Asking a local organization to donate their services in terms of website design might be one way to improve the appearance of the website.
Another under-use of human capital at the Night Ministry is the emphasis on food and clothing drives from student-run and charity-affiliated organization. Soliciting different forms of financial charity from businesses that can afford to donate funds and resources to the organization, when funds are scarce from individuals and government would enable the organization to more easily meet its financial goals. Traditional sources of Ministry funding, including people, state and local authorities, and charities are cash-strapped due to the dip in funding in the wake of the lagging economy. All donations to the Ministry are tax-deductible, and a business could also improve its public image by stressing how it gives back to community organizations.
Given the stress put on volunteerism today by prominent national leaders like President Obama and the ability for individuals looking for jobs to add to their resumes through volunteerism, the Night Ministry also capitalize upon the current national enthusiasm for volunteering by advertising the benefits of volunteerism for the individual, as well as for the recipients of aid. Emphasizing an exchange of knowledge in its volunteer efforts is essential.
The Night Ministry must also work harder to use the resources of knowledge of volunteers and encourage highly skilled individuals to volunteers. Because most of the volunteer-based services of the ministry involve food and clothing drives, the knowledge base of specific volunteers and staff members may under-utilized. Individuals could be asked to volunteer to use their skills and knowledge to offer free job retraining classes for individuals in need for the ministry. Helping people to become computer literate would be especially useful in enabling the community the Night Ministry serves to better their job prospects. Through...
Also, volunteers from IT departments and businesses could create on-site job search libraries. This could become a continuing a joint effort between IT companies and their employees and the Night Ministry.
Other uses of volunteer knowledge might include organizing recreational events, like organized basketball games for youth and adults. Finally, if adults have knowledge to navigate the government bureaucracy in a manner to enable indigent individuals to secure funds for emergency shelter, food, or even continue their education, they could staff 'help hours' at scheduled location sites. Asking healthcare volunteers to give aid is already a part of the Night Ministry: offering free healthcare makes for a safer community as well as helps individuals. It prevents the spread of communicable diseases and STDs, as well as other serious illnesses. Using trained volunteers in all aspects of the Ministry's work would make its operations as a whole more effective and is a natural extension of its healthcare and other efforts.
A final way to capitalize upon the knowledge resources of volunteers would be to solicit the aid of individuals who could do a demographic analysis of the target population's needs of the Ministry. The Ministry provides on-site aid, and does not always have a good idea of the exact gender, age, and socioeconomic breakdown of those whom it helps. Collecting information and analyzing the data might provide additional insight into how to more effectively organize its resources.
References
Financials. (2008). The Night Ministry. Retrieved February 3, 2010 at http://www.thenightministry.org/004_about/040_financials/
Volunteer. (2010). The Night Ministry. Retrieved February 3, 2010 at http://www.thenightministry.org/002_volunteer/
