The ISU Serves program compliments Iowa State University’s mission to "create, share, and apply knowledge to make Iowa and the world a better place". Faculty and staff have many skill sets that can make a tremendous positive impact on the local community. The program allows ISU to build new connections and strengthen existing connections to the community. This will increase volunteerism during the month of the program and beyond. The program "gamifies" these opportunities to create a fun and friendly challenge amongst ISU units. The program provides the university with a "Point of Pride" by demonstrating the total number of hours served.
Very little! Your personal information and the details of your volunteer entries are not shared with anyone. Specifically, your supervisor and department head will NOT able to see your name; the fact that you did or did not participate; or the description, categories, or hours you volunteered. They will only see the same summaries available to everyone. Only YOU can see YOUR information and volunteer entry details. The entry descriptions are for your information only.
All information that is shared will be aggregated at a department level and will include the number of people who participated by recording their volunteer work and the total hours by category that they entered. For example, there will be publicly accessible information and graphs that show that "Department of Lorem Ipsum" had 23 people participate (but not who) and combined they recorded 180 total hours including 73 for Advocacy & Human Rights, 67 for Children & Youth, 24 Health & Medicine, etc.
There are a number of ways you can volunteer that will count towards ISU Serves credit for your unit. Ultimately, it is up to you to determine what should be included, but a few things that should NOT be included are:
- work for which you receive compensation
- committee work that is attached to your job function
- work for the betterment of your immediate or extended family
- philanthropy event attendance only (e.g., running in, but not organizing, a 5K charity run)
- work performed by family members (program only available for ISU faculty and staff members)
There are no shortage of great volunteer opportunities at Iowa State University and in the greater Iowa community. Here are a few places to get you started:
Service activities may be performed on nights and weekends. In addition, employees may utilize options within the current absence and leave policies and/or make arrangements with their supervisor to engage in service activities during the workday.
Service to others has long been viewed as positive activity for individuals’ mental health, self-confidence, and sense of well-being. Life satisfaction can be experienced when we help others. Volunteering allows you to connect to your community and make it a better place. It helps you make new friends, expand your network, participate in service-learning, and boost your social skills. Your work unit may also benefit with a traveling trophy for achieving the highest number of hours served per capita.
As part of the ISU Serves program, units may choose to participate in service activities as a voluntary team building activity. This is a fun way to serve the community while promoting your team culture, building problem solving skills, overcoming challenges as a team, and having fun together.