Preparing Volunteers to Make a Difference.

Philosophy of Volunteerism. CCE has thousands of volunteers each year that amplify the efforts of our paid staff, improve the quality of our work and increase enthusiasm for our programs. Although the much-needed help is greatly appreciated, supervision and support of these volunteers can provide a management challenge!

Find Out More

• Power Point Presentation from Volunteer Involvement Policy Regional Rollouts
• Independent Sector - Per hour value of volunteers for 2005
• Bureau of Labor Statistics - Survey shows percentage of population volunteering

Organizational Readiness and Engagement of Volunteers.  The CCE Association Volunteer Involvement Policy and Procedures is the required system policy for Cornell Cooperative Extension Associations.  This contains a clarification and definition of the legal relationship of volunteers to local extension associations including ways to sort volunteer roles.  Volunteers working with vulnerable age and ability groups in unsupervised settings are required to have an extensive background check.  All volunteers agree to act in the interests of the organization while carrying out their roles.

Find Out More

• Volunteer Involvement Policy (VIP), along with tools and procedures needed to carryout this policy
• How to write a Volunteer Position Descriptions

NEW - 2010 4-H Salute to Excellence Award - Nominate your volunteers for the 2010 Lifetime Volunteer Award (10 yrs and over) or the Volunteer of the Year Award (less than 10 yrs). Cash prizes for Regional and National winners. Nominating a State Fair 4-H Volunteer of the Day is a great start.

2010 Information for Reference

• 4-H Salute to Excellence memo
• 4-H Salute to Excellence nomination form with guidelines and criteria.
• Due Friday, Nov. 13, 2009.

2009 Winner - Kudos to Connie Cockrell, CCE of Fulton/Montgomery Counties volunteer, for being selected as New York State's 2009 Salute to Excellence Volunteer of the Year (serving under 10 years) and one of 8 Regional winners in the Nation. Connie will be recognized at the Northeast 4-H SET Forum in July 2009 in New Hampshire and the 4-H program of her choice gets $200! 2009 Lifetime Volunteer Award nominee from New York State was Jeanne Bear, Greene County. Congratulations to both volunteers and nominating staff!

Volunteer Selection and Screening.  The VIP requires a criminal background check for certain categories of volunteers, based upon their exposure to potentially vulnerable population in unsupervised settings. The policy does not require use of a specific vendor or consultation with a specific database. See the VIP Background Check Memo (updated 10/07) for more information including the option of using the VolunteerSelect Plus volunteer screening service (and the special promotion code). This option remains the least expensive and most effective for the price and is dedicated to service to volunteers.

Find Out More

• www.volunteerselectplus.com (includes instructions on how to set up an account).

If you have difficulty using the service, please use the help numbers provided. For additional information about VIP and the screening process, Kim Fleming, State 4-H Program Specialist.

Orientation and Education of Volunteers.

Find Out More

• Volunteer Orientation Checklist
• Orientation Handbook Topics

Volunteer Resources for 4-H Youth Development. Over 22,000 youth are served by the dynamic partnership of volunteers working with staff and administration. Volunteers, including youth volunteers, fill a variety of roles in   4-H Youth Development programming and are as diverse as the population of the state. They are valued and recognized by staff and administration. Our NYS 4-H Club Leader Handbook  was written specifically to assist club leaders and the staff that support them.  Some CCE Associations have tailored the 4-H Leader Handbook with specific county program information.

Find Out More

• National 4-H Headquarters website for volunteers and staff
• Funding from Monsanto also enabled development of the 4-H Volunteer Recruitment Toolkit which can be found on www.4-HBrandNetwork.org.  Components of this toolkit - brochures, flyers, etc. were downloaded nearly 14,000 times. 
• 4-H Volunteers USA – the first national 4-H resource for volunteers on the web.
• The NYS 4-H Resource Directory – a way for volunteers to find and order great 4-H resources.

Sustainability of Volunteer Efforts.  Key pieces of the VIP address supervision, evaluation, and performance management of volunteers. These are all issues that are linked to sustainability.

• Supervision & Evaluation Checklist
• Volunteer Evaluation Sample Discussion Questions
• Volunteer Evaluation Report
• Volunteer Agreement Renewal Form
• Managing Volunteer Conflict Other Concerns
• Releasing an Ineffective or Detrimental Volunteer