VOLUNTEER

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 links on the right to sign up, drive, organize, etc.
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. Participate in a conference call at least every six months (the regular conference call is on the first Thursday of each month). 
6. During the second year, it is strongly encouraged to complete steps towards becoming a certified leader.
7. After 6 months of involvement, contribute to administrative, fundraising or other tasks as needed. (See the list of non-outing volunteer opportunities 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.

College Students: We note that college students are welcome in our program but we want to be sure that you have both the intention and the ability to participate in our program before we spend the money and time to process your volunteer application. Accordingly, we will not process your volunteer application until you have signed up for at least one outing. Our records will show you as a volunteer in good standing with the program only after you have attended one outing and so long as you meet the expectations and commitment standards described above. Please consider your ability to meet these standards before you submit a volunteer application, and please be sure that you can/will attend an outing before you sign up. This measure of reliability helps substantially in planning our outings. The kids in our program are depending on us, so we need to be able to depend on you. If you cancel participation or don’t show up, we may have to cancel the trip or send some of the kids home.

QUALIFICATIONS FOR ALL VOLUNTEERS

Volunteers are also called assistant leaders and may fully participate in outings provided that a certified leader is present.  Volunteers assist with tasks such as planning menus and buying food, facilitating group games and discussion, helping kids to get outfitted and sign out gear, driving, and route planning. We expect volunteers to eventually organize trips of their own.

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 and bring the signed documents on your first ICO event.
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.

Strongly recommended:

1. If driving participants on an outing, you must have a clean driving record and pass a driving record check every four years.
2. Sierra Club membership. This provides liability insurance during outings (but not motor vehicle insurance). The online membership page is here.

QUALIFICATIONS TO LEAD TRIPS

Our trip leaders are called Certified Leaders. A certified leader must be present on every outing.  He she need not assume all of the organizational responsibilities for the trip. In fact, each trip has a designated principal organizer who may be a certified leader or just a volunteer.  We strongly encourage all volunteers to complete the necessary steps for certification. These requirements are consistent with those of the national Sierra Club Outings program of which Boulder Valley ICO is a part. 

Certified leaders meet the above 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 $185.00 of the cost of the course. CPR training is also encouraged.
2. Complete the Sierra Club Outdoor Leadership Training (OLT) courses 101 (for daytrips) and 201 (for overnight outings away from vehicles). We offer this training online but ask that, if you certify by means of the online training that you also attend the live version of the training the next time that it is offered. This training is found in the LeaderZone (that is visible under the Volunteer tab once you have created your account on the site and logged in).
3. Complete the Child Abuse Recognition and Prevention (CARP) training annually. Often the initial training is part of the live version of the OLT 101/201 courses. The online version of this training is found in the LeaderZone (that is visible under the Volunteer tab once you have created your account on the site and logged in).
4. Be an assistant leader/volunteer for 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 main planning and leadership responsibilities for the trip under the guidance of a different certified leader.  Current certified leaders will assist leaders-in-training with the logistics of the trip, and then evaluate and discuss the trainee’s strengths and weaknesses. Two such evaluations should be completed by two different certified leaders.  For certification to lead overnight trips away from vehicles, one of these training trips should be a trip away from vehicles.
5. Obtain approval as a certified leader by vote of the Boulder Valley ICO Steering Committee.

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.

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. Join the Boulder ICO Volunteers Google groups email list. This list is used to announce upcoming volunteer opportunities and other ICO business. When new trips or other events are added to this website, an email invitation is automatically sent to members of this list. 
3. Be responsive to emails and/or phone calls from the trip organizer. 
4. 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 >>