2025 Skills & Interest Survey
- Apr 8
- 2 min read
4/08/2025
HUGE THANK YOU to the 200 volunteers who have shared their Skills and Interests with us so far this year! We are learning a lot from you and finding new ways to connect events and activities to those volunteers who would enjoy them the most.
Here are just a few ways this information has been used in the last few months:
Volunteers have been recommended to the national Ask Extension online service based on their interest in answering questions and preference to volunteer remotely or solo.
Volunteers have been identified as potential project leaders for new community service opportunities with the UMN Bee Lab and UMN College of Biological Services.
We found volunteers who can help with some of the non-English-speaking communities that we serve, like Spanish, French, ASL, and Hmong.
We learned that volunteers are Fridays are days when volunteers are interested in participating in events and activities and are considering those days for new incoming projects.
We confirmed that 1-2 hour shifts are preferred to longer volunteer shifts and are adjusting our sign-ups to reflect that. If you still prefer the longer 3-4 hour shifts, you can still sign up for two in a row.
We revamped the fall Monthly Meeting lecture topics based on the already-existing knowledge and interests reflected in the survey.
We are finding that most volunteers prefer minimal recognition among their peers (or in the wider community) but a nice call-out in the newsletter is welcome in most cases.
We discovered that more than half of Master Gardener volunteers are also donating time to other community-based organizations. WOW!
These insights are enormously helpful in plotting our way forward and growing RCMG. Thank you again!
If you haven't already, please take a moment to fill in the survey.
Brianna Gohde
RCMG Volunteer
