Roll Call | Games | Volunteer Recruiting | Project Teaching Idea | |4-H Member Poem | Parent's Pledge | How To Kill an Organization | Program_Planning
Volunteer Recruiting
June 25, 2009
In March I attended a workshop presented by Linda Graff (http://www.lindagraff.ca/ ). Linda is a very highly regarded international consultant in the area of volunteers and risk management for voluntary organizations. The workshop focused on volunteer trends and issues in the volunteer community.
According to Graff, there are not fewer volunteers than previously, but the nature of volunteerism has changed. In order to effectively attract volunters. organizations need to provide attractive opportunities. So, having said that, what does an "attractive opportunity" look like. Here are a few current trends to consider when thinking about finding volunteers:
- Volunteers want a short term commitments, not a lifetime commitment to an organization.
- Volunteers want "Easy In - Easy Out". Don't make the application,orientation and preparation process a big deal.
- Volunteers want to do important work where they can see that they have made a difference.
- Volunteers want to be able to have their own "turf" that they can work in - in other words give them parameters of the job and let them decide how to accomplish the goal.
So, what does this mean for a 4-H club? I think that it means that a 4-H club may have less registered leaders, but more volunteers. It is easier to find someone to assist with your club for a month or two (or even one meeting) than it is to find someone to commit for a whole club year. .A club has one or two adults who look after the club activities and a series of volunteers to assist with certain club activities. You may have an individual who looks after communication activities. That individual organizes a workshop in presentations and/or public speaking and works with the committee that organizes the club communication event. This may mean that they are active for a couple of months and then they are not an active volunteer with your club. You may also have people who look after specific aspects of project training. This person may only attend one or two meetings and then their responsibilities are finished.
If you club is going to do this, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. To ensure that the volunteers who work with your club are covered by the insurance policy which we have you should record who you have recruited for what responsibilities in the minutes. Additionally when you have an unscreened volunteer working with members you should have a screened volunteer present.
Project Teaching Idea
May 15, 2009
A couple of times over the last little while I have come across this game which is another way of teaching project skills.
Project Baseball
Preparation:
Prepare a game board - which is a picture of a baseball diamond. The board should be on a bulletin board, cardboard, or ceiling tile that pins will stay in.
Obtain some stick pins or tacks with two different coloured heads (one colour for each team). You need at least three pins of each colour.
Prepare questions. Listing one question on an index card works well (include the answer too).. Once the questions are prepared, sort them into questions which are singles (relatively simple), doubles (a bit harder, or with a two part answer), triples (harder still or with a three part answer) and home runs (hardest questions). If you want to, you may ask your members to look at the project materials and come up with questions for the game. It's a good idea to have lots of "single"questions.
On a blackboard/whiteboard or piece of flipchart paper create a scoreboard.
Playing:
Decide who will be the umpire (This person will decide if the answer to the question is correct or not).
Divide the group into two teams and designate a colour of tack or pin for each team.
Determine which team will be up to bat first.
Start with any member of the team up to bat first, then move through the batting order giving every member a turn "at bat". The batter states whether or not they want a single, double, triple or home run question. The umpire may read this question out loud to the member, or you may get someone from the opposing team to read (pitch) the question.
A correct answer is a hit and an appropriate coloured tack is placed on the appropriate base. If they answered a single question correctly the tack would be placed on first base, a double - second base and a triple - third base. An incorrect answer is an out. After three outs, the team retires and the other team has the opportunity to bat (answer questions). To score a run, a player must be forced off base and hit home by a team mate. There is no stealing bases, and once someone is on base they cannot be tagged out. When an inning is over the bases are cleared.
Mark the scores up either at the end of each inning, or as they are earned. (Depending upon what your scoreboard is written on.)
You can play for a certain number of innings, until the time you have has expired, or until you run out of questions.
Have fun!!
The 4-H Members
May 11, 2009
The following comes from the "New 4-H Family Handbook" developed by the Montana 4-H Centre for Youth Development:
Some members work to keep clubs strong,
While others join just to belong.
Some dig in, some serve with pride,
Some go along, just for the ride.
Some volunteer to do their share,
Some lie back and just don't care.
Some do their best, some help, some make,
Some give nothing, only take
Some greet new members with a smile,
and make their coming more worthwhile.
While some go on their merry way,
and rarely have a kind word to say.
Some help leaders do and show
When asked to help, they don't say no.
Some drag, some pull, some don't, some do.
Consider, which of these are you?
Parent's Pledge
Feburary 20, 2009
Parents can be a real asset to any 4-H club. They often come to the club with a variety of skills and abilities and can provide assistance to clubs in a variety of ways. In 4-H, as in any organization we hope that the people associated with our clubs are there not only for themselves, but also to assist the whole club to be come better.
While searching the web, I found a couple of documents that have relevance to parental involvement. One is the Parent's Pledge and the other is the Anit-Parent's Pledge. They both contain food for thought for any adult involved in a youth organization. Here they are:
4-H Parent's Pledge
I pledge my..
HEAD: To give my child the information I can,
To help him/her see things clearly and
To make wise decisions
HEART: To encourage and support my child no matter whether he/she has successes or disappointments
HANDS: To help my child’s club; if I cannot be a leader, I can help in many equally important ways.
HEALTH:To keep my child strong and well for a better world through 4-H,
For my child’s club, our community and our country.
Parent’s Anti 4-H Pledge:
I pledge my..
Head to force my ideas on others whether they are welcome or not.
Heart to meet my need over the needs of others.
Hands to do the work for my kids so they will be a positive reflection of me.
Health to self-righteous living
because I know what is best for my club, my community and my country.
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How To Kill An Organization
January 30, 2009
4-H Clubs are like many other community organizations. Some clubs stick around for years and years and some have a lifespan of only a few years. There are 4-H clubs in Alberta that have been operating for nearly 90 years and some clubs only last a year or two.
There are lots of reasons why clubs no longer operate, sometimes there are no young people in that community interested in the projects being offered, sometimes there are no adults willing to take on leadership of the club, and sometimes there are other factors which come into play.
On the Manitoba 4-H web-site there is a great article titled "How to KILL an Organization.". It provides lots of ideas on ways you can kill any organization you are involved with.
Here's a link to that article: How to Kill an Organization
This article is written "tongue in cheek", but I suggest that you take a look at yourself and see if you are exhibiting any of the behaviours described in the article. If you are, then maybe you should change what you are doing or try to make some changes in your club. If you have someone in your club who is doing the things on this list, maybe you could gently point out that their actions are not good for the whole club and work with them to make some changes. Remember if you want your club to make changes the best way to do that is to go gently and work with others to make the changes not against them.
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Program Planning
December 8, 2008
At this time of year, clubs have generally started up and are well underway. The officers and leaders have been elected, the club registration has been submitted and the club is underway.
Hopefully your club has also adopted it's program plan and budget for the coming year. If you haven't done a program plan and budget, it's not too late. One of the simple program planning models which I know of is the DARTE method. It consists of five steps, which are:
Define
- what you wish to accomplish for the year. This step is where you would set your club goals. Club goals may be that you want to have fun and learn a bit about your project, or the club goal may be to plan a trip to the Maritimes. It's up to the club to decide this.
Alternatives - once you know what you want to accomplish, then look at all the ways you could accomplish those goals. Basically in this phase you think of things you could do as a club. Some of the activities which clubs do are required, and some are not. Examples of required activities are ensuring that members have an opportunity to present a communication activity to the club, doing a community service activity and having an achievement day.
Resources - evaluate what resources are available to you. There are lots of different types of resources. They include money, facilities and people. At this point, you may want to start working on your club budget. You may find that you need to include some fundraisers in your yearly plan.
When evaluating activities and resources you may want to look at doing some activities with other clubs. For example, many clubs provide training in communication activities. If two or three clubs worked together, one club could organize an activity which would be targeted at senior members and could province more advanced training for them and another club could organize an event which would focus on members just starting to participate in communication activities.
The final activity of the Resources phase of the process is to set the program plan. Once you have that decided upon. Usually a committee of the club sets the plan and then it is taken to a general meeting for approval by the club. Remember to include who is responsible for activities on the plan.
Test - during this phase of the process you work through the plan. Someone, usually the General Leader, is responsible for monitoring the committees who are planning events, but it is the responsibility of those members to ensure that events happen.
Evaluate - the final step is to evaluate. This can be done informally after each activity, but before you start planning your next year's program you should take some time to talk about what went well, what didn't go so well and how could you improve.
Setting up a program plan at the start of the year and making sure all the families in your club are aware of the plan and their responsibilities will make your club more effective.
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