HandsOn Connect is Coming! Get Excited!

Mandatory training for all partner agencies on our new volunteer management database is being offered in all three counties in August. We are less than a month away from the launch of HandsOn Connect. HandsOn Connect has the capability to manage all of your organizations volunteers, recruit new volunteers and keep your volunteer statistics in one place separate from HandsOn's numbers.

Can we talk?

HandsOn recently launched All HandsOn Deck, our blog that aspires to be everything volunteering. To really inspire our community to engage we need to tell compelling stories. Your stories.

Ideas for Sharing:

1. Post your own blog to the comment section of this post and we will add it to the Volunteer Blogs that Rock section of All HandsOn Deck
2. Submit a guest blog post to HandsOn:

Ready - Set- Go! Youth and Families are ready for you. Are you ready for them?

Constant calls and emails from youth and families wanting to volunteer? Not quite sure how to engage youth and families effectively as volunteers? Need assistance understanding how your agency can engage youth and families as volunteers given limited resources? On Tuesday, May 31st, HandsOn and GenerationOn—the national youth division of the Points of Light Institute— hosted a Boot Camp with 20 partner agencies in attendance.

Service Projects Needed in August

HandsOn has the opportunity to help over 900 volunteers serve the Salem Community in August in small groups of 15. We are planning service days for the incoming students at both Willamette University (WU) and Corban College and the football team at Willamette University. 900 Volunteers. 6 hours. How will you leverage this resource?

HandsOn Connect - Volunteer Management System - Update

The new volunteer management technology, HandsOn Connect is going LIVE in JULY!

Days of Caring Update

HandsOn and United Way have put their heads together to develop a slightly different approach to Days of Caring. Traditionally Days of Caring was a week long event that mobilized hundreds of volunteers from Work Place Campaigns to serve your organizations needs. As times and needs have changed we discovered it was a burden to ask all of you to host so many volunteers within such a limited time frame. Therefore we are now offering Days of Caring opportunities to Work Place Campaigns year round.

Clare Bridge Senior Living - Volunteering Here, There, and Everywhere

This month, HandsOn would like to give a big thumbs-up to Clare Bridge Senior Living. Jillian Smith and the whole team really know how to show volunteers an amazing experience.

Neighborhood Associations Shine

Week after week our team at HandsOn gets to see first hand the wonderful work the Neighborhood Associations of Salem do. The dedicated volunteer leaders identify needs in their own neighborhoods, plan events, recruit volunteers, and work and take care of their families.

An Untapped Resource

On a cool, crisp October morning a 15 passenger van pulled around the corner to the United Way building. 12 volunteer climbed out of the van eager to get to work.

Participate in Gifts in Kind

The United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley is proud to be a redistribution partner through Good360—a partnership that allows the United Way to obtain retail goods from local businesses and redistribute to nonprofit agencies in the community.

Help Us Help You Help the World

HandsOn recently started working with the ERN program at Shangri La. ERN stands for Employment Resources Northwest. They offer job skills training to recipients of public assistance. Once individuals have graduated the program they go out into the community for a work experience to use their new skills. That is were you come in!

MYTH BUSTERS!

We are launching a new blog series themed around the Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters. The topics of this series will dispel some of the misconceptions of working with HandsOn.

Myth #1 HandsOn has volunteers stockpiled in the office waiting for deployment.
Wow! Wouldn’t that be something? Volunteers spilling out of the doors, stacked on shelves, hanging from the rafters!

Volunteer Program Assessment

A few weeks ago our office had the pleasure of attending a training with a few folks from Volunteer Los Angeles. They mentioned using a very effective volunteer program assessment with their partners. They were kind enough to share it with us and all of you.

Service-Learning Training Strikes Back

Posted below are links to handouts provided at the HandsOn Service-Learning Training, and additional handouts that might  be useful in your service-learning endeavors. Along with these are more documents for further reading, a reflection tool kit, and a bibliography of sources we used for the development of the training.

The Three F’s of Volunteer Recognition: Food, Fun, and Fame part 2 of 3

Volunteer Recognition, part 2 of 3, Fun

Guest Blog by Tibby Larson
 

In the first blog I told you about a rule for volunteer recognition that I like; the three F’s - Food, Fun & Fame. This time I’m blogging about FUN for volunteers and staff! How you define FUN for your volunteers will depend on your organization and the function of your volunteers.

The Three F’s of Volunteer Recognition: Food, Fun, and Fame

Part 1 of 3: FoodGuest blog by Tibby Larson


I am the Volunteer & Supplemental Labor Coordinator for City of Salem Parks. I’m a member of Mid-Valley Volunteer Manager’s Association, the Treasurer for the National Association of Volunteer Programs in Local Government, a certified trainer of volunteer management for Oregon Volunteers! AND an avid fan of HandsOn Mid-Willamette Valley! Parks utilizes over 55,000 of volunteer hours each year.

I consider volunteer recognition one of the most essential and exciting parts of my work. I heard a rule for recognition a long time ago that I love. The three F’s - Food, Fun & Fame. Often, I’ll recognize the staff who are working with or leading volunteers at the same time and in the same way.

Food… the favorite candy bar of a volunteer makes a great birthday gift along with a little hand made or computer made card. If you’re not giving out food, talk about food… have volunteers write the description of our favorite sandwich their name on a meeting name tag. A corny play on words along with a goody can make a memorable recognition. Some of my favorites include “it is a treat working with you” written on a little computer made card, handed out with a Rice Krispy treat. Gold foil wrapped chocolate coins from the bulk food bin and the card says “you’re priceless or you’re worth your weight in gold.” Foil covered snowmen, “there’s snowbody like you.” The sillier, the better! Sprinkle candy down the middle of the table at work parties, put hot cider packets at everyone’s work station, serve cookies at meetings, have fun with it!

Now is a perfect opportunity to make sure your volunteers know how much they mean to your organization!

Guest blog by Glenis ChapinMarion County Volunteer Services Coordinator and volunteer management trainer


Do you ever ponder where to find the answer for a prickly volunteer management problem? How about wish you had a colleague handy with whom you could strategize solutions for a problem volunteer? Or want some fresh ideas for recruiting volunteers? Well, I did. Then I realized how many great volunteer management resources are on the Web, so I started compiling the ones that I found useful to my work.

Partner Resources Expanded

Check out the expanded Partner Resources section of the HandsOn website which incorporates the suggestions given to us at our Community Partner Forum.

HandsOn Honey Do List, as Determined by YOU

Thank you to everyone who attended our annual Community Partner Forum and/or completed the annual partner Survey. Our team greatly appreciates all of your feedback and input! We incorporated your ideas into our staff planning retreat, influencing our strategic direction over the next three years as well as specific services we provide to you all this fiscal year.

Calander of Events

You asked for it…and you got it!
During the Community Partner Forum last month partners requested a schedule of all the regular events HandsOn needs projects for. We have created a project date cheat sheet. It contains all the National Days of Service and large scale managed events that will have project needs.