Step UP!Uniting Pride is always looking for eager LGBTQ+ individuals and allies for volunteers, sponsors, donors, board members, and committee members to help assist and grow our organization and presence within the community.
REPRESENTATION MATTERS. BE SEEN, BE HEARD, BE YOURSELF & BE LOVED! Click the button below to join our volunteer email list and find out how you can make a positive difference in the Champaign-Urbana community. |
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Read below to learn more about the various ways to volunteer with Uniting Pride:
One-time Options: Only have a small amount of time to give here and there?
Sign up to get on our volunteer email list and you’ll get periodic emails as we have needs. Here are some examples of the kinds of needs we have:
- adult chaperones for our teen Queer Prom
- sitting at a table when we represent at community events
- helping us set up or clean up for our special events
- one-off research or community outreach projects
- serving in a variety of ways at our fall Pride Fest
This is always growing and changing based on the programs we're doing at a given moment and where we can use some extra help. Being on the volunteer list means you'll get an email when we have a need. If you're available to help when that happens, you can simply hit reply and we get you signed up to serve!
- adult chaperones for our teen Queer Prom
- sitting at a table when we represent at community events
- helping us set up or clean up for our special events
- one-off research or community outreach projects
- serving in a variety of ways at our fall Pride Fest
This is always growing and changing based on the programs we're doing at a given moment and where we can use some extra help. Being on the volunteer list means you'll get an email when we have a need. If you're available to help when that happens, you can simply hit reply and we get you signed up to serve!
Committees and Groups: Looking for a more consistent way to support UP’s work?
We currently have two types of consistent volunteer roles: Social and Support Group Facilitators, and joining a Committee.
Social and Support Groups meet regularly, anywhere from once a month to once a week. Signing up to facilitate means you commit to being at nearly all meetings, plus have the capacity to engage in group administration like taking attendance, making sure participants fill out demographics forms, attending occasional meetings between UP staff and group facilitators, and responding to email outreach within 24 hours of receipt.
These positions are often fully staffed but when we have openings, we look for people with experience with this type of work. That could include being a group participant in the past, or having managed support or social groups before. We also like to look for experience with group activity planning, education, counseling, work with youth, consistent volunteering experience, and more. If you’re interested in being considered for a facilitator position, you should be prepared to speak to what kinds of experience you would bring to the position that makes you feel like you could succeed in this role.
For more information about the groups we currently run, click HERE.
Committee work is about helping the organization with mission-based or administrative/operational work. This work is critical to the success of the organization, which means volunteers participating in these positions have the chance to make a real impact on the community.
All committees will have some amounts of meetings, but due to the different nature of each committee’s work, the schedule and frequency will vary. Some may have consistent meetings on the same days each month, while others may need to react in real time to situations as they arise and so will schedule meetings accordingly.
People interested in serving on committees don’t necessarily need to have past experience in these areas, as long as they are willing to put in the effort to learn if they’re new to a certain kind of work. And all committee members should strive to share the committee workload equitably, regardless of experience level. Committee members should regularly be able to respond to outreach within 24 hours, or let the other committee members know in advance if they will be out of touch for some period of time. Read on to learn about the various committees we currently have:
Finance Committee - meets Sunday before each Board Meeting at 11am (typically the 2nd Sun):
This committee plays one of the most important roles in the health of Uniting Pride. The organization cannot exist, or do any other work in the community, without financial health. You do not need to be a financial expert to serve on this committee, but you should be someone who could manage your own personal home budget, can look at a basic financial report and not get too lost, and who wants to make suggestions on how Uniting Pride can spend funds to make a deeper community impact. Estimated workload: 8-10 hours per month.
Fundraising and Outreach Committee - meets 3rd Sunday of each month at 1pm:
Uniting Pride is on a major growth trajectory and needs additional funds, resources, and volunteers to continue this growth, and ensure it’s done in thoughtful ways. This committee would help generate ideas for getting the volunteers we need, find more ways to fundraise, build community relationships with individuals and organizations, and generally help spread the word about what Uniting Pride is and what we do. If you’ve regularly been described as a “people person”, if you love meeting new people and can make friends easily, if you already know lots of folks in the community, and if you enjoy telling folks about great stuff going on in our area, this committee is for you! The workload will ebb and flow around when UP does our major programming (like June Pride, the fall Pride Fest, our Love Fest fundraiser, etc). Estimated average workload is 10-15 hours per month.
Youth and Family Committee - meets 1st Wednesday of each month at 4:30pm:
This team helps guide and expand our Youth and Family focused programs and services. Current Y&F programming includes support groups (Queries, Talk It UP, and UParent), as well as our Queer Prom, components of our June Pride programming, components of our fall Pride Fest programming, and other one-off events and programs that go on throughout the year. This committee evaluates current offerings to ensure they are achieving success, and looks for ways we can better meet the needs of our Youth & Family constituents. The workload will ebb and flow but we estimate the range of 5-15 hours per month, depending on the time of year and when programming takes place.
To learn more or sign up to serve on a committee, email [email protected]
Join the Board: Looking to step up in a big way? Looking to lead?
If you want to make a deep impact, if you feel like you have a lot to give this community, if you're interested in making a large time commitment, and want your work to reach a lot of people in a lot of ways, then joining the Uniting Pride Board of Directors might be right for you.
We're currently looking to expand the size of the Board and so we're accepting applications on a rolling basis until we fill these new positions. Typically, a Board Member term of service is March to February each year, and a Board Member is allowed serve for up to 5 years in a row. If they want to continue serving after 5 years, they can take a year off (while serving as a volunteer in another capacity if they want to stay engaged) and then reapply to serve again.
The Board meets the first Wed of each month at 6:30pm in person at the UP Center office. Beyond that meeting, each member is expected to take on at least one area of focus: either in an officer position, or by serving on a committee. Current committees are described in the section above this one.
It's important to recognize that volunteering to serve on a Board is not a casual commitment, but instead one that involves devoting a real chunk of time and energy to leading and stewarding an organization. People who serve as our organization leaders are expected to come to and help run events and programs, represent UP within the community at other events and programs, stay up to date on non-profit management Best Practices to help guide UP operations, help fundraise and build community partnerships, brainstorm about ways UP can continue to grow and serve the community, and more. Not everyone has the time to serve on a Board, which is why we have various other ways to get involved that we value greatly. But if you believe you have both the time and the drive for a position like this, please get in touch!
If you're interested in learning more about joining the Board, or want to apply, email [email protected]. To apply, write an email explaining why you'd like to join the Board and what you feel you could bring to the team. To see who sits on the current Uniting Pride Board, click HERE.
We're currently looking to expand the size of the Board and so we're accepting applications on a rolling basis until we fill these new positions. Typically, a Board Member term of service is March to February each year, and a Board Member is allowed serve for up to 5 years in a row. If they want to continue serving after 5 years, they can take a year off (while serving as a volunteer in another capacity if they want to stay engaged) and then reapply to serve again.
The Board meets the first Wed of each month at 6:30pm in person at the UP Center office. Beyond that meeting, each member is expected to take on at least one area of focus: either in an officer position, or by serving on a committee. Current committees are described in the section above this one.
It's important to recognize that volunteering to serve on a Board is not a casual commitment, but instead one that involves devoting a real chunk of time and energy to leading and stewarding an organization. People who serve as our organization leaders are expected to come to and help run events and programs, represent UP within the community at other events and programs, stay up to date on non-profit management Best Practices to help guide UP operations, help fundraise and build community partnerships, brainstorm about ways UP can continue to grow and serve the community, and more. Not everyone has the time to serve on a Board, which is why we have various other ways to get involved that we value greatly. But if you believe you have both the time and the drive for a position like this, please get in touch!
If you're interested in learning more about joining the Board, or want to apply, email [email protected]. To apply, write an email explaining why you'd like to join the Board and what you feel you could bring to the team. To see who sits on the current Uniting Pride Board, click HERE.