--- title: "How to Fix the Disconnect Over Volunteer Effectiveness" id: "61355" type: "post" slug: "how-to-fix-the-disconnect-over-volunteer-effectiveness" published_at: "2023-01-25T19:00:27+00:00" modified_at: "2026-07-11T18:07:37+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2023/01/25/how-to-fix-the-disconnect-over-volunteer-effectiveness/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2023/01/25/how-to-fix-the-disconnect-over-volunteer-effectiveness.md" excerpt: "New research from the ASAE Research Foundation identifies a disconnect between what association volunteers do and what staff find effective. To bridge that gap, clarify what success looks like and how outcomes will be measured." taxonomy_category: - "Executive Leadership" taxonomy_post_tag: - "Associations Now" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "Association CEO / Executive Director" - "Director" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » How to Fix the Disconnect Over Volunteer Effectiveness Part of the Deep Dive[Leadership Reimagined](https://associationsnow.com/deep-dives/leadership-reimagined-a-new-era-for-execs/) Volunteers are crucial to an association’s success: Board members are typically uncompensated, and bylaws usually require the creation of several standing volunteer committees. But despite building volunteering into the core of their work, associations are often uncertain about what role volunteers are supposed to play and how to measure their effectiveness. One piece of evidence to that effect comes from a new ASAE Research Foundation report, [A Holistic Approach to Association Volunteer Management (opens in a new tab)](https://www.asaecenter.org/asae-home/publications/8/4/c/2/9/113590-a-holistic-approach-to-volunteer-management-pdf) , which reveals a disconnect between association staff and volunteers. While nearly half of association volunteers (46 percent) rated their fellow volunteers as “highly effective,” less than a third of association staffers (29 percent) gave their volunteers the same ranking. Part of the challenge, says Mariner Management President and Executive Director Peggy Hoffman, FASAE, CAE, is a lack of clarity about what “effective” means. “If you ask volunteers, many will tell you that they’re doing everything and that the organization couldn’t exist without them, when in fact what they’re doing is perhaps not moving the needle,” Hoffman said. “Without valid, objective metrics, there’s no meaningful accountability, and ‘effectiveness’ remains a purely subjective assessment.” Lindsay Currie, CAE, executive officer of the Council on Undergraduate Research (and chair of the foundation study’s research advisory council), has been working on this challenge with her own association’s volunteer pool. One issue, she says, is that CUR’s volunteer structure hasn’t been substantially updated in the 45 years since its founding, and its organizational policy focuses more on board governance, with little guidance on other volunteer roles. “We really needed to reevaluate our programs to make sure that we were actually clear about what being a volunteer meant,” Currie said. To that end, CUR has a task force that is working on retooling both its board governance and its general volunteering model. Some things have become clear through that process, she says. Requiring committees to be subject to the bylaws is a roadblock to change. CUR also has a large council of elected members that define volunteer roles—more than 300 people serving three-year terms, with no term limits. That structure has closed off opportunities to younger members and has further limited flexibility. “What we’re trying to do is diversify the number of volunteer opportunities and establish clear roles and responsibilities, so we can leverage different talents and interests,” Currie said. [Mark Athitakis](https://associationsnow.com/author/mark-athitakis/) Mark Athitakis, a contributing editor for Associations Now, has written on nonprofits, the arts, and leadership for a variety of publications. He is a coauthor of The Dumbest Moments in Business History and hopes you never qualify for the sequel. [More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/mark-athitakis/) Tags: [#Associations Now](https://associationsnow.com/tag/associations-now/) **Stay Informed** [Subscribe to our free newsletter](https://associationsnow.com/newsletter/) , *Associations Now Daily News*, to find out what’s happening in the association world every business day. ## More in this Deep Dive - [CEO Strategies for Building Board Trust](https://associationsnow.com/2023/01/25/ceo-strategies-for-building-board-trust/) - [An Agile Board for Ever-Changing Times](https://associationsnow.com/2023/01/25/an-agile-board-for-ever-changing-times/) - [Expanding the Volunteer Leadership Pipeline](https://associationsnow.com/2023/01/25/expanding-the-volunteer-leadership-pipeline/) - [What’s Missing From Your Board’s Operations Playbook?](https://associationsnow.com/2023/01/25/whats-missing-from-your-boards-operations-playbook/) - [What Makes for a Healthy Hybrid Workplace?](https://associationsnow.com/2023/01/25/what-makes-for-a-healthy-hybrid-workplace/) - [Why Leading With Empathy Matters More Now](https://associationsnow.com/2023/01/25/why-leading-with-empathy-matters-more-now/) [View the full Deep Dive →](https://associationsnow.com/deep-dives/leadership-reimagined-a-new-era-for-execs/) ## You Might Like - [VideoInt. 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