 |
 |
|
How You Can Make the Most of the Corporate Volunteerism Trend
Kids born in 2000 are turning 18 this year. As Generation Z is about to enter the workforce, more and more companies are creating or emphasizing programs and benefits that are important to these youngsters - including corporate social responsibility or corporate volunteerism programs. As agencies who utilize volunteers, how can you capitalize on this opportunity? Here are a few tips:
Where to Start:
- Identify local businesses that have a natural correlation to the event or opportunity you are offering (for example, a gym or healthcare service at an athletic event, accounting firm at a math event, etc). The connecting correlation will spark employees, who have a natural interest in the field they work in.
- Identify businesses that have a large presence in your community. Even if the natural correlation isn't there, people often enjoy volunteering for caus
 es and areas that they don't work on every day. Volunteers love to utilize their hobbies and additional skills to help, so don't count large businesses out.
- Contact the president, manager, or look for someone whose job is corporate engagement and volunteerism. More companies are hiring someone especially for this type of role, or assigning someone to handle this additional responsibility. These employees have a variety of terms for their work. Some common examples include: corporate responsibility, sustainability, corporate social responsibility, corporate accountability, creating shared value, citizenship, sustainable development, and social responsibility.
Special Events:
- If your organization has events that are a one-time commitment, you can easily capitalize on the corporate volunteerism trend by promoting the event to local businesses. It's easier for employees to clear their calendar for a few hours on a certain day, so one-time events may get many responses.
- If your organization has opportunities for groups to socialize and bond while they are serving, you will likely get many responses as well. Make sure you advertise this and frame these group opportunities as family friendly or bring a friend, so volunteers will bring an additional person, or a few, with them!
Recurring Opportunities:
- Your organization may have a thorough application process, especially if you serve vulnerable populations. You can still make the most of this trend by offering specialized opportunities for businesses. You might have to get creative, but it will be worth it to engage the community.
- "Adopt a" programs are popular, and businesses will be excited to see continuous updates on the animal, person, family, plant, item, etc, that they adopted. This involves a minimal time commitment for the business to include volunteers with packed schedules.
- If you have specific time needs, see if you can open a shift (or a few) to a rotation of volunteers from a specific business. You can do orientation with all participants at once, and then they can send however many volunteers are needed each week. Many businesses will manage their own schedule with this type of opportunity.
|
New Feature: Volunteer Check-in and Check-out
Looking to get rid of your paper check-in for volunteers? Don't want to purchase an expensive software for online check-in? Our website is now offering a free volunteer check-in and check-out feature to make tracking easier for you. Galaxy Digital has developed two options for volunteer check-in, explained below:
Self Check-in: By clicking a link in an email or going to the Opportunity Responses area of their profile, volunteers access options for checking in, and can later access options for checking out. Volunteers can also schedule their check-in and check-out times in advance as needed.
Agency Check-in: Volunteers check in and out using a device (tablet, laptop, etc.) provided by your agency at the site of the volunteer work."
Benefits of utilizing this feature include:
- Automatic tracking of volunteer hours
- Check-in multiple volunteers at the same time
- View a list of respondents for an opportunity
- View all volunteers currently checked-in
- Check-in or check-out with scheduled shift or custom time
The website help article provides more details on both kinds of check-in. Screenshots can guide you through the process of setting up and using the check-in and check-out feature for your volunteers. Find the guide here.
|
|
Causes, Interests, and Clusters! Oh My!
Are you confused about causes, interests, and clusters? These terms may sound like different words for the same feature, but interests, causes, and clusters are utilized in different ways to help connect the right volunteer with the right opportunity.
Causes describe an agency by representing: the type of services an agency offers, what issues they aim to fix, or what causes they champion. As an agency manager, you select the causes that pertain to your agency on the Edit Agency page. This lets volunteers know what type of work your agency aims to accomplish.
Interests are used to describe opportunities. They are the skills or interests a volunteer should have to be successful with the opportunity you are offering. You are able to select an interest, or a few, on the Opportunity tab when creating or editing a specific opportunity.
A
cluster is a group of opportunities or agencies that fit into a category more specific than interests. Using clusters will help increase your visibility to volunteers who are looking for your specific type of opportunity or agency. As an agency manager, you can select a cluster that pertains to your agency on the Edit Agency page. If the cluster pertains to a specific opportunity or a few that you are offering, but not your whole agency, you are able to select a cluster on the Opportunity tab when creating or editing the opportunity.
|
|
Celebrate Good Times, Come On!
Below is a list of sample social media posts you can copy or adapt for upcoming volunteer-related days and fun holidays. Tying in your opportunities as a way to get involved on these days and promoting volunteer holidays can help you to gain volunteers and increase awareness of your organization. Click each date headline for the link to the official resource center (if applicable) for each unique day. These links include FREE promotional posts, ideas, and more information. If a link is not provided, no official resource center exists, however, Volunteer Wisconsin encourages you to use our provided text and graphics for promotional purposes.
Sunday, February 11 to Saturday, February 17 | Random Acts of Kindness Week
You're invited to join in the week-long celebration of kindness
 . Help turn the world kind by celebrating RAK Day (February 17) and RAK Week. It's our chance have fun being a little extra kind.
Here are enough
quotes and
blog posts to be able to post something new all week.
Tuesday, February 20 | Love Your Pet Day
Does your organization work with animals? If so, Love Your Pet Day is an easy way to get your followers to send pictures
of the animals they rescued from your organization!
How's your relationship with your favorite furry friend? Love Your Pet Day is a chance to show your pet(s) how you really feel. Treats, pampering and all the attention that the little guy or gal can handle are a great way to celebrate!
Friday, March 2 | Read Across America Day
If your agency serves children or focuses on literacy, it makes sense to promote Read Across America Day. Have your followers share their favorite book or submit a picture of themselves reading!
The National Education Association (NEA) has sponsored Read Across America Day since 1998. If there are children in your life, take the opportunity to sh are some of your favorite children's books with them. Reading to them helps them to develop their language skills and helps to build vocabulary! Another way to celebrate is to start or join a book club. Book clubs are great at any age and even children and young adults could benefit from having a group to talk about their favorite books with.
Saturday, March 3 | World Wildlife Day
Is the preservation of wild animals or native plants part of your mission? Then publicizing World Wildlife Day to promote your organization is a natural fit!
In 2013, the United Nations General Assembly declared March 3 as UN World Wildlife Day to celebrate and raise awareness of the world's wild animals and plants. WWD 2018 will focus on
Big Cats: Predators Under Threat as its slogan.
Saturday, March 31 | Cesar Chavez National Holiday (Service and Learning)
In 2014, President Obama declared March 31 a federal commemorative holiday in honor of civil rights activist, Cesar Chavez. The holiday was first established in California in 2000, as
a day of service and learning. Today, six states (including Wisconsin) observe Cesar Chavez Day as a formal holiday with the closing of state offices and schools, and additional celebrations take place nationwide. Find a local service learning project that sparks your interest to make this holiday a day on, not a day off.
Sunday, April 15-Saturday, April 21 | National Volunteer Week
National Volunteer Week is an opportunity to recognize and thank volunteers who lend their time, talent, voice and support to causes they care about in their community and around the world. By sharing their stories, you inspire others to take action and discover their collective power to unite in making a difference.
2018
logos and materials will be available soon. Spotlight some of your volunteers with individual posts during this week to recognize them for their efforts.
Friday, April 20-Sunday, April 22 | Global Youth Service Day
Global Youth Service Day is an annual campaign that celebrates and mobilizes the millions of children and youth who improve their communities each day of the year through service and service-learning. GYSD is celebrated each year in over 100 countries.
2018
logos and materials will be available soon. Make sure you have parent or guardian permission before posting about some of your best youth volunteers.
|
Save the Date:
Wisconsin Volunteer Coordinators Association Conference
May 3-4, 2018 | Stevens Point
Get your capes out, boots and mask on, and be ready to unleash your superpower: Volunteer Management! Join fellow volunteer managing heroes from across Wisconsin for a two-day professional development conference. Keynote speakers include:
Rick Lynch, author of
Volunteer Management Handbook, and
Barry Altland, author of
Engaging the Head, Heart and Hands of a Volunteer,and Dana Litwin, CVA, recent host of the virtual AL!VE conference for volunteer leaders across the US and Canada. This year we have 24 workshops to select from.
|
|
Do You Want to Make More Out of Our Site?
If you are interested in learning how to use our site more efficiently, check out
Agency Training. Agency training lasts about 45 minutes and is offered on Mondays. If you are unable to attend a live webinar training session, there is a video playlist of agency-training topics available
here. Happy browsing!
|
Connect With Us On Facebook 
Connect with
Volunteer Wisconsin on Facebook to see our featured Volunteer Rock Stars, browse volunteer content you can share on your page, keep up-to-date, and more!
We would love to share volunteer success stories and volunteer spotlights from organizations across Wisconsin on our Facebook page! Please send a picture (or two) along with a caption to Natalie Holbrook at
holbrook.natalie@marshfieldclinic.org.
Pictures should show the event and/or volunteers, preferably wearing or in front of something that represents your organization. Be sure to have signed photo releases from all pictured individuals before submitting.
Best regards,
Shelly Kaiser and Natalie Holbrook
Marshfield Clinic Center for Community Outreach
Marshfield Clinic AmeriCorps Volunteer Wisconsin
VolunteerWisconsin.org
|
|
|
|
|
