MEASURE: DEMOGRAPHIC DATA

Who is coming to the garden? How does this compare to the overall demographics of your community? 

 

Measuring these traits (and others) can tell you a lot about who is volunteering with you, eating your produce, or learning from your program. Demographic information can be voluntarily collected via volunteer sign-up sheets, feedback surveys, or in a specific demographic survey. We recommend collecting voluntary information instead of observation, since relying solely on observation could lead to false assumptions about someone's identity. 

 

That said, some may find this type of questioning intrusive, especially if the context of why this information is being collected in unclear. Do your best to be transparent that measuring the demographics of your volunteers and participants is a way to ensure that the organization is meeting its goals. For example, if your goal is to build connections between communities, you'll want to ensure your volunteers are actually from different communities!