Looking For Volunteers? Small Grants? Contact The Verizon Foundation

The National Wildlife Federation, in conjunction with the Verizon Foundation, would like to offer local environmental groups a chance to recruit new volunteers to assist with your projects and make them aware of the Volunteer Incentive Grant Program.

 

The Verizon Foundation’s Employee Engagement team is inviting environmental organizations to post their volunteer projects, especially those scheduled in April and during Earth Week (April 20th), on the Verizon Volunteer Connections website. Through this website, Verizon employees will be able to review your volunteer opportunities and sign up to lend a hand with your project.

 

Requesting volunteers through the Verizon Connections website is easy! You can submit one or more online volunteer opportunities online.

 

If your organization has not previously registered an account on the Verizon Foundation’s online system (e.g. for grants or matching gifts purposes), you will need to click on the “First time user” link to register an account in order to submit your volunteer opportunities.

 

For this special initiative, it is important to enter the special code ED2009 in the “Invitation Code” box at the login or user registration page (whichever is applicable). This code will ensure that your opportunities are highlighted on the Verizon Volunteer Connections system for employees during Earth Week.

 

If your organization already has an account on the system but you don’t know the account login information, you can click on the “Need Help” icon at the bottom of that login page to submit a request to the Verizon Foundation online support team for assistance.

 

When deciding which projects to list, think about some of the different types of volunteer assistance you might need, and consider posting projects that need volunteer help during weekend or evening hours. Projects could include but are not limited to: planting (garden, trees, larger scale), mulching, restoration, building projects (bird house to buildings), behind the scenes support in the office, mentoring, tutoring and counseling, general labor (painting, odd jobs, etc.) and clean ups.

 

Lastly an additional bonus for your organization: Verizon employee volunteers can also request a Volunteer Incentive Program grant of $750 from the Verizon Foundation for any qualified nonprofit where they volunteer 50 or more hours in the calendar year.

 

In addition to supporting the Verizon Foundation’s focus on employee volunteerism, this special initiative also supports the environmental component of Verizon’s corporate responsibility strategy.

 

Verizon’s strategy is to take steps to reduce the environmental impact of its operations, including greenhouse-gas emissions, and educate Verizon customers how wireline and wireless broadband can help them significantly reduce their energy consumption.