If you’re looking to include volunteering as part of your organization/club activities, here are some recommendations to build strong relationships with various non-profit organizations that serve the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community in Las Vegas.
Location, Location, Location
If you’re running a high school/college club or organization, keep in mind that not everyone has easy access to transportation. While we have rideshares available to get people from point A to point B, keep in mind that your members are looking to volunteer their time and ideally not spending money to cover the cost to travel for volunteering.
If you’re uncertain where your members live, you can use Google Maps and create pins for everyone’s address to help you know what areas in Las Vegas members can carpool together and volunteer events your members are nearby.
Make Sure You’re Delivering Clear Expectations
As you work with community organizers for an upcoming volunteer event, make sure to share clear expectations of how many possible members can volunteer for the event.
For most events that require volunteers, the community organizers rely on your organization to deliver a specific amount of volunteers that can help out with the event. If half of the volunteers from your organization/club shows up to the event, it can cause a logistical issue with the community organizer as they had already pre-planned areas where your organization can help.
Set an internal deadline within your club or organization a couple of weeks before the volunteering event to make sure you have a rough idea of how many volunteers can help with the event.
If you notice that you’ll most likely not deliver the expected number of volunteers for an event, contact the community organizer as soon as possible so they can reach out to other organizations/clubs to help with the event.
Being proactive on what you can and can’t deliver to a community organizer will help them greatly as they plan out the logistical side of the event.
Be Prompt
If you are communicating with a community organizer via text or email. Be sure to respond within 24-48 hours. Being prompt and communicating with the community organizer will show your engagement prior to the event and help build a relationship.
If you’re unable to answer a question immediately, let them know that you’ll get back to them by a certain date with an answer.
Take A Lot of Pictures and Share!
Assign someone in your organization/club to take photos of your members at the event. This is a great way to promote the event within your club/organization for next year and you can share these pictures with the community organizer after the event.
Encourage your members to volunteer their time to post their experience at the event on their social networks.
This is a great way to provide indirect marketing for the event and hopefully encourage other members who couldn’t volunteer to be excited for next year.
Send A Thank-You Email
For most events, community organizers are exhausted and moving on to planning the next event. Be sure to send a thank you email on behalf of your organization/club to the community organizer within 24-48 hours to allow your organization to volunteer for the event.
You’ll get brownie points for being professional and further develop a great relationship with the non-profit organization.
Volunteer with OCA
Become a volunteer by joining one of the largest AANHPI advocacy organizations in the United States. Annual membership pricing starts as low as $10/year. Purchase your membership here.