Volunteer Center Possibilities

For almost a year, the Volunteer Center has been reviewing various programmatic ideas to provide better service to individuals seeking volunteer opportunities and assist organizations with volunteer needs. Current trends in volunteering highlight that there’s the desire for the “instant opportunity” or the one time episodic opportunities. These trends, along with various national campaigns such as the Disney’s Give a Day Get a Disney Day, make it apparent that we must rise to meet these needs.



We have developed a program model that may assist with many projects you’ve desired to do but have had a lack of resources to make happen. Volunteer Center Managed Projects are meant to match this volunteer trend.



For these projects, we at the Volunteer Center recruit and train volunteer Project Coordinators to help Partner Agencies manage regular, recurring projects in Portage County.



Volunteer Center Managed Projects are different from most traditional volunteer opportunities for the following reasons:

· Flexible volunteer opportunities that do not require an ongoing commitment

· Most projects are offered on evenings or weekends and generally last 2-3 hours

· Projects are led by volunteer Project Coordinators



Volunteer Center Managed Projects are coordinated by a volunteer Project Coordinator in collaboration with a Partner Agency staff person. These projects are designed to help build capacity within nonprofit organizations by allowing Project Coordinators to assist Partner Agencies in recruiting and placing small group of volunteers at date-specific projects.



I will be traveling to San Diego California next week courtesy of Hands On Network, our national Volunteer Center affiliate, to train with the San Diego Volunteer Center on the topic of this program model. We have outlined below a few ideas to begin thinking about how this might be a benefit for your program. Additionally we hope this model may work during the United Way campaign season when workplace volunteers are looking to head out for short term activities. We encourage you to review the detailed resources we have on our webpage that outline this program. These resources have been modeled after other programs such as the one from the San Diego Volunteer Center. We need our partners to help as we progress to meet this need. Help is needed in thinking of projects, feedback on resources and the overall model itself.



Agency Examples:

· Agency A is taking its members on a field trip to a baseball game and needs a group of chaperones to come along, oversee the members, and keep them company.

· Agency B is planning an evening of cookie baking. Once baked, the cookies will be delivered to those who are on the front lines in emergency situations involving their clients, such as police officers, ER staff, etc.

· Agency C is holding classes to teach parents skills for raising children. Child supervision is needed during class time so that parents can partake while knowing their children are safe and cared for.

· Agency D is planning a dance for its members and needs some creative eyes to help decorate. Volunteers can stay around to mingle and befriend the guests as well.

· Agency E is in need of some “beautification”. A group of volunteers willing to get their green thumb dirty and help with some landscaping is just what they need.