Volunteer Coordinator

ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW 

Food Well Alliance (FWA) is a collaborative network of local leaders working together to build equitable and thriving community gardens, urban farms, and orchards across metro Atlanta. FWA’s mission is to provide resources and support to local growers to connect and build healthier communities. Our vision is an Atlanta that is locally grown and community connected.

FWA was founded in 2015 when Jim Kennedy, chair of Cox Enterprises, and Bill Bolling, founder of the Atlanta Community Food Bank, had an idea to build healthier communities across metro Atlanta by connecting and supporting members of our local food movement. Today, we support more than 300 gardens, farms, and orchards in Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, and Clayton counties. We accomplish our work through two primary program areas:

1. Resource Center - We provide metro area farmers, gardeners and orchard stewards with essentials for success: tools, training, mechanical assistance, labor teams, tractor support, compost, seeds, seedlings, saplings, grants, and more.
2. Policy & Planning - We bring local government leaders together with residents and community leaders to develop plans that bring urban agriculture into city planning processes in partnership with the Atlanta Regional Commission.

POSITION OVERVIEW

FWA is seeking a reliable and energetic Volunteer Coordinator to support and grow our volunteer program to expand community participation in urban agriculture in metro Atlanta. The Volunteer Coordinator will report directly to the Director of Programs and Outreach and will work directly with the Resource Center team to manage and improve FWA’s volunteer program in line with the organization’s strategic initiatives. 

The ideal candidate for this role loves to get their hands dirty while also building relationships and collaborating with a variety of external partners and stakeholders to ensure the success of the volunteer program. They are a clear and confident communicator, especially when speaking to and managing groups. They will help improve existing systems to recruit and pair volunteers with projects at community gardens, farms and orchards. They will provide day-of leadership to ensure that grower's needs are met and volunteers understand the impact of these workdays and opportunities for more support and engagement.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• With support from the Sr. Manager of Community Garden and Orchard Programs, manage all aspects of the volunteer program from recruitment, scheduling and communication to day-of leadership and post-workday follow up. 
• Partner with community gardens, farms and orchards to ensure their project needs are met and volunteers understand the impact of their own contributions as well as the impact of these community growing spaces.
• Closely instruct and supervise volunteers to keep them safe and on-task while preventing tool breakage and unintended impacts on the garden.
• Work directly with garden leaders to develop project task lists, load and bring all required tools to the project site before the project start time, work through all the tasks on the list and clean up the site before leaving. 
• Develop and maintain efficient systems and processes for communicating to prospective volunteers, as well as to interested community gardens, orchards and urban farms.
• Collaborate with Sr. Development Manager to execute corporate volunteer projects.
• Maintain the volunteer management platform, Golden, and document the needs of community gardens, orchards and urban farms that will inform the Development and the Resource Center strategies.
• Work in collaboration with the Resource Center to provide targeted volunteer and other resource support to grantees. 
• Partner with the Marketing & Development team to promote an “on-brand” experience for volunteers including contributing to a monthly volunteer newsletter. 
• Represent FWA at community events to recruit volunteers and promote the Resource Center’s volunteer program to community gardens, orchards and urban farms.
• Own and deploy a volunteer appreciation program.
• Explore and formalize partnerships with other volunteer organizations to host & promote workdays.
• Provide support to FWA’s special events by leading volunteer activities.  

REQUIREMENTS

• Degree, certificate, or equivalent experience in volunteer management, urban agriculture, or environmental education
• Availability to work a Tuesday-Saturday schedule with early mornings and occasional evening events
• Experience working in an outdoor environment with the ability to work indoors and outdoors in all seasons
• Ability and willingness to drive vehicles equipped with utility trailers
• Ability and willingness to operate power tools and standard equipment such as a BCS tractor
• This position is 60% field based and 40% in office and will require local travel for an average of 3 off-site events per week
• This position is 40 hours per week
• Proficient in Microsoft Office and G Suite

DIVERSE CANDIDATES ARE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY 

FWA is an equal opportunity employer. We are a community that is proud to represent different racial, socio-economic, gender, and other identities. Our diversity as a community is our strength, driving our ability to be empathetic, visionary, and effective leaders in the local food movement and our city.