On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 10:50 AM, tmk_for_byteworks <[email protected]> wrote: > I think it also gives us a rough measure of what we can accomplish > given a certain level of hours worked. If we took just a little more > time breaking the numbers down, we could reasonably say that x hours > of teacher volunteer hours = y number of graduates; or x number of > shop volunteer hours = y computers available for graduates or for sale.
I would imagine that hours are only part of the equation for donors. They probably what to know our impact, that is, the number of individuals benefiting per volunteer hour. Roughly, 100 kids per year divided by 2500 hours per year, that's about 0.04 kids per volunteer hour. Or 25 volunteer-hours per kid. I wonder how this compares with other non-profit organizations. > I do have a problem with my *assuming* that you, or any other > volunteer, works x hours. Absolutely. I wouldn't want the responsibility of assuming, either. > Besides, as you pointed out, with no idea at all how many hours are > being worked, then how will we be able to avoid volunteer burnout? Do > you have a better suggestion for tracking volunteer hours than a login > sheet? My initial thought would be to put the log on-line: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pcV2OCtmINkeLNhqTKQSzWg But I don't think that is necessarily better as it would require people to have internet access, to log into Google, to know how use a spreadsheet, and to enter the data correctly. If paper works, we go with it. Or maybe some combination: perhaps only a few people with access to update the on-line log from the paper record. However, I do think it is important to communicate to our volunteers the reason for why we need to track hours. > Or, to put it yet another way, "the show must go on". Sure, but we also must recognize that we have control over the size and format of the show. For example, the switch to Ubuntu. Our process has been to switch the class curriculum, then the classroom machines, then the EAC machines. A smoother alternative would have been to create the EAC image, then the classroom image, and finally switch the class curriculum. Another example is that we fill the class and then build the machines based on the size of the class. An alternative would be to build the machines and then fill the class based on the number of completed machines. Personally, I think this is important as we have no control over our supply chain for systems and system parts. > Can we make it better? Absolutely! Maybe getting the rest of the list to > contribute > some of their suggestions and ideas would be a good start? I think a few people are trying to do that, but they are doing it off-list and may be unaware of each others efforts. Regards, - Robert
