Volunteer Engagement Guide

View Training Video (11/15)

Please view the Volunteer Engagement guidance training by November 15. Regional Coordinators will hold a Q&A during the November 16 Regional Training.

Submit Survey (12/1)

Once you’ve viewed the training recording and had your first Site Visit, you may have some ideas and preferences for your VE projects. Completing this survey will help inform co-Fellow collaboration and project ideas — please submit by December 1 in advance of the December Regional Training activity on 12/14. You and your RC will receive a copy of your responses.

Co-Fellow Collaboration (12/14)

During the December Regional Training, fellows will have the opportunity to share project preferences, interests, and explore VE collaboration together. Please do not feel pressure to form teams by the end of the dialogues, as thoughtful collaboration can take time.

Additional meetings can be set up following the Regional Training.

We strongly recommend VE groups being 2-4 fellows. More than four fellows per group can be difficult to manage.

Dialogue Goals

1). Gain a deeper understanding of co-Fellow’s background, and relationship to the community.

2). Unpacking past community service experiences, values associated with partnerships, strengths and interests.

3). Starting to imagine what co-Fellow collaboration (if applicable) could look like. This involves alignment with respect to where fellows live, group size, population served and topic preferences, group strengths and bandwidth.

Community Outreach - Aligning opportunities (12/14 - 1/19)

VE groups initiate outreach meetings with prospective community-based organizations and discuss opportunities to collaborate. Fellows receive support from RCs prior to meeting.

Following co-Fellow conversations, general ideas should be forming, and hopefully you’re excited about connecting with community organizations and aligning collaborative opportunities! 

The goal of community outreach within the context of VE, is to effectively communicate your role as volunteer mobilizers, learn about the organization’s existing initiatives, assets and needs. After all, why should an organization partner with CivicSpark fellows? How can a VE project support an organization’s capacity gaps, and advance their existing goals? Feel free to check out this VE Outreach Best Practices doc to get started here.

This first meeting can be interpreted as a brainstorming call, where your VE group and the organization are learning from each other, and gauging if there may be an opportunity to collaborate. Not all community outreach calls lead to collaborative opportunities immediately, and that’s okay!

This early outreach step can feel challenging, since you may be attending this meeting without support from higher-level staff. To prepare, please schedule a group meeting with your RC. Your RC will help ensure you are equipped to describe VE, the fellow role, team strengths and how to craft your ask. You’ll also need to be prepared to ask the organization questions too. 

Propose Volunteer Engagement Plan (1/5 - 2/2)

At this point, your VE team should have received a commitment from a community organization or agency about partnering together, and a rough idea of the project goals.

Each VE team is required to submit a Volunteer Engagement Plan Proposal to their Regional Coordinator for approval. This is a high-level outline and tool to capture basic project details to get you started. Please access the template here, and save a copy for your group in Google Drive.

Project Implementation: Volunteer Recruitment (1/5 - 7/12)

Recruiting volunteers takes time;  leverage tools and strategies to guide your process.

Before recruiting volunteers, make sure you have a solid understanding of what you are asking your volunteers to do and what types of volunteers you need, skills and interests you’re looking for.

Please thoroughly invest in recruitment. Fellows may log up to 100 hours to Volunteer Engagement projects, and aside from the planning stage, recruitment and outreach should be the most time-intensive stage. However, this time pays off as projects gather a good number of solid volunteers for volunteer events, engaging and building up the community. It is realistic to budget a few hours per week devoted to recruiting and confirming volunteers leading up to volunteer events (check out the VE Outreach Best Practices). Having dedicated volunteers will contribute to what you hope to accomplish, and your goals being more fully realized.

With that being said, recruiting volunteers isn’t always easy. It’s critical to do good research and identify local networks and community groups that value community service.

Recruitment tools and strategies:

• Word-of-mouth to organization employees

• Recommendations from service recipients or Site Supervisors, friends, networks, etc.

• Online sources such as VolunteerMatch or local options such as L.A. Works

• Volunteer fairs

• Individuals or college students potentially interested in the CivicSpark program

• Coordinating with schools that require community service hours for graduation

• Local volunteer center

• Current volunteers to recruit—they are convincing salespeople, because they are committed to your cause and believe in the organization

• Neighborhood newspapers, newsletters, and organizational bulletins

• Announcements at local religious gatherings, educational sessions, meetings, and social gatherings

• Personal appearances at schools, senior centers, career fairs, exhibits at special events and other venues or events

Project Implementation: Supporting Recruitment (1/5 - 7/12)

Set up your volunteers for success by providing clear expectations, logistics and appreciation. 

Once you receive commitments from volunteers, you’ll need to start coordinating logistics and supporting them so they can be successful. Aim to conclude volunteer events by July 12, 2024, to give you enough time to report out on project outcomes.

You may need to provide volunteers with an orientation or training on the event, program or activity, any relevant policies and procedures, responding to specific situations, and the use of certain facilities and equipment. You may also want to explain how they should schedule their time, whether they need to check-in with anyone on the team, how they should best accomplish their tasks, how parking works, any emergency procedures, etc.

When supervising volunteers over an extended period of time, establish goals and check in on progress. Be sure to develop conditions to keep volunteers motivated. Observe their performance and give feedback and other forms of guidance, and directly address performance issues in a positive manner. When planning to coordinate an event, these tips may be helpful: 50 Tips for Organizing Volunteers.

Be sure to thank your volunteers often and recognize the work being accomplished. Provide amenities for volunteers when they work (food, water, a place to take a break, etc.), if possible. Send volunteers a personal email or handwritten thank you card after their service.

Reporting (8/2)

When your project is complete, each group must submit one Volunteer Engagement Final Report by August 2. If your Volunteer Engagement project relates to your service recipients, please include a copy of the report in your Transition Report as an appendix.