Frequently asked questions
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Common questions about being a volunteer or learner :
Do I need to pay any fees?
No. We are a community-focused program that wants to encourage individual growth and volunteerism without any associated fees.
We are also committed to running our operations with primarily volunteer time. We gratefully accept donations to help cover the specific costs disclosed in our donations page.
What if I start working with my match and later find out it’s not a good fit?
ConnectOne acts as an intermediary to facilitate safe dialogue between a potential volunteer & learner before introductions are made. We encourage you use this opportunity to think through all the questions and requirements you’d have to best assess the fit.
Of course, we understand it’s possible for a match to not fit right after you start working together. We encourage honest communication with your match to explain what may not be working. An easy fix may be likely. If not, you are welcome to come back to ConnectOne for another match.
We want to remind all our volunteers & learners there is nothing wrong if a match does not work out. Many factors can result in an incorrect fit, most of which are not the fault of any party. We will take the learnings from it and use that to try to find a better fit.
Can I have more than 1 learner or volunteer?
Yes – all we ask is that the effectiveness of each match is not compromised by juggling more than one. We believe the quality of each match is more important than quantity.
We suggest to assess and get comfortable with the needs of one match at a time before starting a new one.
Do you have any training for your volunteers?
We do not have any formal training. We provide general volunteer guidelines that should be followed in all matches.
The premise of ConnectOne is that the wealth of knowledge is sitting with our individual volunteers, not us. We hope that our program & platform will help spread knowledge in areas well beyond the expertise of our staff.
That said, we are developing some resources specifically around core life skills. This can provide a starting point for volunteers working with primarily lower-income learners.
We are more than happy to sit down with any of our volunteers to brainstorm together on ways to help an individual learner.
We will also explore the idea of organizing optional meetups for common topics to develop a community for sharing ideas and experiences.
How can a learner trust the information from a volunteer? What if a bad decision is made from the advice?
A volunteer’s role is to share, educate, discuss, and brainstorm. Volunteers should never “tell” learners what to do or what the best decision is. A learner needs to use sound judgment on when to double-check the information shared by volunteer.
Learners are ultimately responsible for what they do with information shared by a volunteer.
A volunteer’s perspective is valuable as a platform to explore new ideas. However, it is not to be taken definitively, unconditionally, or without reservation.
We reiterate this in our Learner Guidelines, Volunteer Guidelines, and Terms of Use.