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Tip of the
Month Utilizing and Appreciating Volunteers |
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How many times have you thrown up your hands and exclaimed, “We just don’t have enough people here to get everything done”? Most nonprofits operate on “bare bones” budgets with staff that often wear several hats. This is especially true in charter schools.
But, if we don’t have enough money to pay another salary, how can we get more help? You can do it with the help of volunteers.
Charter schools have a tremendous base from which to recruit individuals for volunteer work – parents, grandparents, extended family members, local business leaders, board members, and the list goes on. Parents and grandparents can be recruited to help with mentoring, tutoring, and after school activities. Local business leaders can be asked to guest teach for a day or for several weeks, or to help develop a fun activity for a finance or accounting class. Board members have a vested interest in the school’s success and should be asked to help with fundraising activities, serving as a classroom aide, or in other capacities.
One of the most important rules of using volunteers is to appreciate them. Be sure you have an activity for which the donor can give best of his/her time and talents. Don’t invite someone to assist you just to have them stand in the room and watch you work. Give them meaningful and substantive work to do so they will enjoy helping and feel as though their contribution is important to the school and the students. That will not only help you recruit them for future activities, but will make them more likely to want to get involved in other ways – including making a financial contribution to your school.
Effectively utilizing and appreciating volunteers will go a long way in providing you with the extra time you need to achieve all your daily activities – while helping you develop a cadre of people who are using their time and skills to benefit the school and ultimately the students.
Funding Links
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