In this session from the 2015 VolunteerMatch Summit, participants learned about a new national volunteerism initiative entitled Hunger Volunteer Connection. Six national organizations and the founding sponsor, ConAgra Foods Foundation, have come together to ignite and catapult volunteering in the hunger space by creating a national call to action and providing training opportunities focused on strategic volunteer activities for volunteers and organizations fighting hunger across the country.
How have these seven organizations been able to rally around a common goal? What makes this initiative different from other national volunteer efforts? How has the group worked together to successfully overcome hurdles? The presenters will address these pivotal questions about partnership and collaboration, and share the value of coming together to achieve greater results. Participants will also learn about a key signature tool created to support this effort and explore the initiative’s companion website: www.hungervolunteerconnection.org.
2. COMETOGETHER
VOLUNTEERMATCH SUMMIT
DECEMBER 1 & 2, 2015
Kori Reed, ConAgra Foods
DeShele Dorsey Taylor, ConAgra Foods Foundation
Jennifer Bennett, VolunteerMatch
Acting Together to
Build Nonprofit Capacity
3. Acting Together to Build
Nonprofit Capacity
VolunteerMatch Summit
Oakland, CA
December 2015
4. Agenda For Today
• Get to Know One Another
• Introduce Hunger Volunteer Connection (HVC) and Roadmap to Success
• Explore Companion Website
• Spotlight VolunteerMatch Program Improvement Tool
• Q&A
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5. Hunger Volunteering Opportunities Clarified
Source: NYCCAH Beyond The Food Drive Toolkit
5
SNAP Benefits
School Breakfast
Summer Meals
Gardens,
Farmers’
Markets
CSAs
Raise Awareness
SBV/
Pro Bono
Raise Money
Emergency and Intermittent
Food Assistance
Food Drives
Advocacy
Interest: Drive
more engagement
in this part of the
spectrum
12/8/2015
6. Hunger Volunteer Connection: Vision and Goals
VISION:
• To ignite and catapult volunteering by inviting the public to join together in the fight to
end hunger through strategic volunteerism, while preparing community and civic
organizations to engage more volunteers in deeper ways
GOAL:
• Strengthen the capacity and reach of nonprofits through the donation of at least 500,000
hours of service in the fight against hunger by September 2018, with half of the hours
focused on strategic volunteerism
12/8/2015 6
7. Hunger Volunteer Connection: Objectives and Priorities
OBJECTIVES:
• Inspire and engage more people to dedicate their time, talents, and voice to the fight
against child hunger
• Increase volunteers’ participation in strategic service activities which can yield greater
results and impact toward reducing hunger in the United States.
12/8/2015 7
8. STEP 1: Create a Common Agenda
National Infrastructure
Development
Nonprofit & Volunteer Capacity
Building
Thought Leadership
12/8/2015 8
• Increase national awareness of hunger and role of strategic
volunteerism as a solution for long-term sustainable change
• Identify and fill gaps in training and resource needs
• Increase utilization of technology to support data collection,
visibility of opportunities and volunteer management
• Establish a centralized hub for stakeholders to connect and
engage
• Provide national and local training opportunities
• Increase access to technical assistance, coaching, and peer
learning
• Establish a library of online tools and resources
9. Step 2: Establish a Collaborative Team
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Volunteer Outreach &
Engagement Expertise
Skill-Based
Volunteerism
Hungervolunteer.org
AmeriCorps-VISTA
Hunger Advocacy
City
Governments
Organizational
Development &
Tracking
#collaborating4change
Leading Child
Hunger Funder &
Founding Sponsor
Key questions to consider:
• What organization can
add value to the
initiative?
• What expertise is needed
for long-term success?
• What organization has
access to the
stakeholders you want to
engage?
• What resources and
assets are needed to
support the initiative’s
goals and objectives?
10. STEP 3: Define Roles and Responsibilities
12/8/2015 10
• Founding
sponsor
• Provide
backbone
support
• Leverage for
thought
leadership
• Develop
advocacy toolkit
• Provide training
on how to create
an advocacy plan
and engage
stakeholders
• Expand Hunger
Free
Communities
Network
• Develop SNAP
and summer
meals blueprints
• Leverage Cities
of Service
Network
• Host training series
aligned with
volunteer toolkit
• Develop best
practice guides for
grassroots
organizations
• Enhance
hungervolunteer.or
g
• Leverage
AmeriCorp VISTA
Network
11. STEP 3: Define Roles and Responsibilities
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• Create program
model
improvement tool
• Leverage volunteer
network to increase
engagement
• Increase visibility of
hunger among
volunteer network
• Share opportunities
for API feed
• Co-develop skills
based readiness
assessment
• Provide Powered
by Pro Bono
training for
nonprofits and
volunteers in
target cities
• Promote
initiative during
Pro Bono Week
• Co-develop skills
based readiness
assessment
• Provide Ready, Set,
Go training in three
target cities
• Leverage volunteer
network to promote
hunger opportunities
• Manage joint API feed
for companion
website
12. Step 4: Establish Protocols
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As a collaborating partner, each organization agreed to:
• Work together to achieve a common goal
• Support measurement and data collection
• Actively participate in inter-organizational activities
• Convene regularly to assess progress and milestones
• Participate in joint communication efforts
• Align under initiative branding
• Maintain open lines of communication
• Seek opportunities to deepen partner relationships
Photo source: bcii.com
14. Step 5: Create Public Interface - Companion Website
The initiative’s website serves as the public interface for
volunteers and organizations to connect. The goal is for the
website to become the premiere aggregation place for
hunger information, resources, and stories that empowers
individuals and organizations
Each page of the site is designed to:
• Provide key information or data about the cause and
relevance of volunteerism to anti-hunger efforts
• Leverage emotional and compelling narrative to inspire
engagement in initiative activities
• Keep a simple call to action front and center for the visitor
The site features easy color-coded navigation to guide the
user experience
1412/8/2015
www.hungervolunteerconnection.org
15. Phase II: Initiative Goal and Investment Priorities
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Step 6: Establish Opportunities for an Early Win
The collaborative has launched and promoted four
signature tools in 2015
• Step-by-step guidance
on 30 advocacy actions
• www.alliancetoendhun
ger.org/advocacy-
playbook
• Blueprint for mayor’s to
develop civic engagements
focused on summer feeding
• www.citiesofservice.org/site
s/default/files/20150527_C
OS_CommunityTables_Blue
print_0.pdf
• Diagnostic that benchmarks organizations
against core fundamental for an effective
volunteer engagement program
• http://causes.volunteermatch.org/hungers
ervice
1
• Assessment to help organizations
determine readiness for skills-based
volunteers
• www.pointsoflight.org/sbvreadiness
• or www.taprootfoundation.org/get-
probono/be-powered-pro-bono
2
3
4
16. Phase II: Initiative Goal and Investment Priorities
12/8/2015 16
Spotlight: VolunteerMatch Program Improvement Tool
Hunger Volunteer Program Improvement Tool
24. Stay Connected
12/8/2015 24
Help spread the word about www.hungervolunteerconnection.org AND share your tools and success
stories to enhance the site
Send an email to join our mailing list for updates: deshele@dorseyimpactsolutions.com
Follow us on social media:
@conagrafoods
@toendhunger
@citiesofservice
@taprootfound
@pointsoflight
@volunteermatch
@joelsberg (NYCCAH)
@desheleonimpact
Any additional questions, please contact DeShele Dorsey Taylor at deshele@dorseyimpactsolutions.com
or 678-418-2224 THANK YOU FOR JOINING US TODAY!!
ACTING TOGETHER, WE CAN BE PART OF THE SOLUTION
#collaborating4change
Notas do Editor
Building the long-term capacity of organizations to ease the burden of using their limited funds to pay for professional services (skills-based or pro bono, organizational governance)
Helping communities to grow, distribute and sustain access points to farm-fresh foods (gardens, community supported agriculture, farmers' markets)
Increasing the awareness of and connecting families to the Federal Nutrition Programs such as SNAP, summer meals and school breakfast programs
Participating in advocacy actions that will inform and engage elected officials to champion and preserve Federal funding for nutrition and anti-poverty programs and to strengthen the ability of these programs to aid Americans in need
Volunteer programs are somewhat strategic
Management and staff are not supporting the development of volunteer programs
There opportunities for infrastructure improvement
Recruitment, Screening and Placement is at a basic level for the majority
Large room for improvement; Mid to larger size organizations fair somewhat better
Very few are thinking about community outreach opportunities for volunteering