RESEARCH FOR INCREASING VOLUNTEER PARTICIPATIONAngela QuisumbingCOM 615

The Asian American Repertory Theater

Asian American Repertory Theatre is a professional, non-profit performing arts organization

They are San Diego’s premier contemporary Asian American theatre company with over 3,000 subscribers

AART: Mission & Vision Statement Mission

To create theatrical productions that celebrate the Asian American experience, to present fresh perspectives on traditional works, and to further develop and educate adult and youth Asian American artists in their craft.

Values & Vision By preserving traditions

that emphasize education, balanced family values, and the respect of history and senior generations, AART strives to foster community, peace, and awareness among different cultures and generations, while introducing new artistic voices that help to incorporate changes of the present with learning's from the past.

AART: Goals

ART hopes to give flesh and voice to under-recognized Asian American plays and stage works by new and established artists to help bridge cross-generational and cross-cultural gaps and transcend stereotypes. Our work pushes participants to re-think their image and pre-judgments of Asian Americans, increasing knowledge and awareness of the diverse experiences in the United States. AART strives to develop an Endowment which would help make the dramatic process and production a continuing reality, thus enhancing the San Diego arts community and literary landscape in general.

PROBLEM: Situation Analysis

Not enough help Not enough

exposure or awareness

Not enough funds to create a fundraiser

Need more volunteers

Need more sponsors

Need bigger budget

Situation Analysis

SWOT Analysis

Strengths Opportunities

Established presence for 12 years, professional board members, good cause

Reach the Asian/American community, raise money for organization, create awareness

Weaknesses Threats

Not enough people to volunteer, not organized, not enough sponsors

Other non-profits that prove to be more organized, well staffed and have a decent budget

RESEARCH: Objectives

To build awareness of the organization To build relationships with potential

sponsors To build relationships with volunteers

and other organizations who share the same goals

RESEARCH: Goals

Develop a ‘focus group’ and a ‘survey’ Utilize the results to show the following:

How big/small the issues the organization is facing

Learn new ways to communicate to the organization’s public and stakeholders

Timeline: Week 1: Conduct Focus Group Week 2: Conduct Survey Week 3: Publish Results, share with group

and organization

QUALITATIVE ACTION: Focus Group Objectives

Understand why people do or do not volunteer for non-profit organizations

Ways to improve volunteer programs Ways to motivate others to volunteer

Participants: Volunteers (current and potential)

Location: Local Coffee Shop

Focus Group

Procedures Target people who

have been involved in volunteering for the organization and people who have not

Invite them for coffee to join focus group

Let them know their involvement is important

Methods Create an agenda

with 5-7 preconceived questions for the group

Allow the group to answer questions, offer opinions and ideas

Open forum to share experiences

Response Tracking

Sample Questions

1: Why do you support the organization? 2: What encourages you to volunteer your

time and/or money? 3: What motivates you to volunteer? 4: What discourages you from

volunteering? 5: Can you list a few local companies who

might be interested in partnering with AART?

6: What suggestions can you offer to improve volunteer programs?

Hypothesis

People volunteer time/money to non-profits Based on emotions, fulfillment Based on a need to give, they feel obligated Because someone forced or convinced them to Because the organization’s cause

affects/benefits them or someone they know Issues

Not recognized Not appreciated

QUANTITATIVE ACTION: Survey Participants

Board Members: people who run non-profit organizations

Volunteers: people who have volunteered their time to an organization

Sponsors: people who have donated money or items to a non-profit organization

Distribution: via email Questionnaire Development:

Focus on why people do and do not volunteer time and money to non-profit organizations

Questions

Questions will be developed on a point system to gather quantitative findings

Example: On a scale from 1-5, 1 being highly unlikely

and 5 being highly likely, how likely are you to volunteer as a board member for the following year.

Success Defined

As a result of this research we would like to: Create new ways to reach out to volunteers

and sponsors Learn new ways to build awareness of the

organization

EVALUATION: Interpretation of Results Results of both the focus group and

survey will be evaluated to determine: How the organization can improve in

attracting and motivating volunteers and sponsors

How to build relationships and a better image with its publics and stakeholders

THANK YOU…