IP Program & general Recruiting [was IP & Mentor Program Status]

[IP coordinator]

[This message has turned into a very long response - for those of you not
interested in reading the whole thing, here's the abstract:  IP Program
still needs volunteers to help build communications with existing IPs,
Recruiting in general is waiting on having solid intake processes in
place, and the two of us would love to have some offers of help. - S & M ]

Barb - first of all, thanks for the work you've been doing.  We don't know
exactly what it includes, but recently you have obviously been very
active.  We're hoping to see you at the next few meetings to catch up in
person.

On Tue, 29 Jun 1999, Barb Weismann wrote:
> Ah, me.  I was left with one question.  It didn't seem to jive, you said
> that the Board priority was to fix what was already here before starting
> new projects.  Did I get that right?  There has been tons done in that
> direction, like Reg especially, that's a great priority.  
Yes - we have all been more focused this year on fixing what was already
in place than on starting new projects.

> This report seems to say to me, IP is nearly fixed.  Get the regs done
> via Bishop, then we're doing OK.  So what's all this about surveying? 
> What's not fixed?  I am asking because there are still other areas of
> scn that need a reorganization and rethinking focus.  Are you two going
> to stay in IP now? 
The IP program is not "nearly fixed" - its come a long way, especially for
new registrations, but we still have virtually no communications yet
established with the current IPs, mostly due to a lack of other volunteers
to help in this area.  We have hoped to work with Topic Editors to stay in
contact with the IPs, but haven't gotten a clear impression yet of what
the topic editors are and are not willing to do (many thoughts there of
how to move forward, but this message has already gotten too long).  We
would love to have ongoing communications with IPs by email, phone & in
person meetings.  We have not yet asked them for donations of any kind
(beyond the "ask" they received as part of the standard appeal) and we
know they are getting real $$ value from having us host their pages for
free - many have seemed willing to donate if only we were organized enough
to ask.  That takes having a database of the IPs and their contact info -
something we have only started organizing out of the data we have.  And it
would help if we'd communicated to them a bit about the current services
we're offering before we put our hand out.

We would also love to be doing active outreach to potential IPs with no
web-savvy.  And to be building more in depth partnerships with orgs that
have missions similiar or overlapping with SCN's work.  But we need the
existing services and suport structure to be strong enough for us to go
out and do this.  If we had 10 more volunteers, working on different
pieces, we could do so much more... Yes, Steve & I are planning to
continue with IP Coordination - if others want to get involved, even to
help coordinate or take it over from us, we'd welcome their help as part
of the team, and then move forward from there.  For all the work we've
done in any part of SCN, we are not willing to simply throw up our hands
and say "take over" to someone who has not been working on the team - it
would waste so much effort starting from scratch again on anything SCN has
built, unless the team doing so is really sure they need to. 

> I am asking because, if so, HR needs more people.  Forward movement in
> em-trng and webmasters can only go so far without new volunteers.  
SCN definitely needs more people - there has been no argument on that from
any of us - but we cannot recruit people if we do not have people already
in place to take care of the new volunteers when they arrive. If em-trng
has not just a need for new volutneers, but a specific intake process
ready to bring them in, give them task descriptions and welcome their
help, then we can recruit agressively for it.  Likewise with webmasters
and any other group.  Without a working intake process for each team, new
volunteers have frequently floundered and wandered off in search of a
different volunteer program where they felt they were needed and could
contribute effectively.

HR is quite capable of recruiting agressively now - we are waiting until
we have task descriptions and we know the recruitment efforts will be
followed by sensible intake efforts from each team.  Nan has been heading
up a huge effort, called Project Reconnect, that will launch to take
advantage of the best recruiting-for-volunteer season - the early fall. 
Personally, after the two of us get back from England in August (we'll be
gone from July 26 - Aug 15, fyi) we hope to be very active in making sure
the intake processes are working throughout the org. 

HR's specific needs for more people are also coming soon - we currently
have a 5 person committee, and are looking for additional help.  In
between the other mega-hours Nan is pouring in on this, we believe she and
Joel are specing out task descriptions for the HR team's work.  If you or
anyone else reading this is interested in helping with HR's work, contact
Nan & Joel (nanh & xx015). 

The two of us have gotten a flood of criticism lately - not all that
suprisingly, given the amount of time we've spent going to meetings and
doing the work without reporting on it in writing - but the flood has had
a very negative impact on our ability to focus on the work we were doing.
(for example, we're writing this instead of getting anything else done).
Since January, we have each been averaging between 30-60 hours a week on
SCN-related work.  We intend to continue with this, pacing ourselves to
avoid burnout.  We believe so much in the value SCN can provide the
community - we would not be doing this otherwise.

We repeat - to all interested parties (especially those least impressed
with what we've done so far) - Please offer to help!  We are actively
looking for others willing to take on at least small parts of the big
pieces we've bitten off.  We can talk with you about your own
interests/skills/availability and delegate or unload something that really
fits, that you can really enjoy and succeed with. We have had some
wonderful successes and some long setbacks with working with others, but
have always and will continue to try very hard to make the teamwork work. 
PLEASE CALL US - ANYTIME.  If phoning is realllly too burdensome, then
send us email with the following information:  
1) what type of tasks you most enjoy (html-coding? copy-editting? 
   direct contact with who SCN serves or infrastructure building?) or
   what you want to do (to gain resume experience, for example), 
2) what experience you have with the kinds of tasks you want to do, and 
3) what time you have available now and in the near future.

very sincerely, very late at night,
                        Steve and Mel

   -=-  -=-=-  -=-  -=-=-  -=-  -=-=-  -=-  -=-=-  -=-  -=-=-  -=-
Melissa and Steve Guest                                (425) 653 7353
Seattle Community Network                          http://www.scn.org
   "Supporting People and Communities with Free Internet Services"

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