People usually assume that Palomacy Pigeon & Dove Adoptions has a place, a shelter or sanctuary, from which to do our life-saving, culture-changing work but we don’t. We depend on volunteers to foster birds in their homes and backyard aviaries and at a couple of partner sites to do this work. And we depend on volunteers to help respond to the urgent calls from finders and shelters about birds in need. We depend on volunteers to promote and publicize and inspire adoptions and support for these amazing birds.  We depend on volunteers to coach potential adopters, to produce events, to fundraise, aviary-build, cage-transport, rush birds to vets, and so much more!

Our volunteers are the heart and soul of Palomacy and so I was excited when I saw an incredible offer from the Humane Society of the US and the University of North Carolina-Charlotte to apply to participate in their free Rescue Group Program Assessment to survey our volunteers and provide concrete steps to improve organizational effectiveness.

Now, our volunteer survey is up and available to complete until Thursday, February 14th. We need your input to do this important work to the best of our abilities. Please- if you are a current or past volunteer for Palomacy, take a few minutes to complete the survey. This is a really great opportunity for Palomacy and your voice is critical!

Dear Palomacy Supporters,

We are really interested in gaining feedback regarding our volunteers’ experience with us. Your time and energy are precious resources and we want to ensure that together we are all able to best help the birds and people counting on us.

I’m very happy to tell you that we applied and have been chosen to receive a “free assessment designed to help rescue groups run more effectively by surveying volunteers and making specific recommendations to improve the volunteer program based on the anonymous survey results. The Rescue Group Program Assessment (RGPA) was created by the Organizational Science department of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte (UNCC) in partnership with The HSUS. The survey addresses organizational commitment, volunteer recognition, communication, competence, role ambiguity, work satisfaction, satisfaction with other volunteers, organizational constraints and burnout.” (You can read more about it here.)

To that end, I would like to ask all supporters who are 1) currently volunteering for our organization, or 2) have volunteered in the past, to complete an online survey.

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte has donated their time to create and then analyze the survey data collected. I believe this will be very helpful to us.

Participation in this survey is entirely voluntary and all your answers will be kept anonymous.

Your voice, opinions, and beliefs are very important to our effectiveness and for making positive change. Below is the link from the research team at UNC Charlotte. The survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete at most and will be open until February 14th. Should you have any questions about the survey, please contact the UNC Charlotte research team at volprogram@uncc.edu

Once the survey responses have been submitted and analyzed, the RGPA team generates a report, helps interpret the results, and assists in building a plan to improve our volunteer operations. The Humane Society of the US provides the RGPA to rescue groups at no cost.

Thank you for your service to Palomacy Pigeon & Dove Adoptions. I do hope you’ll participate in this process to improve our organization and the work that we do together.

Survey Link: Palomacy Pigeon & Dove Adoptions RGPA Survey

Thank you very much! The birds are counting on us.