their work on the Internet. You can find it at http://www.energizeinc.com/art/elecbooks.html.

The Virtual Volunteering Project also has information. Here are some locations.

• The Virtual Volunteer Safety Page: http://www.serviceleader.org/vv/safety
• General Conduct and Safety Manual: http://www.serviceleader.or/vv/safety/youth
• Safely Bringing together Adult and Youth Online Volunteers: http://www.serviceleader.org/vv/safety/together.html.

This is the third in a series on "branding." (Previous articles can be found in the "Archives" of Volunteer Today the June and July 2001 issue). The topic for August is image. The image of an organization is played out in how it presents itself to its staff, clients/members, funders, and the public.

Listed below are descriptions of image, as perceived by stakeholders. The second element of a brand helps you assess your organizational image as they relate to brand. Next month, the topic is the element of branding, "culture."

Who are the people with a stake in the organization?

• This probably includes volunteers, people who receive the services of the volunteers (either directly or indirectly), the staff who manage the organization, and those in the community who are impacted by the program.

A question for you

Write your stakeholders here:

What do the people with a stake in the program want most from the organization?

• Volunteers want to be respected by their families, other volunteers, staff, the people they serve, and by the community at large. If an organization serves clients they want to be respected as they receive a service. So the brand image-how you use pictures of your stakeholders, for example, should always convey respect.

A question for you

• Ask some stakeholders what they see as the values communicated by the organization in its publications, building, offices, printed or media material.
• Compare what they say to the list of values you made in last month's assessment. They should match.

How do you communicate values of the organization to these various stakeholders groups?

• In order to test whether people are seeing your "brand" accurately you must test that the image and the values are the same in people's minds. This requires assessing the way you communicate with various stakeholder groups. For example, if you really are an organization that values "diversity" ---- How is that communicated? What pictures or graphics appear in publications, flyers, training manuals, the volunteer manual, that convey that topic? Who represents the volunteer program in leadership and visible position? Do they represent your value of diversity? Are you tracking the statistical diversity of your program with data analysis that is then shared with everyone?

A question for you

Take each value you listed above and write down how you are communicating that to the various stakeholder groups you identified.

Value	Stakeholder	Branding

 

In the fall of 2000, the Network of Directors of Volunteers in Texas conducted a survey on the various titles held by those managing volunteers. Here is a sample.

• Volunteer Coordinator
• Director of Volunteer Services
• Executive Director (Yep, board members are volunteers, too!)
• Coordinator of Volunteer Services
• Director of Community Relations
• Director of Volunteers
• Volunteer Services Manager
• Community Liaison
• Community Relations Director
• Director, Department of Volunteer Services.

The original list has 83 titles, and that is just for Texas. And you wonder why people are confused about who we are and what we do?!?!?!?!

DAILY POINTS OF LIGHT AWARD FORMS AVAILABLE

The Points of Light Foundation has forms available to nominate volunteers and volunteer organizations for the Daily Points of Light Award. It is designed recognize individuals and groups that demonstrate unique and innovative approaches to community volunteering and citizen action, with a strong emphasis on service focused on the goals for children and young people set by the Presidents Summit for American's Future.

The award is given five days a week, excluding holidays. If you would like nomination forms, contact Crystal Hill at 202-729-8000.

1-800-VOLUNTEER

Copyright 2001 by Nancy Macduff.

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