PAL Executive Director Lorraine Woodruff-Long Aims to Make PAL More Volunteer-Friendly

Second in a series of interviews with PAL Executive Director Lorraine Woodruff-Long, examining the challenges that face PAL in 2012 and beyond. 

Lorraine Woodruff-Long worked in the Peace Corps when she was fresh out of college. She spent two years in Kenya working on small-business development.

That experience taught her that, for people to be motivated to volunteer a big chunk of their time, there has to be “something in it for them” — a way to build new skills, enhance a resume, meet new people, make a difference in a kid’s life.

What they don’t want is to be stuck doing paperwork or wasting time on petty administrative tasks. They also don’t want to be ignored or overlooked.

So when she took over as executive director of PAL three years ago, Woodruff-Long set out to revamp the PAL volunteer program, in big ways and small — in short, to make PAL more volunteer-friendly.

“It’s painful to me that people do so much for PAL and don’t get recognized for it,” she says. “We’ve just got to recognize people more. … We need to be making sure our programs are supporting the kids, and we need to be really supporting those volunteers.”

A Giant in Volunteers
PAL may be a small organization, but on a volunteer basis, it is a giant. More than 800 coaches, mentors, program directors, and team managers donate countless hours to making the PAL programs run every year.

Getting those 800 volunteers to sign up — and keeping them happy and free to focus on the kids — is one of the big challenges that Woodruff-Long faces. She hopes to hire another staff person to help volunteers and to grow the volunteer pool. She also wants to find ways to acknowledge and appreciate the coaches currently on board, many of whom have been with PAL for years.

For example, Woodruff-Long looks at the Seahawks football and cheerleading programs as examples where more volunteer support is needed. These two programs, which operate out of the city’s Western Addition, are central to PAL mission’s of reaching all kids, especially those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. Many of the 50-plus Seahawks volunteers are men and women who serve as role models and parent figures. Many have also been longtime PAL volunteers, some for decades. Some even participated in the program as kids themselves, and are now back, volunteering as adults.

“Those volunteers are miracle workers,” Woodruff-Long says. “They’re there because they care deeply about these kids. They don’t want to be doing administrative stuff. … That’s the biggest place where we can make a huge difference for kids. Do something to support those amazing volunteers.”

Operating at Max Capacity
To create a truly volunteer-friendly organization, as well as meet other goals, PAL has to generate more funding and create new and more reliable sources of funding.

“This is really the big theme for my work right now,” Woodruff-Long says. “We are operating at max capacity. Our staff can’t do any more than they’re doing right now. We’re trying to find ways to be more efficient and generate the resources. But we need another staff person.”

PAL gets most of its funding through individual donors, business and institutional donations, and grants. The recession has put pressure on all nonprofits as they compete for funds from a shrinking revenue pie. It has forced PAL to work harder.

“We still charge among the lowest fees. We also restructured some things so we can provide more scholarships,” she says. “And we have more people who gave more. It’s a perfect example of what you keep reading about happening in the country. You have the haves and the have-nots. We’re asking the haves to do a little bit more and they are, and it’s really allowing us to serve more people who can’t pay.”

To donate to PAL, become a corporate sponsor or sign up as a volunteer, visit our how-to-help page. You can also make a cash donation by visiting our donation page.