"Compassion, pleasantry, and hope": a process evaluation of a volunteer-based nonprofit.
As funders continue to emphasize the importance of documented results, nonprofit organizations must work to complete program evaluations that are both valuable and feasible. The purpose of this paper is to document a practical process evaluation of a southeastern nonprofit, a local Meals on Wheels. Using a mixed methods approach, we sought to answer four evaluation questions: (1) What are the essential program components, as identified by key stakeholders; (2) To what extent are volunteers implementing the identified essential components as intended; (3) What is the level of volunteer satisfaction with the program; and (4) What suggestions do stakeholders have for improving the program? Our findings indicate that most aspects of the program were implemented as intended, but inconsistencies occurred when volunteers were unsure of their assigned duties. In addition, volunteers had high levels of satisfaction and specific suggestions for improvement. From these results, we developed a conceptual model of factors contributing to quality of implementation and volunteer satisfaction that may be generalizable to other volunteer-based nonprofits. Specifically, we identified three factors that helped to facilitate satisfaction and performance: leadership, social contact, and fulfillment. Finally, this process evaluation demonstrates the feasibility of developing and implementing evaluation tools in similar organizations.
Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, UNC Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States. Electronic address: smye@email.unc.edu.
Sarah C
SC
Mye
Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, UNC Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States. Electronic address: moracco@email.unc.edu.
Kathryn E
KE
Moracco
D003258:Consumer Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004645:Empathy; D005522:Food Services; D065026:Hope; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007857:Leadership; D009939:Organizations, Nonprofit; D057181:Pleasure; D015397:Program Evaluation; D015144:Southeastern United States; D014838:Volunteers / Q000523:psychology*
Implementation fidelity; Nonprofit; Process evaluation; Volunteer-based organization