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Today marks 100 years of green sashes, press on badges and delicious cookies.

What better way to give back to the organization that taught you arts and crafts, camping survival skills and cookie sales(wo)manship than by giving your time?

The Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania is looking for adult volunteers for a range of roles in the organization.

Volunteers can be a troop leaders, chaperones on trips and outings, a camp counselors or activity organizers. For those interested in behind-the-scenes work, the Girl Scouts are looking for people to promote the organization, manage finances or serve on council committees.

The Girl Scouts’ website emphasizes that “whether you can give an hour, week or year, every moment makes an impact on girls lives.”

To get involved, fill out the volunteer application packet. For more information, call 1-800-248-3355, complete the online interest form or email the Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania.

The Watson-Curtze mansion

A common piece of advice in creative writing–or any writing for that matter–is “write what you know.” The Nonprofit Partnership seeks to use the essence of that message through what they call “skilled volunteering.”

The Nonprofit Partnership discussed the concept of skilled volunteering at a YEP! (Young Erie Professionals) social event at the Watson-Curtze mansion on Thursday evening. Speaking to the room of professionals from a range of disciplines, The Nonprofit Partnership director Robert Wooler emphasized that volunteers should let their “interest drive [their] engagement.”

In a lot of ways, skilled volunteering leads to a quid pro quo relationship.

The Nonprofit Partnership is a membership-based organization providing education, training and tools to area nonprofits. Its members range from the American Heart Association to the Erie City Mission to the Erie County Historical Society (hence the event at the Watson-Curtze mansion.)

The partnership pairs professionals with specific skill sets (think web technologies, marketing and communications, finance, etc.) with the needs of its member organizations.

Wooler described volunteers’ work as “small bites.” Oftentimes, the work is project-based, but volunteers can make more permanent commitments.

At the end of the volunteer experience, there is a tangible product that the volunteer can add to his or her resumé.

“Each member of the team gets what they need going forward,” said Wooler.

For professionals looking to forge a deeper relationship with an area nonprofit, the partnership recruits nonprofit board members.

The Nonprofit Partnership is hosting a training dinner for potential nonprofit board members on April 25.

To lend your skills to The Nonprofit Partnership, contact Robert Wooler at rwooler@thenonprofitpartnership.org.

Photo courtesy of City Profile