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Volunteer Opportunities |
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Speaker's Bureau
OutReach gets approximately 200 requests each year from schools of all kinds, businesses and other community groups to have someone come and speak about LGBT issues. Audiences range from teens to the elderly.
Topics range from coming-out, discrimination of all kinds, transgender people, to domestic partnership issues.
There is a mandatory three-hour training. You will learn how to run an engagement, set your personal boundaries, and familiarize yourself with OurReach's suggested topic guidelines.
After completing the 1-3 hour training, all speaker bureau volunteers are offered the same speaking opportunities, then you pick which ones you're interested in covering.
The audience members and organizers of each speaking engagement fill out a feedback form, which OutReach uses to see how adequately their needs were met.
Various Committees
The committee that offers the widest variety of things to do is our Special Events Committee. You may join to help plan one particular event, or you may be more permanently involved and help with the logistics of all OutReach events.
If you like books, the Library Committee is for you! People on this committee help keep the books organized, make suggestions on new purchases, and give input about what the library needs in general.
Members of the Development Committee work on financial issues such as planned giving, strategic planning, donor relations and fundraising campaigns.
Last but not least, every spring for a few months of intense fun, The Directory Committee gets together to create OutReach's guide to organizations and businesses serving Madison's LGBT communities. You can help with gathering group information, graphic design, or soliciting and renewing Directory advertising.
Peer Counseling & Office Support
People often come to OutReach to talk to someone. That person is usually the volunteer sitting at the front desk!
Fifteen hours of training will prepare you for staffing our front desk. You will learn everything from how our office functions to dealing with the public. As the first person that people see when they come to OutReach, you play a vital role in helping us to serve our communities. You'll provide referral to LGBT-friendly businesses and organizations as well as document use of OutReach's services. Front desk volunteers also provide important support for staff members.
OutReach asks that you committ to volunteering in this capacity for 3 hours per week for one year. Daytime, evening and weekend hours are available.
Group Facilitation
From coming-out and relationships to people of color groups, OutReach needs people to facilitate groups. Most groups meet for 2 hours at the OutReach Community Center once a week for approximately ten weeks.
All facilitators must complete a 3 hour training on group facilitation in which they learn about suggested formats for support groups, OutReach's guidelines for leading groups, safety and emergency procedures, suggested topics, etc.
Once OutReach has collected enough names of interested persons, two facilitators will be asked to interview prospective members in order to determine their appropriateness for the group.
As facilitator, you will help determine how the group functions, what topics the group discusses and what kinds of guest speakers the group might want to invite.
Please fill out our Volunteer application. |
