Hello Volunteer Engagement Professionals:

I'm curious about your volunteer to volunteer-staff ratios.  I've done some research and appropriate staffing ratios related to volunteer mgmt is all over the place.  There are certainly several indicators to determine adequate staffing levels, such as the type of volunteers, roles, complexity of requirements, training, supervision required, etc. In general, the numbers vary across the volunteer management field.  For example, Red Cross uses a volunteer to staff ratio of 100:1 (100 Volunteers for every paid staff member), Pacific Vision reports 12:1 and CASA uses 30:1 as their guide.

I'm wondering what the volunteer to staff ratios for healthcare organizations are, specific to only "active/regular" Volunteers, not including those on a leave of absence, applicants or those in-process (essentially, those that are reporting hours).  This is strictly volunteer to staff, not the total number of volunteer hours and the FTE calculation.  I'm inquiring with other non-healthcare volunteer programs too, but that's a tough comparison since (I feel) volunteering in healthcare is much more complex due to regulatory issues. 

Thanks in advance for sharing your volunteer to staff ratios! 

Christi Brown, MHA, CVA, CAVS, CDVS

Senior Director - Volunteer Engagement

WellSpan Health 

Our current ratio is >200:1 FTE, counting active volunteers only (though defining "active" can be all over the place, too)

I have 786 active volunteers... we have 3 FTE in our Volunteer office.   We utilize 3 volunteers ( about 20 hours total) in our office to assist with paperwork.