By Anita Weier
Northside News
Nonprofit organizations are a driving force on the Northside, but some have a hard time attracting younger members, as aging retirees handle much of the work.
Grandmothers have even been called in to help Parent Teacher Organizations. Chris Elholm, grandmother of a student, serves as president of the Mendota Elementary Community School PTO. She replaced her daughter, who couldn’t continue.
Elholm is also grandmother of a student at Sherman Middle School, where she has volunteered with her granddaughter to organize the eighth-grade dance, which did not take place last year.
“The Mendota PTO has just six to eight active members,” said Amy Holste,
a parent who is vice president of the organization. Most are so busy that “we had to change some of our votes to email, and we text a lot.”
“Society has changed, so that some have lost the idea of community,” Elholm said in explaining lack of participation.
Jan Axelson, founding member and longtime president of the Friends of Cherokee Marsh, found online ways of gaining volunteers. “We’ve had success attracting volunteers of all ages using United Way of Dane County’s Volunteer Your Time website (volunteeryourtime.org).
“We welcome new directors to help guide our organization,” Axelson said. “The most important qualification is a commitment of time and energy to help in our mission of caring for and promoting appreciation and enjoyment of Cherokee Marsh.”
She added that it is helpful that some local employers offer certain amounts of hours per year in paid time off for employees to volunteer in the community. “We’ve found volunteers for conservation workdays in this way on the Volunteer Your Time website. Other sources for volunteers, mainly for outdoor activities, are the Clean Lakes Alliance and Dane County Parks.
For nonprofits looking to expand and diversify their boards, Nonprofit Draft Day (nonprofitdraftday.org) Saturday, April 25 (location to be determined), will offer information about more than 50 nonprofits. The open house-style event, sponsored by Collaboration for Good, allows potential board members to check with various organizations to find a good fit. The organizations have a chance to find the types of board members they are looking for as well. Alnisa Allgood, founder and executive director of Collaboration for Good, said another goal of the event is to attract more diverse candidates to nonprofit boards, including women, people of color and people with disabilities.
Each nonprofit will have different expectations for board member recruits, Allgood said. Some seek volunteers who are highly experienced or knowledgeable in their fields, while others simply require enthusiasm for their missions. Some boards have financial responsibilities, some work on outreach strategies, some analyze nonprofit data and others guide the direction of the organization. Many board positions will require about three or four hours of work per month, but members of more intensive boards could work up to a few hours per week, Allgood said.
NewBridge — the newly formed organization that combined senior service organizations in various parts of town — has a somewhat different situation than some nonprofits in that it has paid staff. But volunteers are still needed to help elderly people in various ways, said Jim Krueger, executive director of NewBridge. The organization has had some success attracting younger professionals to serve on the board, though some have had to leave because of increased work responsibilities.
“We do have some trouble with front-office volunteers who are snowbirds,” he added, as gaps must be filled when people travel in winter. Attracting minority volunteers can be difficult, he added. NewBridge has one African-American board member and has had success in finding volunteers to help with Latino programming.
Barbara Karlen kept the Friends of Lakeview Library going for decades all by herself until the organization was formalized in recent years. Now there is an active board and dozens of volunteers who help put on book sales to raise funds for the library as well as assisting in the library and its garden.
“Primarily our volunteers are young retirees,” Karlen said. “In March several snowbirds will be away, so we may have trouble with the book sale.” She added that they particularly need a few strong lifters to help out.
Those interested in these and other local organizations can join most of them online. It is also possible to join during meetings or other events conducted by the groups. Membership forms for Friends of Lakeview are available at the library.