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VOLUNTEER

What IT’S LIke to volunteer with us:

The Boulder Valley ICO program is made possible by its volunteers who give generously of their time and skills. We encourage you to watch this short video about volunteering with our program. 

Boulder Valley ICO enables outdoor-loving adults to volunteer and share their appreciation of, and enthusiasm for, natural and wild places with underserved youth and families. Volunteering with us is fun and a great way to ensure that you’re getting outdoors, yourself. It’s also a great way connect with your community.

We welcome new volunteers throughout the year.

EXPECTATIONS & COMMITMENT

Volunteers are expected to:

  1. Make an initial one-year commitment upon joining.
  2. Volunteer at least 5 days per year. Click on the title of the outing and use the big, blue “Going” button to sign up.
  3. Once signed up for an outing, be responsive to the trip organizer in their outing-related communications. Cancel participation only if absolutely necessary, communicating in a timely fashion with the trip organizer, and taking care to cancel your participation on the website. We encourage you to add outings to your personal calendar so that you don’t forget. 
  4. Participate in at least 1 or 2 of our occasional in-person volunteer events or parties per year.
  5. After 6 months of involvement, begin pursuing outings leader certification, described in greater detail, below.

We are most interested in people who will volunteer on an ongoing basis for events throughout the year. While the volunteer application asks about your experience and skill in the outdoors, you need not have specific outdoor skills in order to volunteer with us.

Assistant Leaders

Unless one comes to us an outings leader certified by an other ICO group, all volunteers begin as Assistant Leaders. As the name suggests, assistant leaders assist the certified outings leader (described below) in organizing and leading the outing. Very often, we rely heavily on assistant leaders in transporting participants to the trailhead.

How to Get Involved:

  1. Fill out the Volunteer Application online.
  2. Create an account on this website. Choose the “Volunteer” role unless you represent a client agency or are already a certified outings leader. Click here for a short video on how to use our online resources as new volunteer.
  3. Complete the Code of Ethics and Volunteer Agreement. Email this signed document to Michael boulderico@gmail.com or bring it to your first outing.
  4. Complete the interview process for yourself and the personal references that you provided. Please make sure that you and your references are available and responsive so that this process may be completed in a timely fashion. Our Volunteer Coordinator will contact you and your references to conduct these interviews.
  5. Pass a criminal background check every four years.  After submitting your initial application, you will receive instructions to complete your first background check online.
  6. Follow the instructions on this page to take the free, online, Mandated Reporter Training. Then email you certificate to Michael at boulderico@gmail.com. This training must be renewed every two years.
  7. Sierra Club membership. This provides liability insurance during outings (but not motor vehicle insurance). The online membership page is here.

Strongly recommended:

  1. If driving participants on an outing, you must have a driving record free of serious safety infractions and pass a driving record check every four years. This is normally an included part of the social/criminal background check in step 5. If you fail this driving record check, you can still lead outings; you just can’t drive participants.

Certified Outings Leaders

Our primary trip organizers are called Certified Outings Leaders. A certified leader must be present on every outing.  They need not (and should not) handle everything on their own, but they are responsible for ensuring that everything is successfully handled by someone. We strongly encourage all volunteers to pursue outings leader certification after they’ve been with the program for six months or so.

Certified Outings Leaders must meet the qualifications for Assistant Leaders plus:

  1. Current certification in basic first aid or higher. Wilderness First Aid is recommended, and ICO can reimburse up to $185 of the cost of the course. CPR training is now a required element of the training.
  2. Complete the Sierra Club Outdoor Leadership Training (OLT). We offer this two-day, in-person training at least once a year.
  3. Be an Assistant Leader on at least two trips. For the first trip, assist a certified leader with planning and running the trip. For the second trip, take on the primary planning and leadership responsibilities for the trip under the guidance of a currently certified outings leader. We call this a “provisional lead” and it is not a test. We just know from experience that folks learn best by doing.
  4. Obtain approval as a certified leader by vote of the Boulder Valley ICO Steering Committee.

The primary benefit of outings leader certification is that we build our calendar of outings around your availability. But it’s also true that the participants in our program will be more likely to invest time and energy getting to know you if you’re a certified leader because they know you’ll be around for a while.

OTHER WAYS TO BE INVOLVED OUTSIDE OF OUTINGS

To be a valuable asset to ICO, volunteers need not participate in tons of outings. There is a lot of work to be done behind the scenes. If you are interested in serving in any of these capacities, you will be able to indicate your interest on the registration form when you sign up for an account on this website. Or, you may contact us. You should still complete the volunteer application documents.

  • Volunteer Coordinator (conduct interviews of prospective volunteers and their references, follow-up with prospective volunteers)
  • Fundraising (grant writing, engage potential foundation and business sponsors)
  • Gear manager (maintain & organize our gear depot, keep track of inventory, administer gear check-out, research & buy new gear)
  • Web development (maintain and improve the website)
  • Web content editor (keep the site up-to-date by editing or adding content to the website)
  • Volunteer trainer (conduct volunteer leadership trainings)
  • Publicity + Social (develop and distribute promotional materials; attend volunteer fairs or corporate outreach events to entrain new volunteers; manage social media and posting to VolunteerMatch and similar resources)
  • Strategy & Governance (participate in monthly conference calls where ICO business is discussed and decisions are made)
  • Financial Support (any financial support, large or small, is always welcome)
  • Youth Recruitment (help agencies recruit and sign kids up for trips)

HOUSEKEEPING & COMMUNICATION

Good communication amongst volunteers is an important aspect of planning successful outings. 

To stay “in the loop,” please:

  1. Create an account on this website. You may do this before your volunteer application is approved. An account will enable you to sign up for trips.
  2. Be responsive to emails and/or phone calls from the trip organizer. 
  3. Communicate with the trip organizer in a timely fashion if your plans change and take care to un-signup on the website using the links that are found in the same place on the website where you signed up. 

EXTERNSHIPS AND GRADUATE WORK WITH BOULDER ICO

Boulder Valley ICO offers externships to college and graduate students. We will also partner with graduate students working on dissertations relating to outdoor education. more information >>