And remember…you can interact, share your thoughts and ask questions.  At the top of each entry, you will see a link that says “(#) Comments”.  Simply click on this link and fill out the comment form.  I would love to hear from you!

If you would like to take a look at my website, click here:

http://www.saintjosephvolunteers.org

And if you would like to contact me directly:

Jamine Hamner, hamnerja@sjhlex.org

Thank you!  I hope you enjoy!!

Internet Usage by Age Group (http://www.zdnet.com)

Ages 12-17: 87%                   Ages 45-49: 73%

Ages 18-24: 82%                   Ages 50-54: 68%

Ages 25-29: 85%                   Ages 55-59: 68%

Ages 30-34: 83%                   Ages 60-64: 55%

Ages 35-39: 80%                   Ages 65-69: 57%

Ages 40-44: 73%                   Ages 70-75: 26%

                                              Ages 76+: 17%

Internet Activities by Age Group (http://www.zdnet.com)

Online activity by age group
	Age group
Activity, %	12-17	18-28	29-40	41-50	51-59	60-69	70+	Avg
Go online	87	84	87	79	75	54	21	72
Online games	81	54	37	29	25	25	32	36
School research		73	60	61	48	33	14	57
Instant message	75	66	52	38	42	33	25	47
Text message		60	44	29	15	11	8	35
Get info about a school	57	59	42	50	40	30	14	45
Download music	51	45	28	16	14	8	5	25
Read blogs	38	41	30	20	21	19	16	27
Download video	31	27	22	14	8	8	1	18
Create a blog	19	20	9	3	9	3	4	9
Get health info		73	84	80	84	68	72	79
Travel reservations		50	72	64	64	59	60	63
Job research		44	59	59	54	31	13	51
Use gov sites		41	56	64	60	55	45	54
Bank online		38	50	44	37	35	22	41
Religious info	26	30	38	24	28	28	28	30
Use email	89	88	92	90	94	90	89	91
Get news	76	72	76	75	70	74	68	73
Product research		79	80	83	79	74	60	78
Online purchase	43	68	69	68	67	65	41	67
Job hunting	30	62	51	40	36	17	2	44
Use a photo service		39	38	31	32	31	30	34
Rate a person or product		36	34	27	31	24	8	30
Search for a person		31	31	23	23	24	29	27
Participate in an online auction		26	29	25	20	18	6	24
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project

]]> http://techandvol.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/look-whos-on-the-internet/feed/ 0 hamnerja http://techandvol.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/tennessee-hospital-and-medical-centers-what-are-your-competitors-doing/ http://techandvol.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/tennessee-hospital-and-medical-centers-what-are-your-competitors-doing/#comments Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:02:56 +0000 J. Hamner http://techandvol.wordpress.com/?p=7 ]]> This webpage lists all the hospitals and medical centers in Tennessee and offers a direct link to their webpages. 

http://theagapecenter.com/Hospitals/Tennessee.htm

Selecting an organization to volunteer for has become easier recently, thanks to a number of Web sites now hosting searchable databases of volunteer opportunities. Below you will find a selection of these resources that will assist you in posting your volunteer opportunities.

• United Way (http://www.liveunited.org/?) Type in your zip code to find the website for your local chapter.
• Network For Good (http://www.networkforgood.org/volunteer) allows you to search for volunteer opportunities by zip code, distance, and by interest area. You can also search for a specific volunteer opportunity by organization name. 
• Volunteer Match (http://www.volunteermatch.org) can be searched by zip code, category, and distance. You can then sign up automatically by email for those volunteer opportunities you are interested in. 
• Guidestar (http://www.guidestar.org/classifieds) hosts advertisements for volunteer opportunities (select the term “Volunteer” from the drop-down menu) in addition to its searchable database of nearly one million nonprofit organizations in the United States. 
• Idealist (http://www.idealist.org/) posts volunteer opportunities that can be searched by area of focus, project description, country, state, city, skills needed, language needed, and age. You can also indicate the time frame in which you would like to volunteer. 
• 1-800-Volunteer.org (http://www.1-800-volunteer.org) can be searched a number of ways, including keyword, zip code, organization, and population served. You can also search by the days and times you would like to volunteer. 
• Craigslist is for online classifieds.  Just type craigslist into a google search. 

Try this exercise:  Type “volunteer in (your city) TN” into a google search and see what comes up.

To see my complete presentation on websites, please click here http://sdvshowebdesign.wordpress.com. 

But for now, lets talk about what I believe should be on your website.  Here is a list of all of the things I can think of…feel free to comment and add your own suggestions.  And remember, these items are only as good as the information provided in them (huh?)  For instance, a full length assignment description can be well written or poorly written.

Must Haves

1. Descriptions of your volunteer programs (Adults, college students, teens, groups, non-traditional, guild, auxiliary, etc.)
2. Volunteer Assignment Descriptions – in my opinion you should provide the full description, not just a brief summary.
3. Online Volunteer Application:  A “Print, fill out, mail back” is not the best choice.  See the blog entry on “Forms” (website link above).

Should Haves

1. Volunteer Handbook
2. All orientation forms that can be signed, filled out, etc. electronically (ie. confidentiality agreement, safety test, hipaa test, volunteer agreement, orientation checklist, etc.)
3. The step by step process to becoming a volunteer – Don’t just tell them to fill out the application and call your office.  Tell them about needing vaccination records, what your tb process is, how to get a uniform, etc.
4. Pictures

All the little extras:

1. A place for volunteers to log in and view their information, record hours, etc.  Some volunteer management software has this capability.
2. A blog:  Short for “web log,” a specialized site that allows an individual or group to share a running log of events and personal insights with online audiences.  Many blogs allow visitors to make comments, or “postings” in response to the blogger, or ask questions.  There are numerous sites that offer free blogs.  Type “free blogs” into an internet search and just see how many come up.
3. A forum:  An online discussion group, where participants with common interests can exchange open messages.  Also known as a message forum, a message board, or a bulletin board, a forum allows for messages to be posted and kept on a website for future viewing.  Again, just do an internet search to find free forums.
4. Video:  You have probably heard of YouTube, but have you taken a look at it?  Search for volunteering and see what comes up.

OK…Your turn….post a comment with your ideas!

Volunteer management software can provide much needed relief.  There are tons of options in all price ranges and capabilities.

Click this link to find detailed information about volunteer management software. 

http://www.coyotecom.com/tech/volmanage.html

Think there’s no way?? 

Oh but there is….and I did it! 

Through the use of good website materials, and volunteer management software I was able to go from a completely manual system to an almost fully automated system.  And the result is an increase from 350 volunteers a year to over 650 on two campuses with only 2.5 staff members (that includes me). 

What do you need to get started towards being an automated and “paperless” office?

•  Internet access from your work computer – Check with your I.T. department.
•  A website – preferably one you have some administrative control over. You will need to be able to upload documents to the site in order to post your handbook.

 Options:

1. A free website from the internet: type in “free websites” into any internet search engine.

a. Be aware of how much storage space the free website provides. My volunteer handbook is 33 pages long and 168 KB in size. (10,000 KB = 1.22 MB) Even the smallest free webpage is 15 MB, so you should be fine.

2.  A page on your hospital’s internet site

a. Depending on how your internet site is managed, it may or may not cost money for you to add items to your internet site.

•  Your volunteer opportunities and your volunteer orientation handbook in electronic format – It is important that these documents be in a format that most users would be able to open.

 Options:

1. Microsoft Word: Most of us have Microsoft on our computers. You would simply type up your information in Word and then upload it to your site.

2. PDF format: The PDF format is more compatible to websites; and you can ensure that your document looks like you expect it to regardless of who opens it up. You will need a software program that converts documents to PDF format. You create your documents in Word, then use the converter to make it PDF format.

a. You can get a FREE converter at http://www.primopdf.com. This converter will work with Microsoft Word as well as many other programs.

b. You can purchase this software from the internet or in your local office supply store for as little as $20.00.

• An online volunteer application – The potential volunteer fills out the application and submits it without having to print anything out.

Options:

1. Your free website, or your hospital website may give you the ability to create forms. Check with your website administrator.

2. There are numerous places on the internet where you can create you own forms. My personal preference is http://www.mycontactforms.com. A few things to keep in mind:

a. Prices fall into a broad range. (My Contact Forms only charges $20 a year.)

b. Can the service HOST your forms for you? This is an important option to have. If they host the form, they will give you a link to put on to your website. This is much easier than other options, does not require you to deal in html language, and takes up a lot less space on your webpage.

3. Are you using a volunteer management system that gives you a way to post your application?

• We all have agreements, tests, etc. that must be completed by the volunteer as part of his/her orientation. Put these items on your website so the potential volunteer can fill out the information and submit it without having to print anything out. Use the forms options listed above to create these items.
• A place to store your electronic volunteer files – I currently have 839 folders (volunteers), which hold 6,582 files (volunteer paperwork), taking up 515 MB of space.

Options:

1. On the computer in your office – I do not recommend this option. If anything were to happen to your computer, you would be at risk of losing all of your volunteer information.

2. On your hospital’s server – check with your IT department.

3. Online file storage – type in “online file storage” into any internet search engine. This option will require a monthly service fee.

• A scanner with an automatic document feeder – you can find this at office supplies stores or on the internet. I purchased a Xerox DocuMate 510 from SamsClub.com for $283.

Search Google for “volunteer management” and you will get 2.9 million websites to refer to.

Search for “how to write a volunteer assignment description” and you get 210,000 results.

Answers to your questions are at your fingertips and can be obtained instantly.

What about your peer groups?  Do you have an egroup where you can share ideas?  What about discussion forums?  Hopefully you are all members of SDVSHO.  Check out the website to see how these items are being utilized (keep in mind…these items are still new) http://www.sdvsho.com

There are several online volunteer management newsletters:

http://www.energizeinc.com

http://e-volunteerism.com

http://www.ijova.org

http://www.volunteertoday.com (be sure to check out the Tech Tips)

 http://www.volunteerpower.com/articles/EzineArchives.asp

Staff Salary and Benefits:  Our hospital system does a peer group comparison on a quarterly basis.  In hospitals of approximately the same size as mine, I manage twice as many volunteers with half the amount of staff. 

Paper, Postage, and Envelopes:  We no longer send references by snail mail, saving at least $1.00 per volunteer application.  77% of our volunteers have email so we only mail out 165 newsletters, versus mailing out 700.

So much FREE stuff:

• Don’t have a website you can easily access?  There are countless places on the internet to get a free website.  Here are just a few:
  • http://members.freewebs.com/
  • http://www.weebly.com/
  • http://www.bravenet.com/
• What about forms for applications, etc?
  • Again, there are a lot of places to get these.  My personal favorite is http://mycontactform.com
• And egroups?
  • I use http://groups.yahoo.com
• What about a free online community?
  • http://www.convos.com/
  • http://www.netcipia.com/

Our electronic epiphany was gradual but clear, we were not going to be able to expand/increase our Volunteer program and initiatives without either increasing staff or decreasing the workload.  We were drowning in paper and paperwork.  We knew that there were Volunteer database programs out there that would allow us to go “paperless”, but would that work for us? 

We did our due diligence, researched the different programs and did a couple of “field trips” to other hospitals who were up and running.  We had lots of concerns and trepidation…. is it secure?  what happens to all the paper we have?  how will we “file” things?  what will the volunteers think?  will they adjust?  can/will new volunteers apply online?  will there be mutiny?  And the big one …  can WE master it? 

Through it all, Jamine kept encouraging us and quite frankly inspiring us (or at least her empty file drawers inspired us).  So we took the plunge and went “paperless” with Volgistics in January 2008 and it has gone amazingly smooth!  Some of the things we were so concerned about just never materialized. 

• The conversion of data was quite smooth
• Scanning to a secure file on our hospital network was pretty easy
• We were able to create online applications and get them on our web site
• With in a month or two all our volunteers, young and not so young, had adjusted to the touch screen sign in or were doing it online from home
• VERY few of our potential volunteers are asking for a paper application, almost everyone is willing and able to apply online
• And we were beginning to feel quite competent!

That’s not to say that we didn’t have some bumps along the way or that we haven’t felt overwhelmed, wondering if we can get our “heads around it all”- but between Volgistics email “help” and Jamine’s willingness to share her expertise, we feel supported. 

We have seen immediate program management benefits such as applications and hours not needing to be manually entered; reports can be generated automatically and emailed to you; with a couple of clicks you can know who is currently signed in and volunteering. Volgistics has allowed us to get out of the scheduling business – especially wonderful for services such as No One Dies Alone which depends on calling volunteers when a need arises – and now we truly know who is available.  By using the scheduling function, we can clearly see where our openings are.  We can easily generate and then email a new volunteer schedule and information to the area coordinator – without “typing” anything in!   True improvements to our services.

We are poised to take advantage of the online position description option to assist us with recruiting.  More and more individuals are checking out their options online before they contact any office, and this will give us an edge.  Volgistics has helped us streamline and improve management, and we just continue to see the power and potential of this system.

We were afraid this new high tech stuff would scare people away and it hasn’t. It has allowed us to communicate more frequently with select groups of volunteers – and so i would hope “improved our relationship with them” because we more efficiently and more quickly get information they need on their sign in screen or email. I think for the more saavy individuals this is great because they can log hours from home – etc. It is potentially helping us to capture more of our Health Ministry hours. This system has allowed them to capture more data (lives touched) and also is helping with a Blood Pressure grant our Women’s Health has.

Oh, I just thought of a specific example. We have one volunteer that volunteers in the ED but has an erratic work schedule. He was going to have to quit but we have it set up now where he can get online and check the openings in the ED and schedule himself at different times so that it works for both of us. (We have not enable everyone and every position to self schedule – we are phasing that in as we go).