We are thankful for the many people who have contributed to Female Strong ® as a volunteer. The YEA! Program needs 70 volunteers for each class annually.  We could not do without you.  Thank you.  As our programs expand, so does the need for volunteers. We are looking for professional women and in select cases men, who have a comfortable understanding of business functions and have a passion for working with young girls, exposing them to all the possibilities that lay ahead for them.

Listed below are some of the types of volunteer positions we have.

On August 11, 2020, we came together virtually to celebrate our amazing YEA! volunteers who help us run our programs. Our featured speakers included Shirlene Small, Dare Schenck, Lydia Brown, Carla Robinson, and Katerina Popova, who shared with us their experiences serving in various volunteer positions.

Volunteer Dare talks about her involvement with YEA! Chicago during the past 4 years, serving various roles as a mentor, program manager, and moderator for panels.

Student Recruiter – Flexible time depending on your availability – Your location.

Women and men to promote Female Strong programs within your personal network, your workplace, professional organizations, and schools.  Female Strong will provide promotional material.

 

Fund Raiser – Flexible time – You pick location.

Women and men to raise money for Female Strong programs.  Possibilities include:

✦ company’s charity match – some companies match your gift dollar for dollar!  ✦ Host a bowl-a-thon. ✦ Add a 50/50 raffle to your next networking or social event. ✦ Host a give back shopping night at a local boutique.  ✦ Create a crowdfunding campaign and spread the message on social media.  ✦ Host a golf outing to benefit Female Strong.   ✦ Participate in a 5k run and crowd fund sponsorships our behalf.  ✦ Partner with a local bar to host a fundraising happy hour. ✦ Set up a charity work out event at a local studio.  Female Strong can help you broadcast your event.

 

YEA! Student Applicant Interviewer – Time, 1 hour per interview – Virtual or on site.

Professional women meet one-on one with young girls who apply to the program.  You interview the applicants, learn about their personal qualities, their interests, and level of maturity to ensure a good fit in the program.  The interview procedure is designed to ensure consistency with all applicant interviews and make the process simple and enjoyable!  We will supply you with specific questions and reporting documents.

 

YEA! Mentor – Virtual or on site depending on how class is conducted. On site: 6 sessions, 90 minutes or Virtual Classes: 6 sessions at one hour each.  Maggie Wibright made volunteer videos about mentoring.

Women Business Mentors work one-on-one with student to assist in the creation of their business plan.  Mentors provide guidance and feedback as students think through all aspects of their business creation, write their business plans, and prepare for their Investor Panel presentations.  Business Mentors are part of the student’s team, assisting with research, making sure your student builds a strong case.  YEA provides mentor training (perhaps virtually) in advance of their first visit.

 

Business Blast Mentor – 5-6 hours – Virtual.

Professional women who know how business function and are enthusiastic about encouraging girls to advance their business plans. The girls set their own goals and define problems they want to work on during the Business Blast session.  Mentors will complete a survey and skills will be matched with girl’s goals.  Mentor and mentee meet virtually 5-6 times outside of the virtual Business Blast class.  Female strong will match mentor and mentee.

 

YEA! Business Plan Reviewer – 2-3 hours per plan – Virtual.  Video Lydia Brown

Professional women and men, who understand business plans, to review and give feedback on the structure, clarity, persuasiveness, language, and grammar of draft business plans that the students write.  The process requires a one-week turn around to allow students time to revise before presenting to the Mock Investor Panel.  YEA furnishes reviewer guides for this activity.

 

YEA! Classroom Assistant – Time is before and after class which means 5-8pm – On site.

Women who help set up before or clean-up after each class and assist during the class.

 

Female Strong Program Volunteer – Time depends on event – On site.

Women or men who can assist Female Strong program organizers in program preparation, presentation, and follow-up.

 

Writer – Time varies – Your location.

Women and men who want to expand their personal writing portfolio.  Include but not limited to writing blogs, creating content for events and programs, and writing newsletter articles.

 

Female Strong Workshop presenter- 1-2 hours – Virtual or On Site depending on workshop location.

Women to work with Female Strong to design and present workshops for various Female Strong programs.

 

Photographer – Time varies – On site

Women or men photographers to capture program moments for use in promoting Female Strong programs and students.  This may be a specific event, or classroom photographs.

 

Graphic Design – Time varies – Your location

Women and men who have graphic design skills to design program flyers and marketing materials.

 

Subject Matter Speaker – 1-2 hours – Virtual or on site.

Women guest speakers with experience in creating, building, managing, or operating a business to talk about their experience with YEA! students.  The experience may be in accounting, legal work, insurance, banking, e-commerce, niche marketing, among other things.  Presentations may be informational and/or motivational.

 

Host a Field Trip to your business – 2-3 hours – Your location

Women who own and/or manage businesses to give YEA! students interior views of their businesses and to show how a real businesses functions day to day. Since our programs are hosted in downtown Chicago, we would need a city location that we could take public transportation to.  This year, we will have a virtual program, so field trip locations can be anywhere.