Recording Volunteer Hours?

Please pardon me if this has been posted / discussed previously. But I remember there being mention of ‘gamifying’ volunteer incentives at DMS, and I wanted to ask if there is any continuing interest in that.

Basically, I notice that we have a lot of sophisticated ways to keep track of who is doing what at the 'space (video logs, RFID access control, digital calendar event signups) - but very little means of recording who has been helping with what. If we are satisfied with the current level of volunteerism at DMS, then the whole rest of this post can be safely ignored - I’m not trying to fix what isn’t broken.

But, if we’re not reliably getting the manpower we want (or if the people providing that manpower aren’t happy), then I’m wondering: is there any way to use the RFID tags we all have to make a digital list of needed jobs somewhere (along with an estimated worktime), and let people badge “in” to accept the job, and “out” to mark it as complete? Maybe there could also be a write-in system where people can request volunteer-hours awarded for the “cleaned up a huge mess in automotive last night” posts we sometimes get here on Talk as well.

Personally, I would be happy to waive my class fees for anyone who donates their time regularly to DMS - but even if there were no such incentives on the table, some kind of time tracking system would let us put up a digital leaderboard (in the lobby or similar) to recognize the volunteers who are keeping us going.

I worry that some of the unhappy vibes we’ve had of late come from people not feeling seen for the good work they do. Since we can’t pay them the value of their time, putting their names up in marquee lights might be a cost-effective way to start showing our appreciation - and encourage casual DMS members to see, notice, and appreciate the people around them who are making their work session possible.

NB: I don’t have the know-how to do RFID / back-end programming, but the gamified volunteer program I set up for our writing nonprofit has been really successful for us, and I would be very happy to help build something here for DMS.

TL;DR: Measuring a problem is essential to solving it. If getting volunteer help is a problem, let’s start measuring.

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I have been made privy to some pretty interesting incentive-based programs on Plano’s ‘The Lab’ Makerspace website. In my opinion, they are on the right track in terms of volunteers earning ‘credits’ which can be traded in for reductions in members fee’s, etc.

I would be supportive of such programs, while also recognizing that they too must be administered by volunteers.

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Adding “features” that make DMS more like a job I’m paying to do is a non starter for me.

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The Lab seems to treat all their member-provided labor the same. Instructors are valued equally with the other people who contribute by taking out trash, repairing machinery, performing admin tasks, organizing special events, etc etc, in that they don’t get paid. All members are eligible to earn credits towards a t-shirt or a month’s dues for significant contributions only. Takes 20 hrs of instruction to be eligible for one credit. Credits expire after 12 months, which means earning more credits than a year’s worth of dues (240 hours) or an infinite number of tshirts is impractical.

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Oh, that’s interesting! I would love to know how that’s been working for them (and what their membership size is compared to ours).

I guess if we were to start tracking volunteer hours at DMS, it might be easiest if they didn’t “go” toward anything at the beginning (or at least, nothing more than visibility / kudos). Just getting the logging architecture in place would be a project of itself. Figuring out whether and what those hours could be cashed in for would be a whole other undertaking with many factors to consider. Even without rewards attached, though, I can see valuable uses for that data on the back end, especially as we’re trying to improve participation and member retention.

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I would absolutely love an organized list of tasks that can be badged in and out to keep track of who is doing what. It sounds like it might require some oversight and effort to get it up and running, but it seems like a good idea and along the lines of the Volunteer Appreciation group that @MrsMoose was trying to get into motion.

I’ve been thinking about things along these lines and your post gave me an idea! I really loved your pass-the-hat donation idea with your lockpicking classes. What about tacking group volunteer opportunities onto a class in exchange for waiving/discounting fees or materials? A “come early/stay after” type thing where people have the option of meeting the instructor before the class or sticking around after the class, and together they can go around the 'Space doing various volunteer tasks. This could also fit in with multi-part classes that need a break in the middle for drying or cooling and such.

This has the advantage of:

  • Encouraging DMS members who spend less time in the building to help out when they’ve already committed themselves to being at the 'Space for the class anyway
  • Showing members who may be unfamiliar what they can do to help the space and how, where the cleaning supplies are, the proper procedures, etc.
  • Fostering a sense of community in group work, giving it a more social aspect to help with tedium
  • Even if only a few people participate per class, a lot can still be accomplished in just a little time
  • Can tie it to high-priority expansion or fire safety tasks that would benefit from more hands and oversight
  • Much easier to track who did what since it’s tied to the class that the waiver/discount could be applied to with no extra prep

I love the gamification example you set up for your other nonprofit and I’ve loved @patrickpleez1’s volunteer opportunity bounty board post and @John_Marlow’s well-organized post regarding actions that needed to be taken after the Fire Marshall’s visit. Maybe something like this could help get a few more casual members involved who would benefit from a bit of good-natured peer pressure?

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Oh, I’m glad you like that idea! And yes, doing a joined “work, then play” event with a volunteering session followed by a class would be an interesting experiment. It would likely do best with a straightforward task that is suitable for unskilled labor - a big but simple job that is easy to explain and hard to mess up. I will look for you at the potluck tomorrow night, if you’re going to be around - I’d love to visit more about it!

Unfortunately the potluck is going on while I’m on the other side of the country this weekend. Hopefully we can catch up another time though!

Paging @anonymous_bosh

Can we set up a meeting with the Lab guys to see how they track this? (Plus I just wanna go back haha)

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I’m planning on being there next Tuesday. Anyone is welcome to join. I’ll send a slack message to them ahead of time!

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WHAT IF we did a system where every volunteer gets 5 popcorn seeds to put in the bucket and every time a volunteer says a bad word or runs with scissors they lose a popcorn seed and at the end of the day the seeds remaining go in the class bucket.

At the end of the school year we can all have a big popcorn party!

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It would be interesting to know whether the “credit” system increased the amount of volunteering, or whether the existing core group of volunteers earned credits for their labor.

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I know my employer allows for donation of time, up to 40 hours, without it affecting PTO time or banked holiday hours.

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Much smaller. Around a hundred plus maybe 15 lifetime members?

Scroll about halfway down…

https://thelab.ms/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/August-2019-Leadership-3.pdf