How One Busy Food Bank Welcomes All Who Want to Help

The challenge:

The Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado, which has about 40 employees, must figure out how to best deploy an increasing number of people who want to volunteer because they see hunger rising.

The numbers:

The amount of food the group delivered in Southern Colorado grew from 11.5 million pounds in fiscal year 2009 to 18.6 million pounds in fiscal year 2013. The number of volunteers also rose—from 4,307 in fiscal year 2010 to 8,531 in fiscal year 2013. Some of the new volunteers helped the charity respond to Colorado wildfires and floods. The organization tries to find work for all who offer.

Who the volunteers are:

Families with children, students fulfilling community-service requirements, members of faith and civic groups, and court-ordered volunteers. The charity has 67 corporate partners that offer group volunteer projects as team-building exercises.

How they are used:

They pack and sort food, maintain gardens, organize food drives, conduct cooking and nutrition classes, and visit other emergency-food groups to assess needs. Some corporate volunteers perform business services like auditing.

Cost savings:

Volunteers contributed $679,653 of donated time in fiscal year 2013 (using Independent Sector’s estimated value of $22.14 per volunteer hour).

How the group nurtures volunteerism:

• The volunteer-services and community-outreach director is part of the fundraising team under a philosophy that volunteering is “donating time.”
• The group matches people to the work that most interests them, which encourages them to sustain their commitment. After someone is placed in a department, the volunteer-services director follows up to see if he or she is enjoying the work.
• Some longer-term volunteers assume leadership roles, for example, running the greenhouse and gardens, helping with grant research and donor relations, and working at a welcome area for food pickups.
• Each department consults with the volunteer-services director when helping to draw up the organization’s strategic plan.

How it keeps track of so many volunteers:

With the help of grant money from the Leighty Foundation, the organization uses a digital tracking system that allows volunteers to use touch screens, instead of paper, to sign in and out. The group also uses the software programs Volunteer Spot to sign up volunteers and VolunteerHub to match volunteer records with the database of donors.

Source: Reimagining Service; Chronicle reporting