Orchard Volunteer Coordinator

The Bloomington Community Orchards Volunteer Coordinator is the point person for connecting interested community members with the sustainable initiatives and high-level vision of the orchard. They actively participate on Orchard teams and committees, attend monthly meetings, and play a facilitative role in helping organize and manage community volunteers across various Orchard projects, programs, events and teams.

On-going Responsibilities:

• Inform the local and at-large community about Orchard workdays, teams, and projects while answering questions and connecting volunteers to Orchard leaders.

• • • This generally takes the form of responding to the @GetInvolved and @Info emails (they both come through to the Get Involved email).
    • This also means attending various events as the face of the orchard. Wherever you go, be sure to keep an eye out for people who would make great volunteers for the orchard or have organizations/ideas that the orchard can be involved in or support.
    • We also promote volunteer opportunities and track engagement through the Bloomington Volunteer Network (BVN). Its a website where we post work days and upcoming events and then those looking to do community service can find available opportunities.

• Communicate with the Operations Team to identify large-scale Orchard site projects, and connect interested service groups to help complete those endeavors.

• • • This normally takes place via email. When requests come in, you should email @Operations with the size of the group and the day/time they want to come out. We try and get the group to come on a regular scheduled work day, but if that doesnt work, we just need to be sure there is a leader that can be present. It is best to ask for a confirmation of how many volunteers will be present at least 2 weeks in advance of the day they are coming out.

• Engage the Bloomington and Indiana University communities to raise awareness of the Orchard and share how individuals can get involved in our sustainable initiatives.

• • • This can take place by participating in the BCO-IU student organization, and generally being in touch with the Governance Committee Chair to help identify and recruit for priority leadership, team and committee member, and general volunteer positions.
      
      

• Oversee and track volunteer engagement.

• • • We are currently rolling out a system called Little Green Light, which will track our volunteer hours and activities. One of our Work & Learn Day Leaders will upload each workdays sign in sheets into the system, but you will need to add other activities (e.g., class and event attendees) to the system to ensure accurate reporting.

• Steward volunteers

• • • Volunteer stewardship is an important aspect of every community-driven non-profit. Developing a plan for cultivating volunteers, and encouraging continued involvement will be one of the primary roles of this position.