Wah
That said we're trying to use our volunteers better at Community Cycles. Late last winter we put up a volunteer form on our website http://communitycycles.org/get-involved/volunteer.html Since then we've had 73 people fill it out, of those I'd say less than five of them have plugged in once or twice at the shop or anywhere else.
I know things would go a lot smoother if we had a volunteer coordinator
to help oversee this. We're still looking for this person so in the
meantime the staff and a few volunteers do what they can to keep up.
We've checked out this
http://communitycycles.org/get-involved/volunteer.html which is great
advice but making it happen is another thing.
We're going to have a retreat soon to discuss volunteering at Community Cycles. I have some specific things I'd like to explore during this retreat but wanted to start here with the Think Tank first.
* How do we improve the quality and experience of the EAB program?
* How can we instill ownership/responsibility in our volunteers?
* How do we engage new volunteers?
* How do we plug people into specific time slots?
* How can we use volunteers to relieve stress on staff?
* How do we best develop and implement an effective volunteer handbook?
I could go on but those are the kinds of things we're trying to figure out.
So I ask the Think Tank what your experiences have been with volunteering and volunteers.
Thanks
Peace
Oops, sorry I pasted the wrong link in for the guidelines. it should be.
http://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/index.php?title=Volunteer
R
Rich Points wrote:
Wah
That said we're trying to use our volunteers better at Community Cycles. Late last winter we put up a volunteer form on our website http://communitycycles.org/get-involved/volunteer.html Since then we've had 73 people fill it out, of those I'd say less than five of them have plugged in once or twice at the shop or anywhere else.
I know things would go a lot smoother if we had a volunteer coordinator to help oversee this. We're still looking for this person so in the meantime the staff and a few volunteers do what they can to keep up. We've checked out this http://communitycycles.org/get-involved/volunteer.html which is great advice but making it happen is another thing.
We're going to have a retreat soon to discuss volunteering at Community Cycles. I have some specific things I'd like to explore during this retreat but wanted to start here with the Think Tank first.
* How do we improve the quality and experience of the EAB program? * How can we instill ownership/responsibility in our volunteers? * How do we engage new volunteers? * How do we plug people into specific time slots? * How can we use volunteers to relieve stress on staff? * How do we best develop and implement an effective volunteer handbook?I could go on but those are the kinds of things we're trying to figure out.
So I ask the Think Tank what your experiences have been with volunteering and volunteers.
Thanks
Peace
Rich Points Community Cycles Director http://CommunityCycles.org Rich@CommunityCycles.org 720-565-6019
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
In partnership with Americorps we set up a position for a full time volunteer coordinator, I am so glad we did. We now have more volunteers than ever before. Best yet, I used to know everyone, their favorite color, what they put on their sandwich, etc.,... Not now, I am lucky if I recognize faces, which only goes to show that the core group of people that made this happen is drastically expanding.
Again, volunteer coordination isn't a task, it is a full time job. You need a well organized extrovert to go out, build relationships, plan out shifts, call and remind people, and make volunteers feel like the mortal gods that they truly are.
The problem, at some point, is you have to start turning volunteers away.
participants (2)
-
Jonathan Morrison -
Rich Points