My new favorite social media saying is “if you’re not doing, you’re just spewing”. Hitting like, sharing and ranting on social media pretty much helps no one if action isn’t also being performed in the background.
A while back I wrote about volunteerism in horse sports and how necessary it is to keep things moving. Without volunteers shows can’t happen. In order to be a doer and not a spewer, I’ve decided to put together a way to entice others to put more time into volunteering.
Introducing the 2018 Call To Volunteering.
Here’s how it works:
1) Sign on up by commenting on this post. You have until January 12th to do so. I had meant to do this before December ended but um…I got a bit busy.
2) Keep track of your volunteer experiences throughout the year. You’ll need to give me the name of the event, the position worked and the number of hours worked. You can do that by adding a comment on this post, on any other post throughout the year or on the page I will be creating once I have the names of those joined. Get the time sin as soon as possible after the event, but at the very least they need to be in by the end of each month.
3) Every hour of volunteer time equals one point. So a four hour dressage scribe position grants you four points.
4) The event can be local, schooling, fun or recognized but must be a real event. Clinics and camps don’t count. I reserve the right to contact the event to verify that you worked it though that will be unlikely.
5) Any equestrian discipline counts. It doesn’t have to be one you compete in and you don;t have to compete at all yourself.
6) This must be volunteer time, so if you get paid to do it it doesn’t count. Food, a swag bag, t shirt is fine, but if they had to pay you to volunteer it isn’t volunteering. ***EDITED: If you get awards towards your local club or association, discounted schooling days or events, or event entries for volunteering IT WILL STILL COUNT. The only thing that doesn’t is cold hard cash in exchange for hours worked***
What you get
Besides a feeling of warm fuzzies for giving back you mean?
This contest is in its infancy and my dream is to grow it pretty big over time, but for now it’s being funded by yours truly with a smaller than I’d like budget. I’m working on getting sponsors and will be reaching out to various companies. Again, meant to already do that but time slipped away.
Prizes:
1) Each month a random drawing will occur of all those who submitted times for that month. These prizes will be small, under $20 or so, and will be announced at the end of each month. This will reward anyone who got out there and give everyone an equal chance to win something regardless of how much time they can donate.
2.) Each quarter the participant with the most points for that quarter will get a prize package. Currently it is a Riding Warehouse gift package valued at $50 for the first quarter. As time goes on I will announce the following quarters. If I can get sponsors as planned, this package will grow and grow and grow.
3.) Overall yearly points will continue to accrue, so don’t worry if you have a slow quarter or two. You can always pick back up!
4) Year end will see the person with the most number of volunteer hours spent receive a monogrammed horse cooler. It will have “2018 Volunteer Challenge Champion” or something like that on it.
5) Year end reserve champion will get a nice leather halter with an engraved plate.
So that’s it. I’m very passionate about volunteering and giving back and this is my way of enticing others to get out there and spend some time working these events. Hopefully it is a fun way to grab some cool prizes too. Remember, it can be any position at any event in any discipline. Get out and volunteer people!
Oh and feel free to share this far and wide. The more who participate the better it will look to sponsors and the better the prizes will be. I can only spend so much on my own.
Sign up by 1/12/18!!!!
The Roaming Rider 
I’ll do it! I don’t get to volunteer that much because I live 2+ hours from all the events, but I try to do at least a few shows a year.
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Awesome! This is all driven by those who participate so you never know how your hours will stack up. Thanks for joining!!
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ooooh what a great idea, Sara! i love it!! i will happily participate, but honestly i’m not sure many of my volunteer hours will fit the criteria for not getting “bribed” into doing it. all of my hours go towards being eligible for my local association’s year end awards. plus many of them come with either free schooling passes or discounted entries to events.
actually, the only hours i did last year (and i did a few) that *didn’t* come with anything more than food and a t-shirt was the afternoon i spent scribing at a local schooling dressage show. and that was only bc i wasn’t a member of that association this past year – had i been a member, the hours would have counted toward year end awards. idk if that’s just how things are around this area, but regardless let me know what you think about how this affects my hours in terms of eligibility.
also – do hours spent painting cross country jumps or setting up dressage rings at my own farm in anticipation of their big USEA event count?
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That is fine!! There are venues around here that pay good money for hours worked (one dressage scribe position was posted for $150 for half a day!) and that is what I am trying to weed out. If you are making money doing it, it is a job not volunteering. Working towards year end awards is fine though and discounted schooling or event entries is cool too. Go ahead and count them all as long as money is getting exchanged directly.
I’d like to try to keep it to working the actual event. I know the prep is equally important, but that is harder to track than the event day itself.
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ok great, that makes sense to me!! i’ll keep track of everything and all the related context if it doesn’t seem cut and dried so you can make the judgement call on whether it ought to count or not. again – great idea!! looking forward to participating!
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Sounds fun! And I’m with Emma about the bribery bc the FRC shows give you Club Bucks that can go towards anything the club puts on (clinics, shows, year end award banquet, etc) so my non bribery hours would be severely limited since that’s one of my favorite organizations to volunteer, not bc of the club bucks, but bc I love the club and what they do for the community and will support them when I can 🙂
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Its ok. I’m really trying to avoid actual money which makes it a paid job and not volunteering. Go ahead and count them as long as cold hard cash isn’t getting exchanged for hours worked
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I am currently, and have been for the past year, volunteering with High Country Working Equitaton as the VP and Treasurer, as well as helping maintain the HCWE website and blog. During the show season, I am also the Co-Show manager for our rated shows (we had five last year and are looking at six this year).
Additionally, I am volunteering for the Confederation for Working Equitation as the Awards Committee chairperson. I track the High Point program, Medals program and all other parts of that committee.
I didn’t track hours last year, but I would guess it was more than 600 hours between the two.
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Impressive! I am sure they really appreciate all that time and effort you put in last year. For this contest, I am focusing on time spent at the event…getting your hands dirty so to speak. Any of the hours you spend at the event putting in the work please count! I’m sure it will still be a lot!
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I LOVE this idea. Go, Sara! I’ll participate, though my hours will be limited due to distance from most events and my stupidly busy lifestyle. I end up volunteering more hours for bike races than horse events since they’re more common lol Definitely a reason to put in more effort in the new year though! I try to give back where I can with horses, and I really should make more of an effort in this regard =)
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Thanks for joining! I added the monthly drawing for people who live so far away. That way even if you only make it to one event you could potentially still win something
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Sign me up! We have lots of small schooling shows at my barn that I volunteer for plus I am hoping to volunteer at some events I may go to and not compete at!
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Yeah! Thanks for participating! I’m hoping it is a fun thing to help promote volunteering
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Thanks for joining!! I was a little afraid nobody would and I’d have to crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment 🙂
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I’ll participate! I really need a kick in the pants to get out more!
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Yay!!
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Done! I am signing up for sure! I have been conscripted as the official timer for the endurance events around me so my plan this year is to time on Saturdays and do the ride on Sunday since it’s usually less riders then and less hectic for the organizers.
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Sounds great!
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Awesome idea. I’m totally in. I volunteered a few times last year and I’m hoping to do more this coming year.
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Great! You are all signed up. I’m excited to see how this plays out and I’m not even eligible to win anything
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I don’t have a blog, but I do volunteer and who doesn’t love prizes? Great idea- thanks for doing this!
Betsy in WI
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You don’t need a blog! I’ll add you to the list. Just remember to let me know when you volunteer so I can track it
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I’m not sure how much I’ll volunteer, but I’ll try? Maybe come spring. As long as bribes like free admission and possibly parking are ok. Those tend to be some of the perks.
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That’s fine! Just no money 🙂
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I never heard that saying and I absolutely love it! Thanks for sharing.
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What a fantastic idea 🙂
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Ooh, what a fabulous idea! Sign me up 🙂
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Done!
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