How to Plan a Volunteer Event
How to Plan a Drive
Practically Painless Fundraising Ideas
Do you feel strongly about a cause?
Do you want to help a non-profit organization that you care about?
Do you know others who have similar beliefs?
How about arranging your own volunteer event? It can be much fun to participate in something meaningful with your family and friends! And just think of all the help you could provide to your community. Planning a volunteer event is a perfect way to have a good time and solve many pressing needs in your neighborhood or community.
If the thought seems overwhelming to you, read on! You’ll see that it isn’t as difficult as you might think.
HOW TO PLAN A VOLUNTEER EVENT
Planning
- Think about who you would like to help. See our group idea section for some ideas that could be done with groups. Good service projects match community needs with the interests and skills of volunteers. For specific organizations in your area who might need help, login here. If you would like to look further than organizations we have listed in our website, feel free to look into our resource sheet on How to find organizations in your area.
- Define and set your goals in writing. For example, do you want to raise public awareness about an issue in your community? Would you like to do a fundraiser for your favorite organization? Visit our Questionnaire for Planning an Event for a great brainstorming list of more questions to get you started.
- If you want to arrange a fundraiser, check out The Foundation Center http://fdncenter.org/learn/useraids/events.html for helpful resources.
- If necessary, reserve event sites or needed space.
- If necessary, recruit and inform an event committee, key staff, and volunteers.
- Determine a marketing plan for getting the word out. This could include invitations, flyers, website postings, and media attention). For more information on publicizing your event, click here.
- Plan well in advance of your date. A realistic timeline calls for about three months of advance planning.
Finding Volunteers
- Now you must gather a group of people to get the project off to a good start. Begin thinking of project partners who encompass diverse abilities, experiences, ages and perspectives. You might want to include people who are:
- good at organizing and planning
- know the community and its needs
- can help with recruiting and publicity
- have fundraising skills or contacts
- have energy, enthusiasm and care about making a difference
- Determine how many volunteers you need for the event and how long you will need them (is it a one-time job or will you need to schedule volunteers on an ongoing basis).
- Think about whether there any special skills needed.
- Sketch out a simple job description, both for your sake and for the volunteer. It helps to be specific about what you need.
- Start looking for volunteers among your own friends and family! Once you’ve exhausted your personal network, continue on to churches, schools, service clubs and businesses.
- Make sure that staff, volunteers and even donors enjoy working with you and say Thank You when the job is done!
Getting Donations
- Build your budget.
- Determine if the organization benefiting from the event can provide financial help.
- If you need any in-kind donations, approach local companies. Develop your message to these companies carefully – a good fundraiser will not just talk about the benefits of your event, but also state the benefit to the potential donor, show why the program works and most importantly ask for a specific donation (for example $200).
- If you need to raise money for the program, you have many options. Some ideas include: asking local businesses or foundations, conducting a special event or a raffle, offering merchandise for sale, conducting an auction, holding a bake sale or car wash, or simply asking your volunteers!
Don’t forget that it’s also important to be enthusiastic and have fun – it’s contagious!!!
Contact us with questions.
Examples
The following are examples of two families who have arranged events and subsequently won the Family Volunteer Award from the Points of Light foundation.
The Donn Family
The Donn Family of Tampa Bay, Florida, has turned an annual volunteer event into a demonstration of the power of family volunteering for all generations. AT&T employee Alan Donn and Dorothy Holle-Donn, along with Alan’s parents Ruth and Ray, are the organizers of the Florida Coastal Cleanup, a yearly event to help rid their local shorelines and oceans of trash and debris. Working with families of AT&T and IBM employees, they started the project in 1993 with 25 volunteers, ballooning to 97 in 2001.
Their efforts have transformed a dumping ground into a pristine area in which the Southwest Florida Water Management District is developing a new park opening for the general public in 2002. In 2001, AT&T employees recognized the project with one of five “AT&T Champions of the Environment” awards, the sum of which was donated to the not-for-profit Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful organization.
Alan and Dorothy also volunteer their time through work with children and persons with disabilities at the National Teach-In and volunteer with the local Sierra Club. The impact of their tireless efforts speaks for itself and volumes for the families that work together to change their communities.
The Dunckelman Family
Members of the Dunckelman Family of Houma, Louisiana, have worked hard to demonstrate the volunteering spirit that generations can pass down from one to the next. After the death of a grandmother who impacted the life of the entire family, Geralynn, William, Andrew, and William H. Dunckelman felt compelled to keep her memory alive and have worked to aid the other elderly members of their community.
Targeting local nursing homes and private houses of the infirmed, they developed a series of service projects called Family Focus, which were developed by each member but supported by the entire family. The eldest son started SENSE-ible Service, designed to stimulate the senses of the elderly, collecting flowers, eyeglasses, and food and coordinating visits by musicians and animals. The younger son developed Project FAME (Fine Arts Motivating the Elderly). His efforts resulted in over 1,000 youths and adults working together to collect over $100,000 worth of audiotapes, videotapes, and books for use by sites in 13 states.
And those are just the efforts of the children! Their parents, Geralynn and William, not only work hard to support the efforts of their sons, they also conduct visits to local nursing homes, pair at-risk preschoolers with the elderly in reading programs, and remind us all that to give back for all we have received throughout the year and our lives. The Dunckelman family celebrates family volunteering as it celebrates the life of someone they loved – with their hearts, minds, and works.
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Questionnaire for Planning a Project
Modeled after the “Five Ws” we learn in school, these questions are designed to assist you in your brainstorming process as you plan great volunteer projects!
Who will help you develop this project? (ie friend, committee, community leader)
- Who will complete each step?
- Who is in charge of making sure things get done?
Who will be participating in the volunteer project (families from your club, school, youth group, neighborhood association, community members)?
Who will you help?
Is there a community-based organization or a target group of people you would like to benefit (a local food pantry or a nursing home)?
Need some ideas, login here (register page)
What is your goal?
What needs to be done beforehand?
What is your timeline? (Set realistic deadlines.)
When will you hold the event?
Date and time?
When will you have a fundraiser (if needed)?
When will you begin advertising your volunteer project?
Where will your project take place?
Will you be on location at a non-profit organization, house of worship or school?