Volunteer Series, Part Two: Educating and Engaging the Community

Volunteering is something we at the Onion Foundation truly value. All of our staff and board members volunteer in various capacities, be it providing direct service, sitting on boards, or reviewing grants for other community initiatives.

In fact, volunteering is so important to us and to communities throughout Maine that we launched a content series to highlight nonprofits that partner with volunteers to advance their work. Part one focused on environmental organizations that train citizen scientists to collect and report on key data.

Here, we’re exploring a different type of volunteer: one who supports nonprofits by educating and engaging their fellow community members. These organizers, educators, and community leaders bolster the efforts of many of our Environment Program grantees, provide opportunities for more people to enjoy the outdoors, and help broaden organizations’ reach throughout the state.

The Widespread Impact of Volunteering

Volunteers who engage and educate their communities are typically passionate about a particular field or topic. After receiving (usually free) training from a nonprofit organization, they relay what they’ve learned to the public via formal workshops, training programs, engagement initiatives, or advocacy efforts.

Research shows that volunteers’ work benefits both them and their community: A 2023 study found that community volunteering positively impacts people’s quality of life, including their “psychological well-being, pride and empowerment, motivation, self-efficacy, [and] life satisfaction.” Volunteering also helps reduce depression and improve participants’ connection to their community, the study reports.

Similarly, a 2021 study identified a valuable relationship with quality of life and volunteering, proving that “prosocial behavior” improves one’s overall well-being.

Volunteers help drive awareness about the organization’s initiatives and impact, and they often become advocates for causes that matter to the organization. According to a Fidelity Charitable study, volunteers also donate money at higher rates than non-volunteers after engaging with a nonprofit.

The research is clear: When organizations partner with community volunteers, everyone wins.

Four Organizations That Partner With Community Educators

Many of our environment grantees rely on volunteer educators to help advocate for climate change action, build awareness on key environmental topics, and especially expand access to the outdoors. Here’s a look at four of those organizations.

7 Lakes Alliance

An organization that supports land and water conservation, 7 Lakes Alliance collects scientific data on lake health, helps control erosion, maintains nature trails around various lakes, and educates the public on lake-related topics like invasive species and the importance of keeping lakes healthy.

The organization is also just one of many Maine nonprofits that work with volunteers to offer courtesy boat inspections. According to 7 Lakes Alliance, volunteers who serve as Courtesy Boat Inspectors “are the first defense against the spread of invasive aquatic species.”

After training with the Lakes Environmental Association — the organization designated by the state for training community members — 7 Lakes Alliance assigns volunteers to public boat launches in the Belgrade Lakes watershed. There, they support paid staff by providing additional coverage inspecting watercraft vehicles for invasive hitchhikers and educating community members about the harm these species can cause to lake health. As such, Courtesy Boat Inspectors play a critical role in community engagement and conservation by serving as friendly ambassadors for both lake protection and 7 Lakes Alliance.

Portland Wheelers

Founded in 2015, Portland Wheelers provides adaptive cycling programs for people with disabilities that might prevent them from being able to ride a bike independently. From May to October, the organization partners with schools, residential facilities, rehabilitation centers, and others to bring people out on trails and streets using electric-assisted tricycles.

Portland Wheelers’ 140+ volunteers are the “heart” of the organization, having served more than 1,200 wheelers and facilitating more than 3,100 rides in 2024 alone. These volunteers complete a four-hour training session to learn how to operate the equipment and engage the community in outdoor cycling.

On-bike pilots operate wheelchair bikes and ensure the safety of all wheelers on each expedition. But a core part of their job is interacting with participants and bringing “the joy and excitement of biking to those who can’t ride on their own.” Off-bike volunteers help maintain the equipment, assist in programming logistics, and provide connective services like American Sign Language interpretation. By aiding participants in accessing the outdoors, these assistants, pilots, educators, and organizers are helping foster a deeper connection to the nature surrounding biking trails.

More Women+ Surf

More Women+ Surf is all about getting more people — including queer, trans, and nonbinary people; Black, Brown, and Indigenous people; and senior women — out on the water. Their motto: “In the eyes of the waves, we are all the same.”

The organization offers several programs, including Melanin’s Up, a surf clinic for Black, Indigenous, and people of color. And volunteers are essential to all their programs.

On the water, volunteer surf instructors teach the basics of surfing, board management, and water safety, while wave assistants support instructors during lessons and act as “traffic control” to prevent collisions. Volunteers help give participants the skills to enjoy both their sport and the natural world around them, while broadening community members’ access to the outdoors.

Together, More Women+ Surf’s volunteers advance the organization’s mission to create inclusive, welcoming opportunities for women and nonbinary people to ride the waves.

Maine Adaptive

Like More Women+ Surf and Portland Wheelers, Maine Adaptive is committed to creating more inclusive spaces for outdoor recreation. The organization has been offering educational workshops and training for people with disabilities since 1982, enabling those often left out of outdoor activities to ski, snowboard, cycle, and more.

At Maine Adaptive, volunteers serve as both facilitators and educators. Volunteer instructors head out into the snow to teach people with disabilities and their families to snowshoe or ski. In the summer, educators teach participants how to play golf, climb, paddle, or play pickleball. And all year round, these same volunteers help with equipment maintenance, photography, and office support — essential duties that have enabled Maine Adaptive to offer more than 2,700 lessons to more than 470 people with disabilities to date.