Analytics in the Field: Using Data Mining to Improve Volunteer Retention

Abram Guerra, Eric WhitneyManoj Prakash, Joel Samen

December 5, 2011

What is Boston Cares?

“Boston Cares mobilizes more than 25,000 volunteers annually in support of Greater Boston schools and non-profit agencies. We offer a wide array of programs and opportunities that make it easy for you to volunteer no matter how busy your schedule is.”1

1www.bostoncares.org/about_us

VolunteerOrganization with Project

Boston Cares

Boston Cares Has a Wealth of Data

1,796 Organizations

3,597 Opportunities

20,071 Occurrences

43,531 VolunteersDatabase

Connecting the Dots

Missing Data Values

Calculated Variable: Distance

Volunteer Home Addresses

Volunteering Locations

Our Target Variable

Time

Orientation Volunteer Instance Volunteer Instance

Lifespan

Moving to SAS

Interesting Initial Findings

Setting Up in SAS

The Story the Data Tells UsParameter Coefficient Explanation

Avg_Group_Size -0.9 Smaller-group volunteer opportunities help

increase the lifespan of an active volunteer.

Education Level

– Graduate degree

139.4 Volunteers with graduate degrees volunteer more

than 4 months longer.

Education Level

– Some college

-41.3 Volunteers who have only partially completed their

education are active volunteers for less time.

Education Level

– Some high school

-44.6

Environment_ZeroesAdded 26.1 Each time a volunteer participates in an

environmentally-oriented opportunity, they are

likely to volunteer for another month.

Profile Name – Volunteer -128.1 Volunteer Leaders (as opposed to regular

Volunteers) are active more than 4 months longer.

Reliability -74.90 The most reliable volunteers are active for shorter

periods of time.

So What?

Volunteers who participate in large-scale, one-time events may have no ties to Boston Cares

Improve marketing efforts at large-scale events to raise brand awareness of Boston Cares

Volunteers with graduate degrees are more likely to have longer lifespans

Work with graduate schools to get students involved with Boston Cares, create alumni events that focus on service

Volunteers who participate in an environment-based project are likely to have longer lifespans

Increase availability of environment-based community service partnerships, finding more of these kinds of events for participants

Finding from Data Managerial Recommendation

Lessons Learned

Be Aware of Assumptions

Scrubbing Data is aFull-Time Job

SAS is a Tool

There is Always More Data You Want

Data is Often Poorly Documented