The Five Minute Volunteer
Miraz Jordan, who signed up as a web volunteer for the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, interviews Judi Lapsley Miller who co-ordinates the website volunteer team.
Karori Wildlife Sanctuary is a safe haven for endangered native birds and other wildlife, located minutes from downtown Wellington.
The Sanctuary is run by a charitable community trust. Ten trustees chosen for their skills in business and conservation represent the community and various strategic partners. A small team of full-time staff are supported by a member network involving 6,000 people and families from the local community. Other support comes from more than 40 local and national businesses and philanthropic trusts.
Volunteer teams
The Karori Wildlife Sanctuary has more than 400 volunteers whose work includes office support, guiding, gardening, bird care and web-site design, content writing, and updating. All volunteers work in self-managing teams.
An hour a week or five minutes a week?
Miraz Jordan, who signed up as a web volunteer, interviewed Judi Lapsley Miller who co-ordinates the website volunteer team.
- Miraz
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Early this year I spotted a request for volunteers that the Sanctuary sent out though email channels. The first thing that caught my eye was the point about "various time commitments", though the rest of the ad helpfully detailed examples of the work and benefits for volunteers.
We are actively looking for volunteers to help us maintain, update, design, augment, and enhance the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary website http://www.sanctuary.org.nz.
If you, or someone you know, has an interest in wildlife, computers, and a couple of hours a week to spare then we would love to hear from you. We have projects for many various time commitments, from a few minutes here and there, to big interesting developments.
- Miraz
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How successful was that ad? Did it bring many enquiries and did many of those enquiries turn into actual volunteers?
- Judi
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It was very successful, with the majority of enquiries turning into volunteers. We ended up with eleven new helpers with a wide variety of skills. Not all are particularly active though.
- Miraz
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The ad you sent seemed pretty much perfect: it detailed
- what you wanted from volunteers
- who the organisation was
- what it did
- what benefits were available.
Did you dream up that ad on your own, or where did it come from?
- Judi
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Well thank you! Yes I did dream it up. I like to think of volunteering as a win-win situation where both the volunteers and the organisation get something from the relationship. So I wanted to make it clear what the benefits would be.
- Miraz
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How many volunteers are on the website team? Are you paid or are you a volunteer too? How did you end up co-ordinating the web team?
- Judi
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We have approximately 21 active members. Yes I'm a volunteer too, and no I don't get paid.
I ended up coordinating the team because my husband and I were both looking to volunteer at the Sanctuary. We noticed an ad in the Kereru newsletter (the Sanctuary members newsletter) asking for website conveners and we made enquiries. I was rather trepiditious in making such a commitment without having been a regular helper first, but it has worked out OK.
- Miraz
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How many hours do you spend per week on this project?
- Judi
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I put in anything from 2 to 20 hours per week. I'm self-employed and my paid work tends to fluctuate in intensity. When I get some downtime I tend to get stuck into a website project. When I'm busy, I tend to delegate much more to the other helpers.
- Miraz
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Web work seems perfect for someone who can't commit to extended volunteering for an hour or several hours per week and who may only have time at "inconvenient" moments.
For example, gardening really needs to happen in bursts of a whole morning or afternoon, during daylight and of course at the Sanctuary, while I can optimise a web photo in five minutes at midnight in my living room. On the other hand you're dealing with people you never see and maybe have never met. How is it for you working with a "remote" team?
- Judi
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This particular volunteer group suits the introverted, shy types, as well as those who want to make a contribution but don't have a lot of spare time. I've met probably around a quarter of the webgroup in person, and some I know from past history.
I'm used to working remotely. In my day job, I'm a consultant to various companies in the USA so I'm used to communicating effectively by email and working at strange hours.
There are pros and cons with our setup. The main pro is that it can be easy to fit in volunteer work around other commitments. The main con is that without face-to-face contact and without coming to the Sanctuary it can be easy to get disenchanted.
When I first started convening, I tried to schedule face-to-face meetings for the entire group, but gave up pretty quickly. It is just too difficult finding a time and a place that suits everyone.
Instead, for larger projects, I meet with just the necessary people, usually at one of the Sanctuary meeting rooms. That also allows us to keep very focused on the project and to not waste people's time. I have tried running an internet meeting, but that wasn't successful either. People just hate meetings!
I do try to go to the Sanctuary events and functions and that can be a way to meet up with the webgroup. I do encourage the webhelpers to attend the Sanctuary functions and to visit the Sanctuary so that they remember what it's all about!
Working remotely also allows out-of-towners to help. We have helpers in Auckland and Otago, and one of our Wellingtonians regularly travels to the UK where he still keeps up his project. The internet is a wonderful thing :-)
- Miraz
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How have you organised the web team? How do you decide which tasks to give to which people and when?
- Judi
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I have a list of nominal groups:
- technical
- photo editing
- graphics and design
- content updating
- content writing.
Some helpers are in multiple lists. When a job comes in I assess the skills needed, the timeframe, and then look to see who I haven't dumped on recently. I'll then email a description of the task to the person and ask for interest and availability.
In the past I have emailed a group of potential helpers but have not had much success doing so — the individual request is more effective.
- Miraz
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Have you come across any down sides to this set up? What drawbacks and problems have you found? Do volunteers let you down?
- Judi
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I have had to become more pragmatic about timeframes. The problem with volunteering is that it is always secondary to paid work, family commitments, and the like. And that is OK.
The important thing I stress to volunteers is that they simply let me know if they're not getting to the job. I can then pass it along to someone else. I try to be very clear about timeframes and deadlines so that people know what they're getting into.
The other problem I have is that people with good web design or good technical skills tend to do the same for their day job, so they are often only available for smaller jobs. Whereas the people who are volunteering in part to upskill often need more time and training than I have available.
And yes, occassionally volunteers let me down, but more often the volunteers amaze me with their dedication and skills.
- Miraz
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Is there anything else you'd like to say?
- Judi
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Yes — thanks for asking these questions. I hadn't really stopped to think about some of these issues and its been good to take a step back and see how the group is operating.
Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, www.sanctuary.org.nz
This is the ad that Judi sent to a local web design mailing list whose members fitted pretty well exactly into the target group. She gave permission for us to republish it here.
We are actively looking for volunteers to help us maintain, update, design, augment, and enhance the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary website (http://www.sanctuary.org.nz). If you, or someone you know, has an interest in wildlife, computers, and a couple of hours a week to spare then we would love to hear from you. We have projects for many various time commitments, from a few minutes here and there, to big interesting developments.
For instance:
- implementing a redesign to the frontpage to a 3-column "news" style.
- helping with a redesign of the site graphics.
- updating content (from regular updating, to backup emergency help).
- tweaking graphics - we get a lot of wonderful wildlife photos that usually need some work to web-optimize.
- writing and editing content.
- converting video-tape to digital format for the web (e.g., nestcams), including live video-feed (once we get the equipment).
- training other volunteers in web design, editing, and graphic manipulation.
- getting full e-commerce implemented for the shop, appeals, and membership (once we get funding for certificates, etc).
- helping write short proposals to potential sponsors to help get funding for the above!
- lots of other stuff too…
The site is maintained in Dreamweaver and we do have some Dreamweaver, Contribute, and Fireworks licences to loan to volunteers who don't already have a copy. We have recently upgraded to using CSS, and there is more development that could be done there too. Communication is primarily through email and through a Yahoo group. It is very rare for us to call a tedious real-life meeting, though sometimes some of us get together for a coffee when we're working on a specific project.
As a volunteer, you get to participate in volunteer-only events at the Sanctuary, including special days and seminars, and you will get newsletter updates with the inside word on what's happening behind the fence. You will also get the satisfaction of knowing you're helping conserve some of the most wonderful, precious flora and fauna in the world.
Any questions, please sing out.
Cheers,
Judi
(Convener of the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary volunteer webgroup)
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