Thinking about organizing a service project for the September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance but not sure where to begin? Here are five easy steps to help you plan a service project, and don’t forget to register your project on 911day.org!

Step 1: Identify a Project

Ideas for volunteer activities can come from many places: staff and volunteers inside your organizations, faith communities, local partners, neighborhood associations, or from previous service activities.

As you work to identify your project, consider the following:

• Brainstorm about the needs in your community.
• Make a list of ideas.
• Ask if your project addresses a real need in the community.
• Be aware of the amount of time needed to achieve your goals.

Step 2: Plan Your Tribute Activity

Bring together your ideas for your service project. Decide on your goals and start planning how you want to achieve those goals. Create an activity plan that includes the different tasks in the project and the number of volunteers needed for each task.

• Don’t forget to think about the skill level needed for tasks.
• Should there be an age limit for the service project?
• How much time will different tasks take?
• What supplies will you need for the service project?
• Make sure there’s an easy system for registering volunteers.
• Don’t forget to plan to have fun!

Step 3: Recruit Volunteers and Volunteer Leaders

One-day service projects can be a meaningful experience for everyone involved. It’s important to have a system for volunteer management in place to help make sure everyone has a positive, meaningful experience.

Recruiting experienced volunteers as volunteer leaders that can help guide volunteers through the different parts of a project, and who can help to make sure the volunteers they’re working with are having fun is an important part of a successful project. Think of volunteers that you’ve worked with before and who know your organization, asking them if they’d like to help lead a project is a great way to get them more involved in your organization.

Step 4: Manage Your Tribute Activity

Planning a successful service project means balancing logistics, time, and people. The first thirty minutes or so of your project are going to seem like nothing is going right and you’ll never get anything accomplished.

This is a great time to take a deep breath and remember that the beginning and the end of service projects are usually the most hectic. This is the time when everything seems to be spiraling out of control.

Don’t hold on to a set plan and schedule. Being flexible is an important part of managing a group of volunteers. Focus on the most important things – bringing everyone together, making sure everyone checks in, a short orientation to make sure everyone knows what they’ll be doing and how to stay safe, reflecting on the work that was done – and let everything else happen.

And don’t forget to have fun while it’s all happening.

Step 5: Wrapping Up

At the end of the project, there’s a lot of logistical matters that need to be addressed.

Cleaning up goes a lot faster if everyone pitches in. Taking the time to thank volunteers for participating is a must. Reflecting on the meaning of the work that was done and the meaning of the day moves a volunteer project from something you did on an afternoon to a project that had meaning and purpose.

And even though you said thank you at the end of the project, it’s always nice to take a minute to write a thank you note to your volunteers for coming out.

 

Do you have any tips for planning a service project? Let us know in the comments!