Opportunities From: United Way of Dane County

Join our fundraising team to work on fundraising strategies and help plan events. Whether you have experience in fundraising or just want to help our chapter raise funds, we have opportunities for you. There are many skills and interests that can be involved in planning, outreach, and event planning or other skills that are part of putting together events that can be useful. Events are sometimes online as well as in person, and meetings are online. We have a general template that has worked well for us, but we are always open to new ideas and how to improve our efforts. Fundraising is a key element of helping our chapter succeed. 

Tired of trash and waste and want to help us do better? Our Four Lakes Sierra Club Recycling Away from Home (RAH) program is working to create a community culture of less waste. We're at several east side Madison festivals where we help with the trash and recycling to limit landfill trash and maximize recycling, which are also opportunities to bring more attention to our trashy habits. You also get to enjoy fun festivals with the great music, vendors, food and drink. And you'll receive a genuine Four Lakes t-shirt for volunteering.

This summer, we'll be at Atwoodfest on July 26 & 27, and Africafest on August 16. We'd love to have you join us, so please contact us to get involved.

We also have a longer term goal to enact stronger community standards and reduce waste, and we hope to hold some more discussions with the City of Madison to figure out how to reduce use of wasteful items. If you're interested reducing waste or have ideas of your own to share, we'd love to hear from you.

Tar sands pipelines carry some of the dirtiest, most energy intensive and toxic fuels on the planet. We have several of them in Wisconsin, and right now we're fighting to shut down tar sands Line 5 in northern Wisconsin which is threatening the homelands and waters of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa. This is their sovereign territory, yet Enbridge has refused for over a decade to remove the pipeline as asked, and instead are proposing a reroute that would put many more lands and waters at risk. Join our fight to protect indigenous people's and their rights by joining our tar sands team and help organize and generate more public opposition to this dirty pipeline. It's time to put people and the planet ahead of profits!

We are looking for help to distribute Line 5 yard signs so people can show their support. Another project is to set a world's record for making origami fish to support shutting down Line 5 - "Oil and water don't mix!" (See opportunity description for "Assembling origami fish".)

The Sierra Club Wisconsin is seeking a Treasurer to co-manage the various duties and responsibilities currently performed by the Chapter Treasurer. The combined purpose of these Treasurer roles is to help manage and report on the finances of the chapter and its entities.

The State Treasurer position would work closely with the Chapter Treasurer, Group Treasurers, chapter staff and the volunteer Finance committee and engage with national Sierra Club and Sierra Club Foundation finance staff as needed.

After gaining an understanding of internal Sierra Club financial policies and processes, this role will provide guidance and oversight for our six Group Treasurers including answering policy or bookkeeping questions, reviewing and approving expenses submitted for reimbursement, assistance with transaction entry, opening and closing accounts, bank reconciliation or other tasks as needed. 

The State Treasurer will also work closely with the Chapter-Treasurer and staff on monitoring and reporting on the financial health of the chapter. This could include monitoring the budget, reporting material deviation, preparing financial reporting forms. And take the lead on completing year end reporting forms for the chapter and groups.

The estimated time commitment for this position is 3 to 4 hours per month with a larger time commitment in August.

Qualifications:

Our Sierra Club Four Lakes Group produces a newsletter 3 times a year, we have a blog on our web site that can be contributed to on an ongoing basis, and we do a monthly Enews. We'd welcome your joining us if you have skills or interests in writing, editing, graphics or social media to help communicate our environmental activities and issues. Our newsletter comes out in early January, May and September each year. We collaborate as a group, but are flexible on content, and include information on our campaigns, activities and volunteers. Access to a computer is required, but you can work from wherever with whatever software you have.

We sometimes need to create information sheets or flyers about some of our campaign work or other activities, so there are intermittent opportunities to help with other communication.

Contact Don Ferber at d_ferber@sbcglobal.net for more information.

Help make a difference in south central Wisconsin by becoming a leader in the Four Lakes Group, and help us set our environmental directions and priorities. This is an opportunity to get involved at a local/regional level with the nation's oldest and largest environmental organization. The Four Lakes Group covers 9 counties in south central Wisconsin - Dane, Dodge, Jefferson, Rock, Green, Lafayette, Iowa, Sauk, and Columbia, and is part of the Wisconsin Chapter. We are entirely volunteer led, although there are state staff we can draw on for support and guidance.

The Four Lakes Group board helps set the direction, decide on activities, and manage the finances of our group - all consistent with national and state Sierra Club policies and stances. We discuss what issues we will become involved with or take stances on, conduct various programs and activities to support key issues in this area, and also get involved in elections. It is an opportunity for you to get involved with the support of the Sierra Club in issues you care about and hope to make a difference in, especially at the local level.

We hold elections every fall, but encourage anyone interested to contact us at any time. You do have to be a Sierra Club member to be on our board, but you can easily join if you are not. We generally meet once a month, and time commitment is generally several hours a month, but depends on your interests and level of commitment that fits for you. But it is a great opportunity to make a difference and learn leadership and organizational skills.

If you love the outdoors or have special places or activities you enjoy and would like to share your passion with others, becoming a Sierra Club outings leader provides the opportunity to do that with Sierra Club support and backing. You can choose the location(s) and the activity(s) you enjoy that are within our scope, which can include learning about nature, seeing a special destination, or doing some other special activity you enjoy. Help people explore, enjoy and protect the planet, and the places you love, and we'll promote the outings. It's a great way to share your love of nature and special destinations with others who want to enjoy the outdoors and protect our environment.

There are some minimal training requirements to understand Sierra Club procedures and policies that can be done online, and you have to take a first aid course we will provide or can pay for. Additional training is required if you are interested in longer, overnight outings. For more information, contact Don Ferber at d_ferber@sbcglobal.net.

We're getting off coal, but many utilities want to add new gas power plants, and we need to stop efforts to move to 'natural' gas. Especially with the potential growth of data centers, we're looking at a significant escalation in energy demand and continued reliance on fossil fuels. If that occurs, our clean energy goals will be in serious trouble.

In addition to ending the use of fossil fuels and moving to renewable energy and energy efficiency, we're also fighting for energy justice. Many people are burdened by unaffordable energy bills as utilities continue to jack up rates. We work with partners to push the Wisconsin Public Service Commission to stop permitting fossil fuels and provide affordable bills and programs to help people in need. You can help us end fossil fuel use and stop any new gas infrastructure by joining our Beyond Coal to Clean Energy team and moving to clean energy solutions and providing a just energy future.

We meet online the third Wednesday of each month at 6 pm. There are many opportunities including helping plan strategies and actions, developing social media, creating graphics, writing letters to the editor, and community outreach - and more, based on your skills or interests.

If you want to help create a clean and just energy future, this is a great opportunity to learn from and interact with trained staff and other volunteers. It's a fun way to connect with like-minded people who are working for a better and more sustainable future for our world. For more info, contact Don Ferber at d_ferber@sbcglobal.net.

Do you appreciate nature and want to make sure everyone has access to its benefits? We're looking for new leaders for our Four Lakes Group Outdoors for All! team. The goal is to provide opportunities for everyone, especially underserved communities, to explore and enjoy the outdoors. If you have outdoor or educational skills you want to share with others, especially those who may not often have those opportunities or feel comfortable out in nature, this can be a great opportunity to engage with people or groups to provide that exposure and comfort. We also work on transit issue to help people have access to places they want to go, including parks and green spaces,

We assembled outdoor education backpacks that are being provided to One City Schools, but there is the potential to provide these more widely or demonstrate them at events. We are also working on tree plantings to support underserved communities and areas to bring more greenery, canopy cover, and beauty to those areas. as well as engage people in those plantings.

If you have an interest in youth environmental education and activities, please contact us to discuss how you can get involved. We're open to ideas and directions, and you would have the support of the Sierra Club.