6 things I learned planning a nonprofit volunteer event
The door is locked.
They lock these? Of course, they lock them. Also, it’s 6:38 in the morning on a Saturday. And it’s 2019. Of course, it’s locked. Ok. Who can we call?
When I got to our venue on the day of the event, I caught up with one of the site leaders in the lobby. She was going to wait for our morning volunteer downstairs and I was going to head up to the 20th floor of 50 Milk St (otherwise known as Impact Hub Boston) to get things going.
I check in with the front desk and, since it’s before 7AM on a Saturday, there’s 0 wait for the elevator. I walk out of the elevator, go down the hall, grab the glass door handle to our space and pull. The only problem? It doesn’t budge.
Let me back up.
441 days ago, planning for the first-ever Make A Mark Boston event started. In short, Make A Mark is a “12-hour design and development marathon” that benefits local nonprofit organizations.
On a high level, here’s how it works:
- Designers, developers, data scientists, you name it, all apply to become a Maker (or volunteer) for the event. At the same time, local nonprofits are applying with projects or problems they need help with.
- Site leaders review and accept the appropriate nonprofits and Makers.
- Teams are formed to meet each nonprofits specific project needs.
- Meetings between Maker teams and nonprofits are held prior to the event so everyone can learn more about the project and set expectations around the outcome of the day.
- On the day of the event, teams hit the ground running. They meet with their nonprofits about halfway through the day for feedback and present on their accomplishments in the evening.
- As site leaders, it’s our job to raise awareness and bring this event to life. That’s everything from finding a venue to collecting sponsor checks; from promoting applications to reading the; from planning team meetings to planning the day.
Between the three Boston site leaders, we had at least some experience in the various areas of planning and running events. And to be honest, I’m not sure anyone of us was fully prepared for standing up this unique event.
Before I get all sentimental about our team and the event, let me share 6 biggest lessons I learned while planning a volunteer event. (A volunteer event that was my, and our chapter’s first.)
Everyone is grateful so give yourself a break.
Right before our team meetings, where the nonprofits meet their teams, I was super stressed out. What if they don’t like each other? What if the nonprofit doesn’t think this is the right team for them or vise versa? What if someone’s rude? Will the meetings function if I’m not at EVERY SINGLE ONE?
Turns out all of those thoughts were pretty silly. You’re not forcing anyone’s hand here. The volunteers are excited to finally meet and learn more about the organization they’ll be helping. Likewise, the nonprofits are eager to meet and talk to their teams.
In times of stress, remind yourself that everyone applied (and confirmed availability) because they wanted to be apart of this day. The expectation is not that you’re perfect, it’s that you’re willing to help. If teams meet and you wind up needing to make some adjustments, that’s perfectly ok.
This is one of the more exciting stages of the process. Try to enjoy it!
Read the manual.
I didn’t realize I was one of those “I can put this together without reading the directions” type but it turns out, I am. And really, you’re just cheating yourself in that scenario.
Every time I had a question about something, I realized it was answered in the manual. Likewise, there were some things I did that were fine but could’ve been better. The “better” was in the manual.
You don’t have to read it all at once but you do need to read it.
Juggling schedules is hard.
There’s no way around this and it’s two-fold. There’s the schedule of the site leaders and the schedules of.. well, everyone else. For us, it wound up being 3 site leaders, each with full-time jobs, and about 50 nonprofit leaders and makers.
I don’t know about you, but I can barely get my whole volleyball team in one place at one time so wrangling the schedules of 50+ people wasn’t exactly easy.
Be prepared for this. Accept the fact that it is unlikely that every site leader meeting will be in person over a nice cup of coffee. When you have the chance to meet in person, by all means, do that. When you can’t, don’t let it hold you up. Get on the phone, email, text. Conference calls, shared docs and organization will become your best friend.
Likewise, it’s unlikely that every maker will make it to their team meeting. We encourage and highly recommend that everyone attend their meetings in person but life happens. While missing the team meeting isn’t ideal, teams were able to share notes prior to the day of the event and most nonprofits were willing to hop on a call with anyone that couldn’t make the more formal meeting.
Moral of the story here: the show must (and will) go on.
Keep people engaged. (Make it fun!)
As site leaders, you’ve been planning and plotting out this event for a while, but everyone else is not. Some of our Makers and nonprofits applied 2 or so months before the actual event date.
You don’t need me to tell you how much life happens in that amount of time.
When we started reaching out to volunteers and nonprofits about meetings and event details, some of them had forgotten or double-booked themselves.
Next year, you better believe that this email marketer will have a full-blown plan for communicating with everyone along the way. The Make A Mark organization posts announcements and updates throughout the planning process. Those can be fun things to share with the folks signed up. I can see it now.. 50 days until Make A Mark Boston! In the meantime, check out the latest from Make A Mark. Know anyone who might be interested in joining us?
Take off the day before (and maybe the Monday after).
If this is feasible, do it. No matter how prepared you are, things will come up. If your day is set aside for that, it’s less stressful.
Also, if possible, this is a fantastic day to set up your space. We were able to get into the Impact Hub on Friday and it saved us a ton of time Saturday morning. Setting up the space took about 3 hours. Add in all the last minute errands and it makes up a full day.
Now, about Monday. Event day is a long day. While the event itself is 12 hours, your day is more like 20. Allow your body some time to rest after and your mind some time to process. (Plus, there’s a handful of wrap up tasks to complete and you’re going to have 100 thoughts about next year’s event. I find it’s easier to process that when I’m not at the office.)
Consider the details.
It’s really easy to get caught up in the big-ticket items. Especially the first time around.
Are all the meetings scheduled? Do we have enough tables and chairs? Is the food ordered? Have all the sponsor checks come in?
Those things are obviously important but so are the little things. When it’s closer to the event, stop and think about the details.
Will the door be unlocked when you get there? Do you have enough outlets for people to charge their laptops? Do we have snacks for people throughout the day?
Even things like.. How can you bring the Make A Mark brand and feel into your space? One of the site leaders had the lovely idea of bringing in small yellow plants that each team could give to their nonprofit at the reception. It really warmed up our space and was a thoughtful touch.
Lean on the community.
Sarah is your number 1 resource. The Make A Mark Slack is your number 1.5.
Any time I had questions or wanted to add some color to the manual items, I chatted. The manual provides you with a great starting point. The community provides you with their version, their experience and their lessons learned.
Schedule check-ins with Sarah. She’s like the Dumbledore of Make A Mark. She helped keep us on track and addressed any concerns we had. More than that, she’s genuinely interested and excited about your event.
Use the community, contribute to the community. You are not in this alone.
This year, at the inaugural Boston Make A Mark event, we had
I could not be more proud of or thankful for the 2019 team. We had a unique way of complimenting each other’s weaknesses and a shared sense that we were working on something important.
