Natural Dharma Fellowship would not be where we are today without the incredible generosity and heart of our volunteers. So much of what we do, and our success at doing it, depends on the generosity of Volunteers. We have the great good fortune to work with a wonderful community of people who dedicate their precious time and energy and we are forever grateful for every minute.
Below you will find opportunities to help us continue our service to the Sangha and beyond.
Help us continue to offer our courses, series, and retreats online
and in hybrid format from the ease and comfort of your own home.
Enjoy the beauty of our special retreat center in Springfield, NH
while making an important contribution in our spiritual community.
Volunteer Remotely
We need behind-the-scenes volunteers (Studio Pilots) to operate the software interface of our brand-new A/V system which will stream events, both hybrid retreats and teachings, live from Wonderwell.
Similar to the job of Zoom Host, you will use your own computer to remotely join Wonderwell to Zoom. Then, using a simple control panel, you’ll work with camera angles and sound in the meditation hall as needed.
The Studio Pilot’s responsibility will be to supervise the system, which is largely automated, and monitor system performance throughout the event. They will also interact with the Zoom Host to coordinate activities for each session where needed.
Volunteering as a Studio Pilot does not require any special tech savvy! We will fully train you.
If you have a computer with a reliable Internet connection and are comfortable using it for basic functions, such as email and web searches, the job is right for you if you have an interest.
TO VOLUNTEER:
Please contact Andrea at [email protected]
The bulk of NDF’s programming is online or in hybrid (online/onsite) form. To make these programs possible, we need two Zoom Volunteers for each event, including Dharma Sundays, Dharma Dialogues, Meditation Groups, Weekly Classes, and all online and hybrid Retreats.
PLEASE NOTE:
Zoom Hosts do not need to be tech-savvy. If you know how to participate in Zoom meetings and have reliable internet, please consider serving in this crucial role. We will provide training along with mentoring from experienced Zoom Hosts
Depending on your level of involvement, Zoom Hosting includes free attendance at online retreats and the online portions of hybrid retreats.
To Volunteer
If you’d like to volunteer or request more information, please email our Online Programs Coordinator at: [email protected].
Remote Position – This is an ongoing opportunity for anyone interested in long-term volunteering in this area.
Join our team of wonderful volunteers and help us get the Dharma into the hands of our Sangha participants. NDF has volunteer opportunities in one or more areas on our Resource Coordinator team. The tasks involve working on building and maintaining the framework that holds our event recordings. The current positions are listed below and are always expanding and evolving.
Ongoing Tasks
- Audio editing [simple clipping and extracting]
- Video editing [simple clipping and extracting]
- Playlist building
- Resource building in WordPress
- Posting additional materials
- Connecting user lists
Special Projects
From time to time, there will be special projects that support the management and updating of Resources for our Sangha. They will relate to one or more of the jobs within the Resource Coordinator descriptions. Upcoming projects include but are not limited to:
- Help with migration to the new user platform
- Catalog project
- Categorization project
- Resource bundling project
- Resource archives
Requirements
A high level of technical knowledge is not required. We ask that…
- you’re comfortable with working in a basic technical environment
- you have good attention to detail and good organizational skills
- comfortable with “self-starting”
- can be content working with little or no supervision once the project and tools are explained
- have fairly consistent time to offer each month – aka, a certain number of hours per week or month, ongoing (approx. 8-10 hours a month depending on NDF’s schedule and the position
We will train you on the process and assure you that the learning curve is very minimal for a person who is comfortable around technology. If you can email and order things online, you’re perfect for this position.
We meet once a month as a group to check in on how things are going, discuss upcoming events and projects, and get to know each other. This is typically the 2nd Wednesday of the month. The meeting is not mandatory but it has worked out very well for everyone to touch base once a month.
To Volunteer
If you are interested in volunteering for the Resource Coordinator team, please contact Dianne Wiroll, Technical Manager to learn more.
Thank you for your interest! We hope to hear from you. 🙏
RESOURCE COORDINATOR DESCRIPTIONS
See specific volunteer descriptions below.
Audio Editors
Editing begins immediately following an online event and has a 5-day turnaround time. You would be editing out non-essential parts of the recordings such as initial greetings, setup communication, tech talks, and end-of-session “chatter”. It also involves scanning the files for unwanted noises to resolve or clip out.
In addition, you would also do extractions of meditations from teachings so they can be listened to on their own without having to scan through an entire recording.
Prior experience with audio editing is helpful but not required. We will teach you. Familiarization and comfort with using new software are preferred.
Video Editors
Similar to audio editing, we are looking for volunteers to work with video trimming or clipping the same types of beginning and ending, “non-essential” parts of the video. (No extractions are done with video files). Prior experience with audio/video editing is desirable but we can train you. Familiarization and comfort with using new software are preferred.
Resource Builder
Once audio and video are edited, we need to create the structure that holds the recordings and additional materials. This work is done primarily in WordPress and within two other plugins used to display the resources in the user accounts.
Playlists
Our playlists are built using a plugin. The task is to create playlists for our retreats, courses, series, and weekly events. Following a prescribed naming convention, we copy and paste the recording files from a staging platform to the playlist. The playlists are then connected to the resource.
Main Resource & Lessons
In order to display the recordings, we create a Main Resource (landing page) and a Lesson where the playlist will live.
User Lists
Once the resource is fully built, we connect the resource to the User Accounts via a spreadsheet upload.
Additional Materials (documents, links, references, etc.)
This task involves posting the supporting documents and information passed along by our teachers, Lamas, and others who attend our events. It includes:
- Working with our Zoom volunteers and management to collect and compile all supporting links, book recommendations, documents, and presentations and add them to the Resource that accompanies the recordings.
- This may include researching links and information needed to provide our participants with additional information from the event.
Remote Position – This is an ongoing opportunity for anyone interested in long-term volunteering in this area.
We’re looking for volunteers who have WordPress experience to help with simple page updates, some limited design, and with special projects from time to time.
Intermediate experience with WordPress is required and familiarity with webpage builder platforms is desired not mandatory. We use the Elementor web-building platform.
You will be assisting on an as-needed basis when pages on our website need to be updated. You’ll also help with creating new pages and revising page layouts where needed, based on your level of comfort with the software.
Special Projects
- The Website Refresh project will consist of pulling website content for review and once it is determined what needs to be edited, added, or deleted, you will assist with making revision edits.
- Resource Description project is part of a larger project coming later this year where we’ll be upgrading the user interface for resources and recordings.
To Volunteer
If you are interested in volunteering for this volunteer position, please contact Dianne Wiroll, Technical Manager to learn more.
We’re hoping for approximately 6-8 hours per month.
Thank you for your interest!
Committees & Council
The NDF Spiritual Programming Council (SPC) is seeking a person to join our small but tenacious group of volunteers to participate in the process of getting the Dharma onto our calendar and out into the world.
Role
The role of SPC is to implement, administer, and maintain the quality of NDF’s spiritual programming in collaboration with the Teachers Council. At this time, the Council has four members who have been working to complete the 2023 NDF Calendar of Events which includes: multiple-day retreats, Dharma Sundays, Dharma Dialogues, Monday Night Meditation sessions, and other courses. We are seeking a fifth member.
Responsibility
Our newest SPC volunteer will be responsible for reaching out to NDF and visiting teachers to present Dharma Sunday events to our NDF Sangha (online and in person). This process includes outreach to the teacher(s), the follow-up to get the specific event information (Title and Topic Description), then inputting the data collected to facilitate seamless collaboration with other NDF staff who are responsible for publicity and event implementation.
Skill Set
Being comfortable with and interested in basic technology is an important priority for this position. It would be very helpful if you already are using email, spreadsheets, and documents regularly. Familiarity with Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Workspace, or at least an eager willingness to learn it if you don’t have experience, will make this work much easier. In lieu of Google applications, Microsoft Excel and Word knowledge are helpful as well.
We are happy to answer any questions about time commitment and requested skills.
You are invited to apply for this opportunity to Volunteer.
Please send an email addressing your interest, background, and level of comfort with technology to Barbara Waldorf, Co-Managing Director of Spiritual Programming by July 7.
NDF Spiritual Programming Council
We put the “Fun” in Fundraising!
Do you want to “give back” to NDF? Joining the Stewardship Committee is a great way to express gratitude for the teachings.
What do we do? We volunteer our time and effort to help NDF gather the financial resources it needs to keep the teachings available for all. It is important and joyful work, benefitting all beings.
If you are interested in the sustainability of Natural Dharma Fellowship and perhaps have some experience in fundraising, the Stewardship Committee needs you. We’re entrusted with raising funds beyond program registrations to help secure, along with the board, NDF’s long-term health, both operationally and for whatever future needs arise.
Please join us in “paying back by paying it forward.” Your fundraising talents would be most welcome!
To Volunteer
Please contact [email protected] to learn more.
Volunteer at Wonderwell
We are looking for help with house-related maintenance not covered by our regular cleaning service. This opportunity consists mainly of helping to “put the house back in order” after each retreat (including laundry which can be done on or offsite) and of larger laundering tasks throughout the year (comforter covers and blankets, zafu and zabuton covers, etc.) Other projects may arise.
To Volunteer:
Interested in lending a hand? Please contact Andrea at [email protected]
There are no opportunities available at this time.
To Volunteer:
If you would like to be placed on our list for future contact, please email Andrea at: [email protected].
