Volunteer Engagement Overview

Owned by Kif Scheuer (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Feb 05, 2024 by Ariadna Hernandez
3 min read

Volunteer Engagement is an opportunity for Fellows to engage in local efforts, either supporting community led movements or government initiatives by recruiting, engaging and managing volunteers. Full-time Fellows have up to 100 hours to dedicate to VE projects. TQT Fellows have up to 70 hours. 100 hours is not a required target, rather a ceiling.

Volunteer Engagement projects should build on existing efforts that address community needs. Fellows should collaborate with active community organizations, agencies, and leaders who could leverage their support. Sometimes long-time community groups have well-informed ideas of projects that could serve the community, but haven’t found a volunteer coordinator to fill the gap. This is how Volunteer Engagement can come into play.

Fellows, alongside active community organizations and leaders, are the volunteer coordinators, and should not be dedicating a significant amount of time volunteering themselves. Volunteer Engagement allows Fellows to hone in on project management, event coordination, relationship building, communication, and other skills that correlate with managing a project. Fellows are encouraged to collaborate with their co-Fellows. For in-person VE projects, it’s advantageous for Fellows to work with others who live nearby.

Can my Volunteer Engagement project be something my Project Site already asked me to do? Yes, but it also doesn’t have to be. You may be excited to connect with different community leaders outside of your Project Site, and learn how you can support their ongoing work.

Review the Volunteer Engagement Guide for complete details on how to get started!

3 Types of Volunteer Engagement Projects:

Joining an existing effort (lightest lift): This option involves linking arms with an existing volunteer effort that runs continuously and already has some volunteer recruitment support of some sort (examples include an annual Earth Day event, ongoing support at the local food bank, etc). 

Building up a struggling effort (medium lift): This option involves partnering with a community organization that is truly strapped for capacity or perhaps under-resourced, and maybe doesn’t have much ability to recruit volunteers currently. You would essentially fill that gap for them, but you should be aware that there will be much less support and you’ll need to self-start several elements of your project.

Start an effort from scratch (heaviest lift): You may opt for this option if you have a vision for a volunteer opportunity that doesn’t yet exist in your community. Since it doesn’t exist, you would be creating something from nothing, so we recommend careful consideration of your capacity. While this is the heaviest lift, it leaves the most room for creativity and Fellow ownership!

Policies

  • Volunteer Engagement project travel is limited to 2 meetings with partners and 2 events without Regional Coordinator approval. Additional VE Project travel will need to be pre-approved.

  • Fellows must collect volunteer waivers at any volunteer event held, unless a partner organization is already using their own volunteer waiver. Please send out the waiver form link to volunteers before the event. We have an English version, and a Spanish version.

  • Fellows have $10 for materials, and should request reimbursement via Concur:

    • Expense Type: 04-Office Supplies

    • Business Purpose: CivicSpark Volunteer Engagement supplies

    • Task: E - Supplies

  • If Fellows attend another Fellow's volunteer engagement event as a volunteer, either the Fellow “volunteer” logs the time as non-project service and the Fellow coordinator does not log them as a volunteer, or the coordinator counts you as a volunteer, and the Fellow volunteer does not log the time.

  • Any project involving minors requires approval by the Program Implementation Manager. Fellows and minors can’t be in one-on-one settings with minors.