The Cape Cod Foundation is proud to introduce an exciting new resource for nonprofits, municipalities, and community members: Cape Cod Volunteers. Cape Cod Volunteers links local people with meaningful volunteer opportunities. Cape Cod Volunteers aims to create a network of organizations and opportunities that informs, inspires, and engages people of all ages and backgrounds to strengthen our community through volunteering. Please visit our new website and register your organization at www.capecodvolunteers.org.
When you register, you will create a profile that allows you to:
¨ Post volunteer opportunities, including what kind of volunteers you’re looking for
¨ Solicit in-kind donations on your agency’s wish list
¨ List board openings and interview potential candidates
We anticipate it will take 15-30 minutes to create a thorough profile for your organization. Once you have created a profile, you can post as many volunteer opportunities as you want. Whether you need volunteers for day-to-day tasks, to help with events, or to share their expertise, volunteers are an invaluable resource. When you post your volunteer opportunities on the Cape Cod Volunteers website, you can specify what kind of volunteer would best fit your organization’s needs, including how many volunteers you need, how often you need them, and what kind of skills would be helpful. To start recruiting volunteers, register today at www.capecodvolunteers.org.
We expect to introduce the website to the public in mid- to late June, but we can’t send the public to an empty website! The website’s success depends on organizations like yours. The more organizations that post information, the more effective the network will be, and the more our community will benefit. The sooner you join the website, the sooner we can invite the public to learn about your organization. Please note: The look of the website will evolve as we continue to add features. This will not affect your entries.
Our Partners:
Cape Cod Volunteers is an initiative of the Cape Cod Foundation in partnership with CapeCodOnline.com and our Advisory Committee:
Brian O’Connell (Chair), Cape Cod Foundation Board of Directors; Mary LeClair, former County Commissioner, Barnstable County; Rosemary Dillon, Cape Cod Community College; Rich Brothers, Cape and Islands United Way; Winslow Adams, Community Member-At-Large; Jeanne Adams, Community Member-At-Large; Jim Long, Mashpee Council on Aging; Liz Smith, Orleans Council on Aging; Karen Marciante, Yarmouth Council on Aging; Patricia Hart, Elder Services of Cape Cod and the Islands; Sue Daggett, Habitat for Humanity; Brenda Swain, Falmouth Service Center; and Paula George, Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority.
More about Cape Cod Volunteers:
Cape Cod Volunteers links people with meaningful opportunities for community engagement by informing residents and visitors about the many volunteer opportunities, programs, and agencies on the Cape, and by helping people identify their own interests, skills, and passions for community betterment.
The vision of Cape Cod Volunteers is to create a network of organizations and opportunities that informs, inspires, and engages people of all ages and backgrounds to strengthen our community through volunteering.
Cape Cod Volunteers is funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies Community Experience Partnership, Tufts Health Plan Foundation, Bank of America, and an anonymous donor matched by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
History of Cape Cod Volunteers
In late 2006, the Cape Cod Foundation received a grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies to assess civic engagement of older adults on Cape Cod. Early on, we saw a population of residents and visitors who are rich in experience, energy, and compassion who want to be involved and have the time to give back.
We also realized that there are almost as many barriers to volunteering as there are motivations. Where do you start? How do you try out volunteering? How do people new to the community find an opportunity that matches their skills and interests or allows them to learn something new?
Cape Cod Volunteers was created to help break down some of the barriers to volunteering by centralizing the Cape’s volunteer opportunities and providing assistance to match volunteers with organizations. And because we want a system that works for everyone, we developed a plan that promotes volunteering for Cape Cod residents and visitors of all ages.
Cape Cod Volunteers is user-friendly and will provide two ways to get involved. First, a Cape-wide website centralizes information about nonprofits and their volunteer opportunities. Here, anyone who wants to volunteer can search for opportunities based on their interests, location, and time they can commit. As a second component, we are working to open our first drop-in center this year, where trained volunteer staff will help people explore how they want to use their experience and talents to contribute to the community.
We hope that you will find these resources useful and look forward to working with you to make our community even stronger.
For questions, comments, or help posting your information, please contact Katie Mueller, our AmeriCorps*VISTA and Volunteer Initiative Coordinator, at volunteers@capecodfoundation.org or (508) 790-3040.
