Post-Event Surveys for Volunteers: 7 Questions To Ask

Imagine hosting an incredibly successful volunteer event for your political advocacy organization, helping more people register to vote than you ever thought possible. But then, you find out that your volunteers felt overworked, underprepared, and dissatisfied overall.

While celebrating the win, you also need to make sure your volunteers feel supported and happy with their work. Collecting post-event feedback from volunteers is vital, and asking the right questions makes all the difference. After all, getting insight into their perspectives will help you improve your approach and build a stronger experience for your next volunteer event.

Let’s explore seven questions that will help you truly understand their experience.

1. Did your onboarding experience prepare you to fulfill your duties?

Onboarding sets the tone for your event by providing clear expectations for volunteers. It ensures they understand their responsibilities, reducing confusion and increasing confidence in their work.

As part of your post-event survey, it’s important to evaluate how well your onboarding process prepared your volunteers to fulfill their duties. Specifically, ask about the effectiveness of the instructions, training, and orientation materials. If volunteers indicate that training was insufficient, use open-ended questions to ask for specific examples or areas that could use some work. 

When reading feedback about your onboarding practices, focus on these areas:

• Clear Expectations: Volunteers should have a detailed overview of their roles, responsibilities, and any objectives associated with their participation.
• Introduction to the Team and Organization: Introduce volunteers to staff members and fellow volunteers they’ll work with. They should also understand your nonprofit’s mission and the campaign’s purpose.
• Software Training: Teach volunteers how to use any equipment or technology they’ll interact with while carrying out their duties, such as a canvassing app or a mobile bidding platform.
• Video and Experiential Training: Offer a training video that walks through essential tasks. Then, you might pair your beginners with experienced volunteers who can show them the ropes in person.

Even if you already have these onboarding practices in place, continually assess how effective your efforts are. Ask volunteers directly to ensure they feel confident from the very start of their experiences.

2. Were there any resources or tools that would have helped you perform better?

As an extension of your onboarding question, you might ask volunteers whether the tools and resources you provided helped them perform their tasks effectively. While onboarding provides expectations and training, the real-time tools and resources they use during your volunteer event can also impact performance.

For instance, let’s say you organized a phone banking campaign where volunteers called voters to provide information about the election process and encourage them to vote. In this case, your volunteers might need more than just a general script. Maybe having specialized scripts tailored to different voter demographics or issues would have made their conversations more efficient and targeted. Additional scripts would allow volunteers to engage more meaningfully with voters next time, increasing productivity.

It’s also worth considering whether volunteers had access to the right technology. Were they able to easily access and navigate your databases, fundraising tools, or event management software? Or did they encounter technical challenges that slowed them down or made their tasks harder? Feedback on these tools can highlight potential improvements in your event’s tech setup.

3. What did you find most rewarding about your volunteer experience?

This question allows volunteers to highlight the positive aspects of the event and what motivated them to participate. It helps you understand what aspects of your volunteer events are most impactful and which areas to put extra effort into. Understanding motivations helps create more rewarding experiences, leading to higher retention and a more passionate volunteer base. That way, you can tailor tasks and outreach to resonate with volunteer interests and values.

For more insight, consider asking volunteers to describe specific moments or tasks that stood out. Maybe they felt energized by:

• Seeing the immediate impact of their work, like witnessing a successful voter registration.
• Taking on a more significant role, such as leading a group of volunteers.
• Collaborating with a team or connecting with other volunteers.
• Using specific skills, such as public speaking, problem-solving, or organizing.
• Interacting with beneficiaries or listening to a powerful testimony.

Whatever motivates them, your nonprofit should know, so you can continue providing memorable, enjoyable experiences.

4. How would you rate our communication before, during, and after the event?

Quality and regular communication is a cornerstone of any successful event. By asking this question on your survey, you can determine how informed volunteers felt throughout the process, whether through pre-event instructions, real-time updates, or post-event follow-ups. From the moment volunteers sign up to when you show post-event appreciation, timely and clear communication ensures volunteers feel supported and confident.

To go one step further, follow up with a question asking volunteers to identify any gaps in communication or areas where they felt the information provided was unclear or untimely. You might also ask if they received all the information they needed on time.

For instance, maybe some volunteers felt like your email communication was too vague or didn’t include enough details, leaving them unsure about expectations. Others may note that important updates — such as last-minute reminders or changes in event logistics — were communicated too late and would’ve been more effective if sent through quicker channels like SMS.

5. Did you feel your time and effort were valued?

Volunteer satisfaction ultimately determines whether someone will return to help out with future events. This survey question gauges whether volunteers felt acknowledged for their contributions. You might provide a follow-up survey question that asks about how they prefer to be acknowledged and provides volunteer appreciation options like:

• Thank-You Letters: Personalized notes expressing gratitude for their time and effort can either be sent digitally or by mail.
• Phone Calls: A personal call from the event organizer or volunteer coordinator offers a direct thank you that opens the door for a two-way conversation.
• Online Shoutouts: Public recognition on social media, your organization’s website, or a newsletter is a great way to showcase outstanding volunteers. First, ensure that individuals are okay with public appreciation.
• A Goodie Bag or Branded Merchandise: Thoughtful gifts such as event-related items provide a great memento of your volunteer event.

In your survey, you might provide a list of options for volunteers to choose from, making it easier to analyze responses and ensure your recognition efforts are practical. Tailoring these efforts will ultimately strengthen your volunteer program by boosting retention. Plus, you’ll create a positive reputation for your organization when the word gets around that you show appreciation.

6. Do you know if your employer offers volunteer grants or volunteer time off (VTO)?

Volunteer research indicates that 84% of employers believe volunteerism is an effective way to engage employees. As a result, many businesses offer workplace giving programs, such as:

• Volunteer Grants: Companies donate money to a nonprofit where an employee volunteers. These grants are typically awarded once a certain threshold is met (e.g., $50 for 20 hours of volunteer work). Another popular option is to donate per hour (e.g., $10 per hour).
• VTO: Businesses offer a set amount of paid time off specifically for volunteering with nonprofits. For example, full-time employees might receive two VTO days per year.

Your post-event survey is the perfect time to ask about volunteers’ eligibility for these opportunities. For those who are unsure, provide a tool that lets them search a database of company-specific volunteer programs. This tool should cover details on individual businesses’ program offerings, employee eligibility requirements, and the process for requesting grants or time off.

7. What suggestions do you have for improving future volunteer events?

This open-ended question invites volunteers to give constructive feedback. Volunteers often have unique, unbiased perspectives on how to make things more enjoyable or efficient. Their fresh ideas can improve your volunteer management and create better experiences for everyone involved in future events.

In response to this question, they might provide feedback on areas such as:

• Event structure: Suggestions about the overall flow of the event, including its timing, breaks, and pacing
• Responsibilities: Feedback on whether roles were well-defined, organized, and manageable
• Logistics and venue: Thoughts on the physical environment, such as event location, accessibility, comfort, parking, or signage
• Team collaboration: Insights on how well volunteers worked together, including suggestions for improving teamwork, communication, and group coordination

Place this question towards the end of your post-event survey so volunteers can provide suggestions that haven’t already been covered in other sections. This approach respects their time and allows them to offer more in-depth responses.

By the time they reach this section, they’ve already addressed more specific aspects of the event, which enables them to provide well-rounded and thoughtful suggestions for improvement.

Every volunteer event offers a wealth of learning opportunities. The best way to uncover them is with a well-crafted post-event survey that dives deep into their experiences. Be sure to listen and implement feedback. When volunteers feel heard, they’re more likely to return, making your organization stronger with each volunteer event it hosts.

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