 National Volunteer Week |
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How to inspire and empower your volunteers |
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National Volunteer Week is fast approaching. This year occurring April 15-21, it is a time many organizations designate especially for appreciating everything you've got – great volunteers, and millions more out there looking for ways to help. |
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One of the best ways to show your volunteers that you value them is to make sure you provide the quality resources and programming so they can have a big impact on the causes they care about. |
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At VolunteerMatch we've got tools and campaigns to help you with that, including: |
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Tools and resources to engage skilled and virtual volunteers to increase your efficiency and effectiveness. |
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Learn more about how to show your volunteers you care. |
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A Leafy Green Partnership |
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Celebrate the 140th anniversary of Arbor Day |
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J. Sterling Morton, the founder of Arbor Day, was a true pioneer when it came to mobilizing volunteers. He managed to organize the planting of more than 1 million trees throughout the country on the very first Arbor Day back in 1872. |
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Help keep his vision of a world rich with trees alive! Join the Arbor Day Foundation, Toyota and nonprofit organizations throughout the country in celebrating the 140th anniversary of Arbor Day by organizing and engaging volunteers to plant and care for trees in your community. |
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As an added benefit to VolunteerMatch nonprofit members, any environmental volunteer listing posted to VolunteerMatch.org will automatically be posted to the Arbor Day Foundation's newest resource, the Arbordaynow.org Volunteer Center. |
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The Arbor Day Foundation and Toyota will also provide a free upgrade to Community Leader status to show their appreciation for the work done by nonprofits committed to planting and caring for trees. |
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If you are an organization committed to tree planting and management, visit www.arbordaynow.org/volunteer to register with the Arbor Day Foundation and receive your upgrade to VolunteerMatch's Community Leader status. |
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You can also take advantage of the special marketing and outreach for the Volunteer Center. Organize a tree planting or conservation-related volunteer opportunity and connect even more volunteers to the important work you are doing to improve the environment in your communities. |
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Social Media Tips |
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Recruit and retain volunteers through blogging |
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Blogging is an excellent way to not only build your brand and your nonprofit’s personality, but to also help you strengthen your current community of volunteers and recruit new ones. |
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In this post, Cris Bautista, Communications & Social Media Intern at VolunteerMatch, provides nine practical and actionable tips to get a fun, dynamic blog up and running for your nonprofit. He also suggests some examples of great nonprofit blogs to check out and follow for inspiration. |
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Read the full article about blogging for volunteer engagement. |
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Nonprofit Spotlight |
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Paula Cullison, Arizona Women's Partnership |
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By Cris Bautista, Communications & Social Media Intern |
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Paula Cullison grew up in New York City, the child of two Italian immigrants. Her father worked for the New York Times as a pressman for 42 years and her mother was a seamstress. |
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From her experience as a child of immigrants, Paula became very sensitive to the needs of underserved and minority communities. "I have a soft spot in my heart for the underserved," she says. "It's important for us who can to give back to the community." |
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After she moved from New York to Arizona, she created a statewide volunteer project that involved 350 volunteers. She had some money left over, so gave it out as small grants. That project gave birth to the idea for the Arizona Women's Partnership (AZWP), which launched in 2002. |
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AZWP serves organizations that support underserved women and communities, and is now one of the most well-recognized and successful nonprofits in the Arizona area that does this. The all-volunteer organization gives grants to smaller nonprofits that serve women and minority communities. |
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"Smaller charities fill a niche we can't overlook," Paula says. "Our goal is to empower these small charities so they can grow." |
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Read the rest of Paula's story... |
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