National Volunteer Positions
Not only do each of our state affiliates need local volunteers for various positions, but we also have volunteers helping our national group in more administrative type roles. These are all non-paid volunteer positions, just like everyone else involved; from the President down to our foster homes. Adopting hundreds of dogs throughout the country annually takes a lot of organization and coordination, so we hope maybe you have some skills you want to volunteer, and showcase on your resume you are involved in non-profit work too.
Check out the volunteer positions we currently need to fill to keep everything running smoothly. If you are interested in any of these positions, please email the volunteer coordinator to get in touch and express your interest! Be sure to let them know which position you may be interested in volunteering for since we generally have a few available.
- State Licensing Coordinator
- Giving Day Coordinator
- Recycling Coordinator
- Volunteer Recruiters/Coordinator
- Hotline Monitor
- Social Media Promoter
- National Partner Coordinator
- Seamstress
- Marketing Intern
- Grant Writer
- Videographer
If you don't see any of the positions that fit your interests or skills, please visit your local and state affiliate to see what volunteer positions they have available too.
Every state in the USA has different requirement for our group to be licensed, and some cities do too. We would love to have someone who can help us keep track of the ever-changing requirements for each state within the USA. We are licensed in many states, others we don't place enough dogs annually, and some have no license requirements. But every year these rules change and we need to be relicensed where required. This role can be done from anywhere, but you have to be able to work independently to find license regulations, speak to Agriculture Departments, and help any reps get the paperwork in order so we are in compliance throughout the USA!
"Giving Days" are online fundraisers where non-profit organizations within a city, or geographical area, are given the opportunity to raise funds directly from the community online. There are dozens of these every year throughout the country, and our reps are busy with so many things we need help locating and registering for them in new areas where we are represented. Each giving day can help earn our organization hundreds or thousands of dollars, but only if we qualify and participate. You would work with representatives throughout the USA to identify cities where we may be able to get organized and earn these critical funds, so that we keep our veterinary bills paid for all the Italian Greyhounds in that area.
Help raise funds for our rescue through our existing recycling programs, or by finding new ones we didn't know about. This volunteer opportunity would answer emails about the various programs, assist people in getting their donations sent to the right place and even finding ways to partner with businesses of all types and sizes to raise funds. Collection of most devices in a central location is not needed, although may be beneficial in some circumstances. This opportunity can be done from anywhere, either in a large city or from the countryside.
Volunteer Recruiters/Coordinator
We need people to help recruit volunteers nationally for all types of positions, for both our national group as well as our state affiliates. Our state and local rescues are always busy answering emails, adopting dogs, accepting new fosters and coordinating various other things they don't really have much time to focus on growing their groups in order to help more dogs in need. Since most of our volunteers are Italian Greyhound owners or fanciers, locating IG owners in areas where we don't have representation could be a primary focus on identifying new volunteers, as well as posting to message boards specific to Italian Greyhound owners, local or national volunteer job boards, Linked In for Non-Profits, etc. Participate in designing, planning and implementing recruitment strategies to engage volunteers. Responsible for continuously assessing volunteer needs throughout the USA by interacting with state affiliates, maintaining information on the status of the positions, identifying new positions, and writing up volunteer opportunities for the website. May also help create short surveys to evaluate volunteer satisfaction and solicit feedback on various topics. Finds ways to provide meaningful recognition and appreciation programs for volunteers, and potentially writing up volunteer spotlights for the website, as well as monitoring volunteer shout-outs given on the website. Requires the ability to effectively communicate and build relationships between reps and volunteers throughout the country, and to understand the fluid nature of volunteer work. Ability to use a personal computer and basic word processing skills are also a must, as well as ability to update and maintain lists of existing volunteers nationally.
We have a national hotline for people to call if they have lost or found an Italian Greyhound anywhere in the USA. The hotline receives only a few calls every week, at the most, with many weeks receiving no calls what-so-ever. But, we do need someone to check for messages multiple times daily to ensure we are providing quickest possible service to the dogs needing found or reunited with their homes. This volunteer will then contact the local state affiliate responsible for the area where a dog has been lost or found to hopefully ensure a happy reunion with their family. May require following up with appropriate affiliates to determine if calls have been resolved in a timely manner. Creates and analyzes reports such as usage trends, geographic usage, etc in order to utilize information to recommend action plans to proactively help identify areas, times or reasons behind calls. Requires the ability to effectively communicate and build relationships between reps and volunteers throughout the country, and to understand the fluid nature of volunteer work. Ability to use a personal computer and basic word processing skills are also a must.
The Italian Greyhound Rescue Foundation does not currently have any social media representation, we have left it up to our state affiliates historically. It would be great to find someone who can help us establish national pages, and identify new social media trends too. Ideally this person would be familiar with sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Google+, Pintrest, MySpace, and other relevant social media/collaboration sites. If you are only familiar with one or a few of the sites, that is OK too. We may need more than one person to help in order to keep up with the rapidly changing pace of social media. Separate accounts should be used from your personal account for postings, so the accounts can be maintained over long periods of time. This person would need to be able to help create and schedule unique written and visual content to keep people coming back and visiting. Assist in regular maintenance of social media profiles and accounts, and helping identify and engage people to participate on such sites. Help find other sites which may include relevant content to be re-posted regarding animal care or other topics of interest related to dog ownership too. Research and identify best practices and examples, and keep up with relevant news, updates, tools and platforms that may be useful to Italian Greyhound owners. Be able to run reports on usage if available to determine effectiveness of various social media initiatives (or ability to figure out how to use social media manage and analytic tools if applicable such as Facebook Analytics, Tweetdeck, Statigram, etc.). Must have excellent writing and visual skills, from social media photography to basic skills in photography editing on a computer. Experience with video and editing it is also a plus.
We have existing partnerships with major pet retail stores, and those partnerships need renewed every year. However, not only do they need renewed by our national group, they often need renewed within each state too. So, we need a person who can help ensure all of our local affiliates are re-enrolled in such programs in order for us to set up booths to showcase our adoptable IGs in their stores, earn funds from their foundations and take advantage of other benefits that come from being partners with such organizations. In addition, we are always looking for new ways to promote our animals, raise funds, and welcome other Italian Greyhound owners in to our local events and groups, so identifying new partnerships is part of what this volunteer will do also. This person will develop, maintain and sustain partnerships with other organizations, agencies, and businesses, and assist and answer questions from local and state affiliates in regards to such partners as a central point-of-contact. You must have the ability to effectively communicate, especially in writing, and be able to create some training type documents if needed also.
Do you enjoy sewing and have a working sewing machine? If so, we need your expertise. Did you know that every one of the 800+ dog we adopt every year nationally go home with a martingale collar and leash set? We need an army of volunteers to help ensure every dog will go home with one of these sets in order to reduce the chances of slipping out of a collar and escaping. We have the materials and measurements, just need people to help assemble them.
Our foster homes throughout the USA also always need doggie diapers made, which are cloth re-usable wraps for both male and female dogs. These are a little more intricate to produce, but really help our foster homes keep their sanity when a dog arrives that has regular potty accidents, or incontinence issues. And, since Italian Greyhounds are so skinny, they always appreciate getting a new coat or jammies to keep warm. We need a good supply of those made each year also if you have the skills to put those together too. This person could also make other types of clothes for our foster dogs, to sell at fundraisers or for special events such as silent or online auctions.
Looking for self-motivated individual to help put together marketing materials, campaigns, graphics, and about anything else in the marketing domain! This includes both print materials as well as electronic-based media for our website, social media sites, and to help with requests from our local affiliates too. These materials will let people know about our adoptable pets, advertise events, and raise funds too. We realize that we need an integrated online presence in combination with materials to distribute at pet expos, local booths, etc to encourage the public everywhere to consider adopting a dog before they purchase one. Create marketing ideas to enhance our fundraising online, around holidays, and on giving days are just a few examples of what could be done. This person may also be asked to help redesign brochures too on occasion. Our state affiliates may also want help with brochures, flyers, logos and other marketing materials too. Preferred areas of study or previous experience are in Communications, Marketing, Graphic Design or Business. This person must be very reliable, detail-oriented, and have strong spelling and grammar skills. This person should also be able to use graphic editing programs such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel Draw, etc and have strong skills in MS Word or Open Office. Additionally, they need to understand and show respect for cultural or regional differences, and always maintain tact and integrity when creating materials.
Thousands of grants are available throughout the United States to help animal organizations pay for medical expenses, adopt pets, spay or neuter, or just help pay for general expenses. Every year or two we have a local or state rescue representative apply for a grant. However, this makes up almost none of our total funding. We can do much better, but need an individual who can focus on identifying grants for which we can apply, fill out the paperwork, and follow through on the requirements after-the-fact when needed. These can be nationally based grants, or grants which are given in specific cities or states. This person would be responsible for conducting the full range of activities required to research, prepare, and submit grant proposals to foundation, state and federal sources. As well as identifying new grant opportunities, collecting and assembling information required for each grant application by working with rescue representatives, the treasurer, and others in order to meet deadlines for submission. Strong written communication skills, and the ability to write clear, structured, articulate and persuasive proposals is absolutely needed. Previous experience in writing grants for business, government, non-profits or other grant writing is definitely helpful. This person should have knowledge in using word processing programs (MS Word or Open Office), excellent editing skills, and knowledge of grant application techniques and strategies.
We need a self-motivated, extremely creative individual who can help produce digital video content for our website, and for social media. Content ideas can be anything from viral video production to attract new donors and adopters, to videos showcasing all that the Italian Greyhound Rescue Foundation does for the dogs in our care, or even profiling individual special-case dogs to help get them adopted or raise funds for their care if needed. We have fundraisers throughout the year online, and producing a "thank you" video, or story about what we do would help introduce people to our group also. We need someone who has experience doing this in the past, since we don't have any experience in the field. Could be done as a school project, or as a volunteer activity to showcase on a resume'. Must provide own equipment to record and edit videos. Content will likely be viewed on computer, mobile devices, phones, or other platforms so knowledge of file conversion is beneficial also. Must be able to write and organize videos by gathering relevant information from our rescue representatives, identify locations for video shoots, help plan and organize people or dogs needed for content. Attention to detail regarding clarity of words, spelling, and imaging is needed also.
