LPMP Summer Opportunities Focus Mobilizing/Motivating Volunteers  

     The Athenaeum of Ohio’s Lay Pastoral Ministry Program (LPMP) will offer two summer 2012 events designed to help parish and non-profit staff members recruit, equip and sustain an effective volunteer base.

     They are:  

     * Mobilizing Parish Volunteers – a Workshop – 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 23 ($75 fee) 

     This workshop will provide an overview of the volunteer recruitment process, from pre-work and theological underpinnings to the collaborative agreement or volunteer "contract".  The workshop will examine who volunteers, the most effective strategies for recruiting volunteers, the steps in a successful recruitment campaign, common mistakes in recruitment, and how to create volunteer performance descriptions/ministry agreements that motivate volunteers and keep them accountable.

      The $75 Workshop fee includes a continental breakfast, lunch and handouts. It will be held at the Bartlett Pastoral Center, on Athenaeum’s main campus, 6616 Beechmont Avenue. The workshop can be attended as a stand alone event. It is required for students enrolling in the graduate elective course (LPP 358) described below.  

     * Recruiting, Motivating and Sustaining Parish Volunteers – a Course (LPP358). Earns 3 graduate credits. (Cost: standard graduate fee); Instructor: Dr. John Gutting, 

     This course is open to anyone with an undergraduate degree. The course will begin with the workshop, Mobilizing Parish Volunteers, held on June 23. Course participants will build on that information via an online course, to be completed between July 1 and September 1, 2012. 

     Students will work at their own pace, completing content in the areas of: Theological and scriptural foundations of volunteer ministry; groundwork for a successful process; stages of volunteer ministry epowerment, the "New Volunteer", the "Virtual Volunteer" and the use of social media. Students will explore these topics in the context of Catholic theology and spirituality.

    (All workshop fees except for food service are included in the course tuition.)