Volunteer management analysis for the City of Las Vegas

Abstract

The City of Las Vegas current volunteer management program is unable to provide effective administration of its volunteers. We will discuss what type of volunteer management program would work best for the City of Las Vegas? Volunteer management models were examined to determine what best practices can be adopted by the City of Las Vegas. Research shows a correlation between citizen engagement, volunteerism in the community, and a better quality of life for citizens in communities that have active volunteer programs. Thirty-six jurisdictions were surveyed, most of which are in the Western United States, with four jurisdictions being highlighted. The two predominate models that were discovered were centralized and decentralized volunteer management models. A decentralized model allows jurisdictions the flexibility to allow individual departments to oversee their volunteer activities. A centralized model establishes a citywide volunteer coordinator which oversees most volunteer activities for a jurisdiction. Findings indicate that having a centralized program with a citywide volunteer coordinator can be beneficial to overall management of volunteer efforts and reporting those activities to the governing body.