Ongoing Research
Sarah Jane Rehnborg
Designing and Testing the Volunteer Program Assessment Tool (VPAT)
by Sarah Jane Rehnborg, Dennis L. Poole, Michael K. Roemer, Laurel F. Mangrum, Kathleen Casey, Deborah Duvall
Over the past two decades considerable progress has been made in the development of national and community service volunteer programs. Experts in the field have recognized this need but lacked scientifically tested instruments to conduct such assessments. To advance knowledge in this area we developed the Volunteer Program Assessment Tool (VPAT). This research paper describes the methods we used to design and test the full version of the instrument and the screener. To our knowledge the VPAT is the first instrument of its kind to be tested for reliability and validity, and have utility for volunteer program assessments in diverse organizational settings.
Volunteer Champions Initiative: A grant-funded project of the UPS Volunteer Impact Fund
The RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service at the University of Texas at Austin will work with several lead consulting firms including Building Better Skills and Energize Inc. along with a national leadership team of volunteer managers, academic experts and funders to develop learning tools, and persuasive messages about the importance of investing organizational resources in effective volunteer management. Specifically the Volunteer Champions Initiative will increase the visibility and credibility of the field through a series of case studies and instructional resources.
Serviceleader.org
This resource is updated with information for practitioners on virtual volunteering and volunteer recruitment.
Lance Armstrong Foundation
Sarah Jane Rehnborg is creating a logic model and framework for measuring performance of the Lance Armstrong Foundation's Survivorship Summit.
Joshua Busby
Dr. Busby is currently working on a book manuscript entitled States of Grace: Moral Movements and Foreign Policy. He seeks to explain why only some countries are willing to take on new international commitments championed by principled advocacy groups.
Gary Hawes
Along with Dr. John Gaventa of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, Dr. Hawes is currently co-directing a project which analyzes the role of civil society organizations in the development, reform, and implementation of public policy. Case studies are being conceptualized and written by scholars from six countries: the Philippines, India, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and South Africa. The cases will document the ways in which civil society organizations have contributed to improvements in policy in sectors as diverse as HIV/AIDS, agrarian reform, access to information, children's rights and maternal health care. The project will address both the question of what these cases have to say about current theory and the related question of under what conditions the participation of civil society can have a positive impact on the quality of public policy.
