Whether it’s for a personal reason, a cause or initiative you believe in or as a way of helping an organization you admire, everyone should volunteer. The rewards will come back to you a hundred-fold, in terms of satisfaction, professional growth and building new, and often important, personal relationships.
There are myriad ways you can volunteer, whether it be a few hours a week handing out meals at a food pantry to donating significant professional services on an ongoing basis. Not too surprisingly, volunteers are the backbone of many nonprofits across Northeast Ohio. Yet many nonprofits seek incredible challenges when it comes to meeting their needs for volunteers.
This is the first of several articles that are a collaboration between HW&Co., a CPA and advisory firm headquartered in Cleveland with numerous clients in the nonprofit sector, and Business Volunteers Unlimited (BVU), a Northeast Ohio-based organization focused on building partnerships between businesses and nonprofits. A webinar is scheduled for later this month.
“It’s very hard to see just how some of these nonprofit organizations can execute their mission without having a sizable core of volunteers,” says Helen Weeber, senior manager, director of HW&Co.’s Nonprofit Advisors Group. “Even nonprofits that have very successful fundraisers cannot do it on their own. Their people are doing a lot of work, but there are still staffing shortages or they are on tight budgets.”
“We work with virtually every type of nonprofit here in Northeast Ohio,” says Rob Zaremsky, director of business and community engagement at BVU. “We send thousands of volunteers to support hundreds of different organizations, many in high impact areas.
“Some of that is done through our volunteer center, which is something of a free forum for volunteers to find opportunities and get connected. But we also have businesses that we work with here locally. We support them in assisting nonprofits with their ongoing business or for upcoming projects. These people not only come from businesses, but from career groups, faith-based groups or from families and even individuals. Our volunteer base is quite different, but it all supports the nonprofit community.”
“Our mentoring program is entirely based on volunteers, so for us it is paramount,” says Lee Friedman, CEO of College Now Greater Cleveland, which helps more than 30,000 students and adult learners prepare for post-secondary education. “Our mentoring program pairs every scholarship recipient with a mentor in the community, whether that mentor is a recent college graduate or is over 85 years old. They offer guidance and are the coaches who help our students make good decisions and hopefully become our next generation of business leaders. We have more than 1,800 volunteers in our mentoring program —and that is just this year.”
But every year that need resets, notes Friedman, so College Now Greater Cleveland is always actively recruiting a new class of mentors. But by all accounts, College Now does have an advantage.
“We’re lucky because a lot of people have an affinity for this kind of work,” says Friedman. “There is also a lot of satisfaction working with young and upcoming talent. But it always comes down to a question of tenacity on our part, which our team has. We make sure we have the right message and our team is good at delivering it. We just have to keep pounding. Every spring there is a concern that we are not going to have enough mentors, but we always do.”
The Gathering Place, which is a community that supports, educates and empowers families coping with cancer, is another nonprofit that is attractive to many volunteers, although it still faces challenges, especially when it comes to filling every position available, says Holly Bhatt, volunteer services manager. While it has just over 20 full-time employees, the Gathering Place enlists the help of hundreds of volunteers annually, some of whom spread the word about the organization or visit cancer survivors in the community all the way up to professionals with specific skillsets such as financial planning or legal guidance.
“We even have Reiki masters and reflexologists who are more specialized volunteers, all the way down to people who help in our warehouse with all sorts of tasks,” says Bhatt. “Many of our volunteers fit our participants with wigs after they have lost their hair from chemo.”
Those volunteers may be here on a part-time basis serving as a receptionist at the front desk.
“But they are always in demand. And they are always welcome,” adds Bhatt.
