Volunteer Leadership Application (VLA) Process

Описание: Hello, my name is Rosemary Wanis and I am your RID Board Secretary. A brief video description: my background is dark blue, my hair is black and white, my eyes are green, tan-skinned with purple glasses, earrings, and shirt with a dark blue tank top underneath. 



This purpose of this video is to explain the process of becoming a volunteer leader and our volunteer leadership agreement with how to apply. We have had this process in place for quite some time, and we’ve made some slight revisions recently after working closely with RID headquarter staff, Bucky, Julie, and Brooke. Thank you to all three of them for working closely with me the last few months to make these revisions possible. Now the information is available for you and we will be implementing this process effective immediately. 



I will now explain the step-by-step process also in the infographic included in my video for any volunteer leader to express interests to join as a board, a member section leader, or an affiliate chapter leader, and then we have the audit committee, finance committee, and the conflict of interest committee. These six groups have their own initiation into the volunteer leadership process which is a bit more robust. After you fill out the online form, we will require a little bit more information because of the handling of confidential and sensitive information about members and organizational finance. For those of you volunteering for other committees, councils, task forces, or other opportunities, you will participate in a more simplified process. In the online form itself, you will be prompted to select which group you are interested in volunteering. Then, you will be directed to an agreement form which varies depending on the level of leadership you are applying for. Any questions that come up for you, please contact me at [email protected]. 



Now I will go ahead and explain what the new process looks like starting with Step 1 where you will complete a form, which is available on our RID website, to apply to become a volunteer leader. As you complete the online form you will be asked to express your interest to serve, share your background and resume, why are you interested in joining, review all the volunteer leadership expectations, and disclose any actual or perceived conflicts of interest that you may have that is. Once you submit the online form, then Step 1 is completed.



Step 2 is for headquarters to receive the submitted form, review, and verify your eligibility based on the established criteria that we have. We look at bylaws, our Policy and Procedure Manual (PPM), and any other criteria that exists for the group that you are applying for to make sure that you do meet all the necessary qualifications, expectations, and standards of eligibility. 



Once your eligibility is confirmed, you move on to Step 3. After any disclosed conflict of interest has been cleared by the Conflict of Interest (COI) committee, we will invite you to an interview with the chair or the lead person of the group that you have applied to work with. After completing the interview, you move on to Step 4. 



Step 4, after you have been accepted, you will receive an appointment letter from the RID Board President confirming your role and providing you with the Volunteer Leadership Resources (VLR) folder in Google Drive and you will begin your term. This process will be repeated every two years.



I would like to go back a little bit about our conflict of interest disclosures. Each volunteer leaders' disclosed conflict of interest, either actual or perceived, will be evaluated by RID's COI committee to ensure all our volunteers serve the best interest of RID as an organization. Keep in mind that if a conflict of interest is identified, you will not be automatically disqualified from serving. In fact, you may have one of four possible responses. The conflict of interest committee could: recommend that you could serve while recusing yourself from specific topics, recommend that you serve on a different committee, mitigate the conflict by suggesting a change on your end or ours, or determine that this is not the right fit at this time due to the disclosed conflict and deny your application. 



We encourage you to apply to volunteer! Once you successfully complete Steps 1 - 4, you will be welcomed into the volunteer leadership opportunity. We want to thank you for taking the time to express your interest. Please note that this process does not happen overnight and may take from two to three months as we want to be as thorough, accurate, and complete as possible, so please anticipate that much time to process. When you submit your application, if you notice that you’ve applied and there has been no communication from us, please contact me. I want to follow up with each of you individually as soon as possible.



Thank you for your interest and thank you for your interest in serving RID!



Rosemary Wanis,

Secretary, RID