Volunteer Opportunities
Please see below for the details for various volunteer roles and the "How to Apply" tab for details on the volunteer onboarding process.
Program Volunteers
Program Leaders: Are you a natural-born leader? Do you love making things happen? Then consider being a Program Leader! Program Leaders play an integral role in facilitating educational and therapeutic skill development activities and connecting with families by leading GiGi's Playhouse programs. It is preferred but not required that Program Leaders have education or personal experience in education, music, dance, art, therapy (any discipline), or a related field. GiGi's Playhouse provides program guides, sample lesson plans, and a host of resources to help support program success! Commitment is for one session (3 - 4 months), with programs occurring weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.
Program Assistants: Are you a Hands-On person? Do you love to immerse yourself in interacting with people for extended periods of time? Then consider being a Program Assistant! These program volunteers help support program execution by preparing set-up, welcoming and engaging with families, facilitating activities, and supporting participants’ successes. Program assistants also help with tracking outcomes and doing clean-up after the program. Minimum commitment is 1 session (3 - 4 months), with programs occurring weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. This volunteer opportunity is open to people age 13 and up.
Program Greeters: Are you a People Person? Do you have a few hours where you would just like to tell people “Welcome!”, chat, and help them when needed? Then consider being a GiGi’s Greeter! We want to make the program check-in and check-out process as smooth and friendly as possible. Greeters ensure the safe entry and exit of program participants and their families during our busiest times. During slow times, greeters can help with administrative items or do personal reading with the expectation that they will put aside what they are doing to assist or chat with anyone who enters the Playhouse entry area (from outside or from the program rooms). We are looking for a team of greeters so that volunteers can rotate once per month.
One-on-One Tutors
Literacy Tutors: Do you love to read? or Do you love numbers? This is an exciting one-on-one opportunity to help those with Down syndrome learn to read or do math skills! The time commitment per week is 1 hour plus prep time. We ask our tutors to commit to one full session (about 10 weeks). You will work directly with the family of the child or adult you are tutoring to determine when you will meet for your session each week. This volunteer opportunity is open to people age 16 (with some restrictions) and up. The Literacy tutoring program has flexibility in choosing which books and activities to do every week and is well-suited to creative volunteers. The math program is laid out with learning activities in a step-by-step order and is well-suited to volunteers who like to follow set instructions.
Board and Committee Roles
Board Members: Seeking members of the community who are natural leaders, work well in a team environment, can bring connections to the playhouse and who want to support our mission of changing the way the world views Down syndrome! The board is responsible for ensuring sustainable success of the playhouse. Commitment is 2 years, with a minimum of 5 hours per month. All board members must either serve in an executive role (President, Vice President, Treasurer or Secretary) or serve on a committee.
Committee Members: Looking for a way to contribute in a way that is more hands-on, or in only in one specific area of the Playhouse? Then a committee role may be for you! Committee work ranges broadly and we have a role for all kinds of skills, interests and commitment levels.
Events Committees: Execute fundraising events. From logistics and planning to promoting the event and filling the room to securing in-kind donations and sponsorships to making the room beautiful, the events committee knows how to throw a party, engage donors and ensure smooth events for all guests! An Events Committee will be needed for each major fundraiser. Commitment varies widely, but is generally short term in nature, with strong emphasis on the 1-2 months in advance of the event.
Finance Committee: Responsible for ensuring the financial health of the Playhouse. The finance committee helps build budgets, helps ensure the whole board understands the financial health of the organization and establishes the bank relationship. NOTE: The national office manages all bookkeeping, reconciling funds, and entering transactions into financial systems.
Fundraising Committee: Do you have a sales background or just love engaging with people and telling the story of GiGi’s Playhouse? The fundraising committee builds a fundraising execution plan to achieve funding goals from a mixture of events, grants, donations, and campaigns. Identify major donor opportunities, research, write and follow-up on grants, execute donor presentations, and ensure proper donor acknowledgments and stewardship.
Marketing Committee: Execute communications to families, donors, and community members including social media, monthly e-newsletter, periodic blog posts, and content updates to the website, all using GiGi’s Playhouse’s standardized templates and tools. Also seeks ways to engage with the local media to promote GiGi’s Playhouse coming to our community. Specialized technology experience is not required.
Outreach Committee: Build relationships with schools, therapy centers, medical professionals, community organizations, local businesses, etc. to spread the word about GiGi's Playhouse coming to this community!
Program Committee: With a lineup of over 50 different potential programs, this committee will help learn about GiGi’s programs, define the initial program lineup, learn about family availability to establish initial program days and times, recruit program volunteers, and ensure proper training and rollout of programs as our playhouse opens.
Event Volunteers
Event volunteers help decorate, set-up, staff, and/or clean-up for our special events. These volunteers sign-up for shifts using a Sign-Up Genius list that is emailed out a few weeks prior to the event. To be added to our event volunteer sign-up list distribution, please state "I want to be an event volunteer" in the comments section of the volunteer application."
Facility Volunteers
Are you a handy person? We occasionally need help with minor items: paint touch-ups, light bulb & air filter changes, and minor repairs & installations. A major plus is if you can bring a tall ladder with you!