By Jackie Froemming - Extension Educator -
froem022@umn.edu / 218-828-2323
In the fall of 2017 I developed a guiding tool to measure and report the public value of volunteer work after realizing that some Master Gardeners were basing their selection of their highlighted project for the year on the basis of how many volunteers were involved rather than the impacts of their volunteer activities.
The multi-part guiding tool includes the At-A-Glance Guide, the optional Public Value Worksheet, and a one-page Project Report as an example. The tool also includes templates to adult and youth evaluation forms.
In addition to sharing the link to the guiding tool with all Master Gardeners, we also hosted lunchtime webinars on the subject, starting with the first one in October of 2017 -
Play recording (56 minutes).
The tool has been well received by Master Gardener as shown by the following feedback:
• “Just in time, I will forward the youth evaluation form to our volunteers that are just completing the JMG program!”
• “Thanks for reminding us of these tools. They are helpful for planning and evaluation. We just have to remember to use them.”
• “This way of documenting our value is a paradigm shift and will take some getting used to it.”
Access the guiding tool here.