We really need more resoucres to work with to provide a better service for the community.
You are looking for volunteers — either people who apply their professional skills to your organization as unpaid staff outside of their work time, or, people who are allowed to volunteer for your organization on company time.
Where to find these companies and volunteers? All around you.
First, you need to write a detailed job description for each and every task you need undertaken by a volunteer. Treat these just as you would if you were hiring someone to do them, but with the understanding that someone would provide you with only five – 10 hours a week for a task, for a maximum of six months: you want to write all of the tasks each volunteer opportunity involves, what skills and experience candidates should have for each opportunity, etc.
Then, go to all of the various places that allow for the posting of volunteering opportunities, and start posting. Make each posting separate — don’t post one "mega" message that lists all of your volunteer needs.
VolunteerMatch, http://www.volunteermatch.org
Idealist, http://www.idealist.org
Change.org, http://www.change.org
CraigsList, http://www.craigslist.com
Network for Good, http://www.networkforgood.org
http://www.1-800-volunteer.org/
ServeNet, http://servenet.org/
Also, contact your local volunteer center; you can find this via the Points of Light Foundation web site,
http://www.pointsoflight.org/centers/
You also need to be ready to deal with all candidates quickly. Do you have a process ready for when people apply for these volunteer positions, to reply to them immediately, interview/screen them to ensure they have the skills they say they do, orient them to your organization and the work they will undertake, policies and procedures for volunteers, etc.? If you start recruiting before you have all this in place, you will end up making lots and lots of people angry… the number one complaint from volunteers is that they apply for supposed volunteer openings but then never hear back from the organization.
Have a look at some of the basic volunteer management books at:
http://www.energizeinc.com
February 6th, 2010 at 10:21 am
You are looking for volunteers — either people who apply their professional skills to your organization as unpaid staff outside of their work time, or, people who are allowed to volunteer for your organization on company time.
Where to find these companies and volunteers? All around you.
First, you need to write a detailed job description for each and every task you need undertaken by a volunteer. Treat these just as you would if you were hiring someone to do them, but with the understanding that someone would provide you with only five – 10 hours a week for a task, for a maximum of six months: you want to write all of the tasks each volunteer opportunity involves, what skills and experience candidates should have for each opportunity, etc.
Then, go to all of the various places that allow for the posting of volunteering opportunities, and start posting. Make each posting separate — don’t post one "mega" message that lists all of your volunteer needs.
VolunteerMatch, http://www.volunteermatch.org
Idealist, http://www.idealist.org
Change.org, http://www.change.org
CraigsList, http://www.craigslist.com
Network for Good, http://www.networkforgood.org
http://www.1-800-volunteer.org/
ServeNet, http://servenet.org/
Also, contact your local volunteer center; you can find this via the Points of Light Foundation web site,
http://www.pointsoflight.org/centers/
You also need to be ready to deal with all candidates quickly. Do you have a process ready for when people apply for these volunteer positions, to reply to them immediately, interview/screen them to ensure they have the skills they say they do, orient them to your organization and the work they will undertake, policies and procedures for volunteers, etc.? If you start recruiting before you have all this in place, you will end up making lots and lots of people angry… the number one complaint from volunteers is that they apply for supposed volunteer openings but then never hear back from the organization.
Have a look at some of the basic volunteer management books at:
http://www.energizeinc.com
References :
February 6th, 2010 at 10:55 am
Companies that donate their services provide ‘pro bono’ work for charities. You can search the type of industry that you want assistance from, for example, law firms + pro bono to see if they provide such services to organizations like yours. You can also simply call similar nonprofits organizations and ask if they know of any ‘pro bono’ resources in your area.
References :
February 6th, 2010 at 11:18 am
I’m not sure what type of non profit organization you have or are involved in. But you should look into collaborating with other non profit organizations. It’s a key factor among non-profits to better serve the community. Swapping services, enriching people’s lives etc.
I’m not sure what State you are in, but here in the tri-counties (Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura) we have quarterly meetings with the other non profit organizations to collaborate with new non profit organizations and use each other’s services to help the individuals that each npo serves. That’s the best way to do it. Each organization signs an MOU (memorandum of understanding) and some other paper work is done (not long draining or anything) and then they use their services.
It would help to know what state your in or county and I could look up for a non profit organization that does this in your area if your not in mine.
References :
a co founder for SOFTIN inc. a non profit organization