Val
Boston, MA

Session Title:  Closerware for Junior Leagues
Session Description:  This session agenda was designed by representatives from 20 of your fellow leagues to focus on how the latest features of Closerware’s VolunteerMatters platform can streamline operations, membership, outreach, and fundraising. For existing Closerware users it’s a ‘must attend’ session. Interact with product experts who have worked with many generations of league leaders in order to unlock the full potential of your subscription. Closerware has been providing powerful software solutions to Junior Leagues of all sizes for nearly a decade.

Presenter:  Mark Hopwood
Presenter Bio:  Mark is a co-founder of Closerware, a software provider that specializes in web-based solutions for the non-profit market.  Mark has provided thousands of consulting hours with hundreds of non-profits implementing solutions for membership management, volunteer coordination, online advocacy, and fundraising.  Mark has an ability to recognize patterns and dependencies between personnel, information, and procedures to maximize the impact of non-profit staff and volunteers.  Over the last 10 years, he has personally visited dozens of league headquarters and across the United States to gain a deep understanding of Junior League operations, mission, and culture.

Other Forms:

Advertisement_Contract_AJLI_2012.pdf

Closerware_Presenter_Needs.pdf

I recently met with the leadership of non-profit organization as they sat around a table wondering why so many of their members don’t offer to help. I asked them if they had considered that it wasn’t the 95% of their membership that was the problem, but rather their approach to asking for help. They didn’t understand what I meant at the start, but one question ignited a wonderful conversation about how they can fairly easily attract the help they need.

Have you ever documented the help you need?
Many organizations want volunteers to ‘jump in’ and see how they can help without a clear understanding of what they are getting themselves into. However, most of us are struggling to balance work, family, friendships, and other sometimes-overwhelming responsibilities. Many people don’t want to get ‘roped in’ to more than they can handle. When you don’t quantify exactly what your needs are, then you are creating a great mystery around what you might expect of a volunteer. While mysteries make great fodder for books and movies, when it comes to taking on new responsibilities, no one likes a mystery. This results in fewer people stepping forward to help. Because you have fewer people to help, you will be forced to ‘rope people in’ to do more than they probably would have liked – and a vicious cycle is born.

So, what is the answer? The first step is to identify exactly where you need help. If you already have a formal committee structure, then start by documenting what those positions are expected to do. If you don’t have a committee structure in place, consider formalizing one. You don’t have to develop a 500-page document either, just ask the people already doing the work to jot down what responsibilities they have, what background or skills would be required of someone to take over their job, how much time each responsibility requires, and when and where they perform those services (e.g., can they do it from home? Do the need to go to a specific locale? What times of day can the work be done? What days of the week?). This should be a relatively small job for each person and will yield great dividends in finding help for them in the coming weeks and months. Based on this feedback, you can then try to find a way to offer ‘jobs’ within each committee that take smaller bites out of those larger responsibilities. After all, you’re much more likely to find 10 people that can volunteer one or two hours per week than you are to find one person that can give 10 or 20 hours per week. Once you know what your ‘jobs’ are, you can post them online or email them to your contacts and have people sign-up for them at their convenience – everyone will know exactly what they’re getting themselves into. No mystery. No rope.

Obviously, it helps to have centralized volunteer database to manage your committee structure and assignments as well as publish a catalog of volunteer opportunities. Online volunteer management software can make the coordination of events, activities, and jobs much easier and opens the door to increased volunteer participation.