General Steps to Initiating Your Own Projects

  1. Conceptualising Your Project

    See below (Volunteer Idea Sparkers) for some ideas for projects.

    You can refer to "Resources" for some resources to help you get started with volunteering e.g. tips on writing proposals, CIP volunteering, funding avenues etc.

    You can also visit http://ycm.nyc.sg/take-action/useful-links for resources by Young Changemaker.
     
  2. Penning Down Your ProposalPen down you proposal or complete the Volunteer Project Proposal form and send it to volunteer@SMM.salvationarmy.org.

    Please ensure all relevant information are available in order for us to review the suitability of the project.

    If there is not fixed date for the project, you may wish to indicate a few possible dates and your preferred centre to partner (if any).
     
  3. Discussing & Fine-tuning the Partnership
    We will contact you to further discuss and finetune your project. The process may take about 2 weeks to 1 month depending on the complexity of the project.
     
  4. Registration of Volunteers
    Once the project is confirmed, send in the registration of all volunteers who are participating in the project.
     
  5. Ongoing Planning & Project Implementation
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Ideas for Volunteer Projects

The sky’s the limit when it comes to making a difference in the lives of others.
At The Salvation Army, we believe that volunteering can be meaningful and fun. Opportunities to “do good” are abound and with this starter kit resource, we hope to help you get started with shaping your volunteer journey with us.

Before this, you might wish to also first go through some pre-volunteering considerations and understand our partnership philosophy.

You can also refer to "Resources" for some resources to help you get started with volunteering e..g. tips on writing proposals, CIP volunteering, funding avenues etc.

Opportunities are abound in the following areas:
  • Share-a-skill / Knowledge
    • Help enrich our beneficiaries, staff and volunteers by sharing and imparting skills.
    • Examples: teaching balloon sculpting, gardening, drama, sports, singing, dancing, musical instruments, cooking and baking, information technology, art & craft, flower arrangements, knitting or crocheting, giving talks etc
  • Reading & Academic Mentorship
    • Help our beneficiaries do well in their school work by tutoring them and providing homework assistance etc
  • Day-Out with Beneficiaries
    • Spend a day with beneficiaries and share joy and time together as you enrich their day with outdoor trips.
    • Examples: educational tours, shopping trips, telematches, shopping trips, picnics, trips to attractions, healthy and nature walks, laser tag, "first peek" visits to new places, kite flying outings or any other places where beneficiaries may typically not be able to set foot on etc
  • Celebrations
    • Spend time with our beneficiaries during special occasions such as Mother’s Day, National Day, Christmas, Mid-Autumn Festival, Chinese New Year etc.
    • Examples: steamboat gatherings, spring roll wrapping sessions, dumpling wrapping sessions, sushi making and monthly birthday celebrations, competitions e.g. cookoffs and telematches etc
  • Contribute-a-Skill
    • Offer your skills to help The Salvation Army do better in our work of caring for the beneficiaries.
    • Examples: haircutting, photography, graphics design, writing for our bulletin, video productions to help promote The Salvation Army’s cause, performing for The Salvation Army events, help clip promotion coupons for The Salvation Army’s beneficiaries to help them with their finances etc
  • Entertainment / Befriending
    • Spread joy through performances and befriending activities
    • Examples: puppet shows, sing-a-longs, craftwork, clay activities, bingo games, crossword puzzles, sudoko, jigsaw puzzle, board games e.g. snake and ladder, charades, karaoke (and record own album), Jenga, bring game shows (e.g. "Don't Forget the Lyrics", "The Price is Right") to beneficiaries, adopt-a-resident living area etc.
  • Facilities Improvement & Maintenance
    • Help enhance the environment where our beneficiaries spend their time.
    • Examples: mural painting, maintenance of facilities e.g. libraries and making decorations, adopt a facility e.g. garden and engage in activities with the beneficiaries etc
  • Donations-in-kind Processing
    • Help The Salvation Army to process donations-in-kind at the Red Shield Industries by sorting items for sale at the Family Thrift Stores.
    • Example: joining teams to sort books, clothes, toys, ornaments, audio-visual items, repair and refurbish computers etc
  • Events Support
    • Help make our events a success by playing a part.
    • Examples: helping as ushers, traffic wardens, befrienders, photographers, first-aiders, flyer distributors, stallholders during events such as carnivals etc
  • Fundraising & Collection Drives
    • Help support The Salvation Army’s work through raising donations both in cash and kind.
    • Examples: be a Christmas Kettle Appeals volunteer, publishing a recipe book in aid of the beneficiaries, organizing bake sales, design-a-greeting-card fundraisers, valentine’s day fundraisers, charity car wash, in-house charity concerts, art/photo exhibitions, "cut-a-CD-for charity" fundraisers, fundraising parties/dinners, silent auctions, fundraising Christmas gift-wrapping projects, proceeds drive partnership with businesses, spare change drive, in-house garage sale, fundraising talks, in-house carnivals, recycling drives, organizing “–a-thons” such as walkathons, hair-cutting-a-thon, spring cleaning-a-thons or some other fun ways to encourage people to donate to a cause, charity runs/run-for-charity at a marathon, competitions, fundraising tours of special locations etc
  • Programme Support
    • Examples: Gardening with beneficiaries, care and grooming for seniors e.g. pedicure and manicure, hairstyling and dyeing, face threading, rehabilitation assistance, craftwork, kite-making, cooking and baking, sports, gardening, reading a book/newspaper to beneficiaries, scrapbooking, making piñatas and papier mache, housekeeping, vehicle washing, movie screening, compiling biography, pastoral support, administrative support etc
Or put it all together and have an intergenerational project by having children work with elderly etc…

As we have said it: “The sky’s the limit when it comes to making a difference in the lives of others.” You can simply do a search on the internet for more ideas on volunteering…

Examples for Self-Initiated Projects

To start off, you may find some suggested activities at the following sites or you can do your own research and propose them:

Proposal Writing

Here are some guidelines to help you get started in thinking about your project and in drafting your project proposal.

You may also contact us to speak with us briefly about your project prior to penning down your proposal.

You may also use the Volunteer Project Proposal Form to send in your projects for The Salvation Army's review.

We have also included a project run sheet to help you plan your actual day running of your project. The run sheet allows for the breakdown of the project to indicate the activity, rationale, contingency planning, logistic planning and allocation of tasks and responsibilities, to ensure a smooth and successful run.

Some Important Considerations

Kindly ensure that the proposed activities should be suitable for the age group of the beneficiaries you are working with e.g. senior-friendly for the senior care services and child-friendly for children services. These would include taking into consideration factors such as accessbility, physical ability, cognitive development and safety of the beneficiaries.

For example, projects with young children should ensure there are conducted in an environment that is safe and where volunteers and staff can monitor the children to prevent them from wandering off or taken away. Projects should also not use small items which children can put into their mouth and swallow. Projects involving senior beneficiaries should take into consideration their physical ability to stand for long periods, the accessibility of the place as well as proximity to washrooms and drop-off points (where necessary), their dexterity etc. 

Remember, that at the end of the day, the main objective of projects should be to enhance and value-add the care of the beneficiaries and this would include, but is not limited to, providing healthy companionship, learning and exercising their bodies. As such, do ensure that the duration of the activities should allow ample time for these to be achieved. The programme and end-product is, most often, not as important as compared to the objectives of the project.

The Salvation Army places emphasis on working out meaningful partnerships, both for the beneficiaries and the volunteers. As such, we do appreciate you allow at least 1 month for us to discuss the project, ascertain its suitability and plan for it. We regret to inform that we are not able to partner on projects with a short "runway" to implementation.

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