Virginia Master Naturalist Annual Evaluation Survey: A First Peek at Results
Why did we start the annual evaluation survey project?
Each year, we gather data about VMN volunteer service and share stories about the positive impacts that VMN volunteers have had on natural resource education, science, and stewardship in their communities. Because of our program’s size and the level of engagement of the volunteers, the magnitude of those outputs and diversity of impacts are always very impressive. There is, however, a missing piece. We have not focused on documenting how the VMN program impacts the volunteers themselves. Although we had anecdotal accounts of how the program transformed volunteers’ lives, we didn’t have data to support our assumptions of the many positive ways volunteers benefit from being VMN volunteers.
To help fill this gap, this year we launched an annual evaluation survey. Because we know that impacts might vary over time, particularly for volunteers who remain in the program for a few years (or 20!), our evaluation survey is longitudinal. This means we will conduct the survey annually and connect individuals’ responses over the years. The survey also is a yearly opportunity to gather feedback that can inform program improvements and future initiatives.
Who is involved?
Michelle Prysby, Virginia Master Naturalist Program Director and Senior Extension Specialist, is collaborating with Dr. Roshan Nayak, Assistant Professor in Extension Program Development and Evaluation in Virginia Tech’s Department of Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education (ALCE). Dr. Nayak is a specialist with expertise in designing and implementing evaluations and in capacity-building training for program staff. Prior to coming to Virginia Tech, Dr. Nayak served as the 4-H Evaluation Coordinator at the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources where he led statewide evaluation efforts for Youth Development Programs.
The most important members of the team are the VMN volunteers! We rely on our volunteers to complete the survey and willingly share information about themselves and their program experience.
How does the annual evaluation survey work?
We developed the survey questions in 2025 with input from several experts, and we tested the survey with a subset of VMN volunteers. With their feedback, we revised the survey to make the questions clearer and the survey experience easier. In March, we emailed individualized survey links to all VMN volunteers listed as “accepted” in Better Impact, our volunteer management system. We left the survey open for three weeks and sent reminders via email and through our bi-weekly program announcement. Each year, we will follow a similar pattern of opening the survey in March. We chose this timing to be near the start of the year, but after re-enrollment is complete and most spring basic training courses have started.
Survey respondents are asked to create a personalized code that they will use each year so that we can look at how things change over time for individuals while still keeping their responses anonymous.
As an incentive, we encouraged volunteers to report one hour of volunteer service if they completed the survey.
2026 Participation
1,890 VMN volunteers (approximately 52% of the volunteers we sent the survey to) completed or partially completed the survey. Although we would love to achieve an even higher response rate, that percentage is adequate for our analyses and is relatively good for such a long, in-depth survey. We also had two optional sections of the survey relating to volunteer motivations and barriers. Half of the respondents chose to complete the section on volunteer motivations, and a little more than one-third chose to also complete the section on barriers to volunteering.
Respondents were well-distributed across our 30 local chapters, with responses proportional to the chapter size. For example, Fairfax Chapter’s membership is about 9% of all enrolled VMN volunteers, and 9% of survey respondents identified Fairfax as their primary chapter.
Respondents also spanned the full spectrum of length of time in the program, from less than one month (2% of respondents) to more than 10 years (22% of respondents.)
We learned that we have VMN volunteers almost everywhere in Virginia! Respondents came from 121 of Virginia’s 133 counties and independent cities.
Preview of Results
A 36 question survey with nearly 2,000 responses results in quite a lot of data! We will be working throughout the year on analyses. Some analyses will have to wait until we have multiple years of data.
Here we will take a preliminary peek at just a few of the summary statistics and interesting themes.
- VMN volunteers are active and engaged, volunteering regularly. More than 75% of respondents said that they volunteered as a VMN at least once a month. More than 40% of respondents said they do VMN volunteer work at least five hours a month. All respondents reportedly engaged in stewardship service in the last 12 months, and 62% engaged in participatory or citizen science. 88% of respondents indicated that they are ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ to continue volunteering with the VMN program in the next 12 months.
- VMN volunteers feel the program is helping them spend more time outdoors and be more connected to nature. 65% agreed or strongly agreed that they spend more time outdoors because they are VMN volunteers. A similar percentage indicated they have become more interested in spending time in nature as a result of being a VMN volunteer. And, 83% agreed that being a VMN volunteer has helped them feel more connected to the natural environment. Research shows that spending time in nature is associated with positive outcomes for physical and mental health and overall well-being.
- VMN volunteers report that the program helps them build social connections. 89% indicated that being a VMN volunteer has helped them meet new people. 75% said they have built meaningful relationships through being a VMN volunteer. 80% agreed that they feel more connected to their community through their VMN activities. 57% agreed that being a VMN volunteer has helped reduce feelings of social isolation or loneliness. Social connectedness can have positive effects on longevity and health.
We will continue sharing survey results and analyses as they become available.
How Can You Help?
Is there something you would like to find out from these data? Your input can help inform our products. If you have a request for a specific question we might be able to answer from the survey data or if you have other ideas of how to use the data, please reach out to VMN Program Director Michelle Prysby.
If you are a VMN volunteer, keep an eye out in March for the 2027 survey. We hope you will participate so that we can continue to measure program impacts and gain insights to help us make program improvements.