The Volunteer Program Assessment (VPA, pronounced vee-pah) is a cutting-edge and innovative volunteer assessment system. The assessment is designed to promote nonprofit organizational effectiveness by focusing on the volunteer program as seen through the perspective of volunteers using a comprehensive and validated volunteer attitudes and engagement survey. While VPA is not a comprehensive assessment of your entire volunteer program, we are able to capture the voices of a key stakeholder group within your organization – your volunteers.
VPA, which started and is coordinated by UNC Charlotte, has grown to over ten university partners, including the University of Houston (UH). To learn more about VPA and its history, please visit the UNC Charlotte VPA website.
VPA Inquiries and Applications
If you are interested in working with UH to run the VPA at your volunteer organization, please fill out the application form. You may contact Ivy Grossberg at irgrossb@cougarnet.uh.edu with any questions about VPA at UH before or after you apply.
VPA services are completely free for scholarship recipients. Those who apply are automatically considered for a scholarship, which is granted in most cases.
VPA Process
There are four main steps in the VPA process. To gain a deeper understanding of the overall process and the time commitment involved, please consult the brief outline provided below:
Step 1: The VPA process will start with an initial phone call from your consultant. This phone call will provide you and your consultant with the opportunity to discuss your organization, the VPA process, and a general timeline for completion of the VPA.
Step 2: After the initial conversation, you will be asked to fill out an online form with information about your organization. This information will help to familiarize the VPA consultant with your organization before helping to administer the VPA survey.
Step 3: Your VPA consultant will email you the VPA survey link. In addition to the survey link, your consultant will provide you with information on how to both administer the survey and communicate with your employees throughout the process. Online survey administration typically lasts for 2 weeks. For your volunteers’ convenience, while the survey is being administered they may access it from any computer at any time of day.
Step 4: Your VPA consultant will use the survey results to generate an executive report. Click here to view a sample report. This report will identify areas in which your organization is doing well and areas where improvements can be made. Your VPA consultant will walk you through the report, discussing best practices one-on-one with you. Following the one-on-one discussion of your report, your consultant will provide you with a current copy of the VPA Norms Report.
The VPA Survey
To evaluate various volunteer dynamics within your organization, we have constructed a survey that you, the volunteer coordinator, will distribute to your volunteers. This survey provides information regarding 1) your volunteers’ feelings, attitudes, and their reactions to your program, and 2) information about what they perceive as your program’s greatest strengths and areas for growth. The VPA evaluates the health of your volunteer program on 15 different dimensions.
To give you an idea of the types of questions that your volunteers will be asked about your organization, we have included sample questions from our survey:
- I feel that I know what is going on within this organization.
- I have mastered the skills necessary for my volunteer assignment.
- I feel that my input is valued by the organization I volunteer at.
- I feel used up at the end of the volunteer session.
- I often think of ending my volunteer work at this organization.
University of Houston VPA Team
VPA at UH is maintained by graduate students and faculty in the Department of Psychology.
- Dr. Denise Reyes (UH VPA Faculty Sponsor)
- Ivy Grossberg (UH VPA Coordinator)
- Ally Gutierrez
- Kalifa Thomas
- Nandini Mehta
- Alyssa Ortega