Program Overview

The Volunteer Program Assessment (VPA) is a cutting-edge, innovative, and completely free volunteer assessment system for nonprofits. Designed to promote organizational effectiveness, VPA consultants work with volunteer coordinators to develop online surveys to administer to their volunteers. The survey provides information on individual and organizational outcomes such as employee satisfaction, burnout, communication, and commitment. The survey also evaluates volunteer perceptions regarding the nonprofit’s greatest strengths and weaknesses. VPA consultants provide guidance to volunteer coordinators every step of the way, maintaining a tentative timeline and helping to interpret the survey results. VPA consultants then present tailored recommendations for improvement to volunteer coordinators and a comprehensive report with findings from the survey.

VPA was initially developed as a partnership between the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the Humane Society of the United States. VPA at George Mason University is run by industrial-organizational psychology graduate students and faculty who are passionate about giving back to the community.

VPA Team

Dr. Reeshad Dalal, Faculty Advisor

Current Executive Board (May 2025 - May 2026)

Rebecca Mintz, Director

Bill Schaffhauser, Co-Director

Nicole Shiu, Head of Strategy

Linh Nguyen, Client Outreach Coordinator

Thisali Mendis, Engagement Coordinator

Sherry Liao, Training and Development Coordinator

Senior Consultants

Aiva Gorab (bgorab@gmu.edu)

Andrea Updegrove (aupdegr1@gmu.edu)

Ariam Haile (ahaile5@gmu.edu)

Ben Bradshaw (bbradsh@gmu.edu)

Bill Schaffhauser (wschaffh@gmu.edu)

Deem Lin (dlin22@gmu.edu)

Jami Segal (jsegal3@gmu.edu)

Madeline Wonders (mwonders@gmu.edu)

Mindy Wu (mwu27@gmu.edu)

Sadyah Kessouaagni (skessoua@gmu.edu)

Sherry Liao (xliao2@gmu.edu)

Tara Pollack (tdpollac@gmu.edu)

Junior Consultants

Asher Ackman (aackman@gmu.edu)

Ashley Haygood (ahaygoo@gmu.edu)

Christina Sia (csia@gmu.edu)

Daijreous Poole (dpoole4@gmu.edu)

Elene Lipartiani (eliparti@gmu.edu)

Giselle Hajir (ghajir@gmu.edu)

Guanyu Zhang (gzha629@aucklanduni.ac.nz)

Hantao Ren (hantao.ren@outlook.com)

Janelle Callison (jcallis2@gmu.edu)

Jemimah Boakye-Ansah (jboakyea@gmu.edu)

Jennah Ferrari (jferrar9@gmu.edu)

Kaliah Alford (kalford7@gmu.edu)

Linh Nguyen (lnguy9@gmu.edu)

Lyndsay Maguire (lmaguir@gmu.edu)

Matt Alfano (malfano4@gmu.edu)

Nicole Shiu (nshiu@gmu.edu)

Paran Gonzale (pgonza4@gmu.edu)

Rebecca Mintz (rmintz@gmu.edu)

Rebecca Yan (ryan4@gmu.edu)

Russell Thomas (rthoma49@gmu.edu)

Sullivan Williams (swill25@gmu.edu)

Tong Wu (aaakk0521@gmail.com)