High Level¶
- Boise: have definition for volunteer and communicate mission
- Can make a distinction between volunteering and work-trade. Free Ride does not, but other shops do
Designing an orientation¶
- Highlight how every bit of work fits into helping out in the big picture
- What goals do we have for what volunteers can be?
- Build expectations and give them to members & volunteers
- What do volunteers get out of helping out? (Try to come up with at least 3 things)
Implementation Details¶
- Brake into small groups; explain the shop & emphasize the mission
- May want to vary the frequency and scheduling of the orientation (Other groups have 1/month with about 20 people at each orientation
Seperate into 2 sections¶
- Introduction
- First steps in being trained (scraping bikes or some other hands-on activity, like doing a safety check maybe)
- The hands-on activity becomes like and initiation process, allowing people to become part of the group
Process for Orientation¶
- Talk to Sopo (Atlanta I think) & Boise projects to learn more about the details of their process
- Use a “workbook” with specific skills. Each skill can be signed-off and when completed a person has finished “training.”
Extra Discussion¶
- (Association of management of volunteers) Volunteer intake should be made long and ardous with several steps
- People who are a good fit will make it through the steps and others will get self-eliminate
- Role playing is fun & brings active participation to orientation
- Follow-up: personalized thank-you.
- Be sure to follow-up quickly to have a good impact
- One group mails out hand-made cards to everybody
- Elevate the position of being Volunteer as something very important and something to have pride in
