Volunteer Recruitment Campaign

Week 3 is winding down and I can't believe it's almost August 1st! Lately, my life at Cabrini Connections has been contacting all of the tutor/mentor programs in our database and making sure their information is up to date and that they have completed the program survey. While most of the organizations have been quite responsive about completing the survey and making sure their information is current, I've had less success convincing the programs to join our Yahoo group for recruiting volunteers to be tutors and mentors (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/volunteer_recruitment/ in case you're interested in joining!)
However, there are many great ways to network online if you're trying to recruit tutors and mentors, like I am:
The first way, that my boss, Dan Bassill showed me is Classroom 2.0, sort of a Myspace for people who are working in the field of education and technology. Our group in Classroom 2.o is found at:
http://classroom20.ning.com/group/volunteer_recruitment
Another site is:
http://tutormentorconnection.ning.com/
Which is yet another social networking site.
I'm finding that a lot of programs I talk to who don't have websites (some don't even have e-mail addresses) are reluctant to be integrated into sites like these. But this is another one of those cases where everybody benefits.
Another interesting part of the Tutor/Mentor Connection website is the library links, where you can read other people's blogs about recruiting volunteers and fundraising. They're actually very interesting and offer a glimpse into the world of non-profit:
http://www.tutormentorconnection.org/TMLearningNetwork/LinksLibrary/tabid/560/rrcid/7/rrscid/37/rrpid/1/rrepp/20/Default.aspx
An especially interesting blog, that actually points to a wiki group as well, is one that Dan has referred to his on blog at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com
The blog can be found at:
http://smartcommunities.typepad.com/suzanne/2007/07/new-wiki-articl.html
and addresses several important issues in working with underprivileged youth, especially preventing dropping out of school.
I really encourage everyone to go to these sites just to see how people are working together and communicating about helping underprivileged youth succeed.