Unlimited PotentialThe Importance of Volunteers for Extension Success
Improving Lives. Improving Texas.
Volunteers: A Valuable Asset
Volunteers help Extension:
• Reach more people in Texas• Ensure that our programs
are relevant• Deliver Extension education• Interpret the value of
Extension to others
Volunteers: A Powerful Force
2009 Texas AgriLife Extension Volunteer Statistics:
• 104,672 volunteers statewide
• Total number of hours given: 4,058,422
• This is an average of almost 40 hours per person in 2009
Volunteers: A Powerful Force
2009 Texas AgriLife Extension Volunteer Statistics:
• The dollar value of the volunteer time given = $83,183,053.40 (figured using the value of volunteer time given by the Independent Sector, currently $21.47/hour)
• Contributions of Extension volunteers equal ~ 2,140 FTEs (full-time equivalents)
Volunteers: A Powerful Force
2009 Texas AgriLife Extension Volunteer Statistics:
• 18,639 volunteers helped teach and lead educational programs, reaching 3,023,932 Texans.
It’s All In Our Attitude!• If our view of working with Extension
volunteers is a negative one, we will never fully utilize volunteers.
• If we never fully utilize volunteers, our programs will not have positive outcomes.
• Weak outcomes means not having an impact.
• Not having a true impact leads to becoming irrelevant.
• Irrelevancy is a great reason to downsize or do away with our organization.
Benefits of having Volunteers
Receiving assistance from a volunteer (rather than from an employee) makes a difference to the recipient.
Benefits of having Volunteers
Volunteers are valuable as objective policy or program makers/creators.
Volunteers offer Extension unlimited potential.
They are gold. If, and how, we discover and capitalize on that gold is up to us!
Presentation References
Burkham, Angela & Boleman, Chris. 2005. Volunteer Administration in the 21st Century: Roles Volunteers Play in Extension. Texas AgriLife Extension Publication (D-1451).
Ellis, Susan J. 1999. From The Top Down: The Executive Role in Volunteer Program Success. Energize, Inc. Philadelphia, PA
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