United Way of Larimer County offers the Volunteer Project Leader (VPL) Program to anyone interested in being recruited and trained to work directly with local nonprofit organizations to plan a one-time group volunteer project. Volunteer Project Leader volunteers work with the nonprofit organizations to assist with recruiting volunteers, soliciting supplies and materials, and coordinating the day’s events.

United Way of Larimer County coordinates Volunteer Project Leader projects twice a year – once for National Volunteer Month in April and once for Make A Difference Day in October.

Your Impact on a Nonprofit

With Days of Service growing larger and more frequent, and with nonprofit organizations’ day to day workloads continuing to increase, it has become harder for nonprofits to organize one-day volunteer events for a large group of volunteers. Large-scale volunteer projects often take many hours of planning and coordination. Many nonprofits are unable to attempt to do necessary projects with staff due to limited resources and time. A Volunteer Project Leader can help make a project run smoothly and help a nonprofit organization fulfill its need for supplies, volunteers and resources.

Managed in this way, the efforts of the volunteers and organizations prove to be highly successful in completing valuable projects and in involving large groups of volunteers in teambuilding community work.

The Volunteer Project Leader program aims to build capacity of nonprofits to organize projects, especially for large groups, and effectively match volunteer skills and supplies to the needs of nonprofits.

How it Works - National Volunteer Month, April 2019

If you are interested in being a VPL for National Volunteer Month for your company or group, here are the details:

1. Nonprofit organizations needing VPL support will submit their "VPL project" needs for National Volunteer Month in January.
2. Interested Leaders will be able to download this to view the list:

   PDF of the 2019 Projects

3. Once you're ready, you'll state your top three project preferences and:

   Fill out this Interest Form

4. United Way of Larimer County makes the match. We pair each Volunteer Project Leader to a participating nonprofit based off interests, skills, availability, and group size.
5. Connect with your paired nonprofit and work to help plan and coordinate a valuable project for your group during National Volunteer Month. United Way will guide you through the process start to finish.
6. Celebrate! United Way hosts a celebration after the projects are complete to celebrate the Volunteer Project Leaders and everything that was accomplished.

We Invite You to Participate

Anyone interested in being a Volunteer Project leader for National Volunteer Month 2019 is encouraged to apply!

For more information about being a Volunteer Project Leader or to learn more about the program, contact Beth Bunde at bbunde@uwaylc.org or 970-407-7064.