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ONGOING VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
The Friends of the Fells are constantly looking for volunteers to help with a variety of tasks, whether your strengths are in office work, writing grants, trail maintenance, or leading hikes. Just complete our short Volunteer Interest Form.
If you are able to make a consistent commitment of 5 or 10 hours per month for a minimum of 3 or 6 months, please consider applying for one of the specific positions listed below.
Development Committee Positions
• The Membership Coordinator will work with the Friends of the Fells office manager and database coordinator to schedule membership drives, track membership renewals, conduct membership surveys and develop member benefit programs. A volunteer should bring excellent planning, logistics and interpersonal communications skills.
• The Database Administrator will maintain and improve our existing MS Access database of members and supporters. A volunteer should bring experience and training with MS Access and related technologies and be willing and able to support tasks from simple data entry and report generation to more significant restructuring of the database as we grow.
• Members of the Grant Team research and write grants to support the Friends’ initiatives. Volunteers should have experience in some of these areas: Public outreach, Online research, Grant writing, Community development, Knowledge of corporate and foundation funding sources.
• The Donor Manager would manage our relationships to donors, conduct research, analyze giving data and run reports to establish benchmarks and goals, collect and track donor and prospect information, organize correspondence with donors and supporters and establish a donor recognition program. A volunteer should bring excellent organizational and communication skills and experience working with donors.
• The Major Gifts Coordinator would identify, cultivate, solicit and steward major gifts prospects in support of the Friends of the Fells annual fund and programs. This position would assist in the planning and execution of all activities necessary to secure gifts which meet the Friends’ fundraising objectives. The volunteer should come with experience working with major donors or a strong desire to learn how this is done.
• The E-philanthropy coordinator will research and recommend web-based fundraising strategies that fit with the Friends’ brand and goals. This position will set some specific targets for new online fundraising sources and work to achieve those targets. The volunteer should come with understanding of social media tools and best practices, quantitative research, analytics and reporting skills.
• The Corporate Sponsorship Coordinator will research potential corporate partnerships and work with other members of the development committee to draft a solicitation strategy and supporting materials. A volunteer should come to this position with some past experience and/or contacts with corporate giving departments.
• The Fundraising Event Coordinator will plan and implement special events for the purpose of soliciting and/or recognizing significant donations. The coordinator, with support from other volunteers, would solicit sponsorships and coordinate all aspects of event planning and publicity. A volunteer should come to this position with some prior event-planning experience.
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Fells Programs Positions
• Our Hike Leaders lead groups from the public on a variety of experiences in the Fells. Some provide detailed information on the nature (flora, fauna, geology) or history of a specific area. Some lead “work” events to help maintain the trails. Others may lead a group simply for the sake of spending time with other people and enjoying time in nature. events may target a specific demographic (families, artists, etc) or simply be of general interest to the public. Prospective Hike Leaders must attend a brief orientation session and at least one scheduled hike with an experienced leader.
• Assistant Hike Leaders provide additional leadership and support to our regularly scheduled hikes. When a hike is oversubscribed, or attended by hikers of widely varying skills, the assistant hike leader may lead a subgroup on a separate shorter (or longer) route from the main group.
• The Program Developer (or committee) will plan and coordinate periodic lectures on topics of interest to the Fells community. This would include identifying topics, soliciting speakers and overseeing event logistics. The volunteer(s) should come with event planning experience and some experience with specifically relevant programs.
• Field Conditions Reporters will periodically hike a trail or trail segment and report back to both Friends of the Fells and DCR on trail conditions and issues –litter or dumping, signage problems, blockages that need to be removed and/or “detour” trails that need to be closed. Interested volunteers should indicate if they have interest in covering a specific trail or area.
PR and Commuications Positions
• The Newsletter Layout Specialist will support our Executive Director in planning, soliciting, editing and laying out the content for our quarterly member newsletter. The volunteer should bring experience or training in newspaper or newsletter editing and should have specific experience with Adobe InDesign.
• The Newsletter Production Assistant will support our Executive Director in planning, soliciting and editing the content for our quarterly member newsletter. The volunteer should bring some past experience or training in newspaper or newsletter editing.
• The Public Relations Coordinator will work with the Friends of the Fells and our press contacts to ensure that the Fells Reservation and the Friends of the Fells are positively portrayed in a variety of local news media on a continuous basis, in support of programs and advocacy efforts. The PR Coordinator must bring experience and training in the field of public relations.
• The Events Calendar Distributor(s) will support production of a paper-based view of our events calendar each month or each quarter, and ensure placement of the calendar in a variety of venues such as libraries and coffee shops in surrounding communities.
• A Web Developer may support as-needed projects to improve the Friends of the Fells website and/or Facebook page. Early on these may be simple tasks to add features, update content, or research and prototype desired new capabilities.
Please complete the Volunteer Interest Form to apply for any of the positions described here.
