Reference no: EM133778028

Identify an organization you are interested in and volunteer with the organization. The volunteer role and amount of time you spend / commitment are up to you, but you need to at least be able to observe the organization and how it operates. Write a reflection of your volunteer experience, including answering the following questions about the organization based on your experience and other information you can learn from the organization's website, GuideStar, and other resources. Be sure to include references and discussion of the course readings and material where appropriate and provide evidence to support your arguments and observations.

1) Tell us a little about the organization. What is its mission and what services and activities does it provide? From what sources does the organization derive its economic support? What are its approximate annual revenues? What is its staff size and structure? Does it actively use volunteers? If so, to what extent and in what capacities? Please provide a web address/link for the organization if one exists.

2) What volunteer tasks did you complete?

3) Why is the organization structured as a nonprofit instead of a government or for-profit entity? Which theories explaining the existence of nonprofit organizations studied in class relate most clearly to the existence of the organization you're volunteering with? Why?

4) What is the organization's relationship with government? What type of relationship as discussed in the texts and in class best describe its relationship with government? Why? Provide some examples or otherwise support your argument with observations you've made.

5) Are there any organizational gaps or challenges for the organization, based on your observations? Did each staff member appear to be assigned clear, manageable job expectations? Did any staff members appear to be overburdened by their jobs? What human resource gaps do you see? That is, are there any additional job positions you would recommend to the organization's leadership to help the organization approach its goals more efficiently (again, based on your observations)?

6) Is there evidence of performance evaluation and/or strategic management? To what extent and in what ways are they integrated into the organization's activities? How do you think the organization could improve these aspects of its operations based on our readings and class discussions?

7) Apart from what you've already discussed, are there other issues and challenges the organization faces that you observed relative to our readings and course discussions? What does the organization do very well (i.e., in what ways is it a good example)? What do you think are the main challenges that the organization will face in the next five years?