Badger Volunteers

Badger Volunteers Program Staying Online

For the Spring 2021 semester we will remain completely virtual, which will include staff working from home and all aspects of the Badger Volunteers program staying online.

Virtual volunteering: If your organization has opportunities for virtual volunteering, please register them on the Dashboard with volunteer requests by end of day Friday, Dec. 18. If you have not partnered with us during in-person volunteering times, but want to partner for spring 2021 please email Anya Piotrowski, so we can talk about how to partner. Once registration closes, Anya Piotrowski will reach out to confirm submissions before they go live for student registration in January.

We ask that the volunteer opportunities you register for the semester remain within the typical one to four hours of volunteering to maintain consistency within BV for the semester and to manage expectations of student capacity. Similar to the fall semester, the Badger Volunteers Executive Board members will serve as pseudo-team leaders, checking in with you and the volunteers at your site regularly. We will continue to offer facilitated orientations, education sessions, and our expanded intentional reflection opportunities.

We acknowledge that what works best for one organization hosting virtual volunteers may not work best for others and are actively seeking to support you all no matter what the process may look like. Therefore, we are asking community partners to read the information below prior to registering so that you register opportunities that best reflect your spring 2021 volunteer needs.

Option 1: If you are submitting registration for set volunteer times Please complete the opportunities registration as the form indicates. You will need to complete registration for each separate opportunity, but not for separate teams doing the same volunteer work. For the same volunteer position but multiple days, please simply add each of the day/time slots for that opportunity. *This is reflective of the original BV registration process and ideal for organizations needing or seeking volunteers in a team format.*

Option 2: If you are submitting registration for flexible volunteer time If it is easier to coordinate individually with Badger Volunteers for their volunteer times at your organization, please indicate broader time frames. For example, if you are seeking volunteers on Tuesdays but the time is flexible, please indicate the earliest time you would need a volunteer and the latest time; that may look like 8am to 4pm. Please also indicate clearly in the description of the organization and the role that you are going to coordinate individual volunteer times with registered volunteers so by signing up they are indicating availability within the broad time frame and will coordinate with you for the more specific volunteer shift.

What can I use Badger Volunteers for?

Badger Volunteers connects teams of UW-Madison students with local community sites (schools, nonprofits, municipalities) to volunteer with that organization 1-4 hours every week for an entire semester. We are particularly interested in partners focused on education, sustainability and public health.

Badger Volunteers is ideal for community partners who have a regular, weekly need for volunteers. We provide logistical support, transportation, training and education sessions for student volunteers in the program. Badger Volunteers operates in the spring, summer and fall. If interested in bringing a Badger Volunteers team to your organization, contact: badgervol@morgridge.wisc.edu

> Existing Partners: Log Into Your Partner Dashboard

It is up to your site to determine what your needs are and how Badger Volunteers can help support you. We encourage you to think of your needs and structure the Badger Volunteer experience around that need. You can have more than one Badger Volunteer team at your site a week.

Community Nonprofit Eligibility

All potential new sites complete a proposal that asks basic questions about their program and volunteer needs. To be eligible as a community partner, an agency must:

• Demonstrate a need and utilize volunteers in order to achieve your mission
• Exhibit a commitment to a weekly service model
• Have the capacity to handle a group (3-20) of students at one time
• Demonstrate a willingness to support a positive learning environment for student volunteers
• Identify a contact person who welcomes the opportunity to serve as a Badger Volunteer
• Supervisor, who is in the position to make the necessary time commitment

*Exact dates are subject to change related to programming, however, the general timeline will remain the same (i.e. BV Registration will be the first two weeks of the semester, though the exact start and end dates may change)