Starting in January, the volunteer Nation Team reengineered the onboarding process for new volunteers. 

2020 and COVID brought new challenges to our team that we never imagined. These challenges required us to rethink our way of onboarding volunteers.   As we felt confident in our virtual process and engagement, we saw ourselves dealing with an unprecedented number of new volunteers willing to help and not enough projects for everybody. 

Back in July, we had to put a pause on our volunteer recruitment and implement the “Interest Form,” a way for volunteers to register while they waited for the right volunteer opportunity to arrive. It was a form designed to capture information on potential volunteers interested in our mission but who may not fit the organization’s current volunteer needs at the time of registration. During the first months of the pandemic, this form helped us marshal volunteer resources and offer new non-production opportunities to volunteers waiting to help us. 

After everything we learned during the last six months and feedback from new volunteers, we decided that we needed a new onboarding site and process—the new site required to include all available volunteer opportunities and have clearer expectations for potential volunteers.  

Given that we have more volunteers than projects in some areas, we needed to be very transparent to potential volunteers in terms of our needs and project availability, and ongoing versus short term opportunities. For those opportunities closed for recruitment, we ask potential volunteers to still complete the “Interest Form” mentioned above so we can let them know when opportunities become available. 

We are grateful for the many people wanting to help us, and we appreciate your patience in awaiting a volunteer opportunity. 

Please visit our newly renovated “Volunteer Opportunities” site here and see for yourself the new layout. Click on any of the opportunities available and see how you can get more information on these roles’ expectations and responsibilities. You can also see fun pictures of current volunteers.  Feel free to share with your networks!

Photo description: 6 pictures aligned horizontally of current Learning Ally Volunteers, some smiling to the camera and some in front of their microphone in their home studios