The New Volunteerism Project

The Archival Collection of
Ivan Henry Scheier

@ -- permission for use-with-acknowledgment

THE BASIC FEEDBACK SYSTEM:
A Self-Assessment Process for Volunteer Programs

1977
Bobette W. Reigel
With assistance from Ruth Miller
National Information Center on Volunteerism

1999 Introductory Notes by Ivan Scheier

Note the date on this, and remember, the checklists were under development for a number of years before this publication. Along with "'Using Volunteers in Court Settings' and "Staff/Volunteer Relations", this was the most popular publication I ever had a hand in (though Bobette Reigel did most of it). I believe people liked, the handy way to understand and check themselves on basic principles and guidelines in a subject area.

In this case, the subject area was almost exclusively, volunteer programs in agency settings (though the Board checklist clearly has wider applications).

The publication is very long out of print and, in fact, I could not find the form on Voluntary Action Centers. In general, too, at least some items in any of the forms are quite likely to need updating. However, there are at least three features of Basic Feedback System that are perhaps somewhat unusual and worth remarking:

1) The attempt to present a standard system that non-specialists could use readily and regularly. In fact, NICOV, the organization I was associated with at the time, did use the system in a series of volunteer program evaluations.

2) The use of norms

3) The--at that time anyhow--somewhat unusual feature of asking feedback from clients volunteers worked with, and for that matter, top management of the agency. Asking volunteers themselves was also somewhat unusual.

The publication is complete as far as I know, except as indicated earlier in this introduction. In three cases, clearly marked as such, I've added to the original versions, later ones in the same subject area. Also, at the end of the publication, I’ve added three later-related checklists:

"Volunteer Goal Clarification Process"
"Fairy Tales as Factors in Volunteer Program Failure"
"Some Suggested Components in a Volunteer Program Policy"

 

Basic Feedback Systems for Volunteer Programs

1975
Ivan H. Scheier
Robert M. Cooper
National Information Center on Volunteerism

The following earlier version of Basic Feedback Systems was recovered through the work of Regis staff-member, Mary Lou McNatt, several months after original submission of the archives by Ivan Scheier. The date of the Scheier-Cooper authored version is 1975 in contract to the later Reigel-authored version, dated 1977. The present 1975 version, while similar to the 1977 version in many respects, is included because of the following aspects:

It shows my original involvement in the development of Basic Feedback Systems, while the 1977 Reigel-authored version does not.

It has an especially significant section on "Putting It All Together." E.g. coordinating results from each of the separate checklists.

It has a clear copy of the Voluntary Action Center Checklist, which was missing from the 1977 document.
Ivan Scheier
October 1999

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Ivan Scheier
Stillpoint
607 Marr
Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, 87901
Tel (505) 894-1340
Email: ivan@zianet.com

For comments and editing suggestions please contact Mary Lou McNatt mlmcnatt@indra.com