What is a First Serve Opportunity?
Love Out Loud First Serve Opportunities Non-Profit Questionnaire
Dear Fellow Non-profit Partner,
Love Out Loud’s new Pathways program helps volunteers find their best service matches. We help people assess their gifts and find meaningful volunteer opportunities through a highly personal and intentional navigator process. As you know, finding and matching volunteers to projects can be difficult. And it requires valuable time and energy. Love Out Loud, in partnership with HandsOn NWNC, can help you recruit volunteers and match them to your volunteer needs. As part of the Pathways process, your sharing with us how potential volunteers can support your organization helps us recruit those who best fit your needs.
This brief survey will help you identify potential First Serve opportunities within your organization. Love Out Loud, in partnership with HandsOn Northwest North Carolina, will develop and publicize a complete list of done-in-a-day initiatives within your organization.
First Serve Opportunities (FSO) engage volunteers in one-time volunteer projects that allow individuals to “try out” volunteering with specific nonprofits. If the volunteer opportunity is a good fit, the hope is that a First Serve experience will lead to further engagement with your or a similar organization and develop ongoing volunteerism.
Converting a one-time volunteer into an ongoing volunteer depends on the volunteer having a meaningful and rewarding experience. Love Out Loud’s trained navigators will help support volunteers in their First Serve experiences. Love Out Loud will be surveying these volunteers on their FSOs. This feedback will help us all to strengthen our overall volunteer engagement. Ultimately, we will rely on you to post your FSOs on HandsOn Connect. But, both the HandsOn and Pathways teams stand ready to support you in that process.
First Serve volunteer opportunities are:
Done in a day
Short term
Allow for interaction with people in a group volunteer setting
Foster a sense of the nonprofit’s organizational culture and mission
Can be seasonal or summer opportunities
Examples of First Serve volunteer opportunities:
Crisis Control - Hope Du Jour, Food Drive at Dixie Classic Fair, Holiday Honor Card Sales
Family Services - reading to children, supporting teachers, supporting families alongside court advocates
H.O.P.E. of Winston-Salem – packaging and delivering food over the weekends for children in food deserts
Christmas for the City - serving food, facilitating game stations, providing entertainment
Joy Prom - provide members of the special needs community with an annual prom experience - opportunities range from serving food and drinks to hosting participants.
Gift Mart – (Dec) – A store set up for parents/guardians to purchase reduced priced toys for their children
City with Dwellings (overflow shelter) – additional shelters opened during the winter season (generally Dec – March).
Pivot Ministry – Mentor low income women working toward a better life and income-producing opportunities
Second Harvest Food Bank - sorting and inspecting food, golf tournament volunteer
SECU House - meal preparation, assemble care bags, musical performances.
United Way of Forsyth County – LIVE UNITED
Point In Time Homeless Count (January/July) - participate in an annual count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless in Forsyth County with the United Way
HandsOn Northwest North Carolina
MLK Day of Service Read-In Reading Buddy - guide children through each of our "service" stations, leading to a reading station where you and the child will read a book
Please complete the First Serve Non-Profit Questionnaire