Carolyn Felton is the volunteer coordinator for Charlotte's Web and has been since January of this year. Her job is to keep the work meaningful and exciting for the volunteers. In emphasizing the importance of volunteers, she mentioned that May is National Volunteer Month, and many organizations such as Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and many others simply could not function without volunteers.
The grant money received for developing Charlotte's Web was primarily for equipment. Even now there are only three paid staff members; all others working on the project are volunteers.
The questions to be addressed during this session included 1) Who are the volunteers?, 2) What are their jobs?, and 3) Where do they work?
Who are the volunteers?
There is no average profile of a volunteer. Their youngest is 9
and the oldest is over 80 years old; so the volunteers are of all
ages. There are many students; some have volunteered simply
because they love computers, others are in a special honors'
program that requires a certain amount of time spent giving back
to their community. Some are people who work fulltime; others
are retirees. Charlotte's Web is a wonderful outlet for many of
the IBM retirees who can take used computer equipment, clean it
up, make it functional again, and take it to a place where there
was no computer before. Some volunteers are unemployeed and
others are underemployed. Those who are unemployeed are
encouraged to maintain and polish their skills and use the
contacts they make through their volunteer work as possible leads
to jobs. Those who are underemployeed are being trained to use
computers and may find more challenging jobs as a result of
skills learned while volunteering.
What are their jobs?
Each volunteer is assigned to a committee according to skills as
determined by his application form and the coordinator talking
with him before he begins working. Currently there are almost
300 applications on file and about 100 working volunteers. Each
committee has specific jobs and duties to perform, and these may
change as the needs of the project change. Presently the
following committees are functioning:
The trainers are a diverse group handpicked by the Coordinator because training is so crucial to the success of this project. The committee has been developing training materials and discussing how they will proceed. It is not enough to make equipment available; people must be taught to use it. They must be approached in the proper way instead of having trainers who try to force technology on those who are not interested or receptive.
Where do they work?
Most of the work is not done at the office. When people work elsewhere, there is a problem in reporting the amount of time each works; so the coordinator has a software program that enables her to see how long each person worked online during the month. Some people do work in the office, but many will spend much of their time elsewhere. There will be volunteers to lend support and training to libraries, to schools, in community centers, or wherever computers are located. They are putting computers in a homeless shelter and will have volunteer trainers available on location for assistance as needed.
In her closing remarks, Ms. Felton stated there are three important aspects to keeping volunteers happy: good job descriptions, application forms that match the right person with the right job, and keeping in touch with the person after the work starts. Interview before giving anyone a job and make sure they are not overextending themselves. Emphasis was placed on the importance of keeping in close contact with volunteers and letting them know they are valued. She suggested sending E-mail messages, remembering birthdays, sending them newsletters. Have few committee meetings, but when you do have them, make them quick and energizing and follow an agenda to keep it short. Do online conferencing, and maintain social contact.
We need volunteers. Every volunteer brings unique and different contributions. Even if an office staff could do all the work, it should still involve as many community members as possible because Charlotte's Web is a community network, and as a community network, it should reflect the members of its community. Charlotte's Web opens in August.