A Day in the Life of a Manager of Volunteer Programs at Adler Planetarium

It really changes so much from day to day, which is one of the things I love about my job. But a little snapshot into a day like today, when I'm in the office and we have volunteers in the building, I spend a big part of my day going around to the volunteers in different capacities in which they serve our organization.

I say hello, check in, and make sure they have all the supplies they need. I also ensure they're comfortable with the tasks they're supposed to be completing today. This is a general touch base to make sure that they're happy and comfortable in their role.

In an administrative capacity, I'm often looking at our volunteer schedule, making sure specific shifts are covered. I also ensure we have the right support for an upcoming event that might be a couple weeks away. It's a lot of short- and long-term planning to make sure we have adequate volunteer coverage.

The other major part of any given day is meeting with staff members about creating new volunteer roles and finding new opportunities to bring volunteers into our organization. Sometimes this involves creative thinking. Staff members who don't have experience with volunteers don't always realize how much they can do to support them and their team at a nonprofit.

We don't have a large staff or a lot of funds to pay for multiple team members in a department. Sometimes a department is just a single person. So, I help them think about tasks they can give to a volunteer to free up their day for long-term projects. This allows them to focus on strategic planning instead of the minutiae of their department's day-to-day operations.

It's fun, and I think once a staff member realizes how much they can share with the volunteer force, they become happier in their own role. So, those are probably the three main things that I do every day.