Group Volunteering Policy

Groups Volunteering Policy: Groups volunteering together need both designated leader(s) and a staff sponsor. This policy outlines the responsibilities of each.
List of Policies - Policy Development

Policy

Policy decided by Council April 2004 Meeting Minutes

This policy applies to groups of people who come in together on a regular basis or just once.

The chaperones/people in charge when the group is volunteering should know enough about Free Geek, how things are laid out, and how to do volunteer tasks so the group can operate as its own self-contained unit.

To accomplish this, the group should first have a staff person willing to work them though the process. This Free Geek staff sponsor would:

1. Communicate with the group's contact and lay out our groups volunteering procedure
2. Consult face-to-face with the group's contact(s)/leaders to decide what tasks would be most appropriate for the group (standard tasks include recycling, testing, cleaning, and/or receiving), talk to them about how to log hours for the group, find out how many in the group need computers, and answer any questions
3. Begin to train the group's leader(s) in the agreed-upon areas of Free Geek. Most of the leaders' training period may be managed by the Busy Bee on shift, just like a normal volunteer.
4. Check in with the leaders at the start of each training shift, making new suggestions as needed, answering questions, and assessing if the leaders are, in fact, becoming ready to lead a group at Free Geek.
5. Meet the group when they come in for the first time (the group leaders can give the tour--after all, they should know Free Geek by then!)! Say hello and let everyone know that they can come to you if they have any questions about Free Geek, although any immediate questions about how to do stuff should be directed to the Busy Bee or area supervisor on duty at the time.
6. Take 10 minutes (or more as needed) to check in after the group's first few visits, then less and less frequently as the sponsor deems necessary.
7. If there's any problems with people in the group, the Free Geek sponsor is responsible for speaking to the group's leaders.

We'd like at least a 1:4 leader to group member ratio with kids, and 1:5 with adults. More than 10 kids is too much, and more than 12 adults is too much. Kids may be younger than 16, but age 11 is the youngest that's recommended.

We'd like as many of the people who will be leaders as possible to train at Free Geek, although just one is OK. They should consider themselves done with training when they would feel comfortable teaching the tasks they've learned to their group, not when the group is ready to come in. It usually takes about 1.5-2 hours to learn a task like receiving or recycling adequately, so the leaders will most likely need to come in many times before they're ready.

If the whole (or even a part) group wants to earn computers, the group leader can be the person who goes on the wait list, and when they're called in, the group can start their hours.

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Here is the Group Volunteering schedule. Here is the Summer Group Volunteering schedule. Darryl is currently in charge of Group Volunteering and puts groups onto the adoption schedule. Once a week, front desk workers double check the schedule to ensure all groups are listed with the proper time and space reserved.

Notes

History

March, 2004

We want groups who come in regularly to be set up somewhat like Steve and his kids. The chaperones/people in charge when the group is volunteering should know enough about Free Geek, how things are laid out, and how to do volunteer tasks so the group can operate as its own self-contained unit.

To accomplish this, the group should first have a staff person willing to work them though the process who will communicate with them and train them on however many tasks they might like to do (probably 2 or 3 to start). This usually will include recycling, testing, cleaning, and/or receiving.

One, two, or more leaders then come in to meet with their staff person, who will explain the groups volunteering protocol, help them choose the tasks they want to do, talk to them about logging hours, and answer any questions. They should then take the tour and train -- 1.5-2 hours on each task so that they learn it and can teach it. They should probably do at least 2 sessions of training so they can learn Free Geek better. When they're done training, they can sign up their group on the schedule, even give the tour themselves when the group first comes in.