Using a database-driven website to connect students with community volunteer opportunities
Abstract
Matching college students with the numerous opportunities for community volunteerism can be challenging without appropriate systems in place. Michigan Campus Compact AmeriCorps*VISTA members, serving with the Community Service Learning Center at Grand Valley State University, created a database-driven website to ensure that volunteer matching is easy and efficient. Stephanie Kroll submitted this effective practice in September 2005, based on experiences during her service term.
Issue
The Community Service Learning Center (CSLC) at Grand Valley State University receives numerous requests for volunteers from local nonprofit organizations. A tool was needed to easily distribute information about local volunteer opportunities to Grand Valley's many college students.
Action
AmeriCorps*VISTA members serving at the Community Service Learning Center at Grand Valley State University created a custom database-driven website (Volunteer Net) designed specifically for the CSLC to facilitate volunteer matches. Effective practices for community agencies, college students and CSLC staff include using the database to:
- Enter and search opportunities
- Track volunteer hours
- Run reports
Community agencies use the website to advertise volunteer opportunities by:
- Posting opportunities directly to the Web site
- Submitting information (via email, fax, or post) that CSLC staff can post on their behalf
College students:
- Search through opportunities and agencies of interest in Volunteer Net
- Post completed volunteer hours to keep track of them for various other programs on campus
- List names of classes in which they are required to volunteer
CSLC staff members maintain Volunteer Net by:
- Sending letters to local nonprofit agencies, informing them of Volunteer Net and asking them to post opportunities
- Reviewing and approving new opportunities
- Running detailed reports that include information such as: active volunteers, opportunity matching, total hours volunteered by an individual, student organization or agency
- Sending e-mails to users who have indicated they wish to receive a weekly e-mail with information about volunteer opportunities
Context
The Community Service Learning Center operates within the Office of Student Life at Grand Valley State University. The opportunities the CSLC passes on to students are co-curricular. Sometimes students visit the CSLC looking to volunteer to meet a class requirement, but most students are looking for extra-curricular volunteer opportunities.
Grand Valley State University is a comprehensive, public university located in Allendale, Michigan—on the west side of the state, twelve miles from Grand Rapids. Grand Valley is a learning community where close student-faculty interaction enhances both teaching and learning. To support such an environment, the university encourages students to participate actively with faculty in all aspects of their education, from formal classroom instruction to research. Undergraduate students have access to the types of academic experiences most students only get in graduate school.
The Michigan Service Scholars Program (MSS) provides scholarships statewide to students attending Michigan Campus Compact (MCC) member campuses through a grant from The Michigan Community Service Commission and The Corporation for National and Community Service. Students willing to complete 300 hours of community service during one calendar year will be awarded a $1,000 scholarship, otherwise known as an AmeriCorps Educational Award, to be used for any educational purpose. Community service hours can be completed during the academic year and/or over class breaks.
Outcome
Many of today's college students, often referred to as "millennial students," are technologically savvy and are accustomed to having information at their fingertips. By using a database-driven website to disseminate volunteer opportunities, the CSLC is able to make information about volunteering available to students in a way they are accustomed to and can easily access.
Another benefit of Volunteer Net is that it streamlines the amount of time and effort spent gathering volunteer opportunities and passing them on to interested students.
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