Online Sign Up Blog by VolunteerSpot

Parent-Teacher Conference - Simple Parent Guide

How to Sign Up for your Parent-Teacher Conference

We are thrilled to be saving teachers and parents time scheduling parent-teacher conferences this season!  Parent participation is one of the highest predictors of school success - thanks for using VolunteerSpot to support your important conference time. 

Please click the presentation below to see how VolunteerSpot works - it includes screen shots and tips for successful parent-teacher conferences. (Click Full in the presentation window to view full-screen and ESC to cancel. Click Menu to download or share the presentation.)

Parent Teacher Conference Scheduling - Free and Easy

"So far, VolunteerSpot has been the answer to my prayers for an easy way to have parents sign up for a parent conference!! It was easy to create and easy for parents to use and modify. It really cut down on paper and notes back and forth to schedule."            ~ Jennifer D., 4th Grade Teacher, Apex, NC

Please note: Parents without email or parents having trouble connecting to VolunteerSpot should contact the teacher directly to schedule a conference spot.  A very small percentage of IE users may experience a white-screen when they try to sign up -- this is due to a specific firewall conflict and/or security settings blocking the JavaScript that runs our site.  Please allow VolunteerSpot as a Trusted Site, or try Firefox for free or Safari as a browser to overcome this problem.

Teachers - please click here to take a live or video tour of VolunteerSpot.

Youth Volunteering on the Rise - Awesome!!

Study Shows Youth Volunteering and Family Service Growing

With times tough, we at VolunteerSpot are proud to see youth in America stepping up and giving back.  A recent study commissioned by The Volunteer Family and Harris Interactive^® found that an astonishing 73% of 12-17 year olds in the U.S., or 18.8 million youth, have engaged in a volunteer activity*. 

“As adults, when we see young people listening to iPods, texting friends, or watching TV, they may seem relatively self-absorbed,” says Heather Jack, Founder and President of The Volunteer Family, whose website gets over 250,000 unique visitors a year from families and youth interested in finding a volunteer activity.  “However, the reality is that young people are finding ways to give back in more ways than we could have imagined.  They truly have the potential to become our country’s most philanthropic generation.”

The study found that the types of activities popular among all youth ages 8-18 include:

• helping children in need (29%),
  
• advocating for the environment (27%),
  
• assisting the elderly, sick or disabled (21%),
  
• helping animals in need (18%),
  
• and supporting the homeless (14%).

“Today’s youth are choosing the causes they identify with and supporting them,” says Heather Jack.  “They are joining causes on Facebook.  They are planning their own fundraising events.  They are encouraging their friends and families to help-out.  They are embracing the traditional ideals of giving back, but they are finding new and unique ways of doing so.” 

Community service requirements at school may play a role; the study showed that youth are volunteering more with their schools (41%) and their families (29%) than with their faith-based institutions (27%).

“The results of this survey indicate that youth volunteering appears to be a long-term and growing trend, rather than a short-term fad” says volunteer coordinator Lynne Harper.  “This excites me and I believe that youth and family service is a movement which is here to stay.”

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To find out more about youth volunteering, please see our recent blog post: Service Learning Simplified - Tips and Tools for Planning and Coordinating Service.

About the Survey:
This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive® on behalf of The Volunteer Family between June 17, 2009 and June 24, 2009 among 1,425 8-18 year olds.  Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, parental education, and region were weighted where necessary. No estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. A full methodology is available.

* The study results are especially impressive when compared to a 1996 study conducted by the Independent Sector , which established that 59% of 12-17 year olds had volunteered in the last year.  This information also follows the recent Corporation for National Service study, which confirmed that the increase in young adult volunteers aged 16-24, makes up almost half of the overall increase in the number of volunteers nationally between 2007 and 2008. 

About The Volunteer Family:
The Volunteer Family (TVF) is a Massachusetts-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to encourage and facilitate family volunteering on a local and national level. TVF serves as a source of volunteer opportunities for nonprofit agencies, families, schools, faith-based organizations and corporations.  The innovative programs they run have been recognized on numerous occasions by community leaders and the national media.  For more information, please visit the website at www.thevolunteerfamily.org.

Top Seven Teacher Appreciation Ideas for the Start of the School Year

Low-cost and no-cost teacher gifts that show you care

School is under way and we sincerely hope you are loving (or quickly learning to love) your child's teachers.  In almost all districts, our teachers are being asked to do more and more with less and less - budgets are tight, class size is swelling and assistants have been cut from many programs. Rather than save teacher appreciation activities for Teacher Appreciation Week in May, we thought it would be timely and fitting to share appreciation ideas as the school year is starting off.

Parents - Here are seven low-cost/no-cost ways to show your appreciation in the first months of school.

Teachers - Parents want to help you!  Please share this post with your room parents and let them know what kind of support is welcome and appreciated.

1. Basket of classroom supplies. Find out what supplies might be missing in the classroom. Ask each family to donate one or two small items: pencils, markers, glue, stickers, tissue, hand sanitizer, table wipes, etc. Ask for gift card donations from office supply and craft stores to help with classroom supplies. Parents who can't afford to donate can participate by cutting coupons for frequented retailers.


2. Organize a reading circle and classroom helpers. Use VolunteerSpot to coordinate volunteers -‐ each parent signs up to help once a month in the classroom -- reading, helping with science experiments, and tutoring kids needing extra help. Here's a newspaper article about a teacher in Austin, TX doing just that.


3. Share your special skills and traditions. Compile a list of special skills, hobbies, or family traditions that parents can share with the class throughout the year. Use VolunteerSpot to schedule these special presentations. 


4. Wish Notebook. Put together a wish notebook with teacher surveys and share it with parents. The surveys should ask teachers to list ways in which parents can help them either inside or outside of the classroom. Parents can help in the areas they feel most comfortable.


5. Paperwork Parents. Take turns making copies, grading papers, or preparing classroom supplies after hours. Use VolunteerSpot's online scheduling tool to coordinate the effort. If parents can help once or twice a week, that's a tremendous time savings and welcome break for your teacher.


6. A personal note from students. Ask each child to write a note expressing what they are looking forward to this year and why they like their teacher. Then, throughout the first semester, present the notes, one at a time.


7. Before and After. Take a photo of 4-5 children at a time at the start of the school year. Hold on to these and take pictures of the same groupings towards the end of the year. Prepare a before-and-after flip book to share with the teacher, along with notes and remembrances from the class.

We hope you and your teachers will give some of these teacher appreciation ideas a try, or spark a conversation about ideas more appealing to your class and your community.  VolunteerSpot is here to help you coordinate specific events, send reminders, and make it easy and fun to show a teacher how much you care! To learn more about teacher appreciation and for teacher gift ideas throughout the year, please check out our free Book, The Greatest Gifts for Teachers (click here).

Teachers and parents - what are your favorite appreciation ideas and traditions?  Please share by clicking 'Comments' below.

How 2 Coordinate 100s of Volunteers: Carnival Volunteer Chairs - this One's for YOU!

How to get the help you need for your school carnival, fall carnival, parish festival, or large event

This post proudly sponsored by Carnival Savers

10% discount on carnival supplies & prizes: Promo Code=VOLUNTEER

If you're reading this article, you know large events take lots of coordiantion - and with lots of different ways groups are organized, how you choose to use VolunteerSpot is more art than science. Our free online sign up tool is here to help save you time and make it easier to get volunteers signed up - you can even easily delegate volunteer scheduling to team leaders and room parents.

If you have just a few people responsible for recruiting and scheduling volunteers for your large event, please see our help article on Carnival and Large Event Volunteer Scheduling.

If you're deligating volunteer scheduling and coordiaiton to several sub teams (think Room Parents, teachers, team leaders), we've got you covered too!  We'll walk you through the process a volunteer coordinator would follow to create online carnival booth sign up forms and pass them on to Room Parents.  These parent leaders would then ask parents in their class to sign up to help. This would be the same process for Charity Race Water Stations, Silent Auction Baskets, and any other activity where a Committee Chair owns the plan/structure but team leaders will be the ones asking volunteers to help.

Here are the steps for scheduling several hundred carnival volunteers by delegating booth sign ups to room parents (or team leaders) who are responsible for recruiting their own team of volunteers:

Step 1: Plan Your First Activity (Carnival Booth Sign Up Sheet)

Step 2: Plan a NEW Activity for Each Additional Carnival Booth Sign Up Sheet

Step 3: Copy the Original Activity Plan to All the New Activities

Step 4: Get a Unique URL Code for each Activity (Carnival Booth Sign Up Sheet) and Share it with each Team Leader/Room Parent (see sample letter below)

Step 5 (OPTIONAL): Designate Assistant Organizers (or a New Primary Organizer)

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Step 1: Plan Your First Carnival Booth Sign Up Sheet

• Using VolunteerSpot's simple planning wizard, create your first carnival booth sign up sheet.

• The name of the activity should identify the booth, such as:

Fall Carnival - 4th Grade Dunking Booth

• Identify what you need volunteers To Do and To Bring, but leave the details fairly generic because you will copy this booth structure to other activities.

• Invite yourself and open the invitation to be sure the online sign up sheet looks the way you want it.  Here's an example:
  

Step 2: Plan a NEW Activity for Each Additional Carnival Booth Sign Up Sheet

• Create a New activity for each booth that will have volunteers.

• Give each activity the name of the booth, such as:

Fall Carnival - Kindergarten Duck Pond
Fall Carnival - 2nd Grade Ring Toss

• When you get to the Calendar screen - click "Finish Later".

Step 3: Copy the Original Activity Structure (4th Grade Dunking Booth)  to All the New Activities

• Go to MyActivities and open the original booth Activity (Fall Carnival - 4th Grade Dunking Booth).

• Click on the day that you want to copy from, and select Copy from the drop-down menu.

• At the bottom of the Copy window, choose, Copy to "Your New Activity Name". 

• Choose the day or dates you want to copy to and click Copy. 

• Repeat this step for each booth. 

 

Step 4: Get a Unique URL Code for each Carnival Booth (Activity) and Share it with each Room Parent (see sample letter below)

• Go to MyActivities and one-by-one, open each carnival booth Activity Sign Up Sheet. (At this point, you may make changes to the plan details or contact information.)

• Click the "Get Link" icon on the left and copy the unique URL Link for each Activity.

• You may choose to use TinyURL.com to change the URL code link to a more recognizable link - 

So this:  http://www.volunteerspot.com/login/entry/8-0861881

Becomes this: http://tinyurl.com/4th Grade Dunking Booth.

• Share each URL link with the room parent responsible for inviting volunteers to sign up for that booth. (sample letter below).  Here's a link to our blog article with more options about How to Invite Volunteers including adding HTML Sign Up Buttons to your website.

Step 5 (OPTIONAL): Designate Assistant Organizers (or a New Primary Organizer)

• This is a management decision on your part.  Will you be monitoring all the booth signups, or is this a role you expect your team leaders/room parents to play?  Click here to see our blog article about How 2 Add Assistant Organizers to your Online SignUp Sheet.  A few notes:

Adding Assistant organizers is a Premium Feature on VolunteerSpot. You may add up to 10 assistants per activity.

Confirmation and reminder email messages will come FROM the primary organizer. 

Both Assistants and Primary organizers may view the signup status and print reports at any time.

IMPORTANT: Be sure to click Close and Unlock EACH time you exit your Activity to avoid locking out volunteers and other organizers.  The lock ensures just one organizer is working on the activity at a time.

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Putting on a school or community carnival is a huge undertaking.  We hope VolunteerSpot makes your job easier by simplifying and speeding up a critical piece - recruiting and coordinating parent volunteers - and may even help you get to bed on time.  Have a fun and memorable carnival fundraiser!! 

Looking for fresh ideas for Carnival Games and Booths, please see our recent blog post. Best Fall Carnival Games and Fall Festival Ideas

***
Here's a sample letter you may copy, customize and share with Room Parents (or team leaders) explaining how the URL link works:

To: Homeroom parent leader
Fr:   Carnival Committee Chair

It’s Carnival Time - thanks for coordinating your class carnival booth!  Please pass the message below on to all your class parents - it has the sign up link for your booth. Please monitor the sign up calendar and ensure all parents have a chance to participate in this fun day.  Parents without email may be signed up manually .  

***

Dear Parents,

It’s carnival time and we need your help to make it a success.  Each class will sponsor a booth at the carnival – and this year, our booth is <ADD NAME HERE>!

We’re using VolunteerSpot (an online sign up and reminder tool) to schedule parents to staff our class booth.  Please sign up to share an hour and help our kids have a Memorable and Fun DAY!!

Here’s how it works:

1)    Click this link to go to our class invitation page on VolunteerSpot:
        <ADD LINK HERE>

2)    Enter your  email address.  VolunteerSpot will then send you a PERSONAL signup invitation coded to your email address. 

3)    Go to your inbox and open the invitation from VolunteerSpot – click the link to choose your shift.  (If you don’t get the link within a few minutes, please check your spam/junk folder).

Note: VolunteerSpot is optimized for Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer 7.  If you have any trouble at all accessing the site or prefer not to enter your email address – please email me and I can sign you up manually.

VolunteerSpotlight: Annie Harris, Hospital Volunteer Coordinator & Dance Team Mom, Seacoast, NH

VolunteerSpot loves highlighting the good works of users around the country.  Today our spotlight shines on Annie Harris, a volunteer leader at a Seacoast, New Hampshire hospital, as well as a board member for her daughter's Irish Dance parent group.

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Please tell us a little about yourself and your role as a volunteer leader.  How did you get interested in becoming a volunteer leader?

I am the mother of a busy pre-teen and an Occupational Therapist (OT) turned Volunteer Manager for a hospital in the Seacoast Area of New Hampshire.  As an OT, I am always thinking about ways to make life easier and more functional. Volunteering for my daughter's Irish Dance parent group board of directors was a way for me to be involved with her activities, while at the same time, helping to fundraise for over 160 dancers.  It  is also providing me with a lot of social opportunities that I otherwise wouldn't take the time for, and I have met so many great people.  I am having fun and doing good things all at the same time!!  It's win win!! 
 
Professionally, I manage 100 wonderful volunteers for a busy hospital.  I am exploring how volunteers can really enhance the overall experience of our customers.  It's a new role for me this year, but I am finding it very rewarding and exciting.  
 
 
As a volunteer leader, what are your scheduling and signup needs?  Why did you decide to use VolunteerSpot?

Scheduling and signing people up has been a big challenge for both of my roles.  For our Irish Dance events we often have a lot going on between regional and national competitions, community dance-out performances, fundraisers, and events, like our end of the year festival and bus trips to competitions.  It's a lot to keep track of and there's a lot of room for error with traditional sign up sheets and email blasts.   We need to know which parents are going to help and who will be attending the different events.  Everyone has a busy schedule so sending reminders out for each event is imperative! 
 
VolunteerSpot came along for me just at the right time.  I found it through an email from the United Way and I haven't looked back.  In about 15 minutes I had taken the tour, set up my account and immediately started planning for our end of the year festival/fundraiser.  We had over 125 dancers and 42 parent volunteers participate.  The event went off fantastically.  I know for sure that I wouldn't have been able to get as much done without the help of the VolunteerSpot site.  It gave me time to really add some personal touches to the activities.  All the volunteers showed up on time and I heard lots of appreciation about the reminder notice and messages they received leading up to the event.  I love the roster and ability to convert to an Excel sheet - another great feature and time-saver!!
 
I have also found uses for scheduling special projects for the volunteers at the hospital and arranging interviews for potential new volunteers.  Volunteer Spot is my favorite new tool!  It allows me to "do it all" (have time for my family, work full time and volunteer), do it all well, and feel less stressed.  I can honestly say that it makes my jobs a  lot more enjoyable!!  
 
 
What’s one piece of advice you have for volunteers or volunteer leaders out there?

Become web savvy!!!  It's inevitable for the future.  Things are now designed to be more intuitive than ever.  With a little bit of time and exploration, you can master just about any online tool.  It will save you time and help minimize your stress.  VolunteerSpot is a great place to start, it makes it so fun and easy.  With a little education, you can have everyone onboard. 
 
  
What else would you like our readers to know?

Finding your own "Just Right Challenge" is the key to happiness -- doing enough to keep you engaged/involved, but not so much that it burns you out.  
 
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We salute Annie and all the volunteer heroes out there everyday making our communities better places to live! If you're using VolunteerSpot, write and tell us about what you're doing, and give us a chance to shine our Volunteer Spotlight on you!! Just email us at VS@volunteerspot.com.

September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance

Today, Americans across the country are honoring the victims and heroes of the 9/11 tragedy by serving their neighbors and communities as part of the first-ever federally recognized September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance.  

Service projects marking the eight-year anniversary of 9/11 will take place in September in all 50 states, ranging from food drives and home repairs to neighborhood cleanups and disaster preparation activities. In many areas, volunteers will honor veterans, soldiers, or first responders by collecting donations, assembling care packages, and writing thank you letters.  

"Eight years ago, the tragic events of that Tuesday morning inspired Americans to come together in a remarkable spirit of unity and compassion," said President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama in a message urging Americans to serve on 9/11.  "In that same spirit, we call on all Americans to join in service on September 11 and honor the heroes of that dark day as well as the brave men and women in uniform who continue to protect our country at home and abroad."

Whether through small good deeds and acts of kindness or bold projects, please serve and remember.

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More than 250,000 volunteer opportunities and 2,200 service stories have been posted on Serve.gov, the website created by the Corporation for National and Community Service to support United We Serve, which also lists volunteer opportunities and do-it-yourself project ideas. You may also search for volunteer opportunities on VolunteerSpot  - please go to our Volunteer Entrance and enter your zip code in the All for Good search tool.

Please take a moment now to post your personal plan to perform a good deed, volunteer or engage in another charitable activity in observance of the newly established September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance at 911dayofservice.org.

VolunteerSpotlight: Ty Robertson, Membership Drive & Special Events Coordinator, Vermont Public Radio

Almost every community has a public radio station, and some are lucky enough to have several. On-air membership drives and pledge drives are a public station's life blood - they continue to be one of the most effective ways for public radio to raise money. Membership drives could not happen without a dedicated group of volunteers doing a variety of jobs including staffing phones, stuffing envelopes, and shipping thank you gifts from the station.

Today we’re speaking with Ty Robertson, Special Events Coordinator at Vermont Public Radio who uses VolunteerSpot to schedule membership drive volunteers.

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Please tell us a little about yourself and about Vermont Public Radio (VPR).

I'm the Special Events Coordinator at VPR. We serve the entire state and a good deal of the surrounding area including southern Quebec and Montreal. We have two services - one dedicated to news and information and another with 24/7 classical music programming. We have 25,000 contributing members and 180,000 listeners.

What are your volunteer needs at VPR?

VPR holds three on-air membership drives each year. Each drive lasts anywhere from 5-10 days and the pledge days start at 6 am. With as many as 24 phone stations to be manned throughout the day we schedule lots of volunteers!

How did you get interested in volunteering/nonprofit work? 

My background was in the fine arts but I started as a volunteer at VPR when I first moved to Vermont because it was a great way to meet new people and network. When a job opened up in the development department, I was already doing a lot of the duties of that position as a volunteer so it was sort of a natural for me to be hired. Things couldn't have worked out better for me - I've been at VPR 12 years now!

What's one piece of advice you have for volunteer leaders out there? 

My one piece of advice to volunteer coordinators is never underestimate the value of the time your volunteers are giving you, and remember to thank them for it in as many ways as you can. Modern life is so busy now that each volunteer hour is truly a gift.

Why did you decide to use VolunteerSpot?

I had worked with a couple of on-line volunteer management programs over the last few years but they were very cumbersome and not at all satisfying. I did a Google search to find a new program and discovered VolunteerSpot. It's the most user friendly program I've found. The set up is a breeze for me, and my volunteers appreciate the reminder email messages they get about their upcoming commitments.

Anything else you'd like our readers to know about VPR?

You can hear Vermont Public Radio online at www.VPR.net. We have listeners all over the world now!

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We salute Ty Robertson and all the volunteer heroes out there everyday making our communities better places to live!  If you're using VolunteerSpot, write and tell us about what you're doing and give us a chance to shine our Volunteer Spotlight on you!! Just email us at VS@volunteerspot.com.

How 2 Add Assistant Organizers to your Online Signup Sheet

Taking on a volunteer leadership role at school, church, or to support a nonprofit is often more fun (and less intimidating) when you can share the responsibility. At VolunteerSpot, we've made it easy to add Assistant Organizer(s) to your online sign up sheet -- Please click here to see how (in our Help System).

Here are some examples of how our volunteer leaders are finding our Assistant Organizer feature useful:

• Co-chairs of a charity walk both access the volunteer roster and schedule of needs on walk-day.
• A volunteer coordinator for Habitat sets up a schedule of needs for a house build and shares the schedule with the workplace volunteer team captain. The team captain then invites coworkers to sign up to staff the build.
• A room mom creates a classroom helper schedule for the month and the teacher logs-in to print a daily schedule.
• A fall carnival chair creates a listing of carnival booth volunteer needs for each class, and shares it with each room parent.  The room parent then invites the class parents to sign up.  Both the room parent and carnival chair can monitor the class signup sheet to ensure shifts are filled. (Please also see our post How to Coordinate 100s of Volunteers: Carnival Volunteer Chairs - this one's for you!)
  

Click Home then Help (at the top of the website) for answers to other commonly asked questions. 

Best Fall Carnival Games & Fall Festival ideas to make your carnival the best ever!!

Free E-book, Carnival Game Ideas, Hints and Tips for your Fall Event

Fall carnivals (and Halloween carnivals) are great for schools, communities, churches and congregations to bring people together, have fun, and maybe even make a little or a lot of money -- it all depends on the goals of the carnival. When our school brought back the autumn carnival, it was a lot of work, but it's turned into the most kid-friendly fundraiser we have, and builds so much community spirit that now parents are excited to put it on every year.

This post proudly sponsored by Carnival Savers

10% discount on carnival supplies & prizes: Promo Code=VOLUNTEER

VolunteerSpot has published a free ebook that helps you put on the best (and most profitable) carnival games, carnival booths and activities -- staffed and ready for the day.  Click the link to download your free E-book! Fall Carnival Game Ideas, Hints, and Tips

 

Carnival games are the key to a fall carnival’s plan to maximize revenues. Some things you absolutely have to rent, like jumpy castles / bounce houses, dunking booths and battling padded sumo suits. For more information on turning your carnival into a seriously profitable fundraiser, scroll down to learn about a comprehensive carnival money-making guide.

But if your fall carnival games are more focused on fun than profit, there are a lot of creative and well-loved activities that can be put together with very little money. The only thing that costs money is prizes -- and even some of those can be free, I’ll tell you how. So in the spirit of economic downturns (and maximizing profits!), here’s a big list to get started. 

Free or Nearly Free Activities

1. Ring Toss – easy to build a ring toss setup with 2 liter soda bottles.
2. Tug of War: all this takes is a big length of rope – might even be available from the PE department of the school. Moms vs Dads, Brothers vs Sisters, 4^th grade vs 5^th grade, boys vs girls are all great ways to drum up fall carnival games enthusiasm.
3. Flocking Sales and Insurance – Sell the opportunity to have a flock of plastic flamingos (or 50 pumpkins or scarecrows or potted plants or whatever else you can come up with) placed on someone’s front lawn – and sell insurance policies against being flocked. Also, sell insurance against having your name revealed as someone who’s flocked someone else. It’s like toilet papering someone's yard, but way easier to clean up!!
4. Toy Swap – bring a toy and drop it off upon entering the carnival – get one swap ticket for each toy brought.  Collect toys up until a certain point in the carnival day. At a designated time, open the toy swap to everyone who’s brought something. This is a great fall carnival game for these tough times, when lots of people have things to give, but not much money.
5. Giant musical chairs – Start with 40 people and 30 chairs and work down to one big winner who gets a prize ribbon.
6. Guess what?: Have strange substances in containers and participants have to guess what it is either by smell, touch or sound. (Make sure to have allergy information on ingredients at hand.) This is especially fun as part of a spooky fall carnival game area.
7. Exile Island – People can buy a chance to send a friend to the carnival's "Exile Island” and while there they can find clues to a mystery prize hidden somewhere in the carnival.
8. Beading booth – One roll of thin cord and some creative beading ideas can occupy carnival goers for a long time. Beads can be made ahead of time out of natural materials, rockets tied with wire, clay glazed and fired ahead of time, macaroni for little kids – the beads don’t have to cost much,  if anything, and the fun is in putting together your own cool necklace! Sell tickets by the necklace or in 10 minute increments.
9. Hula Hoop Contest - Play some fun music and invite kids and adults to compete in many categories such as  longest time hooping, most hoops, best trick, holding-hands, etc.
10. Karaoke 'Idol' Stage - Decorate a stage like the popular TV show, American Idol, and have kids and adults entertain the entire carnival.  Charge a certain number of tickets per song and let the audience vote for who stays and who goes.

Free or nearly free prizes

1. Ribbon Rewards – Cut 5 inch lengths of satin ribbon and tie them to a large safety pin. Each time a child participates in an activity, tie a new colored ribbon to the safety pin. Each booth has a different color. The most active and involved (and ticket-spending) kids will end up with a chest full of ribbons, and a pretty neat keepsake from that year’s carnival. You can even add a special prize offering to the kid who collects the most ribbons.
2. Fall carnival passports – Each kid gets a passport to be stamped at each activity booth – six or more stamps per card. Once the passport is filled it can be entered into a drawing to win a bigger door prize – another way to drum up more booth ticket sales!
3. Lunch with the principal or pastor– A special opportunity to sit down for a meal with the leader can be a drawing prize. It can be a casual lunch or something nicer, donated by a local restaurant.
4. Clean out the closet favor bag – Send out a notice asking for parents to donate leftover party favor prizes – this alone can fill up most of the needs of the fair for prizes.

If your carnival goal is profit, check out this comprehensive eBook by the folks at Everybody Hates Fundraising - It's an 180-page Carnival Money-Making Guide!  Up to $10 of your purchase supports VolunteerSpot.

We know you've got your own great ideas -- so please click 'Comments'  below and let us know what creative and fun fall carnival ideas are traditions in your community.

Service Learning Simplified: Tips and Tools for Planning and Coordinating Service

The National Learn and Serve Challenge launches next month on October 5th, 2009. Students from around the country will participate in a concentrated week of special events and community service activities. The Challenge builds support and raises awareness for service-learning and kick's off a year of hand's-on community participation, and integrated curriculum for youth in service.

VolunteerSpot's free and easy volunteer sign up tool helps older high-school and university service-learning teams coordinate their own activities. For younger students, VolunteerSpot helps teachers, Scout troop leaders and children's ministry leaders engage parent helpers in support of their service-learning projects. Saving time and simplifying volunteer coordination means more time for meaningful service activities during Challenge week and throughout the year.

Helpful tips and tools for organizing your service-learning activities:

Choice Builds Commitment: Involving kids in selecting service-learning activities inspires participation throughout the year. When possible, invite students to research potential projects and let them vote for their top choices. The Learn and Serve Clearinghouse lists service-learning ideas and curricular examples by topic, grade and community sector. To spark discussion among younger children, we've put together a free eBook, Family-Friendly Volunteering Ideas from A-Z.

Think it Through: Often service-learning activities involve community volunteering projects. There is nothing worse than having three people standing around sharing a paint brush because the project wasn’t thought through completely. Plan ahead for everything you will need to successful execute your service activity. Here are some questions to consider:

• How many people can the project support?  Doing what jobs?
  
• Will you need extra adult supervisors or parent-drivers? 
• What background information will you give students (and parents) about the organization you are helping?
• What are the logistical details for the specific service project (where to meet, times, what to wear, what to bring, etc.)?
• Is there a contingency plan in case of bad weather? 
• What permission is needed?
• What materials and supplies will be needed?  What can be donated?
  
• Will refreshments be provided?
  
• Are there safety considerations or sensitivity issues to be discussed ahead of time?
  
• Who will document/record the event with video and photos?
  

VolunteerSpot's simple online planning calendar helps you think it through. You can schedule specific volunteer jobs and shifts, specify the number of people needed, and list supplies and tools required.

Something for Everyone: Plan multiple opportunities for people to participate before, during and after Challenge week. In addition to volunteering on-site, what other ways are there to get involved? E.g.:

• Preparing promotional packets and signs for Challenge week
  
• Engaging with local nonprofits to find age-appropriate service projects (one-time and ongoing)
  
• Securing donated supplies
• Documenting service activities with photos, blogs and video
• Bringing lunch or refreshments on project days
  
• Writing thank-you notes to participants and local supporters 

Mobilize Volunteers ALL Challenge Week, and Beyond: Service-learning isn’t a one-day event, it’s a community commitment. VolunteerSpot’s signup tool lets you schedule service opportunities over several days, weeks or the entire semester. Students* (and parents) can signup for the days and duties that fit their schedules, and the calendar is always current, in real-time. VolunteerSpot sends automated confirmation and reminder messages helping everyone keep their commitments so you can keep yours to the community.

Check it out: Take a live or video tour of VolunteerSpot today at www.VolunteerSpot.com .

For more resources about Service-Learning and to accept the the National Learn and Serve Challenge, please click here.

Have a great idea and need funding? State Farm's Youth Advisory Board is accepting grant applications for service-learning projects between $25,000 and $100,000 until October 2, 2009.

Teachers and Parent Leaders - have a terrific Service-Learning idea to share? Please click Comments below - thanks!

* You must be 14 yrs or older to use VolunteerSpot.  Parents are welcome to sign up for their kids!

Get More Parents to Volunteer at School, More Easily - NBC News Piece

VolunteerSpot is always working to get the word out about improving parent volunteer rates and making the volunteering experience a better one for everyone. Whether it's articles here on the blog, tweets from @VolunteerSpot, or connections with our users -- we always want to show you and your organizations how much easier life can be if you plug our simple but powerful volunteer signup tools into your group.

Here in Austin, our founder, Karen Bantuveris, was recently interviewed by our local NBC station who looked at VolunteerSpot, interviewed some users and decided to highlight us on their morning news cast today. If you're not sure how easy VolunteerSpot is to handle your volunteer sign ups and sign up sheets, volunteer schedule, or any of the other neat little tidbits we provide, please take a sec and watch the piece. As great as it was for us to get the word out about our free volunteer scheduling service (and so much more), it was most heartening of all to hear from our users just how much they like VolunteerSpot's free volunteer coordination services.

Bake Sale Ideas - Best Practices for Turning Cupcakes into Cash

As I'm sitting in the Booster Club planning meeting, I hear someone mention school-wide BAKE SALE and I find myself split in three. The kid in me can't wait to get a taste of the black and white brownies that were Mrs. Andersen's specialty. The busy mom in me thinks, "yikes, how am I going to fit THAT into my schedule - store-bought cupcakes for sure!"  Then, the committee chair in me thinks guiltily, "I'll help, but no way will I organize this one!"

Bake sales are tried and true fund raisers. They seem relatively quick and easy for any group to organize, tasty treats are loved by the community, and everyone (Including kids) can easily participate. 

Like anything that looks easy, the devil is in the details.  That's why we've put together a new eBook with fresh ideas and best practices to make your next bake sale a sweet success. Please view it below, and read on for more information about using VolunteerSpot's free and easy signup tool to make planning your bake sale a sweet success. To see the eBook full-screen, click on 'full' (it's just to the left of the page arrows). When you're done, pres ESC to come back to this post.

VolunteerSpot helps volunteer organizers ask for -- and get -- exactly what they need.  Rather than leave bake sale menu items to chance, specify the types of baked good you want people to bring using VolunteerSpot's simple signup tool.  Also ask parents to sign up to work specific shifts, setup and clean up.  Volunteers sign up with a click, no registration required, and VolunteerSpot sends automated reminder messages that help everyone keep their commitments.  Here's a sample screen shot of the volunteer view (click for full screen):

 

We wish you much success in your next bake sale and hope VolunteerSpot can make the planning  a snap, giving you more time for baking tasty treats!  Now that I think about it, I might even step up and organize a bake sale or two in the Fall!

You may also enjoy our recent blog posts about fundraising:

Carnival Games, Booth Ideas and More Money-Making Strategies

Move over Wrapping Paper: Artwork for Education is our New Favorite Fundraiser

New Ideas for Fundraising with Kids

Silent Auction Addition: Try SOCIALS to Raise More Money and Build Community

Fundraising Ideas for Volunteers: A Nonprofit Strategy for Fundraising

Time For Some Fresh Fundraising Ideas - Check out Top School Fundraisers