So, I did what most young adults do these days when they don’t know where to look—I Googled it! I searched for “volunteer opportunities in Charleston” and I clicked on the first link that I saw.
There are some wonderful sites that specialize in connecting volunteers to projects and causes that match their interests including VolunteerMatch.org and Idealist.org among others. If your organization is in need of volunteers or have specific projects that could offer a “foot in the door” to engage volunteers and supporters, these sites are a great way to bring visibility to those efforts. The goal should be to make it as easy as possible for people to get involved with your mission.
Following my internet search and after about five minutes of perusing a list, I clicked on a link for the local chapter of a national environmental organization, and I was immediately taken to a Facebook event for a local river clean-up. All I had to do was RSVP to the Facebook event, and I was set. The ease of it fascinated me!
From there, I was able to share the event with my network on Facebook and more people signed up to join me. To put it simply, a single Google search resulted in five additional people cleaning up the river that day. Our group alone pulled four giant bags of trash from about a quarter mile of river marsh.
The organization we worked with increased their volunteer participant count by about 25% that day just by being easily found online. I didn’t have to search specifically for them, and they didn’t make me jump through hoops to join them. Sure, some types of volunteer work require more training and commitment, but think about how you are marketing your current programs. When someone searches online for volunteer work in your area, where do you fall on the list of results? How easy is it for someone to help you out, even if just for a day?
Check out the Omatic team at our day with the Charleston Chapter of Surfrider Foundation.
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