Archive for December, 2010

9 Tips for Planning a One-Day Volunteer Event

Tuesday, December 14th, 2010
  • Give yourself plenty of time to plan. Eleven weeks of planning for a large community-wide event with multiple partners is a realistic time-line.
  • Gather a team. Who can help with publicity and planning?  Who can help organize and recruit a large number of volunteers?  Who best knows the community and its needs?  Who has a high level of energy, enthusiasm, and really cares about the community?  These are the people you want to help you to plan a volunteer event.
  • Bring in community partners. Community partners should be a part of the project selection process so they can help to create a sense of community ownership of the project.  The more community partners that you involve, the more the community will feel ownership of the project, and the more meaningful the project will be for the community.  Group partnerships allow you to reach a larger audience, too.
  • Get off to a good start. Make sure your project team has tasks and responsibilities right away.  Make certain that the tasks have set deadlines and that the tasks are distributed evenly among the team.
  • Think about the size of your project. While you might want a small army of volunteers to create massive change in a community, it might be better to have a small, high quality service project that gets a lot done and is fun for the volunteers rather than a loosely run large-scale project
  • Select a meaningful project. A volunteer project ought to have a tangible benefit to the community.  Members of the community should see the work as important to how the community functions.  The volunteers should learn something at the project, too.  Something about the task, the community, or the people that they’re working with.
  • Have a contingency plan. It’s important to remember that things might not go as planned on your project day.  If you choose a project that’s easily scalable, then you can adjust if too few or too many volunteers show up.  Planning a project with tasks for multiple skill levels allows all of the volunteers to do tasks that they’re comfortable with.
  • Recruiting Volunteers. There is no sure-fire, guaranteed message that will make someone say yes when you ask them to volunteer, but a well crafted recruitment message helps turn a “why should I care” or a “maybe” into a “sign me up!”  Recruit more volunteers than you think you’ll need in case some don’t show up.
  • Volunteer Briefing and Debrief. Make sure your volunteers are introduced to the work that they’ll be doing and the impact their work will have on the community.  Don’t just tell them what to do and leave it at that.  If your volunteers realize that they’re having an impact, they’ll be more likely to come to your next project.  Be sure reinforce what kind of impact their work has on the community, both on their day of service and into the future!

What tips do you have for people planning a one day event?  Are you planning an event for MLKDay?  Have you downloaded our Volunteer Leader Toolbox?

The Road to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: Being a Leader

Monday, December 13th, 2010

What does it mean to be a leader?  Does it mean that you have an army of followers ready to do whatever you ask of them?

Does it mean that you’re the best in the world at something?

Does it mean you have thousands of followers on Twitter or thousands of friends on Facebook?

Or does it mean that you saw something happening that you knew was wrong and acted to change it?

That you brought people together to create change in your community.

That you started something that made real, lasting change in the lives of people.

We think that everyone can be a leader when they have an idea that they’re passionate about.  There isn’t a special handshake or password that you need to know.  All you really need is a cause and the desire to make a change.

We want to help you to make that change.  You can use the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday as a springboard to starting change in your community.  Plan your own volunteer project in your community that addresses an issue that’s important to you.

You don’t have to plan a volunteer event of your own; you can take part in an event that has already been planned. Join forces with a group that works with an issue that’s important to you and work with them after the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

You can be a leader without being a volunteer, too.  You can bring people together to start the discussions that lead to action in your community.  You can host a Sunday Supper or attend a Community Cinema event in your community.

A Sunday Supper doesn’t have to be a meal in your home.  Bring people together in a community gathering place like a coffee shop, library, or community center.  You don’t have to provide all of the food yourself; ask people to bring a covered dish, or hold your Sunday Supper at a restaurant.  A Sunday Super is about bringing community members together to talk about issues impacting your community over a shared meal.  Be sure to register your Sunday Supper so people can join you on Sunday, January 16, 2011.  If you need help planning a Sunday Supper, check out our Sunday Supper toolkit with tips and materials to help you host your own discussion.

You can attend a Community Cinema event and take part in a discussion about documentary films highlighting communities that are being changed by their members.  Community Cinema events support discussions about the films that can turn into changes in your own community.

Although there are many opportunities around the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday to become a leader in your community, you don’t have to wait until January to do it.  Reach out to your local HandsOn action center to start affecting change in your community, or listen to a recorded webinar with tips for becoming a volunteer leader in your community.

HandsOn Network’s Las Vegas Regional Meeting

Saturday, December 11th, 2010

Amy Lytle is the Executive Director of HandsOn Northwest North Carolina.

It was one of those things that seemed like a good idea at the time–sure, I could do three trips in seven days, no problem.

I mean, it wasn’t my fault that the Las Vegas Regional Meeting for HandsOn Network and our rescheduled-due-to-Hurricane Earl NC statewide center director’s meeting was on two ends of the same week.  Plus, I had committed to a weekend getaway after that with my four-year-old daughter while my husband had his own travels at the end of that same week.

I knew all three of those trips would be valuable, and since I’m superwoman, I could easily swing it, right?  Because I definitely wanted to be at the regional meeting.  All it would take was a flight in the wee hours of the morning on Monday, and then returning on the red eye the next night, leaving close to midnight on Tuesday.  What could be easier?

Only one day in, and I was grateful that I had agreed to lead only the opening session. Fresh off the plane, and before jet lag could really set in, I was at the best I would be for the whole week.  I was excited about hearing more from my peers about the trends and challenges they were seeing at their affiliates, as well as the innovative ways they were responding.  I’m a big believer in the idea of innovating your way out of a crisis, and I knew they would have good ideas to share.

Indeed, even though I faded more and more through the two days I was there, the ideas kept getting better and better.  I loved the more intimate setting of the Regional Meeting, compared to the mob scene that is the National Conference.

I relished the opportunity to get a chance to know my colleagues both from other affiliates and from the national network on a more personal, as well as professional, level.  I was blessed by their understanding, as my hair-brained scheme for the week didn’t look so sane once I was in the thick of it!

The best part is that I did make the right choice to attend–despite the awful travel schedule.  I brought home heaps of valuable information that will immediately impact my relatively new affiliate.  I got some confidence about ways to begin integrating a managed projects program into our existing programming.

I figured out what the HandsOn Connect switchover will mean to my affiliate, and got help in trying to sell it to some interested local corporate partners.  I also was inspired to take more advantage of our social media presence, although I’ve been back three weeks, and still haven’t been able to post as much as I would like.

I was so impressed with everyone I met at the Regional Meeting, and the listening, feedback and questioning that took place.  I wish I could have brought my whole staff with me.  I wish I could have stayed for the full session.  I wish I had taken advantage of the managed projects boot camp.

Still, despite it meaning three trips in seven days, the decision to attend was a smart one. I hope you got the chance to attend the Regional Meeting in Mobile, or will attend one of the ones that will be offered in 2011.

One piece of advice, though: don’t take the red eye.

Amy Lytle became the first-ever Executive Director of HandsOn NWNC in Winston-Salem in October, 2007.  Prior to this, Amy worked for nine years in a variety of roles for a volunteer center in a neighboring county, and has spent the majority of her professional life working with volunteers and within the nonprofit sector.

Tips for Evaluating Youth Focused Service Projects

Friday, December 10th, 2010

Of course you want the volunteer time you spend working with young people to make a real and measurable difference in their lives.  You want to make sure that they’re benefiting from the time you spend with them; not just having a good time, but learning and growing into successful leaders and adults.  But what can you do to help make sure this happens?

Have you considered working with the person who manages the program you serve with to do an evaluation of the program?  You can help to make the program more effective and more meaningful for the youth it serves.

Here are some considerations for how to effectively evaluate a volunteer project serving young people.

First, it’s important to identify what to evaluate:

  • The impact of service on the youth participants’ learning;
  • The impact of specific service efforts on the community;
  • The quality and effectiveness of related partnerships;
  • The quality of the service experience;
  • The impact of youth involvement on the agency and/or school;
  • The extent and reach of the program;
  • Young people’s perception of the agency, its work and how the program has affected them;
  • Structure of the program; or
  • Participants’ attitudes.

It’s also important to consider who you should involve in your evaluation:

  • Planning committee members;
  • Service providers;
  • Agency staff and/or board;
  • Youth volunteer supervisors;
  • Parents;
  • Service recipients;
  • Teachers; or
  • Program coordinators.

There are many different evaluation methods you can use to collect the information you need to evaluate your program.

Here are just a few for your consideration:

  • Individual interviews with youth, clients, parents, staff, etc.;
  • Group discussions (focus groups, discussions in advisory committee meetings dialogue nights);
  • Record review (volunteer assignment reports, youth journals, attendance records, school progress);
  • Pre- and post-experience surveys of participants and others Observation and documentation of insights from those involved in your project/program (teachers, youth agency staff, parents, etc.); or
  • Analysis of existing data.

What will you measure?

Who will you include?

How will you collect the data?

Thinking through this before starting your project can help you ensure you meet your goals and make a real and meaningful difference!

Change Notes: Media Praise for generationOn

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

"Volunteer"

Friends,

I’m excited to share with you several recent media stories about Points of Light Institute, specifically about our newly launched global youth movement, generationOn.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy: On November 28 it featured two related articles, one about the many resources generationOn brings together to empower young people to transform the world and how the Hasbro Children’s Fund is generously supporting those efforts.  The other article talks about the desire of families to volunteer together and ways to make that possible.

Here are the links:

A New Effort to Teach Kids to Help Others and

Recruiting Families to Volunteer

volunteer volunteering volunteerismUSA Weekend magazine: Over the past weekend, it recapped this year’s 20th Make A Difference Day, which it co-sponsored with HandsOn Network and Newman’s Own. It mentioned our launch of generationOn that fittingly included service projects and a tribute to extraordinary change-makers at The Extra Mile – Points of Light Volunteer Pathway in D.C.  It noted our celebrity participants Madison Pettis and Corbin Bleu, and a nine-year-old volunteer who declared her experience packing toys as the “best day ever!”.  It also noted the participation of Obama Cabinet members, including Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, in a KaBOOM! Playground build.

Here is the link: You Made a Difference.

Mommy blog: “Queen Mom” mentioned Hasbro’s match of a Toys for Tots gift for each generationOn service pledge through December 10, capturing the true meaning of the season. She said that her children were helped by Toys for Tots in tough times past, and urged folks to encourage their kids to make pledges at www.generationon.org.

Here is the link:  Teach Your Kids to Give Back
In service,

Michelle Nunn

CEO, Points of Light Institute, and Co-Founder, HandsOn Network

How to Build Professional Skillls by Volunteering

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

by Alison Rapping, Alison & Associates

Experiences gained through volunteer work can enhance personal and professional development.

For example, here are a few ways you can practice  specific professional skills by volunteering.

Assertiveness

  • Serve as a fundraiser and solicit pledges of support
  • Recruit others to support a cause or organization

Budget Management

  • Plan or chair events wit a budget
  • Volunteer for a board position with finance responsibility

Change Management / Strategic Awareness

  • Participate on an organization’s board
  • Participate in a focus group
  • Help write a group’s vision

Computer Skills

  • Develop a database for an organization
  • Provide data entry for a group project

Conflict Resolution

  • Serve on a board
  • Manage a function or event, serve on a subcommittee

Cultural Awareness

  • Volunteer in a community different from your own

Creativity

  • Volunteer at a children’s arts & crafts project

Delegation

  • Chair a committee
  • Assume a leadership role in an organization

Event Planning

  • Coordinate a volunteer project
  • Sit on a planning committee for a big event

Leadership

  • Serve as a chair on a committee or event
  • Be a spokesperson for a group or organization
  • Work with young people as a mentor

Managing People

  • Manage volunteers at a project or event

Motivating Others

  • Be a mentor
  • Chair a committee
  • Coordinate volunteers
  • Recruit friends/colleagues to join you in a project or event

Negotiating Skills

  • Obtain resources for an event or organization
  • Be on a committee

Planning

  • Coordinate an event or activity
  • Sit on a committee for an event or project

Presentation Skills

  • Lead an orientation for a group or organization
  • Be a spokesperson for an organization
  • Serve as a project leader or team captain

Problem-Solving

  • Be an on-site manager for a big event
  • Be an ongoing project coordinator or leader

Project Management

  • Coordinate an ongoing volunteer project

Selling

  • Be a volunteer fundraiser
  • Solicit in-kind donations for an event or project
  • Recruit volunteers to serve at an event or project

TeamWork

  • Coordinate volunteers
  • Work on a rehab or building project
  • Plan an event

Time Management

  • Chair a committee and run the meetings
  • Manage the work flow and timeline in planning an event

Verbal Communication Skills

  • Volunteer for an activity that uses the phone
  • Chair an event
  • Be a spokesperson
  • Lead volunteers in an activity

Written Communication Skills

  • Write a newsletter for an organization
  • Volunteer to write press releases
  • Develop fundraising appeals
  • Take meeting minutes
  • Serve as a secretary for a group or Board of Directors

These are just a few starter ideas.

What ideas do you have?

What would you add to this list?

Alison J. Rapping is a consultant serving nonprofit organizations and community initiatives.  She provides services in the areas of nonprofit capacity building and organizational effectiveness, fundraising and resource development and facilitation of community initiatives. Follow her at .

Learning from Each Other

Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

Marjie BlandBy Marjie Bland, Community Engagement Manager, HandsOn Central Ohio.

Recently, I was asked to serve as a presenter at the Boot Camp preceding the HandsOn Network Regional Meeting in Las Vegas.  The Boot Camp topic was Managed Projects and Volunteer Leaders.

I was honored and excited to have the opportunity to share some of my experience with colleagues at HandsOn Affiliates around the country.   I’ve always believed strongly in the power of our collective knowledge.  With a shared mission of mobilizing volunteers to create change in our local communities, our work has many similarities.  We also face similar challenges; an economy in the process of rebuilding, decreases in funding, increased needs in our communities, and more.

The Regional Meeting was an experience that reaffirmed my belief in the power of our shared knowledge.  When I was hired onto the staff at HandsOn Central Ohio, (formerly FIRSTLINK), I was largely inexperienced in engaging volunteers within this dynamic, “hands on” model of service.  To find our way, we began reaching out to affiliates around the country, asking questions, requesting information, connecting with colleagues from ChicagoCares, Volunteer Fairfax, HandsOn Bay Area, and others.  By leveraging the years of experience that exist around the network, we began a journey into creating a Managed Project Calendar and Volunteer Leader program that is engaging hundreds of volunteers and serving dozens of local agencies.  18 months later, we can finally stand back and say: we did it!

However, our work is nowhere near complete.  We have lofty goals to train a cadre of Volunteer Leaders in Central Ohio, to implement and lead an even larger number of managed projects, and to meet critical local issues with skilled and motivated volunteers.

It is with this mind set that I approached the 2010 Las Vegas Regional Meeting, proud of the milestones we’ve achieved and anxious to learn strategies to get to the next level in our programming.  I believe each one of us, from the Executive Director level to program staff, to National Service members, posses insights, ideas, and best practices that can be shared for the betterment of the entire network.  Events like Regional Meetings allow us the opportunity to connect, share, learn, and become inspired by those who are facing our same challenges and meeting them head on.

Serving as a trainer for the Volunteer Leader Boot Camp allowed me an opportunity to give back to the network and the people that have helped HandsOn Central Ohio to be where we are today.  Our journey to implementing a Project Calendar program was a long one, and moved forward largely through information, insights, and suggestions from staff at HandsOn Action Centers.  Building the program from the ground up proved far more challenging an endeavor than I had originally anticipated, however, it was amazing to share that experience with Action Centers implementing these programs for the first time in their communities.

As a network, we must continue to leverage opportunities like Regional Meetings to move forward our collective work.  While we continue to serve our communities amid these current challenges, it’s never been more crucial for us to come together as a network to share, learn, support, and innovate.  Attend an upcoming gathering, share insights on Big Tent, join a HandsOn Network Committee, or share stories of service with your colleges.  Don’t wait, your knowledge just may be the thing to push a community to the next level in inspiring, equipping, and mobilizing volunteers to create lasting change.

Marjie Bland is the Community Engagement Manager at HandsOn Central Ohio.  In her five years with HandsOn Central Ohio, Marjie has worked with the Dental OPTIONS, RSVP, and Community Engagement programs.  Recently, she has overseen the development and implementation of HandsOn Central Ohio’s corporate managed projects, flexible project calendar, and volunteer leadership programs.

The Solution

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

Today’s post comes from Suprita Datta, a member of generationOn‘s Youth Planning Committee, Young Women’s Planning Committee, and Service for School Success program.

On November 2, 2010 I went with a group of youth volunteers from generationOn to see the documentary Waiting for “Superman”.  Afterwards, we participated in a service project at the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) and talked to the COO, Anne Williams-Isom.

For the past two weeks, we had been meeting every Tuesday as part of a generationOn program for high school students called Service for School Success to discuss one of the city’s most troubling issues–the high school dropout rate.

Our goal was to discuss ways we could reduce this rate by engaging the youth in our communities through service and volunteering.  We had decided to watch this documentary because it discussed the education system itself and its shortcomings.  One of the solutions proposed was charter schools such as the HCZ that focus on students as part of a community and help them to succeed.

After the movie concluded, we walked a few blocks to the HCZ and had lunch with Ms. Isom.  We had many questions for her but first, she explained what the HCZ exactly was.

Dedicated to providing a quality education to children in Harlem, the HCZ works with a community that extends 97 blocks within Harlem.  It has multiple charter schools, a massive community center, gymnasiums, cultural programs and recreational centers.

She explained to us that education goes beyond enriching the minds of individual children.  Harlem Children’s Zone helps to build a community.  By providing kids with the tools to succeed, the goal of the HCZ is to create a generation of minds that will break the cycle of poverty and give back positively to their community.

Perhaps the most important message we took from this discussion was that education was really the catalyst for change.  And in order to provide this catalyst, the whole community must be involved.

When I first walked into the HCZ, I felt as if I had never seen a public elementary school like it.  Its walls were decorated with students’ work.  The floors were clean and the classrooms were neatly organized and filled with books.  Although students didn’t have class that day, there were quite a few students present helping out teachers or attending programs.

We participated in a service project which involved labeling books according to their grade level and creating an inventory.  Looking around the classrooms, I realized that it had resources that were scarcely available when I was in elementary school.  There were audio books that were neatly arranged with the hard copy ones.  Almost every classroom had three to four computers and was equipped with smart boards.  Flipping through the book reports that were hanging on the walls I realized that these kids were either reading at or above grade level.  Needless to say, they were certainly achieving.

On the train ride back home, I had a lot of time to think about our day.  The most important thing I realized was that a “high school dropout” didn’t begin in high school.  In fact, the issue started much earlier than that.  In order to succeed in high school, a student must also be challenged and succeed in elementary school and middle school.  We couldn’t just solve the problem by starting with high school kids.  We needed to start younger and earlier.  Some may call this intervention or prevention.  I call it a solution.

Suprita DattaSuprita Datta is a high school junior currently attending Stuyvesant High School in New York City. She has been volunteering with generationOn for over four years and has been a member of the organization’s Youth Planning Committee, Young Women’s Planning Committee, and Service for School Success program.

The Road to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: One Small Change

Monday, December 6th, 2010

You see them all around you every day.  Small ways that the world can be better.

You might see them on your way home from work, or on the way to the grocery store.  You might see them on the way to a friend’s house or on the news tonight.

They aren’t big things.  They’re so small you might not even notice them.

There is so much that you can do in your community to help solve its problems.

If we all took some time and lent our talents and abilities to solving our community’s problems, they’d be well on their way to being solved.

You might be wondering what you can do.  The problems seem so big.  Maybe it’s time to turn the question around to, “What can’t I do.”  The list is a lot shorter than you realize.

You’re not being asked to solve the homelessness problem in your community.  You’re not being asked to feed all of the hungry people.  You’re not being asked to help all of the children to do better in school.

Just one person.

You can stand up and say that you’re not going to let a man continue to live without shoes on his feet.  You can stand up and say that you’re not going to let a woman not be able to read to her children.  You can stand up and say that you’re not going to let your neighbor go hungry.

Just one person.

One person, working to change their world.  Someone making small changes in our world that, when we start to add them up, turns into big changes.  That change into massive movements.

That start with just one person.

If you’re not sure where to start, you can come join us as we work towards changing our world.  We’re working towards small changes.  We want people to come together and talk about how to change their world.  You can start a conversation around a meal and use that as a platform to start acting towards the changes you want to see in your community.  You can come together with members of your community to for the better.  You can stand side by side with people in your community and make the small changes that lead to bigger changes.

You can tell your story of service and inspire others to begin making small changes with you.

Tonight on your way home from work, or tomorrow on your way to the grocery store, look for the small thing that you can change.  When you go to visit your friend this weekend or watch the news tonight, look for the small thing that you can change.  Join the hundreds of people in your community and thousands upon thousands across the country that are making small changes that are leading up to making our world a better place for everyone.

International Volunteer Day

Friday, December 3rd, 2010

volunteer volunteering, volunteerismToday’s post comes from Gared Jones, Points of Light‘s Vice President of Global Service.  International Volunteer Day is Celebrated on December 5th.

I recently joined Points of Light Institute to head up its international efforts in service and volunteering.  While the organization has always played a role within the global service community, there are few times more exciting than now to be a part of this work.

The energy coming from the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Peace Corps, the broad-based support growing around the ServiceWorld Declaration, the preparations taking place to commemorate 2011 as the International Year of the Volunteer +10, the as a solution, and the emergence of myriad innovative service leadership models ranging from IBM’s Corporate Service Corps to HandsOn Manila’s Volunteer Sherpas to Atlas Corps’  international fellows are all focusing attention on citizen-led social change like never before.

Imagine the privilege of a job in which on one evening you could speak with the head of an international affiliate in Korea to learn more about the 15,000 volunteer leaders they had mobilized and trained over the past year, and the next day, to plan with Nike  how they might enable employees in their retail outlets around the world to impact their communities through sports and volunteering, and the following, to design a meeting for State Department officials and multilateral organization leaders who wish to invest in innovative, emerging models for building an international network of service leaders.

volunteer, volunteers, volunteeringWhile this Sunday is officially International Volunteer Day and set apart to recognize the impact of volunteers on their communities around the world, each day for me now seems like International Volunteer Day.

However, it was my own family’s recent participation in Family Volunteer Day on the weekend before Thanksgiving that moved me to truly appreciate what International Volunteer Day is all about.

My wife, twenty-month old daughter, and I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and headed into the dark and cold to a homeless breakfast at our church.  When we arrived, the hall was filled with music and nearly three hundred folks, mostly men, seated around tables.

With my daughter in my wife’s arms holding a stack of cups, the two of them circulated the room greeting folks and pouring coffee.  I joined a group of students from a local high school to serve plates of eggs and grits.

We had conversations with folks living in completely different worlds from our own.  We shared laughter and fellowship and a meal.  We helped out.

What is the meaning of International Volunteer Day?

For me it is to step into a less familiar world, to be received with grace simply for showing up, and to give what’s most essential to who we are: our hearts, our effort, and our smiles.

It is also to recognize that efforts like ours–and ones far more profound–are happening every day and everywhere around the world.

What’s the opportunity in International Volunteer Day for you?

Perhaps it is to think about an issue around which you are passionate – poverty, hunger, homelessness, education, the environment – and to find an opportunity and time to “show up.”

And if you want company, perhaps your opportunity is to encourage your family or a few friends to join you.

Perhaps, if you wish to make an impact in a “farther off” land, it is to seek out one of the many service-abroad offerings from organizations like Cross-Cultural Solutions, IndiCorps, or HandsOn Manila, and to go on an overseas service adventure.

Or, simply, to declare your support for the idea and those who are doing it by signing the ServiceWorld Declaration.

Imagine the privilege to be a part of something like this!