What Khadarlis' Volunteers Have to Say About Us!

Every once in a while, a great volunteer finds an organization they love. 

This is one of those times! One of our more dedicated volunteers wrote an awesome letter detailing her experiences so far at Khadarlis.

Read her full letter now:

I volunteered at Khadarlis, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization located in Providence, Rhode Island because my knowledge and skills were welcomed with open arms. My intent was to contribute to an organization that strived to make positive changes in the lives of those in need. 

What is great about Khadarlis is that the president, co-president and volunteers are all happy to interact with you directly. These are the same individuals personally partaking in the local programs and traveling internationally reaching out to those in need. This accessibility to all members creates a personal connection between those giving and those receiving from Khadarlis.

On my first day touring the facility, I felt the passion and positivity of the members.  Shortly after, I felt a part of the family. I believe great organizations begin with the attitude that any individual can contribute and I have found this in Khadarlis. 

The local program efforts to support children and their families, truly demonstrate the heart of Khadarlis since it originated as an organization working internationally in Sierra Leone. While there is a great need internationally, Khadarlis has not failed to recognize the great need within its own community.

Although I currently no longer live in the vicinity of Khadarlis, I continue to volunteer remotely. I choose to volunteer not only because of my personal connection to the mission but also because of the results this organization has produced. 

The results show internationally in the clothing, agricultural tools, school materials, small business starter materials donated, the rebuilding of homes and locally in the programs that have supported the improvement of school children’s grades, underprivileged parents obtaining their GED degree and job search and resume building through their computer resource center. 

The effort continues on; I was just recently informed about a new Pen Pal program in which Rhode Island students can form a relationship with a student in Sierra Leone and donate school supplies to their new friends.

Whether an individual seeks to volunteer for the first time or a longtime volunteer seeks to strengthen an organization, Khadarlis is an excellent organization worthy of attention from those with big hearts.

Rosita Maeks – Anderson

Khadarlis Volunteer

Oct 2013- Present

Get a volunteer experience just like hers! Fill out a volunteer application today!

What the Andean People Can teach you about Service

If you were asked "What is service?" what would it mean to you?

This is a question we are asked often at Khadarlis. Sometimes it's from our volunteers who don't understand how our entire organization could stand to volunteer without funding.

We can sum it up with a single word: Ayni.

The Andean People and Ayni

Original Photo By: morrisey via Flickr

The Andes is a massive mountain range located in South America. The Andes is also where the word "ayni" originates.

Ayni is comes from a special tradition practiced by some people of the Andes. While it can be described several ways, Ayni is simply giving gifts or services to others. The idea is if you give something to someone in need, they will help you in the future. Or in another word, call it "reciprocity."

You aren't helping someone for money or because have to help someone since they helped you. Ayni, which some say translates in "proper relationship," is about connecting with others and giving service.

In many ways this is what a nonprofit does (or what we think should happen!). 

Connections in Service

We like Ayni not only makes people "give back," but creates networks of people helping each other. If one person helps, they may return the favor and then also help others.

That's what Khadarlis aims to do by serving!

While we pay for our partnerships we want to strength communities. And while we can't physically build a home we want to exchange our time, our effort, our lives to do so.

Even if we cannot be paid, or clients can't give back to us, we hope that they create helping hands in the community.

Ayni in Everyday Life

If you've taken anything away from this conversation we hope that it's one thing: help others that are in need. 

This is what Khadarlis runs everyday!

To Find our More About the Work We do Visit our Website: www.Khadarlis.org

How to Combat Volunteer Boredom

Professionals in nonprofits put their heart and souls into their work. But sometimes we forget that our volunteers are here for different reasons!

It seems like now more than ever smaller nonprofits have trouble keeping volunteers for a long period of time. Trust us, we know the feeling! So read ahead to find a few new ideas to actually keep your volunteers committed.

What Volunteer Boredom Is

If you repeat the same task over and over again you may lose interest after a while. Sometimes the most simple task can get real boring. That's what might be happening with your volunteers.

Your Volunteer Definitely Shouldn't Be this Bored!

The problem is that a pre-defined volunteer role is too limited. If you were forced to only use a small part of your ability, you would probably feel the same way as your volunteers.

Worse, a bored volunteer doesn't care much about your organization or its cause. That means they don't care about work or representing your organization (or your "brand"). They are simply too bored to care. More time may eventually be spent on their phones than monitoring your company social media. 

If you are truly unlucky they may just quit because they won't feel it's worth their time. You need to keep them there!

How to Engage Volunteers

A volunteer who believes in your organization is one who will work hard to achieve things. The quickest way to make someone care is by giving them tasks that can give results. At the same time, they should be held accountable since these tasks are important.

Before you can get to that step, you need to understand your volunteers' objectives. We use a sign-up form that not only gauges volunteer skills, but aks what their potential roles would like to be. 

You want to work with each volunteer and do a few things

• Emphasize your mission, not your organization
• Create an Internship - give your Volunteers more complicated tasks and the ability to grow
• Give them Concrete Tasks to do
• Help Them Grow into leader ship positions
• Show them their results

While this sounds like investing in your employees, it is exactly this. Give people training, give them autonomy, and let them be harder workers than you thought possible.

Have the Right Mindset

Are you reaching volunteers the right way?

We can tell you that posting flyers gloating about your organization's statistics and work is not the way to do so. Remember, younger generations live and breathe the internet.

Create volunteer postings with getting semi-professionals in mind. Post this on social media channels and ask your friends (and hopefully their friends) to share it. Do the same on your website's section on volunteering. Show some benefits of volunteering and show how their efforts will impact your nonprofit's work. (resume building).

Remember your online and offline materials can also attract volunteers as much as they are to attract donors!

You should:

• Create a Clear Volunteer Page
• Be Interactive with slide shows, videos, contests and more
• Do this on Social Media too!

You can even chronicle their efforts in publications and even highlight their work on your blog!

Summary

Taking this approach can actually benefit a growing nonprofit. You will understand more about volunteers, but hopefully gain management experience as well.

Remember, you may find you are getting fewer volunteers replying to your postings, but those you do find will be harder workers! And this doesn't mean you still can't focus on temporary volunteers!

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Helping RI Fire Victims through Collaboration

Fire is often seen as a symbol of life, but many of us forget that fire can take things away.

Each year, Khadarlis is reminded by the number of fire victims we serve. 

While most of the time our Outreach Center  (link to comm outreach center) helps the homeless, it serves a fair share of fire victims this year. But at the end of 2013, we used to help the worst fire victim case we had seen this year.

This client was a woman and a fire in her home caused her to lose almost everything. She and her family barely had anything left. Through our referral partnership with ProCAP, she found her way to Khadarlis.

After several visits to our offices, she was able to get over $5000 in household goods to help her and her family.


This is the kind of work we at Khadarlis live for. We didn't do it alone!

We can't forget Good360.org, the Home Depot Foundation and Bed Bath & Beyond for donating thousands of dollars worth of goods per year to help people in need.

Without the support of these organizations, fire victims like this would not have been able to rebuild lives and for that we than them!

Never forget what the power of collaboration can do for those in need.

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RI Foundation grants Khadarlis $8000 Capacity Building Grant!

With enough effort and patience great things will happen.

That patience has lead us to the news that we have received an  $8000 capacity building grant from the RI Foundation.This is the largest grant Khadarlis has received!

If you are unfamiliar with the RI Foundation, we suggest you visit the RI Foundation website at: http://www.rifoundation.org. The Foundation is the leader in charitable giving in RI and provides grants in tons of key areas to help the people of RI.

With that said, we want to say Thank You Very Much to the Foundation and its efforts! And there's a lot of work to be done!

Our Plan

We want to use these resources wisely! So our plan is to work on organizational development. To do this, plan focusing on the key areas of 

• Board Development
• Develop Standard Procedure
• Create Organization (our biggest problem!)

None of us here at Khadarlis have had much experience developing an organization. That's why we reached out to some experts at an organization called Half-Full

Our new Partnership

We were particularly excited to work with Half-Full since they've had significant experience with Business Development. We've been in contact with Rebecca Twitchell, one of the founders of Half-Full, and hope to move forward with the amount of work being done.

While we can't go into details yet, we are excited to get work done! We're getting closer to a better Khadarlis everyday. 

Our Executive Director has excited for this potential partnership for weeks! Now, it's becoming a reality.

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How to Get More Volunteers for your Nonprofit (and keep them!)

Volunteers disappear fast for many small nonprofits, leaving you without anyone to help you solve community problems

But you CAN stop it happening! How? You just to know a little bit about how new volunteers think and use it to your advantage!

Volunteers and Service

Volunteers are synonymous with service for most human service agencies. Nothing says commitment more than helping others. But there's a big problem. This isn't the way most volunteers view their experiences.

Volunteers see your organization as a short term experience. Now you may find you often have one time volunteers at your events and gatherings, but you can't seem to keep them there. They view these opportunities as a one and done type deal.

 It turns out, these aren't the volunteers you target when growing your organization.

So Khadarlis asks you: Do you know what volunteers are looking for?

The "New" Volunteer

You need to find out what new volunteers need. Some nonprofits make the mistake of hiring people as "bodies." They need someone to answer the phone, to run administrative tasks, and maybe do a little bit of social media. 

But you're making mistakes if you don't target young people looking for ways to prove themselves: recent college graduates. These millenials are known to be idealistic and when you pair that with unemployment rates as high as 13% for recent college grads, you have a grand opportunity to help them help your organization.

In fact, many see that volunteering is an avenue to learn new skills and we believe this is true. So how do you tap into this market? It's easy. You need to know what drives them.

Why You Need Incentives

People are driven by incentives.

That's why you need to have some incentives built into your volunteering program. This might be confusing since volunteering is supposed to be about service. We urge you think of it like you are steering someone in the right direction. You're helping them realize their full potential.

Thinking About Benefits a.k.a. "What's in it for me?"

The one thing these grads want more than anything is job experience. Use this to your advantage. Treat your volunteers as if they were interns. Better yet, have them help you develop their internship. Find out what skills they have and use them. Of course you can still have them do a bit of everything.

The key is to have them experiment, to learn, and to build stronger relationships with your nonprofit. You'll be able to keep volunteers for at least a few months in return for service alone.

Make them see what's in it for them!

Connecting with your volunteers

So now you know that some volunteers seek to be professionals. How do you reach them?

This part is tricky, but it involves a lot of what you are already doing. These millenial job seekers are technology experts so it makes sense to find them where already at: the Web!

 Try these tips for starters:

• Social Media: Don't neglect Facebook or Twitter! Simply asking people to volunteers or turning posts into recruiting efforts is not hard. Remember that young professionals are using LinkedIn and colleges are pushing their students to sign up. Be there or miss an opportunity!
  
• Newsletters/Email: Putting up calls for volunteers directly into newsletters is another way to interact with prospective volunteers. Make sure you ask people to sign up directly!
  
• Job Sites/Boards: If you post on these sites already, make your posts list benefits of a volunteer/internship!
  
• Your Website: We recommend putting up reasons for your volunteers to sign up. Make sure you cause is clear, your impact is clear, and your volunteer section is clear. Make it easy to sign up!

Having Doubts?

We understand the spirit of volunteering seems to be lost after you read something like this. But trust us it isn't. As a small organization ourselves, Khadarlis has done exactly this to find some of our more dedicated volunteers.

You don't have to give up anything, but think in a way helps you get long lasting volunteers.Of course, if this doesn't work for you there's no shame in trying to find volunteers with traditional methods.

Just try giving this shot and be patient! Have Questions? Leave them below!