Volunteer It Essentials Jobs (NOW HIRING)

ABOUT CRADLES TO CRAYONS: 

Cradles to Crayons (C2C), founded in 2002, provides children living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive—at home, at school, and at play. We supply clothing, shoes, diapers, school supplies, and more, free of charge. Our vision is that one day all children will have the essentials they need to thrive. 

Two in 5 kids in the United States are currently facing Clothing Insecurity, going without basic essentials like pants, shoes, diapers, and school supplies during their critical development years. Three of the top 10 reasons kids miss school are rooted in Clothing Insecurity—just one example of the significant short- and long-term social and economic costs when these needs go unmet. Cradles to Crayons keeps Clothing Insecurity at the core of our mission and is the only large-scale nonprofit organization to focus on this resource gap. Since its founding, Cradles to Crayons has distributed more than four million customized packages of essentials to children in Massachusetts, Greater Philadelphia, Chicagoland, and nationally. 

Cradles to Crayons takes a two-pronged approach to mitigating Clothing Insecurity: 

1. In-person Engagement—through tens of thousands of children and adults volunteering at our Giving Factory warehouses to sort and package high volumes of new and like-new donations from our communities for our Service Partners to distribute to the children they serve.   
2. Advocacy and Awareness—Cradles to Crayons is uniquely positioned to raise Clothing Insecurity as a national issue through awareness campaigns, data/evaluation, and legislative outreach.  

Cradles to Crayons’ strong financial health and ongoing effectiveness and reliability have helped it earn a Four-Star Rating from Charity Navigator every year since 2009. C2C has a budget of $19M for FY27 and a total staff of approximately 100. 

POSITION OVERVIEW:

Volunteers are the engine that power Cradles to Crayons, from the acquisition of product at community drives, through the processing of donations. The Group Volunteer Leader conveys the Cradles to Crayons’ mission, quality standards, and provides an exceptional volunteer experience, before, during, and following the volunteer visit, to individuals and groups alike. A high-quality experience for the volunteers is necessary to ensure the inflow of product, funds and volunteer labor to fulfill our mission. This position has the responsibility to ensure all stations are “volunteer ready”, efficient and safe by following work station guidelines and expectations. When not working with volunteers or preparing for a shift, the Group Volunteer Leader works on other warehouse projects. 

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Model and lead a positive "One Cradles" culture, underpinned by Cradles' Cultural Values and related behaviors.
• Achieves a high level of customer service during all stages of the volunteer experience.
• Make certain that high quality product is produced during volunteer shifts.
• Communicate effectively with co-workers and volunteers.
• Connect volunteers with other departments for further engagement.
• Effectively convey to volunteers about the organization and work stations.
• Work with groups of children and/or adults.
• Ensure all set-up and clean-up procedures are complete and that stations and warehouse are always in the best condition.
• Enter data into inventory management System (Salesforce).
• Restock inventory as necessary.

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE/KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS/ABILITIES:

• Read, speak and write fluent English, with great written and verbal skills.
• Work proactively, independently, work under supervision, and work in a high energy and team-based and goal-oriented environment.
• Communicate with coworkers, volunteers, and all visitors to the "Giving Factory" in a courteous and professional manner.
• Work evening and weekend hours as necessary.
• Easily walk up and down stairs, bend down, reach, push and pull and lift up to 30 lbs.

SCHEDULE:

• This position will primarily have the following schedule: 

• Tuesday: 8:30 am – 3:30 pm 

• Wednesday: 8:30 am – 3:30 pm 

• Thursday: 8:30 am – 3:30 pm 

• Saturday: 8:30 am – 3:30 pm 

• Changes to the schedule will be communicated in advance. 

DIVERSITY IS OUR STRENGTH:

Diversity and Inclusiveness are core values at Cradles to Crayons, and we continuously strive to be a team where everyone feels welcome and supported. It is the policy of Cradles to Crayons to provide equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information and/or any other protected characteristic under applicable law. Individuals from underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply.

WORKING CONDITIONS:

This is a warehouse environment and normal changes in temperature are to be expected while working inside the warehouse or outside, on or around the loading dock. There are no hazardous or significantly unpleasant conditions.

ACCOMMODATION:

In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, it is possible that requirements may be modified to reasonably accommodate disabled individuals. However, no accommodations will be made by Cradles to Crayons which may pose serious health or safety risks to the employee or others, or which impose undue hardships on the organization.