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Tips
Hopefully, you will find these tips useful in planning a successful
ODW program to help El Salvador. If you have advice to add, let us
know by using the "I have a suggestion" button on the left.
Getting Started
Working as a Group
Building Partnerships
Working with the Press
Workdays
Examples
Below is a list of resources that were used during last year's
ODW program. Most of the documents are in .pdf format, so you will need
Adobe Acrobat Reader
to view them.
Getting Started
- You will need a bank account to accept contributions and write
checks. The easiest way to do this in many cases is to have your
school hold the money and keep track of your balance.
- Try to get people involved outside of your personal group of
friends. The more diverse your group, the more likely you are to
get a lot of people in your school to help on the workday.
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Working as a Group
- As a group, make a list of ground rules for your meetings. Things
like "don't interrupt others" and "respect everyone's opinions" are
examples. Keep the list of ground rules handy and work hard to follow them.
- Just because some people speak a lot, and others speak rarely, that doesn't mean that people who speak more actually know more. Be sure to ask for the opinions of everyone in the group.
- Make sure you start each meeting by deciding what you are going to discuss and decide. You can use this information to create an agenda.
- Assign responsibilities. Each time you meet you may come up with a list of things that need to be done. Make sure that there is someone responsible for each task and review progress on each task at later meetings. Below, you can find an example of creating sub-committees.
- At the end of each meeting, take a few minutes to talk about how the meeting went. Did you complete your agenda? Did you follow the ground rules? Did everyone participate? If you ask yourself questions like these, your meetings will get more and more productive.
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Building Partnerships
- The more partners you get involved in ODW, the more you can accomplish.
- Explain to school administrators and officials what you are trying to do and ask them to help. Keep them up to date on your progress. Your advisor can be very helpful in this task.
- If you are looking for business partners to be sponsors, speaking to civic organizations like the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, Lions Club and others is a good way to start.
- Elected officials and local leaders can be very helpful in building support in the community and getting press attention for your efforts. Ask for their help and invite them to any ODW events at your school.
- Your parents and their businesses can be great partners and help provide jobs for our workday.
- Talk to a local paper or radio station about helping keep the community updated on your ODW efforts.
- Always send thank you notes to people who help or contribute.
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Working with the Press
- If you have an ODW event at your school, an assembly, for example, invite the local media. Also invite them to cover your workday or any other event that would make a good story.
- Always have a specific time and place for them to arrive.
- Imagine the article or story and headline you would like to have written about your event and write a press release.
- Invite local leaders, Congressmen and local officials to participate.
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Workdays
- Transportation to and from work sites can be a difficult issue, so start to figure it out early.
- Remind people that their contributions to ODW are tax deductible.
- Give a receipt for contributions. (See examples.)
- Ask people who hire students and the students themselves to fill out a short survey about working with ODW. It will help you make ODW even better next year.
- Always send thank you notes!!!
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