This page contains responses to the agency survey for
July, 12, 1999.
Click here to see the same responses
organized by question.
Click here to see a list of
responding organizations' names together with their location and
date of response.
July 12, 1999
- AIAPaCOTE-Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment
- Organization Name
- AIAPaCOTE-Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment
- Organization City
- Harrisburg (State Capital)
- State/Province
- PA
- Country
- USA
- Organization's Geographic Service Area
- Entire State of PA
- Number of full-time and part-time employees (paid staff)
- 2 FT, 1 PT
- Respondent's Name
- William J. Marston, AIA
- Respondent's Position
- Founding Member of Committee
- Organization's Web Site Address
- www.aiaphila.org
- Respondent's Role in Working with Volunteers at Organization
- I help manage our new message board/member communications tool; I am active in political lobbying and in educating other architects and the public about sustainable building, environmental development, livable communities, 'green design', etc.
- How did you hear about this Project?
- Through our local ISP, Libertynet of Philadelphia.
- What other staff have involved volunteers virtually at
your organization?
- Ten to fifteen of our committee members across the state, and some now joining from AIA COTE's in other states (Baltimore AIA for example).
- Approximately how many of your online volunteers provide
technical assistance to your staff or to other volunteers?
- About half of the 10-15 do so.
- Please describe the kinds of activities these technical
assistance volunteers provide to your organization:
- Research; reports on meetings and affairs in their parts of the state; calls and visits to state agencies, etc.; contact and monitor other professionals in related trades, such as Home Builders, Township Zoning officials; developing questionnaires and templates on issues; minutes of meetings; etc.
- Approximately how many of your volunteers provide direct
support to clients / recipients of service via the Internet?
- Don't know yet.
- Please describe the kinds of volunteer activities these
direct contact volunteers provide to your organization:
- Don't know yet.
- How did you recruit the volunteers you involve(d) via
the Internet?
- Through personal contacts, phone calls, notices in print journals, emails.
- How did you screen/orient the volunteers you involve(d)
via the Internet?
- We do screen for interest in issues, through word of mouth and reputation.
- How do you supervise and recognize/reward online
volunteers for their contributions?
- None yet...We did have one f2f meeting, attended by about half the group.
- Have you ever surveyed these online volunteers about
their experiences with your organization?
- No, no surveys done yet. I am very very interested in using websurveys, though. As a FileMaker afficiando and a user of Allentown PA software developer's Chena Software's 'InfoDepot' I am capable of assessing survey results very quickly and cheaply.
- What factors in your organization have promoted the
success of your virtual volunteering program?
- Biggest success is because the largest distances that seperate us physically (strewn across a pretty large state!) and due to the fact that we now use a free 'bulletin board' website as our common base-wherein every member simply subscribes to a digest listserve and therefore everyone knows what everyone else is doing...these make the WWW an excellent tool.
- What factors in your organization have impeded the
success of your virtual volunteering program?
- Typical volunteer constraints-too busy, unstructured assignments, lack of accountabilty, etc.
- Please add any other comments you would like to send to
us:
- Identify tips for us:
1. How to get/keep volunteers active over time;
2. How to keep volunteers from going off half-cocked or without position papers or policy input from organization, yet how to keep them interested and active;
3. How to keep volunteer environment from becoming too much of a 'private club' and yet retain efficacy in our efforts.
return to Index of Agency Survey Responses
return to Index of VV Project Message Archives