Volunteer Depot Database

About the Program

Category: Volunteers (Best in Category)

Year: 2012

Although the Office of Consumer Protection’s (OCP’s) main mission is to investigate consumer protection issues, OCP has added new duties to its mandate over the past three years, including an estimated property tax disclosure, domestic workers model contract, and energy and environment advocacy. With the addition of these programs, and the limitation on county resources, OCP found itself struggling to pay employees enough to keep these programs afloat. As a result, OCP had no alternative but to expand its volunteer program. Over the past year, OCP has restructured its volunteer program to broaden its volunteer base to include college interns, and law students while maintaining its core professional volunteers as well our youth. OCP developed an online volunteer application form and a unique database that enables us to identify volunteers’ skills, and match it to an OCP project or need. Volunteer data is readily available to staff members to be used to develop projects or fill a need such as expertise in particular areas, language fluency, or software knowledge. In 2011 alone, volunteers contributed nearly 3,000 work hours to OCP, indicating that the program has been a successful venture.