VIP links volunteers, programs

Editor’s note: This is the third in a series about the Sandpoint Community Resource Center, its people and programs. This story details the mission behind SCRC’s Volunteer Idaho Panhandle, connecting volunteers and organizations across Bonner and Boundary counties.

By MARY MALONE

Staff writer

SANDPOINT — “The heart of a volunteer is never measured in size, but by the depth of commitment to make a difference in the lives of others.”

This quote by author DeAnn Hollis encompasses the passion many volunteers bring to helping out in their communities. It can be a daunting task, however, for organizations to find the perfect volunteer and, likewise, for volunteers to find the perfect organization.

Volunteer Idaho Panhandle, a program of the Sandpoint Community Resource Center, seeks to ease that burden on organizations and volunteers alike.

“Our goal is to have everybody who is in need of volunteers to know that there is one place that they can come, both to find a volunteer and to find a volunteer opportunity,” said Becca Orchard, SCRC board vice president and founder of VIP.

Orchard’s VIP vision became reality in 2016 following a symposium sponsored by SCRC. The discussion at the event centered around three common trends among nonprofit organizations — the need for funds, training and development, and volunteers.

“I thought of this idea of creating kind of a one-stop-shop for volunteering,” Orchard said. “As a nonprofit, I had been trying on my own to recruit volunteers for the resource center and had struggled because there didn’t seem to be one place where people went who were looking to volunteer.”

Before moving to Sandpoint in 2009, Orchard was involved with a nonprofit that used the national online recruiting tool Volunteer Match. Through the platform, organizations can list opportunities and volunteers can shop for those opportunities — kind of like a dating service to find the perfect match between volunteers and organizations.

“I was surprised Volunteer Match did not have a presence here,” Orchard said. “So, I was left with some of the more traditional ways to try and recruit volunteers, and as a startup kind of an organization, it was even more challenging, because I am competing with the very well-known opportunities in the community … I recognized that others may be facing some of the same challenges.”

The director of United Way for North Idaho approached her after the symposium, she said, and offered to send someone over from Americorps to help Orchard develop the VIP concept. They soon established an advisory board, developed a logo and online presence and, what started out as a concept, has grown to a program that matches volunteers with opportunities across the panhandle. As with the resource center itself, VIP serves Bonner and Boundary counties.

Volunteer Match provides “a marketplace of opportunities,” and the job of the VIP team is to promote the marketplace and drive organizations and shoppers to the platform. While that makes up about 65 percent of the VIP program, Orchard said, they also host a Volunteer Match Live experience once a month at various locations around the area.

“It is sort of like speed dating for volunteers,” Orchard said.

Evans Brothers Coffee Roasters identifies a different nonprofit each month to feature and support with 15 percent of profits on a chosen fundraising day. VIP was the featured nonprofit for the month of February, so in addition to reaping the benefits from the fundraising day, the organization took advantage of the opportunity to use the venue for last month’s Volunteer Match Live event.

VIP also includes other community events and a Facebook page that answers the need for “real-time opportunities,” Orchard said, for those who are more spontaneous about volunteering.

One reason that VIP is such a great resource, Orchard said, is because there are so many “hidden” volunteer opportunities out there.

“And there is a whole bunch of hidden people that organizations don’t tap into,” she said. “Especially what we find is new people that come into the community — they are the ones who struggle with finding their happy place.”

SCRC itself has found success with the program, said Executive Director Linnis Jellinek. They recently posted openings on the SCRC executive board using Volunteer Match, and found two “amazing” board members, she said.

“So that is something I think is a great opportunity,” Jellinek said. “A lot of boards need new blood.”

In addition to the two new board members, SCRC has gained four volunteer resource specialists through Volunteer Match, as well as two virtual volunteers who do the organization’s web design and marketing.

One of the new SCRC volunteers, Amy McGuire, said she moved to the area just a few years ago and was looking at ways that she could be more involved in the community. What better way to do that, she said, than to volunteer.

“And it was such a relief to find a centralized database that was one main resource hub, where I could connect to many different opportunities in the community,” McGuire said.

McGuire first came across VIP at a community event in January, and then again in the promotions for the live event at Evans Brothers. She happened to be researching volunteer opportunities in the area, she said, and again came across VIP or Volunteer Match through an online search.

She created a profile, and said even though there are many organizations in the area that are not yet on Volunteer Match, there was a “plethora” of ways to be involved in the community. While she landed at SCRC, McGuire said she plans to continue networking with organizations on a larger scale.

“This is going to lead me to so many other opportunities,” McGuire said. “And the team here is another benefit that I am learning that, as far as volunteering, the camaraderie is huge. And just doing something that is fulfilling … there are all these opportunities to get involved and just feel good about what you are doing in the community.”

Being new to the community, McGuire said she knew immediately that Sandpoint was a place where people support one another and understand the “true meaning of community.”

“SCRC is a huge contributor of that and I want to carry the torch for them,” McGuire said.

For information, visit sandpointcommunityresource.com, email volunteer@sandpointcommunityresource.com or call 208-920-1480.

The next Volunteer Match Live event will be held from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday, March 16, at the Ponderay Starbucks.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.