Julie Lenner, All Stars Project Director of Volunteer/Internship Recruitment & Training, with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg

How is volunteer recruiting going? Very Well! In moving to 42nd Street we knew we would be needing a lot more volunteers, so we were banking on the new location's visibility in the performing arts capital of the world to help us to recruit more New Yorkers and this is turning out to be the case. There are also many more reasons to come here, we now have three theaters and many more events and programs that are attracting more people. That combination of heightened visibility and increased activities = more people = more potential volunteers!

What efforts are being made to bring in new volunteers? The All Stars attracts volunteers through three main routes. The largest number come from major volunteer and nonprofit websites such as www.volunteermatch.com and www.idealist.org which have links to the All Stars website. The second largest source of volunteers is the Mayor’s Volunteer Center, where people looking for volunteer opportunities are registered. We collect their names and call them up to see if they would be interested in volunteering with the All Stars. Personal referrals are the third biggest source of potential volunteers. However, and this is an important distinction, personal referrals result in the 2nd largest group of people who actually complete the trainings to become volunteers. So, in the All Stars tradition, we are especially interested in having our volunteers tell others about their passion for the All Stars.

Who are these new volunteers? High school students, retired people, professionals in finance, law and human resources, teachers, theater artists and others interested in performance, as well as college students looking for internship opportunities. A true cross section of New York’s diverse communities.

What do they do to become volunteers? People coming from these different sources are invited to attend an Introduction to Volunteering session. They receive a tour and see a video about the All Stars and we invite them to get involved. If they accept that invitation, they then attend two training sessions given by long time builders of the All Stars community. These sessions are designed to give new volunteers an introduction to the organization they will soon be a part of.

And the results? We have had a 200% increase in the number of people attending the training sessions and a 200% increase in the number of new volunteers completing the training sessions. This improvement is also due to the increased number of training sessions given each month. Under Gail Elberg’s direction the Volunteer Department has been able to increase these sessions from two a month to six. This growth represents a big investment by the organization. Making more sessions available gives new volunteers more options, making the All Stars more accessible.

If you know someone who is interested in volunteering, what do you do? Show them the website and get them to sign-up online! Or contact Julie Lenner at jlenner@allstars.org with their information and she will be happy to give them a call.