New Volunteer Reporting Forms Launch in September

September 10, 2019
Kendra Baumer
New York-New Jersey Trail Conference

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New Volunteer Reporting Forms Launch in September
Volunteer Forms.

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“Digital reporting is coming soon!” … It’s a promise that’s been made for years. I’ve been asked about the status of it time and again.

I was handed the task of working with our tech staff to bring online reporting to fruition soon after I was brought on board as the Volunteer Engagement Manager in late 2017. In the fall of 2018, we launched a Volunteer Action Team to help with this important project.

The Action Team consisted of four volunteers (Phil Heidelberger, John Magerlein, Michael Pashley, Fred Stern) and me. The team was incredible to work with and we made huge strides. We were working towards launching a new system in mid-2019.

Unfortunately, we discovered an issue with our backend system capabilities that prevent us from implementing online reporting the way we need to for it to be successful. Online reporting is still a priority for the organization and we will continue working towards making it a reality.

Throughout the Volunteer Program Assessment conducted in the first half of 2018, I heard from numerous volunteers that the current reporting forms aren’t cutting it. Instead of waiting for online reporting to address these frustrations, we decided to take action on what we can change right now: the current forms.

Over the course of the past two months, we’ve worked with 30 volunteers to update the forms that were created 8-plus years ago. Combining the unique perspectives and opinions of so many people helped us to create more intuitive and easier-to-use forms that will be launching in mid-September.

The new forms will be available at nynjtc.org/volunteer-forms, as well as the online My Dashboard.

While we cannot promise a timeline for when online reporting will actually happen, what we can promise is that we’ll continue to do all we can to make the volunteer experience the best it can be. Feedback is always welcome at [email protected].