Volunteer Spotlight | Mr. Jamie S. Dent, Senior AmeriCorps Program Officer
Through national service, more than 11,000 people of all ages and backgrounds are helping to solve problems and build stronger communities in 66 projects across Tennessee. Serving through local non-profits and schools, national service members and volunteers tutor children, coordinate service-learning and after-school programs, build homes, organize neighborhood watch groups, clean streams, recruit volunteers, and do other things to improve and strengthen communities.
Today, our volunteer Spotlight shines on Jamie S. Dent, Senior AmeriCorps Program Officer who used VolunteerSpot's online signup sheets to help coordinate the volunteer needs for the Annual Tennessee Conference on Volunteerism and Service-Learning / Governor's Volunteer Stars Awards banquet.
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Please tell us about your organization and your volunteer needs.
Volunteer Tennessee is the state commission on volunteering and service. Our mission is to encourage volunteering and community service in The Volunteer State. Annually, we oversee more than $5,000,000 in grants and training to support AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve America, and volunteer centers throughout the state. We coordinate volunteers for National Days of Service (such as; MLK Day, AmeriCorps Week, Global Youth Service Day, 9/11 Day of Remembrance, Make A Difference Day, etc) and for our Annual Tennessee Conference on Volunteerism and Service-Learning / Governor's Volunteer Stars Awards banquet. This year, we greatly benefited by sourcing VolunteerSpot to help coordinate the volunteer needs for the Conference. We typically did this the old school way - Excel spreadsheets!
Explain how you used VolunteerSpot to coordinate these volunteers.
VolunteerSpot helped us list each volunteer role and include the responsibilities in the description for each role. This was very helpful for us to fill the spots. It was nice to sit back and watch the spots fill without having to do much marketing. We were able to link the call for volunteers to our social media sites, in our newsletters and on our website. We were able to fill all 71 volunteers spots that are essential to the overall success of our statewide Conference. VolunteerSpot's email tool was great in helping us reach out to our volunteers. 27 volunteers contributed over 200 hours of service!
What’s one piece of advice you have for volunteers or their leaders out there?
One piece of advice for those who lead and manage volunteers - seek out and attend professional trainings on how to recruit, select, train, supervise and recognize volunteers! Volunteers are essential to the viability and health of faith-based, education and nonprofit agencies. It is vital that they are managed as an asset. Anyone can be a leader. Anyone can manage volunteers. With practice, we all become change makers in our communities.
Why did you decide to use VolunteerSpot?
We learned about VolunteerSpot nearly a year before we actually used it. We practiced with its functionality and "played around" with hypothetical volunteer opportunities. We also found the training and tutorial videos extremely helpful.
The decision to use VolunteerSpot was three-fold. We wanted to be able to streamline our volunteer opportunities in a web-based environment for anyone to sign up. Second, time, time, time! We were able to provide detailed information on each role and responsibility and were able to use a substantially less amount of staff time to manage the whole process. And, we wanted to make sure we communicated as efficiently as possible. Here is some feedback that we have received from Conference volunteers:
"I felt very prepared."
"I thought that the preparation and support of the volunteers was exceptional."
Anything else you’d like our readers to know about volunteering?
For the well-being of our communities, managers of volunteers must be able to identify the motivations of a volunteer. Once a volunteer's motivation is identified, the manager of that volunteer can match that individual's interest and/or skills to an activity which properly engages them in meaningful service to their community. Managers of volunteers can provide a volunteer with an experience that taps their skills and knowledge while providing new skills and knowledge in return. As Americans, there is no better way to show our love for Country than helping another (animals included!) in need.
Thank you Volunteer Spot. We were able to provide a higher-quality volunteer experience because of your service!
To learn more, visit www.volunteertennessee.net
We salute Jamie and all the other volunteers and volunteer leaders out there making a difference. 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 [email protected].
