5 Tips to Know Before You Go
The beautiful thing about helping others is that anyone, absolutely anyone, can do it! Finding an opportunity near you may be easy too, however, sometimes getting involved can require paperwork, orientations, training or more. Whether you’re a first-time helper or an impassioned-pro…remember these helpful tidbits when planning your volunteer experience:
1) Do a quick online search for activities in your area; or inquire about opportunities where you already spend your time (think church, school, non-profit boards) -try these websites for finding opportunities near you
2) Give notice – most organizations like 2 to 4 week's notice when coordinating groups of volunteers. And have waivers, forms and other required paperwork prepared and sent to the correct place well ahead of time.
3) Keep it close to home (relatively or figuratively), which keeps your family and friends whom you volunteer with connected to the task and allows you to engage in training, orientation and volunteering without transportation problems.
Get neighbors, teams or classmates to join-in and create your own service project – FREE online signup sheets from VolunteerSpot can help you get organized and sends automatic reminders for you!
4) Schedule the length of tasks only as long as your kids can be engaged for their age when volunteering with your family.
5) And repeat! Organizations LOVE to see the same smiling faces walk through their doors. Many groups offer weekly or monthly schedules for volunteers that greatly impact the services they provide as well offset operational costs. PLUS, it serves your children to be invested in their community by following your lead.