Volunteers of Greater New York

Volunteers of America is a national faith based human services non profit organization. Through social service programs, VOA (Volunteers of America) helps families, seniors and individuals to live a more fulfilling life. Their programs provide positive support to assist in creating lasting change in their lives. Volunteers of America was founded 121 years ago as a volunteer organization and has continued being a key element of the organization’s ministry. Today, VOA delivers its ministry through professional staff and volunteers.  Volunteers of America – Greater New York (VOA-GNY) is one of the biggest VOA offices of the east coast of the United States. VOA-GNY currently operates operates over 90 programs in the New York City boroughs, Westchester, Nassau County and Northern New Jersey. Their programs help many people overcome many obstacles to start living healthy productive lives. The programs that VOA-GNY currently offer help individuals and families survive and combat homelessness, addictions, domestic violence, emotional and physical difficulties. Their programs provide counseling and support in the process. Each of the programs and services are delivered in a safe and supportive way to help each individual develop in a healthy confident way.

Volunteers of America of Greater New York also offer programs that work and service children and individuals with learning disabilities, veterans, older adults, at risk youth, adults with HIV, and behavioral health.  A SWOT analysis is a diagram that is a strategic approach many companies use to understand and analyze their position, visualize where they are and where they need to be. This type of analysis is typically used for strategic analysis and planning purposes. Over the past decade, SWOT research has focused on analyzing organizations for recommended strategic actions (Helms & Nixon, 2010). It is also useful in determining a project or business venture’s pros and cons in taking the next steps. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The four parts are divided into external and internal factors to better provide better positioning for a project, company or organization. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors and opportunities and threats are external factors.

A SWOT analysis is typically presented in a square shape divided into four boxes for each part even though it can sometimes change depending on the design. The balanced scorecard is another approach many companies also use to not only track their strategic progress, but to also have a better understanding of their management approach and the company’s strategic goals along. The balanced scorecard focus on four perspectives which include financial measures, customer knowledge, internal processes, and learning/growth. It is a tool which adds value by providing both relevant and balanced information in a concise way for managers, creating an environment which is conducive to learning organisations and eliminating the need for managers to `choose’ which type of control system to use at any given time (Mooraj, Oyon, & Hostettler, 1999). Like any other method, it can easily be implemented in many different ways depending on the process and rules used for it to be ultimately a successful reliable tool.