Why should you trust the information on this web page?
Ideas for Leadership Volunteering Projects
OR
Ideas for Creating Your Own Impactful
Volunteering Project
Advice for ANYONE seeking to create a leadership
project that will lead to a sustainable, lasting benefit to a community
or cause.
credits and disclaimer
and Why should you trust the information
on this web page?
Note: If you are going to undertake any of the activities below
while the pandemic is, please make safety of paramount importance to
participants. Make a commitment to ensuring someone who might have the
virus does not spread it to others via volunteering for your community
project.
This page is not an official Girl
Scouts, Duke of Edinburgh, or any other nonprofit's page.
This page is one person's entirely individual, voluntary opinion.
You must get approval from your Girl Scout council liaison for a
Gold Award idea BEFORE you begin.
These ideas are for anyone
seeking ways to create or lead a sustainable, lasting benefit to a
community, to have a leadership role as a volunteer.
That could be for a Girl Scouts Gold Award, the Duke of Edinburgh award,
a mitzvah project, or something you want to stand out on your university
applications. Some people call these extracurricular activities (ECAs).
These project ideas cover activities relating to the arts (theater, dance,
photography, painting, music), the environment (including dogs, cats, and
other animals/pets), children and youth, seniors / the elderly, low-income
people, at-risk people, women, other countries, poverty and more!
Each of these projects
- educate/inform others about a community or global need, or a way to
live more humanely.
- create awareness or even an activity that could last after your
participation has ended.
- require you to recruit and work collaboratively with members of the
community to help with the project.
- demonstrate your skills in problem-solving, research, networking,
persuasive speaking and consensus-building.
Most would require partnerships with other organizations - schools,
school groups, civic associations, government programs, nonprofits and
others.
None require you to form your own nonprofits.
None
are vanity volunteering projects - activities that have a primary
goal of making the lead volunteer look good.
Each activity, as a whole, would require at least 80 hours of
work on your part, if done correctly. Many could also be broken down or
scaled back into smaller activities, if you can't devote 80 hours.
Many of these ideas could become regular yearly events.
These are projects that would meet the requirements of the Girl
Scouts Gold Award and many of the Journey Awards (those related to
community service, awareness or advocacy). These projects require the
planning and implementation an individual "Take Action" project that
reaches beyond the Girl Scout organization and provides a sustainable,
lasting benefit to the girl's larger community.
These projects also meet the requirements of the Duke
of Edinburgh's Award (U.K.), or a mitzvah project. Successfully
undertaking any of these projects would meet the nomination requirements
for a state governor's volunteer awards or, perhaps, a nomination for one
of the Jefferson Awards for
Public Service, such as "Greatest Public Service by an Individual 35
Years or Under."
Successfully undertaking any of these leadership projects would get the
attention of a university's admissions office, or, perhaps, a scholarship
committee.
These projects are also good for people who are unemployed and looking
for a way to engage in volunteering that might lead to employment; any of
these projects would get you networking with people representing a variety
of professions, and would look great on your résumé. Successfully
undertaking such a project would most definitely get the attention of
potential employers!
Note: The Girl Scout Advocate Award is earned by Girl Scout
Ambassadors who choose to complete the eight Steps to Advocacy as they
explore an issue that they find intriguing and exciting, engage
community partners and advocate for change. Whether or not their
advocacy effort succeeds, girls will have taken steps to make the world
a better place! Many of the projects below could be reduced down in
order for this Journey award, then built on later for the Girl Scouts Gold
Award.
Not Charity
Assistance to people and communities can be put into two categories:
- relief/aid/comfort, such as giving food, providing emergency
shelter, providing emergency medical aid, putting on a show for sick
kids to cheer them up, making blankets for children in cancer wards,
collecting food for a food bank, etc.)
- development, such as educating people about HIV/AIDS,
educating people about organic farming, providing preventative medical
care, educating people about the importance of spaying and neutering
pets, creating a community garden that provides food, educates about
food production and builds community, etc.).
#1 usually doesn't change anything long-term, nor create a widespread or
sustainable change -- it helps just in an immediate moment. Not that that's
bad - sometimes, that's exactly what's needed! #2 changes things long-term;
it changes people's behavior or changes how people think about something or
helps people to not need emergency aid any more or helps create a service or
program that can be mobilized quickly to help in emergency situations, as
needed. One kind of assistance isn't necessarily better than the other. Some
situations call for approach #1, and some call for approach #2.
But don't think that there are strict borders between these two kinds of
volunteering; if you volunteered to lead the creation of a program that
trains volunteers to help in disaster relief, you would be engaging in
BOTH kinds of volunteering. If you created a permanent food bank so people
could donate food and others in need could receive it, you would be
engaging in BOTH kinds of volunteering. This page is focused on the #2
kind of assistance, but that can mean activities that create relief/aid/comfort
on an ongoing basis, not just at one feel-good event.
At the end of this very long list of activities are ideas for how to
show your project's impact, how to evaluate the project's effectiveness,
how to show what changes your project lead to, etc.
Project Ideas
- Create a display/presentation or an online video/documentary, and a
web site, that helps students at area high schools and junior high
schools, Girl Scouts in your area, or the community in general to
understand one global human rights issue, such as the fight
against female genital mutilation, or the fight for education for girls
and why the education and prosperity of girls and women benefits and
entire community or country, or child labor, or the global slave trade,
etc. Or pick ONE country to focus on regarding the human rights of women
and girls. Don't just gather and present statistics; present stories of
individual girls or women who have been affected by this issue (you can
find profiles on various web sites of NGOs addressing these issues). Put
faces to the issue. There may be experts in your area that have
experience regarding these issues (Returned Peace Corps Volunteers,
former Foreign Service Officers, refugees from a country, etc.) who
could be resources for you. Once you have gathered information and
testimonials about whatever global human rights issue you want to focus
on, identify and emphasize what students or the general public in your
area can do to address this issues (writing letters to their
congressional representatives and the President expressing their
concern, having a fundraiser for a nonprofit that addresses the issue,
using their FaceBook status updates to point their network to
organizations addressing the issue, staying informed about what's
happening, etc.). You could do your customized presentation for
communities of faith, civic groups and professional associations, to
educate adults about the issues. You could tie your presentation to a
full day of activities that would help Girl Scouts get a particular
badge. You could blog about your experience as you research whatever
issue you choose, and encourage your friends, family and, as applicable,
Girl Scouts in your area, to read it, or use your FaceBook status
updates to talk about what you are discovering as you research whatever
issue you choose, to further educate your friends, family and others
about such.
- Start a club at your high school that will exist for at least one
full year to help students, teachers, administrators and parents
understand the importance of empowering girls all over the world, and
how girls all over the world are held back because of lack of education,
lack of health care, lack of safety and lack of choices. For instance,
you could support CARE International,
the largest organization in the world supporting women and girls
specifically. For girls in the USA only, your club could support
Girl Up, a campaign of the United
Nations Foundation for girls in the USA. For girls in Canada:
your club could support Because
I'm a Girl, a Canadian-based campaign to harness "the incredible
power that girls and women have... to change the future." There's also
the Girl Effect,
a nonprofit affiliated with the Nike Foundation to empower girls all
over the world, including in developing countries. All of these
sites include presentation templates and guidance, mobilization guides
and other resources. As a part of your support for any of these
campaigns, you could organize an awareness fair where attendees have to
engage in activities to get a sense of what life is like for girls
living in poverty in developing countries, such as carrying water or
firewood a certain distance.
- Create a volunteer ambassador program that helps people
understand the importance of having their pets spayed or
neutered, discourages ownership of exotic pets, counters myths about
overpopulation, shows what happens to most animals given to your area
animal shelters (most are NOT adopted), warns people to never leave
animals in cars EVER, warns people to never leave pets tied up in the
yard EVER, and explains what to do if you have a problem pet (obedience
classes to take, what NOT to do, etc.). This could include
presentations, demonstrations, videos, etc. You could recruit friends,
family members and neighbors to volunteer for your program. You would
ned to work with local animal shelters and breed rescue organizations,
pet fostering programs, etc. to create your activities. Blog about your
experience as you research the issue, and encourage your friends, family
and, as applicable, Girl Scouts in your area, to subscribe, or use your
FaceBook status updates to talk about what you are discovering as you
research this issue, to further educate your friends, family and others.
- Create a volunteer corps through your local Humane Society,
ASPCA, animal shelter, senior center or another existing organization
that would help elderly people to be able to keep their pets. It
would offer elderly people volunteers to walk their dogs, pet sit for
these people when they are hospitalized, provide extra help if the
person is bed-ridden, etc. Your sponsoring organization would have to
help with your screening process (how will elderly people apply for
assistance for this program?) and you will have to identify all possible
costs for such a program. You would need to work with Meals on Wheels,
your local hospice, and senior services to help identify people who
might need this service, and a way to get a volunteer immediately to a
person in need. You would also need to create a way to screen volunteers
(you should do this through the volunteering program of an existing
nonprofit organization, such as your local Humane Society).
- Create a pet food pantry, similar to a regular food pantry
(for people). Your local food pantry may be interested in hosting such.
It would provide pet food for dogs, cats, rabbits and birds for people
who cannot afford such. You would need to secure a space for storage of
the food, create a policy for distribution, educate your community about
how to make donations (just as with human food, pet food would have to
be in never-opened packaging, and not be expired), and work with your
local Humane Society or ASPCA to create ways to educate pantry users
about the importance of spaying and neutering pets, where to find
low-cost spaying and neutering clinics, where to find help with pet
behavior problems, and other activities that discourage people from
taking their pets to animal shelters or neglecting their pets' needs.
- Create a volunteer corps that provides new pet owner kits and pet
education classes, through your local animal shelter. This is a
great opportunity to partner with high school clubs, local civic groups,
communities of faith and ethical societies, senior centers and others.
- Interview local nonprofit organizations to find information to create
a web site that lists at least 25 community service ideas for youth
under 16 in your specific city/county/region, allows youth to blog
about their experience as volunteers, etc. Do interviews with young
people to talk about why and how they would like to volunteer, what
challenges they face in trying to volunteer, etc., and post the results
of your interviews on this web site. Contact all nonprofits in your area
(you can find these at Guidestar.org,
in the USA) and let them know about this web site you are building and
encourage them to share information on how youth can volunteer with
them.
- Interview local nonprofit organizations to find information to create
a web site that lists at least 20 community
service ideas for families with young children to do in your
specific city/county/region. Do interviews with parents to talk about
why and how they would like to volunteer as a family, what challenges
they face in trying to volunteer as a family, etc., and post the results
of your interviews on this web site. Contact all nonprofits in your area
(you can find these at Guidestar.org,
in the USA) and let them know about this web site you are building and
encourage them to share information on how families, particularly those
with children under 16, can volunteer with them.
- Set up a cyber cafe in a retirement home and recruit and train
volunteers to help new users connect with information and their loved
ones. Interview residents before and after the project to see how
Internet access and computer use affects their lives. Volunteers will
have to be screened by either the retirement home or a nonprofit
organization, to ensure the safety of participants in the program.
- Set up a Wii system at a retirement home and recruit and train
the residents on how to use Wii for fitness and to maintain mental
agility. Recruit other volunteers to help and to lead activities.
Volunteers will have to be screened by either the retirement home or a
nonprofit organization, to ensure the safety of participants in the
program. Interview residents before and after the project to see how
playing with Wii games affects their lives (you might want to video tape
these interviews and create a video as well to share on YouTube!.
- Coordinate with at least three organizations (the high school
cheerleading squad, members of a local Tai Chi club, a nursing
association, etc.) to create a series of movement classes using
music and art at local senior centers lead by volunteers for an
entire season (an entire year would be better!). Music has been shown to
have a profound impact on seniors, including those with dementia. There
is research
that says that, after listening to music of personal meaning to them
for 10 months, seniors with dementia improved their cognitive skills.
Take videos of these classes and of interviews with seniors/elders about
their experience in these classes and create a video you share online
that shows what the impact is of having such classes for seniors/elders
on both them and the volunteers helping them.
- Start a bat education program for area youth clubs or schools,
and help youth learn both about the importance of bats and how to set up
bat boxes. Let your county extension office and any environmental groups
in your area know about your activities. Track how many boxes are built.
- Create a program for educating parents on the dangers of lead
poisoning and present it at community events, communities of
faith, civic clubs, your area Girl Scouts Service Unit meeting for
leaders, etc. Research about lead poisoning in your community
specifically, as well as in general. Blog about your experience as you
research the issue, and encourage your friends, family and other Girl
Scouts to subscribe, or use your FaceBook status updates to talk about
what you are discovering as you research this issue, to further educate
your friends, family and other Girl Scouts.
- Create a pedestrian safety or bicycle awareness
campaign targeted at car and truck drivers, and present it at community
events, communities of faith, civic clubs, etc. Research issues relating
to pedestrians and bicycle use in your area. Get interviewed for at
least one newspaper article and on at least one radio or TV show or
newscast. Blog about your experience as you research the issue, and
encourage your friends, family and other Girl Scouts to subscribe, or
use your FaceBook status updates to talk about what you are discovering
as you research this issue, to further educate your friends, family and
other Girl Scouts.
- Host a bicycle rodeo /
fair (your local police department will probably be happy to
help!) and a weekly bike
train, where students and their parents gather in an
agreed-to starting point and bike to school (and are joined by other
student riders along the way). Blog about your experience as you
research the issue, and encourage your friends, family and other Girl
Scouts to subscribe, or use your FaceBook status updates to talk about
what you are discovering as you research this issue, to further educate
your friends, family and other Girl Scouts.
- Explore challenges to people using more mass / public transit
and/or bicycles for transportation in your community, and explore
ways to address one or more of those challenges. Your city probably has
a citizens committee or commission on mass transit or on bicycle use,
for instance; attend the meetings of the appropriate committee, look
through the reports it has published. Do they have youth representation
on the committee, or a subcommittee of youth? Could you start such a
committee? Could you recruit other Girl Scouts/other youth/other people
to survey riders, bicyclists, neighbors, friends, etc., regarding
challenges to using mass transit and/or bicycles for transportation in
your community? Could you lead this group to creating a project that
addresses a specific challenge, or a series of challenges, to more
people using mass transit and/or bicycles for transportation in your
community?
- Organize a public services fair, if your town or neighborhood
doesn't already have such. It would feature displays and activities by
the fire department, the police department, your water and sanitation
department, companies that provide public utilities and more regarding
fire safety, personal safety, water conservation, recycling,
call-before-you-dig awareness, etc. Make sure information will be
provided in multiple languages, if your community has a significant
population that speaks another language. You would also be in charge of
marketing the event to the public. Recruit volunteers to help, and
create a notebook that details all that needed to be done to create this
event, so that it can be used in the future by others, to make the event
annual.
- Create a series of activities, and even a film/video, that shows why
a skate park or BMX track/park contributes to your
community, to counter those who say it leads to graffiti, trash and
petty crime. Recruiter skaters or bikers to engage in a series of volunteering
projects that help the community, and make sure your local
newspaper, radio and TV stations know about such. Mobilize skaters or
bikers and their parents to clean up the park every week,
including recycling bottles and other trash as appropriate. Contact Girl
Scouts and other groups to see if you could conduct an "open house" or
workshop for their members to learn about safe biking and safe skating.
Film people volunteering to do these activities and post these videos on
YouTube. Interview city officials,
police representatives, neighbors of the park and various people before
you begin activities, and then a few months after they start, and see if
you have changed perceptions. NOTE: DofE
participants won an award in 2011 for their skatepark film.
- If your local Goodwill doesn't
have such already, help create a program, or even more than one, that
can recycle, resell and properly dispose of electronic waste in
your community. You would need to identify potential partner
organizations who will volunteer their expertise and resources,
knowledgeable people willing to donate their service as volunteers, and
volunteers willing to help with non-technology issues, to:
- Help a Goodwill retail store to house donated computers, where
they can be de-manufactured, memories can be wiped clean, and either
these are resold or parts can be recycled; revenues generated from
the sale of these items would help fund Goodwill mission.
- Help create a residential computer recycling program that offers
people in your city an easy, convenient and responsible way to
recycle used computer equipment, allowing them to drop off any brand
of used equipment at the local Goodwill donation center, and
allowing any components that can't be resold or recycled to be
properly disposed of.
- Help a Goodwill retail store have a section of its store
specifically for recycled, working computers and other electronics,
used software and older software user guides where these items are
presented in an appealing manner like at a for-profit store (like
BestBuy, for instance) and where knowledgeable volunteers are on
hand (that you help recruit) to help customers with computer and
electronics questions.
- Help the store hold classes for its clients to learn how to
recycle and refurbish older computers, preload them with free
software like the Ubuntu
operating system and the free OpenOffice
or NeoOffice suites (word
processing, spreadsheet, slide show and database)
- Track how many computers, software, books and other related items
come in as a result of your outreach efforts regarding this program,
how many people donate, how many items are refurbished, how many
items are sold and how much money that raises for the organization;
and (4) blog about your experience, and encourage your friends,
family and other Girl Scouts to subscribe, and/or use your FaceBook
status updates to talk about what you are discovering as you work on
this project, to further educate your friends, family and other Girl
Scouts. You would also need to document everything, so that someone
can easily take over when you are ready to move on.
- Work with your local Goodwill store to create a bicycle-refurbishing
program, where people bring in used bicycles and they are refurbished by
volunteers and those being trained by Goodwill to re-enter the
workforce; or seek another nonprofit organization willing to partner
with you for this project. You would need to (1) recruit highly-skilled
people willing to donate many hours to refurbishing bicycles and willing
to train others in how to do this; (2) publicize a particular day and
time when bicycles could be dropped off, and where; (3) track how many
bicycles come in, how many people donate, how many items are
refurbished, how many items are sold and how much money that raises for
the organization; and (4) blog about your experience, and encourage your
friends, family and other Girl Scouts to subscribe, and/or use your
FaceBook status updates to talk about what you are discovering as you
work on this project, to further educate your friends, family and other
Girl Scouts. You would also need to document everything, so that someone
can easily take over when you are ready to move on.
- Develop or greatly expand a sports
league for girls (or all children) in an under-served area, or
even just a week-long sports clinic for girls or for all children. It
could be for soccer, skateboarding, golf, basketball - whatever you
could generate interest in both for participants and potential
supporters.
- Develop an awareness program about breast cancer, cervical
cancer, heart disease or other serious, preventable medical condition
that affects large numbers of people and present it at community events,
communities of faith, civic clubs, etc. Blog about your experience as
you research the issue, and encourage your friends, family and other
Girl Scouts to subscribe, or use your FaceBook status updates to talk
about what you are discovering as you research this issue, to further
educate your friends, family and other Girl Scouts.
- Do a photography project with young people from a low-income
housing project, youth from a high-poverty community, seniors/elders
living alone or in a retirement home, people learning to re-enter the
workplace, or some other special-needs group, where you teach them to
take and present photos about their lives and how they experience the
world. You would need to get digital cameras for everyone (what an easy
thing to do - a community drive for people to donate their old digital
cameras!), teach participants how to take photos and how to take care of
the cameras, how to crop photos on a computer, how to present photos on
a photo-sharing site like Flickr,
how to get permission from people they take photos of, how to label
photos properly online, etc. Students could look at each other's photos
and talk about what they like of each other's work. You could organize a
field trip to a public park or other public place for your students to
take photos. You could film the students talking about their experience
during the project, learning to use the cameras, using the cameras,
etc., and then splice the film together as a video, showing the impact
your project had on participants. You could have a virtual photography
opening, inviting the press, family members of participants, and city
officials to look and comment on the photos.
- Create a summer-long/season-long, weekly, all-day sewing event,
like what
this man does that was profiled on CBS This Morning: he takes a
manual sewing machine out onto the poorest section of San Francisco and
offers to sew anything for free. Many people that are homeless or barely
getting by have things that are ripped or torn and that need sewing:
clothes, backpacks, blankets, etc. Yes, they could probably sift through
a donation bin and get replacements, but often, just like with anyone,
they have an item they prize, and they don't want to throw it away -
they want to keep it. Offer coffee, juice and small food items to people
while they wait for their items to be sewed. Blog about your efforts
every week, describing what you, or your sewing group volunteers, are
learning and experiencing through this effort. Talk to a Goodwill store
or agency that serves the homeless or people experiencing severe poverty
before setting up your table, to discuss appropriate behavior, safety
precautions, etc.
- Create a historical walking tour or community display for a
public space (such as your local court house) or a video regarding
something in your community's history that most people don't know about.
It could be about the earliest people who lived and hunted in the area,
the lives of slaves in the area in the 1800s, the lives of immigrants
who came to the area in the early 1900s, what the area experienced
during the Great Depression, what the community experienced during the
Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, a neighborhood that does not exist
anymore, a civic movement that swept the area at one time, etc. Focus
not just on the era, but the consequences of the area. Have a book or
bulletin board where people can write down what they experienced as they
took the walking tour or viewed your display.
- Create a historical bicycle tour of storytellers in your
neighborhood or town. On a particular day, at a particular time, have
participants gather with their bicycles, and then they all ride together
to a place where a community member is waiting to tell a story about
some historical time in the time of the city or their life. After 20
minutes, they travel to another place for a different story. Have people
bring their own food and drink. The storytellers can talk about a fire
that changed your town forever, about a frightening moment in history
such as the persecution of someone on that spot, about a visit by a
sitting President, about someone famous born on the spot, etc.
- Interview seniors/elders to create a community display for a
public space (such as your local court house), or a web site or an
online video regarding something in your community's history:
what the area experienced during the Great Depression, what the
community experienced during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, a
neighborhood that does not exist anymore, a civic movement that swept
the area at one time, etc.
- Create a year-long photographic survey of one historic site in
your area, and share your work via a web site and with your local
historic society. You could host a gallery show of the photos you take
and information you gather, and work with the historic society to put on
an exhibition of such - perhaps even as a fundraiser for the historic
site. For instance, two
Girl Scouts in New York City created such for NYC's Franklin Square
for their Gold Award: the girls took more than 5,000 photographs around
the community of the square: of people, parades, street fairs, houses of
worship, architecture, businesses and civic organizations. On Jan. 10,
2010 - which represents the town’s zip code, 11010 - they spent nearly
12 hours, taking more than 2,000 photos throughout the day. They also
collected several artifacts, including menus, newspapers and church
bulletins on that day. The girls organized all of their photos and
artifacts and presented them to the local historical society. Their work
may even lead to the publishing a historic book on the subject.
- Help a senior residential center set up a pet
therapy program where, once a week or twice a month, trained
volunteers bring pre-screened dogs and cats to the center to interact
with patients. You cannot simply call some people and have them bring
their pets; you must look into liability insurance, training for the
volunteers, a screening program for pets, etc.
- Establish an American Red Cross
Club at your high school. Members would go through the
volunteer orientation for your local chapter of the Red Cross, and each
member would agree to donate a certain number of hours every month to a
Red Cross activity, and members would promote volunteering opportunities
with the Red Cross to everyone at your high school and their families.
Each chapter of the Red Cross involves volunteers in a variety of ways.
Many chapters are looking for volunteers to help with warming centers in
the winter, for instance, for the overflow from homeless shelters on
days and nights that are at or below freezing (and unlike most homeless
shelters, these often allow the homeless to bring their pets). Some of
your group's members could volunteer in the office just a few hours a
month or help at a Red Cross special event. Some of your members could
be volunteers that are on call to help people who have lost their home
to a fire. You could train to become a CPR/First Aid trainer. Some of
your members could be a volunteer driver, taking people with mobility
issues to medical appointments. Find
your local chapter of the American Red Cross and look at their web
site for information about volunteering. Each member of your club will
have to attend an onsite orientation and, depending on the assignment,
some training.
- Be inspired by the example of Enerys Pagan, Gold Award Recipient in
Puerto Rico: she launched Jóvenes
Científicos por Puerto Rico, partnering with 20 institutions,
including three of Puerto Rico’s top universities, to provide her peers
with resources needed to fully develop their STEM (science,
technology, engineering, and math) potential. Students who have
participated in her STEM seminars and workshops have qualified for top
awards in science competitions, as well as had their research published
in a scientific magazine. Additionally, through her Facebook
page, which has more than 875 followers, students have found a
meeting place, where they can present their questions and receive
answers and other support.
- Be inspired by the example of Gold Award recipient Julie Averbach of
New Jersey, who wrote, edited, and published Adventures
From My World (AFMW), a comic book to support siblings of
individuals with special needs. Specifically, AFMW helps siblings
to express their emotions and recognize they are not alone in the
hardships and joys they encounter. More than 8,000 copies are currently
being distributed through hospitals, community support organizations,
sibling support groups, schools, and psychology practices in 18 states
as well as in Canada, Brazil, England, and Australia. The Rutgers
University Social Skills Program has not only adopted Adventures From My
World for its support groups but has collaborated with Julie to offer
interactive workshops..
- Be inspired by the example of Gold Award recipient Sadhana Anantha of
North Carolina. During the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, Sadhana
realized that most kids are unaware of how science is related to global
issues around the world. To give students a chance to explore certain
topics not taught in school and see how they apply to the real world,
she partnered with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences to create
a mock Ebola testing lab simulation. The lab introduced many
students to clinical science, as well as methods used to combat diseases
such as the Zika virus. One of Sadhana’s middle school students placed
second at the North Carolina Science and Engineering Fair. Sadhana’s
simulation is successful as a current recurring exhibit in the North
Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences’ micro lab.
- Be inspired by the example of Gold Award recipient Ayana Watkins of
California, who organized a symposium in her hometown of Sacramento, “Education
Matters in Black Lives,” to address the need for African American
students to pursue excellence in education. The symposium provided more
than 200 underserved students in grades 7–12 and their parents with
direct exposure to college professors, admission officers, community
activists, and current college students of color. Students were able to
walk away with the feeling that attending college is not just a dream,
but a necessity in combating the ills of poverty and social injustice.
- Be inspired by the example of Gold Award recipient Hannah Gadd of
Kentucky, who created a documentary titled “Heroin: Drug of Sorrow,”
targeting 12- to 20-year-olds. After losing an uncle to a heroin
overdose, Hannah aimed to educate and raise awareness about the drug
epidemic in her community, while providing educational resources for
teachers and community organizations to use in the fight against
addiction. Hannah’s project was approved to be added to her school
district’s video library; and through a community viewing party, which
included school board members and local state representatives, it played
an integral role in the proposal of a bill addressing the need for
additional drug education in all Kentucky schools.
- Be inspired by the example of Gold Award recipient Sarah Greichen of
Colorado, who created Score
A Friend, a nonprofit organization that supports Unified Clubs for
kids, building inclusion in schools and communities. As her twin
brother has an autism spectrum disorder, Sarah knows firsthand what it’s
like for kids with disabilities to experience isolation from other
students. With Score A Friend Clubs, and with support from Special
Olympics, she aimed to connect schools with community providers and
create opportunities for Unified Sports, Unified Friendships, and
Unified Elective Courses. Currently Sarah has established four Score A
Friend Clubs—two in her hometown of Denver, one at Louisiana State
University, and one at Northern Arizona University. The Score
A Friend website features information and materials to help others
start clubs in their communities. With her project, Sarah has educated
thousands of students, teachers, and administrators about inclusion
issues kids with disabilities face, and innovative new approaches to
building more inclusive programs.
- Make a list of free and low cost meeting places and event sites
around your community for nonprofits and community groups. Nonprofits
are DESPERATE for such a list! Note if each site is accessible for
people with disabilities: an accessible site has a wheel-chair
accessible elevator, has wheelchair accessible bathrooms on the floor
where the event will be held, has wheelchair accessible parking, has
accommodations for those with sight impairments who would be navigating
into the building and to the meeting room on their own, welcomes service
dogs, etc. Put this list on a free wordpress site or ask your local
public library if they would like to publish it. Each listing should
note the address of the site, how many people the site could host, if
the site allows food, the name of the owner or host of the site, a phone
number or online form to reserve, and how much it costs to reserve.
Start with your local public library, area senior centers and community
centers, communities of faith (churches, temples and mosques), grange
halls, buildings and picnic shelters at local parks, and VFW and
American Legion Halls. When your list is published online, ask the
public library to post it on their social media accounts and let all of
the venues you are listing know that this list is online. Let your mayor
or city counselor know you have done this list - they may want to
promote it as well.
- Be inspired by the example of Gold Award recipient Cassandra
Levesque of New Hampshire, who campaigned in her native New
Hampshire to eliminate child marriage in her state. She
campaigned to raise the minimum age for marriage to 18 — from 13 for
girls and 14 for boys, with parental consent and a judge's permission.
She did not succeed in getting the law changed, but she made the
national news, and was featured on Full
Frontal With Samantha Bee. 27 states in the USA permit child
marriage. You could organize a campaign to change the law in your state,
or choose a different issue you want your state's legislature to
address.
- Organize a chapter of SADD and plan a campaign for safe
graduation parties in your community with representatives from the
different high schools.
- Start a community clothes closet for women seeking employment.
You would need to find a place to host this, find organizations to refer
women to the resource, recruit volunteers to staff the site and help
women make appropriate clothing choices, etc.
- Create a tax clinic for low-income people. These
high school students in Monticello High School in upstate New York did.
- Create a financial literacy program for low-income people, so they
can understand how to save money, how to budget, how to stay out of
debt, how to get out of debt, how to fund university education for their
children, etc. Or for middle school and high school students regarding
how to save money, how to budget, how to stay out of debt, how to save
for college, how to save for retirement, etc. Volunteers from financial
institutions, particularly credit unions, may have a financial literacy
course already available, or may be willing to lead an existing financial
literacy curriculum. There are lots of ready-to-use curricula, as
well as nonprofits
focused on this issue that you can partner with.
- Become
a GoodGuides Youth Mentor through Goodwill,
and promote the program at your school, within any youth groups you are
a part of, and a community of faith, if you have one, to recruit even
more volunteers. GoodGuides is a national mentoring program at 56
Goodwill agencies in 38 states serving young people between the ages of
12 and 17. These young people are matched with adults or peer mentors --
that means other young ages of 12 and 17 -- who help the youth realize
their potential and prepare for their future.
- Train a guide dog for the blind or other population with
disabilities and educate others about the project. Blog about your
experience as you engage in this activity and encourage your friends,
family and other Girl Scouts to subscribe, or use your FaceBook status
updates to talk about what you are discovering as you engage in this
activity, to further educate your friends, family and other Girl Scouts.
- Write, cast, and direct a play to promote community conflict
resolution, and present it at community events, communities of
faith, civic clubs, etc.
- Organize a large group of volunteers to remove invasive plants
in a designated area, working with your county extension office or city
or state parks officials. Volunteers should receive a briefing on why
invasive plants are bad and what they can do after the event day to help
keep invasive plants out of the community. Document this activity so
that the park can sponsor this volunteering activity annually, even when
you are no longer involved with such. Get press coverage and take lots
of photos and share them on a site like Flickr,
with links to information about invasive plants in your area.
- Plan, mark, clear and create a new hiking trail (or update an
old one) in a city or state park. For instance, when I was at the Lewis
and Clark Trail State Park in Washington state, I noticed an
information panel behind the park's camping facilities, and on closer
inspection, it turned out to be information for the start of a small
hike to show the edible plants in the park. But the information was
quite faded, and the information needed an update. What a great
opportunity for a volunteer! And what about creating such a trail and
display in a state park near YOU? Call or stop by your local state park
and propose the idea. Blog about your experience as you engage in this
activity and encourage your friends, family and other Girl Scouts to
subscribe, or use your FaceBook status updates to talk about what you
are discovering as you engage in this activity, to further educate your
friends, family and other Girl Scouts.
- Work with your county extension office, your nearest state park, your
local Sierra Club chapter and other environmental-focused groups to
create an endangered specifics education program for the
community, or even that would target specific groups (community groups,
communities of faith and ethical societies, middle school students,
seniors, etc.). Use lesson plans, curricula and presentations from other
groups and create a web site that links all of these together, for
access by anyone, any time.
- Help to save a city park, state park, state camp site or local
historic site that is threatened with closing by budget cuts or
lack of interest. So many of such sites are on the verge of closing
because they don't have the money to continue - there's probably more
than one such site in or near your neighborhood. Research these sites in
and near your home. Talk to staff and volunteers at these sites about
the threats they are facing. Look for newspaper articles that have been
written about the sites in the last two years (your local library can
help). Then pick one to support, and work with the staff to create an
awareness campaign about why the site is important and to encourage
volunteering and financial support for the site.
- Look at what is offered your state's Department of Fish and Wildlife
in terms of public education programs about the outdoors, then
look at the programs of other states; is there a program in another
state that you wish was offered in your state? For instance: nest box
building and monitoring, stream habitat restoration, workshops to teach
introductory hunting, fishing or camping skills or safety (including to
specific groups, like families, teens or women), aquatic conservation
and stewardship, ethical conduct outdoors, or water safety? If so, find
out the details for that specific program in another state - what
activities are offered, how volunteers are involved, how many staff
people administer the program, etc. - and explore how you, working with
others, might be able to start this same program in your state, even
with just a small pilot project.
- Help people address their problems with
plastic waste. Mobilize a community to clean up plastic
bottles, plastic bags and other plastic waste from their environment,
and to reduce their use of such items in the future. You could do a
demonstration project in conjunction with your awareness campaign, like
building a structure out of discarded plastic bottles, or making
highly-durable, fashionable bags out of discarded plastic bags. Here are
photos
of Peace Corps volunteers in Guatemala who used thousands of discarded
plastic bottles to construct schools and community centers, and
here are details
about their project, including tips on how to do such a project
yourself. And here are lots more ideas of DIY
projects you could do using plastic bags or bottles to make items.
- Create a community garden targeting people living in
apartments, people living in houses with no yard, seniors/elders,
nonprofits needing activities for those they serve (people with
disabilities, at-risk youth, people in recovery from addiction, etc.).
Or, mobilize volunteers for a community garden from a variety of other
organizations and groups and focus all of the food production on
providing for your local food pantry.
- Create a project that encourages people living in a particular
neighborhood, or a group of people tied together somehow (members of the
same congregation, or that have children in the same grade at the same
school, etc.) to each create a compost pile and a garden in
their yard. Through community meetings and onsite assistance, help each
person or family understand the value of such a garden, where they
should put it, what they need to do so to get started, how to keep costs
low, what to plant, etc. Leverage existing resources from your county or
state extension office to help you. Track challenges and how you address
them. Have an idea of what minimal success might look like for your
project.
- Create a community gleaning program,
where volunteers go to the homes of people with fruit trees in the
spring and pick all of their apples, pears, plums, and other fruit (with
prior permission, of course!), and bring it to a central location to be
donated to a local food bank.
- Be inspired by the example of Gold Award recipient Jayleigh Amstutz of
Kentucky, who created Pantry to Table, a cookbook for a
local food pantry based on food most often available in the pantries.
She concentrated specifically on creating recipes including the food
that may seem tricky or people don’t know how to cook. This helped the
clients of the food bank try new, healthier options, and it helped the
food bank have a higher turnover of those foods people were afraid to
try. She also gave a demonstration of cooking the items for the clients.
- Recruit volunteers and lead an effort to create
a dog park - even better, two parks, one large main one, and
one smaller one for small and timid dogs. The dog park will need a place
to park right next to it, and in the park, there will need to be a water
source, a couple of picnic tables, and plenty of grass cover (and even
bark chips). The effort to create Thatcher dog park in Forest Grove,
Oregon was lead by a Boy Scout doing his Eagle Scout project.
- Recruit volunteers and lead an effort to create
a sculpture or other public art project in your city that
commemorates some historical event in your city, or that celebrates
science. For instance, your city probably has lots of memorials for
soldiers, but what about civil rights workers? Or slaves that built key
buildings in your city? Or suffragettes? Or you could lead an effort to
create a sun dial and/or a solar calendar, and encourage classes,
community groups and others to help design it, submit tiles to decorate
it, etc., and create a web site associated with the site that promotes
science. Both of these projects would bring different groups in the
community together and help educate the community about history or
science.
- Create an aviary targeting people living in apartments,
people living in houses with no yard, seniors/elders, nonprofits needing
activities for those they serve (people with disabilities, at-risk
youth, people in recovery from addiction, etc.). This shouldn't just be
something nice to look at; it should involve those people in the
building and sustaining of the aviary, and educate people about the
needs of birds in captivity and in the wild.
- It takes more than just a willing group of volunteers to successfully
pull off community improvement projects, from renovating homes for
seniors to planting trees in parks. These groups also need tools -
hammers, saws, rakes, shovels and more. You could create a community
tool bank that makes these tools available to organizations
and volunteers; there are such programs in Charlotte, North Carolina and
Atlanta, Georgia.
- Create a community theater group or an entire theater festival
with at least three performances and a central theme. It could be with
just teen performers and be for the entire community or focused
specifically on teens. Or it could be a company of only seniors/the
elderly. Or it could be focused only on children - either children doing
the performances or the performances being focused on children (author's
note: I co-formed a theater company in my home town; it lasted two
summers, and we got funding for play performance rights and costume
rental from our city's arts council). Your goal is to create a theater
group that doesn't just produce one or two performances; it would need
to produce two or three plays in performance, or continue in even after
you move on. The goal of your theater must be more than just to put on a
show; it should be to introduce children to live theater, or to allow
the community to come together and experience live performance together,
or to give the community a new way of looking at seniors/elders or some
other group, etc.
- Organize a one day conference to discuss dating safety and self
defense, or online safety, with middle and high school
girls. You would be in charge of recruiting and preparing the volunteers
who would provide the training (and ensuring they had properly
registered with Girl Scouts), finding a location for the event,
publicity, getting permission from your Girl Scout service unit for the
event, etc.
- Start a Senior
Women's Basketball League, also known as a "Granny Basketball
League," or create and carry out a plan to increase the number of
players and fans for an existing league. Granny Basketball Leagues and
similar groups are already scattered throughout the USA, including
California, Connecticut, Iowa, Louisiana, New Mexico, North Carolina,
Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
- Create a voter-registration drive to reach people in your
community who, traditionally, have not been registered to vote. Talk to
your local newspaper and your local registrar of voters to ask what
groups vote and what groups don't. People 18 - 30? People of certain
neighborhoods? People of certain economic levels? Develop activities
that will encourage under-represented groups to register to vote, and
then to actually vote. This will involve surveying people about
why they aren't registered to vote or do not vote, outreach activities,
partnering with groups and organizations, and working with the registrar
of voters to see how your efforts have impact.
- Develop an anti-bullying program that includes a drama
component and peer counselors. Blog about your experience as you engage
in this activity and encourage your friends, family and other Girl
Scouts to subscribe, or use your FaceBook status updates to talk about
what you are discovering as you engage in this activity, to further
educate your friends, family and other Girl Scouts.
- Create a local teen chapter of PFLAG,
or the Gay-Straight Alliance and
use booths at community events and awareness programs at communities of
faith, civic clubs, etc. to educate people about the issues faced by gay
teens. Blog about your experience as you engage in this activity and
encourage your friends, family and other Girl Scouts to subscribe, or
use your FaceBook status updates to talk about what you are discovering
as you engage in this activity, to further educate your friends, family
and other Girl Scouts.
- Create a literacy program for a women's prison in your area.
It would need to be well-documented and robust enough to survive you
moving on eventually from the program.
- Organize classes for immigrants that want to learn English and how
to navigate life in the USA. These classes need to meet at least
twice weekly and provide childcare. You would need to find teachers, get
grants to pay them or arrange for them to volunteer their services, find
a place to hold the classes, market the classes to immigrant
communities, and measure the success of the classes.
- Start regular bilingual conversation experiences between native
English speakers and native speakers of another language. Survey
people before and after to see what their language needs are and if
those needs are being met, as well as their culturally-understanding
before and after participation.
- Start a literacy program for expectant parents and those raising a
child up to three years old, to help them with their reading
skills and to encourage them to read to their children every day,
which will prepare their children for kindergarten. You would organize
partnerships, fundraising, and volunteers to make this happen.
- Create a summer reading program
/ book club designed to help
young people maintain and expand their reading abilities and their
interest in books outside of school.
- Create a campaign to create "little free libraries" throughout
your community: enclosed boxes that often look like tiny houses
with clear front doors, which people can open and take and leave books.
Different "little free libraries" could have themes: one could be just
for children's books, for instance. Another could be just for
foreign-language books. Recruit businesses and home owners to build and
put such libraries outside their businesses or homes - and lead by
example by doing one yourself outside your own home. Recruit and train
volunteers to regularly check on these "little free libraries" to ensure
they are clean, haven't been vandalized, etc. Here's an
example of this type of program.
- Organize a group of other Girl Scouts, your friends or other students
to volunteer
to support UNICEF. UNICEF's online Volunteer
Center provides activity toolkits and speaker resources to help
you conduct awareness-building and fundraising activities in your
community.
- Find and create volunteering activities that can be done by,
rather than for, children, young adults, women or other people
who are in treatment for or recovering from cancer, and help these
people access those volunteering activities. When someone is facing or
has faced cancer, volunteering can help a person feel normal and valued
parts of the community, with something to offer others beyond their
sickness or recovery. The program would need to be well-documented and
robust enough to survive you moving on eventually from the program.
- Create a day-long summit that brings together people of different
faiths to engage in activities so that they both understand each
other better and will want to collaborate together hold further such
summits. Work with churches, mosques, temples and other faith-based
communities to create this day-long event that promotes understanding
and respect. You could also include people who are secular humanists and
atheists, so that their non-based faith perspective is also represented,
understood and respected.
- Are their particular parts of your city or neighborhood's history
that are under-represented? For instance, does the description on your
city's official web site regarding your city's beginnings start with
when Europeans or people of European-descent first arrived and settled
there, rather than the native American tribes that once lived and hunted
there? If there is a historic home in your community that gives tours,
and there were African-American slaves that lived on that estate ever,
are there descriptions of their lives and circumstances on the tour?
Look at how the history of your community or neighborhood is portrayed,
and look for ways that history could be
presented by official text, by historical tours, even by a
historical marker, so that a
significant experience by a person from a minority community, or that
entire minority community is not overlooked. You will need to
do research, reach out to scholars who have knowledge you need,
talk with various civic groups (and probably religious groups), and gain
support for your effort from a coalition of people.
- Create a web
accessibility fix-a-thon for local nonprofits, where a group
of volunteers spend one day onsite doing some simple things to
nonprofits' web sites to make them more accessible for people with
disabilities: for people using screen readers (people who are blind and
have a tool that reads a web site's content to them), people who have
low vision and use a tool that makes a web page bigger on their device,
people who have mobility issues and don't use a mouse, someone with
hearing impairments, etc. As a result, these web sites become more
accessible for EVERYONE. By the end of the day, you not only have some
web sites that are more welcoming for people with disabilities, you have
also increased awareness about digital inclusion.
- Create an
edit-a-thon, where you get a group of people together to edit Wikipedia
to help improve particular content. For instance, look at how your city
or neighborhood is represented on Wikipedia. Is there information
lacking? If so, contact your local historical society and propose how
you could organize a group of volunteers to help improve how your city
or neighborhood is represented on Wikipedia. For instance, for the Wikipedia
entry for my home town back in Kentucky, the history starts in the
18th century - yet, there were settlements here, of American
Indians/Native Americans, prior to that. It's also lacking information
about civil rights-related events in the city, which were substantial.
Using the historical society resources and the local library, a group of
volunteers could spend a few hours improving the entry for the town with
this and more, through research, writing, and working with the
historical society staff. You could also do edit-a-thons that improve or
add entries regarding important women in your city, your region, your
professional, your area of expertise, your culture, etc. (Wikipedia is
severely-lacking in profiles of women).
- Create an education program for your community about suicide
prevention, about resources available for people contemplating
suicide, about resources available for those who have lost a loved one
or associate to suicide, and about how suicide affects your community.
- Create an education program for your community about suicide
prevention, about resources available for people contemplating
suicide, about resources available for those who have lost a loved one
or associate to suicide, and about how suicide affects your community.
- Create a mock disaster drill, for response to a gas explosion
at a high school, a massive earth quake, etc., with local Red Cross,
police/fire/EMS and your local hospital. Have some student participants
who are “injured” in gory makeup, students who pretend to speak only
Spanish or ASL, etc. Then facilitate a full debrief/problem-solving
meeting with the school administration and the emergency personnel.
Note: this really was a Girl Scout Gold Award project, by @DrLaraCox,
who said via an interview on Twitter, “The heads of all those orgs
turned to us for input & took ours as seriously as their own. Made a
huge impression on me. Both in terms of wanting to do things worthy of
that kind of respect, & the importance of offering it to all others
equally. Inspired me!”
- Create a group volunteering effort that mobilizes various people to transcribe
the podcasts and online videos for a nonprofit organization that
uses video and audio to train volunteers, educate the public, and/or
build the capacities of a certain target audience. This will make the
materials accessible for people with hearing impairments, as well as to
people who prefer to read information rather than view it or listen to
it, people who don't have time to listen or watch a program but do have
time to read it, people who are in an environment where others would be
disturbed by audio coming from their computer, etc. The volunteers you
mobilize will need to be excellent listeners and typists, or will need
to have speech-to-text software that they know how to use. You will also
need for volunteers to check each other's work, to make sure
transcriptions have been done correctly.
- Create a half day or all day group volunteering opportunity for 15
or more Girl Scouts under 13 years old, that could be easily
organized every year after you are no longer involved in the activity.
Most Girl Scout leaders struggle greatly to find community service
activities for their troop members under 12. Work with your local United
Way, your local arts organizations, your nearest state park or any
nonprofit organization to create such an activity, or look through the
list above and think about how some of the activities could be
accessible for girls under 13. Survey the girls about their views about
helping their communities both before and after the event, to see if the
activity helps to inspire them to help again in the future, or if their
views about the importance of community service changes for the better
as a result of their participation. Also see this advice
on group volunteering, and this resource on volunteering
activities for young people.
- Create a multi-Badge Day for Junior Girl Scouts in your
service unit, where Junior Girl Scouts could engage in activities in
two-three hours in one location and earn at least two badges at the end
of the day, where several people from the community -- even other clubs
and organizations -- are involved in delivering the activities for the
girls, and that somehow educates or addresses a community, human or
environmental issue you care about and think others should know about as
well. Go through an old Junior Badge book and pick two of the badges
that you think you could create/co-create the necessary activities for,
with the help of volunteers that you would recruit from among friends,
family, troop leaders, Girl Scouts parents and the community (but note
that any volunteers you recruit will have to be officially-registered
Girl Scouts volunteers, complete with criminal background check).
Remember that you must tie the badges/activities to somehow educating or
addressing a community, human or environmental issue you care about and
think others should know about as well. You would be in charge of
picking the activities, recruiting and preparing the volunteers (and
ensuring they had properly registered with Girl Scouts), finding a
location for the event, publicity, and getting permission from your Girl
Scout service unit for the event. Over the years, there have been more
than 100 Junior badges -- that's more than 100 ideas for your Gold or
Silver Award (with all the possible combinations of two or more
badges); even as Girl Scouts of the USA transitions into its new
"Journeys" program, many troops are still awarding badges - and older
versions of the badge books are still great ideas for projects.
No matter what your interest -- animals, photography, fashion, the
environment -- you can find Girl Scout badges in older books relating to
these activities - and you do NOT have to be a Girl Scout to adapt one
for your big project. If you are a Girl Scout, document everything you
do in a notebook, to share with other Girl Scouts and leaders who may
decide they would like to do something similar. Even if you aren't a
Girl Scout, blog about your experience as you put together this event,
and encourage your friends, family and others to subscribe, and/or use
your FaceBook status updates to talk about what you are discovering as
you work on this project, to further educate your friends, family and
others.
Where to Find More Project Ideas
You can also try looking through the volunteering opportunities that are
posted to all the major volunteer matching web sites. Look for
opportunities for projects that would meet the requirements of a Girl
Scouts Gold or Silver Awards or whatever leadership volunteering award you
are trying to achieve:
If you find a nonprofit you would like to help, but don't see a volunteering
opportunity listed at that organization that would fit the requirements of
the leadership volunteering award/experience you are pursuing, but you have
an idea for such a project, or, call the organization directly and tell them
what you would like to do as a volunteer. You can find every registered
nonprofit in your zip code using Guidestar;
if a nonprofit sounds interesting to you, type its name into Google,
look at its web site or call the organization, and propose your volunteering
idea. Tell them that your idea is in support of your Girl Scout Gold or
Silver Award, the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, etc.
Still not enough ideas for you? Really? Okay then: Texas,
Oregon, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine and various other states have annual
Governor's Volunteer Awards (in California, it's called the Governor and
First Lady's Service Award), recognizing group and individual volunteer
efforts. Look online for profiles of past winners, especially youth and
teen winners and group winners. Look at their award-winning projects. Is
there one that you could replicate or adapt in your community?
STILL not enough ideas for you? The Girl
Scouts of the USA blog profiled several recent Gold Awards. The
projects included restoring a historical garden, creating a documentary
film, a book drive/awareness day regarding the plight of women and
children in Uganda, an awareness campaign regarding Alzheimer's disease
using a family's personal experience with the disease, saving a historical
structure, and a campaign to promote the importance of good nutrition.
Here's another
article about recent Girl Scout Gold Award winners meeting the
President, and it includes descriptions of their projects.
Still not enough ideas for you? Really? Seriously? Sigh.... Okay, look
at the individual web sites for Girl Scouts of the USA council offices,
Boy Scouts of America council offices, etc. Look at what other people have
done for Gold Awards, Eagle Scout projects, etc. Look at those projects -
is there one that you could replicate or adapt in your community?
And if all of this still isn't enough to give you an idea... then maybe
you need to re-evaluate whether or not you should do such a leadership
project.
Be Able to Answer These Questions
In fact, you should have the answers in writing regarding your project
and regarding the issue or challenge that the project will, in part,
address:
- Description of the project:
- My project goals are:
- My project aims to address this issue or challenge:
- The root cause of this issue or challenge is:
- The target audience(s) for this project is/are:
- The skills, knowledge, and/or attitudes my target audience will gain
are:
- I will know that my audience has gained the desired skills/knowledge
because:
- The reasons I am interested in this issue or challenge are:
What It Means To Lead
For any activity you choose, you, the leader, would be in charge of:
- Gathering data to show that your project will address some kind of
issue in your community or a community abroad. This can come from city,
county, federal or UN-agency reports or data, from interviews
with/testimonials from appropriate officials or experts, etc.; your
local library can help you know where to look for data. It doesn't have
to be a 20 page report - just have enough quotes from other people and
sources that justify what you are doing.
- Identifying all the tasks that need to be done to complete your
project, from beginning to end, including the tasks YOU will not do
(because others will do them).
- Recruiting volunteers/partners to help; this may include volunteers
with particular expertise, depending on the project.
- Approaching organizations to partner with (nonprofits, civic clubs,
government agencies, communities of faith and secular societies, etc.)
in developing and delivering the activities.
- Finding a location for any event you plan and what the requirements
are for using that location.
- Creating and educating everyone about safety protocols. In addition
to COVID-19 prevention protocols, you will also want to have policies
that protect young people. For instance, telling volunteers that they
should NEVER be alone, one on one, with children. Or that they are
prohibited from bringing a fire arm on their person, in any of their
bags or in their car when they are engaged in volunteering. It's easy to
find sample policies online you can adapt. You may want volunteers to
sign something releasing you from any liability (easy to find such forms
online).
- Volunteers undergoing a criminal background check, if necessary. This
is usually not necessary unless there is any opportunity for volunteers
or participants under 18 to be alone, one on one, with each other. The
more time volunteers will spend to each other and the greater the risk
that volunteers will share personal contact information and interact
outside of your activity, the more you need to think about background
checks. If you are doing this for a Girl Scout Gold Award project, there
is a super easy way to get the background checks done - ask all
volunteers to register as volunteers with the Girl Scouts! If you
partner with a nonprofit or school for your project, that nonprofit or
school may be able to do this for your volunteers, but there will be a
small fee per volunteer. More about safety
in engaging volunteers.
- Ensuring that the organization you are doing this project for has
signed off on the project, if needed. For instance, if you are doing a
Girl Scout Gold Award, getting all necessary permissions from your Girl
Scout service unit, council office, partner organizations, etc. IN
WRITING. And you would need to ensure that all volunteers have properly
registered with Girl Scouts if they are going to come in contact with
any Girl Scouts other than yourself.
- Publicity (or overseeing publicity undertaken by other
volunteers).
- Showing impact of the project, and/or evaluation of the
project.
How do you show impact for a project?:
- Blog about your experience as you engage in whatever activity you are
undertaking. Encourage your friends, family and partner organizations to
subscribe to your blog. Talk about challenges you face, what you
accomplish, how you have to change your plans as you go along, etc. This
documents your activities for many years to come, increases awareness
about whatever cause you are focusing on, and helps to create greater
impact for your efforts.
- Identify and employ methods to evaluate the impact of your project.
For instance, do interviews with participants -- both those being served
and volunteers -- to understand how their attitudes evolve and their
knowledge about a particular issue is built as they participate in your
project. Interview them before AND after the project - otherwise, you
won't be able to show how their perceptions have changed! You could even
ask participants to take a survey
before and after the project, to see if you changed any minds or
behaviors. Present the results of these interviews in written form (for
instance, on your blog, or in a report you publish online) or through an
edited video that you share online.
- Think about ways to sustain the project after you have moved on. Will
the organizations and volunteers you involved in your project continue
the activities after you have finished your involvement? Will the
organizations and volunteers you involved in your project incorporate
any of the activities into their own activities or work? Will any videos
or reports or blogs you have produced stay available online for anyone
to read or watch and learn from for at least a year?
- If your project is completed successfully, and you feel it's
particularly outstanding, you can talk to your adult liaison/advisor
about nominating you or your group for a governor's volunteer award -
or, if you are an adult, nominating yourself! Texas, Oregon, Iowa,
Kentucky, Maine and various other states have annual Governor's
Volunteer Awards (in California, it's called the Governor and First
Lady's Service Award), recognizing group and individual volunteer
efforts. Look online for profiles of past winners, especially youth and
teen winners and group winners. Look at their award-winning projects. Is
your project as outstanding?
- In the USA, if any of the organizations you help as a volunteer are
registered with the President's
Volunteer Service Award, you can look into getting such an award
for your service. However, you can only use volunteering at one
organization for the award. Also, the
President's Volunteer Service Award web site is SUPER hard to use
-- good luck with it.
You also want to be able to say how undertaking your project built your
skills regarding any of the following (or anything else that you think a
university, employer or someone else might be interested in):
- Project Management
- People Management / Volunteer Engagement
- Public Speaking
- Budgeting
- Courage
- Confidence
- Character
- Collaboration
- Community Building
- Decision Making
- Empathy
- Implementation
- Innovation
- Negotiation
- Presentation Skills
- Problem Solving
- Time Management
- Research
- Organization
- Risk Management
You also want to be able to say how undertaking your project built your
understanding regarding an issue or challenge or circumstance. Did your
project build your understanding regarding any of the following and, if so,
how?:
- Nutrition for children
- Nutrition for seniors
- Food insecurity
- Eating disorders
- Lead poisoning in children
- Homelessness
- The value of arts in a community
- The value of acknowledgement of history or heritage in a community
- Civic Engagement
- Disaster Preparedness
- Disaster Relief
- Issues for Elders
- Issues for caregivers
- Issues for people with intellectual disabilities
- Healthy relationships
- Poverty
- Public Safety
- Equity and inclusion (and inequity and exclusion)
- Accessibility
- Children's education
- Adult education
- Environment & Sustainability
- Teen Health
- Children's Health
- Human Rights
- Lifeskills
- Military/Veterans Affairs
- Access to the outdoors
NOTE: See the official Girl Scouts of
the USA web site for more information and guidelines for the Girl
Scouts Gold Award.
If you found this page helpful, let others know.
Also see
Also see:
Ideas for High Impact
Virtual Volunteering Activities
This resource is for people seeking ideas for an online project that will
mobilize online volunteers in activities that lead to a sustainable,
lasting benefit to a community or cause, particularly for a community or
audience that is at-risk or under-served. It was created especially for
programs looking for ways to engage online volunteers in
high-responsibility, high-impact tasks focused on communities in the
developing world, because onsite volunteering abroad is not an option -
which is the reality in 2020, and probably 2021, because of Coronavirus
disease 2019 (COVID-19), an infectious disease caused by severe acute
respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). These ideas absolutely
can be adapted for remote volunteering within the same country where the
online volunteers live as well - "remote" could mean across town rather
than around the world.
Also see these books:
Exploring
Leadership: For College Students Who Want to Make a Difference
The
Most Good You Can Do
Doing
Good Better: How Effective Altruism
If you use my page to create a program or event, please contact
me after you have finished the event or program and let me
know how it turned out, what program you picked, the address of your
blog, etc.. This will help me improve the page.
The page you are reading now is not
an official Girl Scouts page.
This page is one person's entirely individual, voluntary opinion.
You must get approval from your Girl Scout council liaison for
your Gold or Silver Award Idea.
Also see
Virtual Volunteering / Online Volunteering /
Remote Volunteering.
Finding Community Service and
Volunteering for Teens.
Advice for Volunteer Groups / Group
Volunteering.
Volunteering with Seniors.
Advice for family volunteering - volunteering
by families with children and, related, advice for teaching
children compassion & understanding instead of pity with regard to
poverty.
Bad Reasons for Volunteering Abroad.
Home-Based (in your own home) Volunteering
Where Your Service is NOT via a Computer or the Internet (at least
not to actually DO the volunteering service, but you may need to report
your work online).
How to Make a Difference
Internationally/Globally/in Another Country Without Going
Abroad
Groups for Atheist and Secular Volunteers
Fund Raising For a Cause or Organization
How you can advocate for an issue important
to you
Using Your Business Skills for Good -
Volunteering Your Business Management Skills, to help people
starting or running small businesses / micro enterprises, to help people
building businesses in high-poverty areas, and to help people entering
or re-entering the work force.
Volunteering with organizations that help
animals and wildlife.
Volunteering on Public Lands in the USA
(national parks, national forests, state parks, wetlands, etc.)
Donating Things Instead of Cash or Time
(In-Kind Contributions)
Creating or Holding a Successful Community
Event or Fund Raising Event.
How to Find Volunteering Opportunities,
a resource for adults who want to volunteer
Volunteering To Help After Major
Disasters.
Details on how to quickly fill a community
service obligation from a court or school.
How
to complain about your volunteering experience.
Ideas for Funding Your Volunteering
Abroad Trip.
Tax credits for volunteering (for
residents of the USA)
Details on volunteering
abroad (volunteering internationally).
Careers Working With Animals (for
the benefit of animals)
Quick Links
Home page for those that want to help
Home page for this entire web site,
coyotebroad.com / coyotecommunications.com
my
consulting services & my
workshops & presentations
my
credentials & expertise
My
research projects
My book: The Last Virtual
Volunteering Guidebook
contact
me or see
my schedule
Jayne's Amazon
Wishlist
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© 2010-2023 by Jayne
Cravens, all rights reserved. No part of this material
can be reproduced in print or in electronic form without
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