Utah Volunteer Center Standards of Excellence
Standards of Excellent Assessment Questionnaire
1) Management
Job Description/ Supervision: All paid and volunteer staff has a written job description that is reviewed annually and is used as part of an annual performance review.
Personnel Leadership: The Center’s Director and other staff and volunteers are recognized as leaders in community activities.
Personnel Development: Staff and volunteers participate in relevant training and workshops.
Organizational Development/Personnel Management: The Center has and annually reviews policies and procedures covering all operations. Feedback from employees/volunteers is solicited.
2) Funding
Budget: The Center has a balanced budget that covers staff (salaries and benefits) and overhead (space, utilities, phones, supplies, etc.). On average, over the last two years, this budget has increased.
Stable Funding: At least 20% of the Center’s funding sources are repeat sources and/or multiyear commitments.
Diversified Funding: No single funder or source contributes more than 25% of the Center’s total budget.
Long-Term Funding Plan: The Center’s leadership engages in activities articulated in the funding plan that result in increased funding for the Center, including funding to cover program growth.
3) Planning and Evaluation
Strategic Plan: Goals outlined in the strategic plan are regularly achieved and replaced with new strategic goals.
Program Relevance to Community Issues: Center staff, community volunteers, and service recipients engage in a formal process to periodically evaluate program relevance to community issues.
Constituent Involvement: Constituents of Center programs are asked to take leadership roles in Center projects.
Positioning: Assessments show the Center occupies a unique position in the community, and there is broad recognition of the value of the Center’s programs and services.
4) Connect People with Opportunities to Serve
Quality & Reliability: Information from the center remains accurate on a day-today basis.
Inclusiveness and Responsive to Trends and Events: People who use the Center are representative of the diversity of the community.
Easily Accessible: The Center’s services can be accessed in person, by phone, by mail, and on the Internet. The Center’s information about volunteer opportunities can be accessed during standard business hours and is easily accessible outside of standard business hours.
Volunteer Recruitment: The Center creates new opportunities to reach targeted audiences and recruit volunteers.
5) Build the Capacity for Effective Volunteering
Volunteer Resource Management: The Center is viewed as the knowledge leader in the field of volunteering in the community.
Volunteer Management Training: The Center provides or partners with others to provide a range of technical assistance support on volunteer management through consultations, workshops, and training.
Inclusiveness Training: The Center provides information and resources and trains agencies/businesses on developing opportunities friendly to targeted populations and sponsors and/or develops programs for targeted populations.
Workplace Volunteering Training: The Center sponsors and/or develops programs for local workplace volunteering by partnering with businesses or business associations to design, implement, and evaluate quality workplace programs.
6) Promote Volunteering
Volunteer Recognition: The Center conducts internal recognition programs and promotes local, state, regional and national awards programs by regularly taking the lead in recognizing outstanding community volunteers.
Media Relations: The Center has positive relationships with many media contacts who view the Center as a knowledge leader. The Center is regularly visible to the community through advertising, PSAs, feature stories, alternative media, shows, and promotions.
Advocacy: The Center identifies community issues and serves as a knowledge leader in mobilizing volunteers to address these issues. It promotes volunteering and the potential of volunteer efforts to address community issues for policy makers and community leaders at the local, regional, state, and national level.
7) Participate in Strategic Initiatives that Mobilize Volunteers to Meet Local Needs
Principle Developing Advancing Excellence Comments Collaboration: The Center is a leader of collaborative efforts and operates ongoing partnerships with businesses, schools, local government, agencies, neighborhood groups, and others to engage volunteers in projects to address community issues.
Association Partnership: The Center leads and delivers specialized skill building programming to the Utah Volunteer Center Association.
Community Issues: The Center takes leadership roles to attract resources and support volunteer based programs that respond to community needs.
Strategic Outcomes: The Center is able to accurately document the benefits of its work in a way that stands up to outside scrutiny.
