Volunteer Opportunities at The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Caucus

Rev. 11/30/98

The Mission of the Caucus

The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Caucus maintains a network of alumni/ae, faculty and staff of Harvard-Radcliffe College and the Harvard Graduate and Professional Schools in order to develop, nurture and defend Harvard's gay, lesbian and bisexual community. The Caucus and its local chapters in several cities:

foster fellowship among members through social events, a newsletter, and a directory;
seek to develop a sense of community among Harvard-Radcliffe lesbians, gay men and bisexuals;
press for a non-discriminatory and diverse working, living and academic environment at Harvard;
sponsor educational and cultural programs for members, students and others;
undertake community service projects; and
encourage informal coordination among bisexual, gay and lesbian student groups at Harvard.

Leadership Opportunities

These projects will not happen unless someone volunteers:

2000 Membership Directory: Questionnaire in October 1999 - print individual sheet for each member from database, stuff and mail; data entry in Jan/Feb.; proofreading; generate lists; layout; printing, stuffing and mailing.

Educating Harvard: Work with Harvard administrators (College Dean's office, UHS, Athletic Dept., etc.) to educate them, press for a study of student needs, get information from past Senior Surveys and get better questions into future surveys; prepare, distribute and analyze results of our own questionnaire.

Outreach: Develop and implement strategies to reach out to new members and volunteers, and to encourage and coordinate class groups; publicity (paid and unpaid).

Boston Pride (June): Publicize; register and attend orientation; find, bring and retrieve banner

Public Service projects: AIDS Pledge Walk, and other projects.

Something Else? Ideas for new projects are welcome.

Ongoing Projects

The people currently handling these projects can use help:

Boston/Cambridge Chapter organizes local social events and the on-campus speaker's series:

Attend meetings (usually monthly) to help make decisions and organize events. - All Are Welcome! - Also, we're currently in need of a Boston/Cambridge contact - volunteers welcome!
Specific ideas: Summer event (Tanglewood?)

Fall Social in September/October

The Game Social (if in Cambridge) - November

Holiday parties in Dec. and Jan.

Spring Soiree

BGLAD event in April?

Take and circulate minutes of Boston/Cambridge chapter meetings, and prepare and circulate agenda.
Lecture Committee: Identify and contact potential speakers; arrange event; reserve room; publicize; organize dinner for speaker; introduce speaker; arrange for reception if any. Here is the HGLC Lecture Series Coordinator Checklist.

Other Chapters: Help new local chapters get started (info and mailing to local members); encourage existing chapter coordinators; periodically send list of members who have authorized release of names to local chapter coordinators; local events notices by mail and/or e-mail to local members not on chapter list - Tom Kelly

Women: Encourage involvement of women in the Caucus; schedule events designed to interest them; coordinate with Women Oriented Women. - Sarah Duncan

Minorities: Encourage participation by members of minorities in the life of the Caucus; forge friendly alliances with minority groups (e.g. GLAAS) - Rev. Carol Johnson

Work with Harvard Administration as necessary: Help update Community of Equals brochure in early June; foster sexual orientation discussion groups for freshmen and upperclassmen; propose Harvard gay history elective for freshman orientation week; other issues as they arise - Bob Mack

Overseer/HAA Board - Dave Sullivan

Nominee questionnaire & article in Jan/Feb.
Campaign for any openly lbg candidates.
Congratulatory letter to newly elected members.

Edit Newsletter: write and commission articles, collect class notes, get photos, edit - Tom Lee

Lay out Newsletter - Dave Nuscher

Prepare Fliers: Time to Renew, Calendar of Events, Invitations to Annual Dinner, Directory Questionnaire, etc. - Bob Mack

Print and Mail Newsletter, Fliers and Directory: specify paper, folding, numbers, etc.; request bids; deliver copy and/or disk; arrange delivery. - Bob Mack

E-Mail News and Events Updates: solicit information from chapters, etc.; log info; prepare updates once or twice a month; generate current e-mail list; send update; note bad e-mail addresses. - Tom Kelly

GLBTSA Resource Center Advisory Committee - Bob Mack, Warren Goldfarb, Ann Pellegrini and Hugh Russell.

New Members: respond to questions and send membership packets. - Dave Sullivan

Manage membership database: enter new members and $ information; send checks periodically to Hugh with summary sheet; update address information; print labels; correspond when questions or errors - Bob Mack

Occasional Data Entry: Groups of new names or updated addresses from local chapters, sister groups, the post office or the HAA need to be entered from time to time.
When Bob is Away: Empty mail box in Harvard Square every few days.

Sister Organizations: Maintain cordial relations with sister groups such as The Open Gate, The Review, the HBS Gay & Lesbian Alumni Committee, the Law School alumni group, and alumni groups at other colleges - Bob Mack

Annual Dinner - Speaker, Menu, Reservations, Invitations, Publicity, Check-in, M.C., Photographer

Overall Reunion Coordinator: Tom Parry

25th Reunion Coordinator: Work with class committee to assure that reunion questionnaire asks appropriate questions and notices include main glb events and male & female contact names; offer seminar at field day; publicize and attend reunion events. - Tom Parry
5^th/10^th/15^th Reunion Coordinators - schedule and hold reception on Saturday afternoon; work with class committee to get notice into reunion mailings.

Treasurer - Hugh Russell

Student Mothership Liaisons: Get names and addresses of student leaders; circulate lists and update e-mail list; propose University-Wide meeting; get names and addresses of graduating students for Caucus list - Sarah Duncanand Jim Nicklaus.

How to Get Involved

The next step:

Get in touch with Tom Kelly or Sarah Duncan or any of the other people who are active in the Caucus to explore the possibility of helping out or taking a leadership role. Tom Kelly is at [email protected] and Sarah is at [email protected]. You can send a message to both Co-Chairs by e-mailing [email protected].

All of the work of the Caucus is accomplished by volunteers like you. Willingness to help is always welcome. Willingness to take a leadership role is even more valuable, since it enables the Caucus to continue and enlarge its activities.