Training Module Excerpt: “Prioritizing the Right Non-Profit Partners for Volunteer Projects”
This is an excerpt from the second installment in our member-exclusive Spring Planning series for business and individual members of Fish & Wildlife Volunteers. We provide these modules for our members to have readily accessible resources to help them accomplish their wildlife conservation goals in partnership with non-profit causes, in addition to our direct staff support of their volunteer efforts.
To access the full module, become a business or individual member, today!
Prioritize non-profit partners by their real-world work capacity.
The current reality of the unprecedented funding cuts to conservation programs, and the tightening of belts that most of us are currently needing to engage in, is having a substantial shift in the program load of virtually every conservation group. Groups that used to be able to advertise dozens of habitat projects every summer might only have 4-5 available this year… if that.
Many local groups are pre-built with unique volunteer opportunities in their annual programming load. However those groups have liken taken a back-seat in the public eye over the last several years of heavy growth and advertising by national groups.
They are still doing their work, they are probably in your backyard, and they would love to partner with you.
Lucky for you, we have tracked what we are seeing through our members, through direct communications from the non-profit groups, and even the roll-calls lay-off / forced resignation announcements from state and federal wildlife and land agencies.
Guides for choosing a wildlife conservation non-profit partner to volunteer with:
Watershed/river/water keepers, land trusts, and city/state/provincial/national park and recreation groups have nearly unlimited capacity for boots-on-the-ground habitat projects in a given year because they are typically the non-profit partners for government and private management of land and water resources. Even if agency staffing and budgets are in turmoil, they will likely have habitat work for you to do!
Reforestation / grassland groups and outdoor education centers have the next greatest quantity of opportunities to partner in habitat work for the same reasons as the first group, but both can be highly seasonal.
Species-specific groups and advocacy organizations do vital habitat work, but these opportunities are often limited by region and local staffing capacity. Regional chapters of these organizations often are the best place to find a way on to their habitat projects.
Policy lobbying and outdoor ethics groups rarely work on habitat projects. There is always an exception to that rule, but they excel and specialize in other areas.
To view the rest of this resource module, and the other three cheat sheets for selecting a non-profit partner (“Public Advocacy / Policy Work”, “Public Access / Trail Work”, and “Education / Public Speaking”), become a member!
The membership comes with hands-on coaching for businesses and individuals about wildlife conservation volunteering, volunteer project planning assistance, and help building your network with other passionate volunteers.
Join, today!