Archive for October, 2012

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7 Tips for First Time Volunteers

Monday, October 15th, 2012

Make a Difference Day logo.Make A Difference Day is just a few weeks away! If you know how you’re going to make a difference on October 27, awesome!

You might say “But I’ve never volunteered before? How can I make a difference? I don’t even know where to start”

Today is your lucky day! We have seven tips to help make sure your first volunteer experience is a great one!

Find a cause you care about.

Is there something that you really care about? Does your local school system need a little help? Are there a lot of stray animals in your neighborhood? Do you love the way your library smells and want everyone to be as excited about books as you are?

Once you’ve found something in your community you’d like to make better, then…

Find a project in the DAYta Bank.

Once you’ve decided on a cause you’d like to support, you can find a project near you in the Make A Difference Day DAYta Bank! As long as you’re looking, why not find a few different projects that sound like they could be fun and…

Do a little research.

Spend a bit of time on the websites of the nonprofits that are hosting the projects you’re interested in. Find out how they support the causes you’re interested in and the work they do in your community. If you find a nonprofit you’d like to support you can…

Sign up for a project!

The DAYta Bank makes it easy to sign up for a project! Once you find a project with an organization you like you’ll be taken to the signup page for that project. Sign up and you’ll be all set to volunteer on Make A Difference Day!

Remember it’s OK to ask questions.

It’s alright to ask questions about the project before you show up. Project listings should have a person to contact if you have any questions about what the project is about and how you need to prepare. A lot of questions are answered in the project descriptions, but if your question isn’t it’s alright to get in touch with the event organizer so you’re ready for the day when you show up!

Show up ready to have fun.

You’re volunteering because there’s a cause you care about, right? That doesn’t mean you can’t have a good time! The best way to make sure you’ll have fun at your first volunteer experience is to go in with an open mind. You might be asked to do something different than what you signed up for, or you might be asked to something you don’t know how to do. Keep an open mind and try it out, you might learn a thing or two, or find something you never thought you’d love to do! Volunteering can be serious business, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun.

Take time to reflect on your experience.

A lot of volunteer projects have some time set aside at the end of the project to think critically about the work that you just did. Reflecting on how working in a community garden can have an impact on the health of the local watershed or how it can influence kids to eat better is an important part of the volunteer experience. It doesn’t just give you a definite stopping point for a project, but it helps volunteers to better understand how their work has multiple effects in their community.

Keep making a difference!

Did you have a great time volunteering? Awesome! Tell us about it on the or Did you not quite fit with the project or organization? That’s alright! There are a lot more organizations out there that need your help! Try finding another project in the DAYta Bank or with HandsOn Network!

Was your first volunteer experience great? Did you decide to find a different way to volunteer? Let us know in the comments!

SUPER BONUS TIP!

Did you have a great time volunteering? Why not bring a friend along with you next time? Not only will it make sure you know someone at the project, but you’ll be involving your friend in something you care about and making your community better! Plus there’s a great opportunity to take cheesy pictures to share on Facebook!

 

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Posted in Events, Inspire, Mobilize, Volunteering, Volunteerism | 2 Comments »

4 Tips for Connecting Volunteers With Your Mission

Friday, October 12th, 2012

Values and vision guide the action of individuals, teams, and organizations. At the heart of it all, lies the mission, or purpose. It’s what attracts volunteers and supports and drives all initiatives.

Keeping volunteers connected to the fundamental purpose of your organization is key to keeping volunteers involved . Organizations that “keep their eye on the prize” tend to be better at involving volunteers, in more meaningful, mission-focused roles.

Talk. Think. Do!

Talk more about the importance of the work and less about the crunch time to accomplish the work. Think about the perspective of volunteers and what it is about the “cause” that attracts them. Then, do! Work to align the mission and resources to make sure the mission does not get lost along the way.

Beware of distractions.

The mission may seem obvious, but sometimes staying focused on it isn’t always so cut and dry. Whatever the distractions: finances, competition from others, or status in the community, they are sure to come. It’s important to ensure volunteers aren’t pulled in to the short-term hustle and bustle than on activities that can produce meaningful results to meet real community need.

How we talk about our volunteers is critically important.

Connect volunteers to the purpose of the mission. Openly discussing volunteer roles can’t hurt, only help.  Leaders should not only talk openly about the value of volunteer contributions, but also make sure this is backed up by action.

“This organization was founded by volunteers and volunteers still make the policy and guide the work.”

Share this view in the organization through public documents, and informal conversations.

Build the team around the mission! 

Try out the team approach! When tasks are spread out among many units of the organization, individuals have the opportunity to grow as leaders. Evaluating the best qualities represented in the team begins with knowing your strengths. Thinking more broadly about potential contributions of volunteers can ensure the organization’s mission is upheld and the best people are in place to tutor a child, intervene in a family crisis, or manage a surplus food program.

 

How do you keep volunteers connected to your organization’s mission? Let us know in the comments!

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5 Tips for Building Effective Partnerships

Thursday, October 11th, 2012

As connectors of people and organizations, you may have access to a wide variety of community partners. By leveraging these relationships – on both a formal and informal basis – you can gain support for new initiatives that expand outreached for increased and more effective engagement. Partnerships also allow organizations with limited resources to maximize impact from existing opportunities.

As you consider potential partners that could help attract and engage people in your community, think about their expectations and motivations for working with you and what outcomes both parties desire. Here are some steps to start a partnership with an organization:

Community Needs Assessment: In examine efforts to reach out to people in your community, examine the current conditions in your community. Look for potential synergies and complementary goals.

Identify Potential PartnersIdentify Potential Partners: Look for both natural and unlikely partners – but be aware of and account for cultural differences between the potential partners. Acknowledge organizational cultures, which can differ greatly in a successful partnership.

Develop Joint Goals: Critical to the partnership’s success is a common vision. Be sure to identify each partner’s desired outcomes. Joint goals must be both shared and measurable.

Agree on Roles, Tasks and Responsibilities: Mutual planning for performance is key to accountability. Each partner’s roles, resources, responsibilities and tasks must be clear and communicated. Understand the strengths and values each partner brings.

Oversee the Work: Document the successes of your partnership – not only your own portion, but also that of your partners. Monitor the performance of each aspect of the partnership, communicate the results and share your learnings.

Do you utilize partnerships? What tips and suggestions would you add? Let us know in the comments!

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Short on Time? Six Quick Volunteer Ideas!

Wednesday, October 10th, 2012

Have you ever found yourself saying, “I’ve always wanted to volunteer, but I don’t have the time,” or “I just don’t know where to start”?

Challenge your definition of volunteering and you might just discover that you are doing it already! A volunteer, to put simply, is someone who gives his or her time willingly and expects nothing in return.

Have you ever helped a friend write a letter or a job application? Have you helped at your child’s school with an outing, at a book sale to raise money, or a community sports event? Ever “paid it forward” and committed a random act of kindness like helping a stranger with his or her suitcase at the airport? These acts are all forms of volunteering. I bet you didn’t even notice the time it took out of your day!

If time is short but you want to get involved, lending a hand can become a way of life. Here are six quick and easy ways to volunteer and start making a difference.

• Multitask!

You have to go food shopping. Why not call an elderly neighbor, or someone who can’t get out, and do his or her shopping? How about picking up a few cans for your local food bank? You are going anyway!

• Like to chat?

Do you have 30 minutes to spare, maybe once a week, and access to Facebook? Check out . You could partner up with someone wanting to learn your language and maybe learn his or hers, too.

• Throw a swap party!

Grab your friends for an hour and have a swap party. Choose a theme (books, clothes, toys, etc.). You might come away with something you didn’t know you needed, and all of those unused items will be recycled as something someone didn’t know they needed. All the unclaimed items can be donated to the charity of your choice.

• Are you a gamer?

Did you know that you can play online games for free that donate to charities on your behalf? One example is Charitii – a charity-donating crossword Web site that raises money to provide clean water, food for the malnourished, and protection of the rainforest worldwide.

• Utilize your own connections

If there is a cause that really means something to you, you can help raise awareness of its work using your own network. You never know who might be listening who can help! Colleagues at work, friends and family, acquaintances that you find yourself chatting with – help spread the word by talking to people. If you have time free during your lunch hour, maybe that charity needs help writing e-mails or posters that need to be put up. Why not write to your newspaper to tell of the good work that the charity does?

• Do what you know!

If you can cook, you can help. If you can read, you can help. Are you a computer programmer? A nurse? There are countless ways of using your existing skills to benefit others. Cook someone a meal, advise on health matters, fix a computer for an elderly neighbor or underfunded organization. Become aware of the people around you and figure out how much time you can spare each month. Even half an hour can make a huge difference for those who could benefit from your skills.

These are just a few small ways of donating a little bit of your time to help others. They are all unique volunteer activities and there are hundreds of more options out there. Small acts of kindness count, and add up overtime!

How do you volunteer in short time periods? Let us know in the comments below!

Posted in Equip, Service, Volunteering, Volunteerism | 2 Comments »

Creative Ideas for Community Needs Assessments

Monday, October 8th, 2012

There are many methods you can use to identify needs in your community.

Here are just a few creative ideas:

Mind Mapping

  • Draw your map (issue, root causes and effects on individuals and community).
  • Consider the following questions:

-What are the issues facing your community?
-What are the root causes of this problem?
-What are the effects on the individuals and the community?

  • Brainstorm project ideas.
  • Evaluate and prioritize the project ideas.
  • Focus on your top idea.

Conduct a Survey

  • Ask young people what their greatest concerns are.
  • Give them a list and have them rank their concerns.

Hold a Community Forum

  • Have an open microphone to share community problems/dreams.

Interview Senior Citizens

  • Ask senior citizens about societal changes (for the best/worst). What are their greatest fears in the community? What are they proud of in your hometown?

Three Wishes

  • Throughout the week, ask people what they would wish for (given unlimited power/resources) if they were granted three wishes for their community.
  • Keep a list of the dreams people share.

Watch the News

  • What stories leave you feeling disturbed or unsettled? Cut out articles in the newspaper that make you sad or angry.

Utopian Towns

  • Think of all the places you’ve been. What is your favorite city to visit? Why? How is that different from your hometown?

I Have a Dream

  • Read Martin Luther King’s well-known speech.
  • Think about your own personal/community dreams, and write them down somewhere.

Group Goals

  • Does your town have a set of goals? What about your school/organization/neighborhood?
  • Research and find out what the groups around you are trying to do.
  • Look around – What special events are going on around town? What organizations/ businesses/schools are really struggling to reach their goals or keep up with society?

Ask Your Legislators

  • Find out key issues at the forefront of the national agenda. What are the serious dangers that face our country and our world?

Sixty-Minute Search

  • Get a street map of your community, divide up the territory, and have group members search their area for needed improvements. Mark the “hot spots” on each map and discuss area needs.

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Seven Essential Principles of Neighboring

Thursday, October 4th, 2012

Yesterday’s post introduced the idea of neighboring. It’s a place-based approach to community problem solving that focuses on individuals’ talents as a resource to improve their neighborhoods.

We’ve found seven ways that individuals, organizations, and businesses can use when working with communities to engage and empower local volunteers and to build effective partnerships with their community. Whether you’re planning a short-term volunteer project or a long-term community initiative, these tips can help bring about real change!

1. Try to understand the language and nature of volunteering

  • Understand the history and culture of the community.
  • Include youth, immigrant communities, seniors, faith communities, and refugees.

2. Overcome barriers to volunteering.

  • Understand the community obstacles. What has traditionally kept people from volunteering?
  • Understand the organizational barriers. Have organizations tried to work in the community previously? What made their actions successful?

3. Empower the community.

  • Create space for residents to own their issues and develop solutions.
  • Support residents to witness the benefits of their involvement.
  • Engage residents in the decision-making process.
  • Mobilize residents around issues that impact them directly.
  • Host community meetings and provide examples of success.

 

4. Cultivate community members’ skills and talents.

  • Acknowledge and build on existing community assets.
  • Help members identify their own skills and talents.
  • Allow residents to have a real role in the partnership.
  • Encourage residents to plan and lead projects.
  • Show the relationship between residents’ skills and project outcomes.

 

5. Strengthen existing community leadership.

  • Cultivate leadership and the internal capacity of community members to lead and engage in community activities.
  • Help develop leadership and recognize different leadership styles.
  • Identify volunteer leadership development training.
  • Encourage leaders to have a leadership role in the partnership.

 

6. Acknowledge that volunteering is an exchange.

  • Offer volunteers something in exchange for the time, talents, and efforts they contribute to bettering their communities. A simple, honest, thank you note is enough to recognize each person’s contribution, but you can always do more.
  • Help people see the benefits of the work that has been done, and the work that they can do.
  • Understand that it’s okay to receive something in exchange for volunteering.
  • Develop mechanisms by which residents receive tangible outcomes such as tutoring, child care subsidies, and job opportunities.

7. Ensure community readiness.

Participate in building the internal capacity of communities to partner with outside organizations and engage residents in community activities.

  • Be patient; community building and resident involvement takes time.
  • Remember that relationship building is a process.
  • Be flexible; survival issues demand time and attention.
  • Help communities resolve conflict that may be preventing involvement.
  • Set your community up for success but accept if it is not ready.

Have you used neighboring practices in your community? Let u know what worked for you in the comments!

 

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Won’t You Be My Neighbor? A Place-Based Approach to Volunteering

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012

Neighbors help neighbors.

Every day, they use their time and their gifts to strengthen families and communities.

Many, especially those living in under-resourced communities, work hard to deal with the challenges of communities where unemployment, violence, and drugs are taking their toll. In the face of these obstacles, community residents look to each other for the connections to vital resources that will improve their odds of succeeding.

The good news is that volunteering is already present in under-resourced communities; it is crucial to the lives of everyone in them.

A neighbor guides children across a busy intersection on the way to school.

A young friend makes meals for an elderly woman confined to a wheelchair.

A next-door neighbor takes care of a single mom’s small children while she attends night school.

Neighbors are helping neighbors in communities everywhere.

The service that takes place in low-income communities, however, is often informal, organic, and not recognized as volunteering—even by those who do it. The term we use for neighbors stepping in to take care of others in our communities is Neighboring.

Neighboring is an asset- and empowerment-based approach to community action that engages underserved and under-resourced community members to find innovative, sustainable solutions to address local challenges. Describing neighboring as asset-based acknowledges that all members of a community can offer something to improve the community.

They can share their talents, skills, knowledge, or resources. The resident-led approach primarily focuses on a specific geographic area (i.e., ZIP code, neighborhood, or street) in which the majority of the volunteers, activities, and organization come from within the community itself.

Neighboring is a place-based way of volunteering that builds on the talents and resources of local residents to strengthen families and elevate struggling communities into flourishing, vibrant places to live. It is about the connections among residents that support positive individual and community behavior based on mutual respect, responsibility, and ownership.

Neighboring is most successful in communities that lack access to the typical resources that promote self-sufficiency, such as food, clothing, jobs, and health care.

Neighboring projects may be initiated by outside organizations, but the ultimate goal of these projects is to have neighborhood residents take ownership of the projects and to support their neighborhoods. Here, the sponsoring organization’s primary role is as a catalyst: it empowers residents to lead their own projects with their own volunteers from their own community and, in doing so, to use their own talents.

This approach places the focus and organization of the initiative on the residents–putting residents in  charge of projects because they know best what their neighborhoods need . This approach allows the agency to step back when a critical mass is achieved with neighboring and ensure sustainability of the effort.

Projects don’t have to be initiated by an outside organization, though. Neighbors can come together to make the changes they want to see in their neighborhood, whether it’s cleaner streets, safe places for children to play, or trying to make their neighborhoods safer.

 

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Seven Essential Strategies for Engaging Local Residents in Community Projects

Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012

Yesterday, we talked about how to integrate aspects of neighboring into your volunteer program. Today we have some tips to engage local residents in community projects.

1. Understand the language and nature of volunteering locally.

Learning the language and understanding the history of the community is critical to working effectively in every community.

Volunteers are abundant in even the toughest neighborhoods and have a long history of helping, but residents generally do not refer to themselves as “volunteers” and often don’t volunteer as members of formal nonprofits.

2. Overcome barriers to volunteering

Barriers to volunteering include lack of time, financial resources, child care, transportation, as well as low self-esteem and confidence, negative perceptions of volunteering or of volunteer organizations, and cultural and language barriers.

These must be addressed in order to engage local residents.

3. Empower communities to help themselves

Residents must own the issues and solutions and must witness the benefit of their involvement in solving their community’s social problems.

Outsiders cannot be “parachuted” in the community to rescue the residents.

Residents must be part of the planning and decision-making process.

4. Cultivate community members’ skills and talents

The gifts and talents of the local residents need to be identified and translated into important assets needed to accomplish a project’s goals.

Some residents believe they have no talents or skills to bring to the table.

Help them understand their own unique potential to create change.

5. Strengthen existing community leadership

Organizations should identify existing leadership, and help develop new community leaders.

The involvement of local leaders helps build community trust and ensures that the local perspectives and experiences are considered and understood.

6. Acknowledge that volunteering is an exchange

Volunteers need to be rewarded for their contributions in ways that make sense and have meaning to them.

In low-income communities, for example, an appropriate exchange could include meals, services such as tutoring, childcare subsidies, and job opportunities.

7. Ensure community readiness

Building community relationships and involvement takes time.

It is a process that needs patience and flexibility.

Communities may need help resolving conflicts or problems that are preventing residents’ involvement.

Posted in Volunteerism | 2 Comments »

4 Tips for Incorporating Neighboring into Existing Programs

Monday, October 1st, 2012
Neighboring is an asset- and empowerment-based approach that engages underserved and underresourced community members to find innovative, sustainable solutions to address local challenges. Asset-based refers to the acknowledgment that all members of a community can offer something to improve the community: talents, skills, knowledge, or resources. The resident-led approach primarily focuses on a specific geographic area (i.e., ZIP code, neighborhood, or street) in which the majority of the volunteers, activities, and organization come from within a community.
You can implement Neighboring as new, locally identified programming. But you can also incorporate the principles into existing programs and program models.
Take a look at your current practices for community engagement and define the communities your current initiatives
and programs’ impact. The definition may be geographic—a neighborhood—or it may focus on a stakeholder group, such as a school or nonprofit partner organization.
The Neighboring principles of asset identification and community engagement and empowerment can be incorporated into many aspects of your organization. Think about
  • Who is on your Board or advisory group? Do residents of the under-resourced community your organization impacts have an opportunity for input about your priorities and goals?
  • Do you know the local community leaders for the community you’re working in? Do they know you?
  • As you create a new project or continue an existing one, do you consult community residents for project focus, activities, and overall plan?
Service projects. Do representatives of the partner organization’s client base provide input into the program model? Do they sign on to volunteer?
  • Example: Adult ESL tutoring program. Residents who will participate offer their priorities for learning and provide input about their learning styles, the best location for tutoring, and preferred times. Local community leaders who learned English as a second language participate as volunteer and project leaders along with external volunteers.
Days of Service. Have residents of the community to be served participated on planning teams, provided input into the projects, and signed on to volunteer on the day of service?
  • Example: MLK Day. Community residents from a priority neighborhood are supported in identifying one-day service project priorities, neighborhood leaders support recruitment efforts, and a project is developed to clean a local park and build benches. Volunteers come from the local community as well as the city at large.
Youth Service Learning. Are youth engaged in asset mapping exercises before developing their service projects? Are parents and other local community members engaged in the project?
  • Example: Students from a fifth grade class conduct an asset-mapping exercise for their school community, identifying the skills of teachers, parents, and students. They decide to develop a lunchtime reading program, which will engage parents, teachers, and students in reading with one another, developing skills in parents and students simultaneously.
Financial Stability. Have local community members identified financial stability as a priority area? Have you partnered with local institutions (faith, schools, nonprofits, government) to develop the new programs? Have those institutions identified community leaders to engage as advisers, program developers, and volunteers?
To effectively weave Neighboring principles into existing organization practices, initiatives, and programs:
  • Invite community residents from the under-resourced communities your organization impacts to provide advice and feedback into organization goals and priorities.
  • Engage community residents in project planning. Ask them to provide feedback into current projects.
  • Get to know the community leaders for the communities you work with.
  • Define the community geographical, by client base (via a partner organization), and demographically.
  • Engage community residents to volunteer. Don’t run your program with volunteers who are all externally based.
Have you built neighboring into already existing programs? Let us know in the comments!
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