day of caring training for nonprofit and school partners

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What is Day of Caring?

• Largest day of volunteering in WA

• Kick-off to United Way Fundraising Campaign

• Over 10,000 volunteers from 100+ local companies

• Over 400 projects throughout King County

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Who’s involved?

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• Connect and support Day of Caring participants to ensure a positive, meaningful, and impactful volunteer experience for both partner organizations and volunteers

– Recruits partner organizations– Engages corporations– Manages registration– Supports organizations and Volunteer Project Leaders– Celebrate– Gather Results

United Way’s Role

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• Provide an excellent experience for volunteers– Plan and register a volunteer project– Provide all necessary supplies*– Act as point of contact for Volunteer

Project Leader– Manage project on event day– Collect and save volunteer waivers– Celebrate results– Provide post-event feedback to

United Way

Partner Organization’s Role (That’s you!)

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Volunteer Project Leader’s Role

– Register for a Day of Caring Project

– Recruit team members – Act as point of contact for

partner organization, share info with team

– Provide post-event feedback to United Way

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• Phase 1: May 16th-July 27th

• Laying the groundwork

• Phase 2: July 27th-September 16th

• Volunteer Registration and Communication!

• Phase 3: September 16th and beyond

• Event Day and follow up

Project Registration Opens

May 16th

Sept 16th

Early Volunteer RegistrationJuly 27th

Volunteer Registration OpensAug 2nd

Sept 9th

Volunteer Registration Closes

Day of Caring!

Project Submission DeadlineJuly 15th

Post-event Surveys

The 3 Phases of Day of Caring

Sept 19th

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What happens in Phase 1?

Submit a projectSubmit a project

Project reviewed by UWKC

Project reviewed by UWKC Make final

edits to project

Make final edits to project

Volunteer registration

opens

Volunteer registration

opens

Attend Agency Training

Attend Agency Training

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Phase 1: Laying the groundwork

– Writing project descriptions that sell• Sell the benefits• Share the features• Connect it to your mission

– Planning for success• Think through logistics (timing, supplies,

staff, etc.)• What is your back-up plan?• How will you thank volunteers?

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Writing Project Descriptions that Sell

Which would you rather?

Title: Day of CaringHelp in removing the window awnings at the Community Center. No

training required. Need muscles and ability to climb a ladder.

Versus. . .

Title: Clean Sweep for Children A lot of heart and a little muscle go a long way to help children thrive. We

invite you to help us spruce up our youth residential care facility, with yard cleanup, planting bulbs, pulling weeds, and reconstructing the compost and recycle bin areas. The variety of tasks will meet all your diverse interests, talents and abilities. Your tasks, in turn, will make a positive impression on resident youth and their family and/or visitors, staff and the neighbors!

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Volunteer Project Leader (VPL) signs up

for project

Volunteer Project Leader (VPL) signs up

for project

UWKC approves volunteer

registration

UWKC approves volunteer

registration

Confirmation sent to

agency and VPL

Confirmation sent to

agency and VPL

Agency

contacts VPL,

sends Packet

Agency

contacts VPL,

sends Packet

Communication Time!

Communication Time!

What happens in Phase 2?

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Phase 2: Communication

– Communicating with your Project Leader• Communicate with Volunteer Project Leader early on

and frequently• Project Leader Manual• Suggest a Site Visit

– Communicating with United Way• Changes to projects (location, time, # of volunteers,

contact)• Cancellations

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Day of Caring!

Day of Caring!

After Party!

After Party!

Survey and follow up

Survey and follow up

Supervise

VolunteersSupervise

Volunteers

Orient

VolunteersOrient

Volunteers

Thank Volunteers

Thank Volunteers

What happens in Phase 3?

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Phase 3: Event day and beyond

• Managing your Volunteer Group– Orientation– Supervision and coaching

• Celebrating Success– Thanking Volunteers– The After Party

• Satisfaction Surveys

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A note about Microsoft

• 5,000+ Day of Caring volunteers

• Separate volunteer registration page

• Slightly different registration schedule

• Project bins

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Share your story

• Photos– Flickr: Tag photos with #dayofcaringKC

• Facebook– Like us! We like you.– Tag United Way of King County– Tag your volunteer group’s company page

• Twitter - @VolunteerKC– Follow us! We follow you. – Join the conversation: #dayofcaringKC

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Pop Quiz!

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The number one most important factor in having a successful Day of Caring experience is?

Communication!

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You know you’ve written an excellent project description if it. . .

a) Sells the benefits, shares the features, and connects to your mission

b) Could fit on a post-it note

c) Reads like an instruction manual

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The first thing you should do when you receive your confirmation email from United Way is. . .

a) Jump for joy that your project was picked, and then forget about it until September 14th

b) Contact your Volunteer Project Leader, send them the VPL Manual, and confirm project details

c) Delete it

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5 minutes into your project, a volunteer hits her head on the dumpster (true story). Good thing you had everyone sign the. . .

United Way Volunteer Waiver!

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Your volunteers finish the project 2 hours early. What do you do?

Consult your back up plan!

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Which of the following is a great way to thank your Day of Caring volunteers?

a) Ask for their feedback on the project

b) Take a group photo and send it to them with a thank you note

c) Document and celebrate their accomplishments

d) Say “Thanks”

e) All of the above

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If you were to come to Qwest Field from 3-6pm on September 16th, what might you find there?

a) Free food and drinks!

b) Prizes!

c) Entertainment!

d) All of the above

e) None of the above

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When you receive your post-event survey from United Way, you should

a) Delete it and mark it as spam

b) Fill it out and help make Day of Caring even better!

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The number one most important factor in having a successful Day of Caring experience is?

Communication!

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Questions?

Contact us at dayofcaring@uwkc.org

For additional Day of Caring info, check out www.uwkc.org/doc and our FAQ page

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THANK YOU!