Helpful websites on best practices, volunteerism, and more!

Laura Hanley — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 19:14:11 +0000

Hey all,

Here are some resources that I hope you find useful! The first site is more comprehensive, while the last three focus on volunteerism. I have more resources related to other topics, but I'll save those for another day. :)

ETR Associates Epicenter www.nationalserviceresources.org - This site, developed by the Corporation for National and Community Service, lists best practices for a variety of topics. AmeriCorps members submit what worked for them, so their experiences are easy to relate to. If you click on the AmeriCorps logo, you can search by topic area, such as Education, Human Needs, Program Management, and Volunteer Management to name a few. I found it to be useful during my previous VISTA term when I wasn't sure where to start on a certain task.

Point of Light Foundation www.pointsoflight.org - Under the "Resources" tab, there are a variety of publications, examples, and tool kits for those managing volunteers. The downside is that there's no easy way to search for something specific; the best way to find something is to sort the list alphabetically and hope to find what you're looking for that way if you don't have time to look through everything. Lots of good resources, however.

Volunteer Today www.volunteertoday.com - Pretty much a one time visit to the website to subscribe, Volunteer Today is an electronic newsletter for people who manage volunteers. Although generally not really indepth, it can be useful for those new to the task.

VolunteerMatch www.volunteermatch.org - This is an awesome website, used to find volunteer opportunities and volunteers. It really speaks for itself, so if you're looking for volunteer opportunities in your community or are trying to recruit volunteers, check it out!

(Hopefully) Useful info about recruiting volunteers

Laura Hanley — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 23:20:29 +0000

Good afternoon, all!

So....even though volunteer recruitment has nothing to do with what I will be doing during my VISTA term, I'd still like to blog about it because it's something I'm really interested in overall. During my first VISTA term (yup, this is year two of AmeriCorps for me), I found this to be quite useful since volunteer recruitment and management was one of my tasks. The information comes from the following website where you can find lots more information on volunteering: http://www.drcharity.com/voluntee.html

15 Places to Recruit Volunteers

1. Corporate newsletters

2. Schools and colleges

3. Retiree programs

4. Senior citizen centers

5. Corporate outplacement programs

6. Corporate volunteer programs

7. Churches, synagogues, and other places of worship

8. Internship programs

9. Career counseling services

10. Civic clubs, fraternal societies, sororities

11. Newspapers, radio, cable television

12. Governmental organizations

13. Court system

14. Volunteer recruitment fairs

15. Other nonprofit organizations

I have plenty of more information on volunteers that I will share in the future, but here's at least somewhere to start! In case you're wondering where I got this information, I received a whole binder of information at my first PSO for my last VISTA position. Who knows, maybe this whole binder will be up by the end of this year since I felt that the contents were helpful in getting me through my last year!

Hope everyone's doing well!

In service,

Laura

Digital Arts Service Corps - volunteering

Helpful websites on best practices, volunteerism, and more!

(Hopefully) Useful info about recruiting volunteers