Do you like to build, organize, create, and help your community? The Fab Lab has need for volunteers to help with many of our programs and ongoing projects! There is plenty to do for all skill levels! You can read about the different types of volunteers we need below, and fill out this form to let us know who you are, what you are interested in helping with, and when you can help! We will reach out and see where the best fit is for both of us!
Administration: Administrative tasks are everything from taking inventory of expendable items to entering and filing receipts. These tasks are more like a ‘desk job’ (or at least light movement) for people who are organized and like to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s.
Advertising: How we get the word out about our events, classes, and the Lab in general. Writing press releases, making quick videos or animations, taking pictures during classes/events, and creating posters, fliers, and emails. These volunteers work closely with staff and teachers so that everyone knows what is going on! This type of volunteer needs to have a good grasp of the language and be able to take critiques and suggestions on their copy.
Cleaning: All of this making-of-things makes a mess! Cleanup of the Lab needs to happen on a regular basis. There are both weekly and monthly tasks that need to be done. Sometimes these can be repetitive, such as cleaning up the woodshop, vacuuming, and wiping down walls. While the members who use the Lab also clean up after themselves (in a perfect world), dust accumulates, paint gets splattered, and tools don’t find their way back home. This type of volunteer should like moving around and be able to bend over, pick up stuff (up to 20 pounds) and have a good eye for detail.
Classes: We have a huge need for volunteers willing to transfer their skills to new members and interested community members! The volunteers for classes would be teaching the beginner level (basics) classes, which are designed for safety and basic tool use. We have 30 different classes, ranging from twice a month to twice per year! Members who are able to cover these classes may be able to receive a discount or other incentive for covering classes, as well!
Events: The Fab Lab hosts special events, from helping out the community (boy scouts, girl scouts, community centers, etc) to our annual Make Me a Holiday event, fundraising events, and open houses! We need volunteers who are able to help set up for the events, move things from storage, decorate for holidays, create items for sale, and organize the events during the planning process. These volunteers won’t work in a vacuum, but as a team along with staff or board members. This is a great chance to let your creative side flow.
Maintenance: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as they say. Maintenance of machines and tools is a great way of staying ahead of the curve when it comes to many of our machines and tools. For when those machines and/or tools break, we also need knowledgeable people to fix them. You would work closely with staff and Fab Lab Champions (members in charge of areas), rotate around helping in any areas that need some upkeep. You also would be assembling new machines, tools, or furniture and helping to decide on placement for them. If you like to do something new and learn different ways of doing things, this may be for you!
Organizing: The Fab Lab has a lot of donated stuff, and gets more donations every week! We need to maintain an inventory for our stuff, as well as having a robust system so we can find things when we need them. Our Lab has storage rooms, tools maintained in the spaces, and even an offsite storage unit. Someone volunteering for organization will need to climb stairs, carry up to 40 pounds, and have an ordered mind. If you have ever thought you would make a good librarian, this may be the spot for you!
Social Media: This includes facebook, Instagram, and tiktok. We need to up our game on this one. Short videos, blurbs on projects and techniques, outreach for classes and events, and building excitement for the cool things happening around the Lab is the name of the game. People involved with social media will work closely with advertising, as well. If you love making micro-stories and sharing cool things with the internet, we want you to volunteer!
Website: Things are always changing. Our website sometimes gets behind, and could definitely use some more TLC than it gets. Small things like maintaining pages with accurate information, as well as creating new pages for events, putting classes up, and posting videos, photos, and creating other content along with the rest of the team. Knowledge of maintaining a website is a need on this one. We also are NOT interested in someone ‘running the website’. This will be a volunteer position, so we are not asking too much of you at any one time.
Workdays: Workdays are 4 to 8 hour events, usually on a weekend. They are used to accomplish large projects that take a lot of people or a lot of time. If you only want to help out every once in a while, and work with other makers like you, workdays are a great way to meet new people and do some fun things!