Brought to you each week by the good efforts of our volunteers, The Dirt! exists because of donations from readers like you. We thank you for your support.
The Dirt! is a program of the nonprofit Spreading Roots, Spring Forth. As a nonprofit, we gained our 501c3 status from the IRS in August 2005. All donations made are tax deductible retroactive back to our organizational formation in January 2004.
Please make checks payable to Spreading Roots, Spring Forth.
Send them to: P.O. Box 14061, Portland, OR 97293
Become A Board Member
Are you an innovative future thinker? Being on our board is an excellent place to exercise such skills as grant writing, fundraising, organizational structural development, networking and community building. A one year minimum commitment is required. We'd love to have you on board! Oops, pun intended. Download our Board Member Application and Board Member Position Description.
Become a Warbling Songster Writer
The Dirt! is looking for new voices to warble and contribute cheerful, inspired musings that can be educational, or simply personally relevant stories that help strengthen the connections between people and the environment. We are creating a solid group of Warbling Songster Writers to contribute on a regular basis (commitment levels may vary) to The Dirt! Writers may also be invited to participate in expanding upon the educational content featured on our organizational Spreading Roots, Spring Forth website in the future. "Songsters" need to be able to sift through the dirt of events for the week; be sensitive to seasonal variations; and able to creatively synthesize (poems are welcome!) enjoyable gems and reflections to share with the rest of the Dirt! community. These gems will appear in a few concise paragraphs as the introduction to that week's issue. If you wish to write a longer article on a specific topic, we also would welcome pieces to publish on our community pages. If you know of any budding new environmental writers looking for an outlet for their creative energies, please have them contact.
Organization Liason Person
Person working in this capacity would be in charge of fact-checking event details, contacting potential new organizations and encouraging them to post to The Dirt! Skills Needed: A gregarious person who is loves The Dirt! and is willing to talk about Spreading Roots, Spring Forth and The Dirt! to new potential posting organizations. Person should have regular access to email and phone, have time to attend various networking events, and be willing to compose reminders to organizers and update them about various new developments. This is a great opportunity to learn more about and make contacts with the many environmental organizations around Portland.
Community Outreach
A fancy word for what one does when tabling at events, this person plays a crucial role as the person that directly interfaces with the general public. Skills Needed: Love of The Dirt! , a willingness to meet new people, time to research possible upcoming tabling opportunities,and 2-3 hour blocks available to be sociable at events, along with transportation options to pick up tabling box and ability to drop lists of new subscribers off to Dirt! headquarters after event has ended. Ability to work with Sales & Message Developers to sell possible Dirt! fundraising items such as Chinook Books, and recruit new volunteers occasionally. Perks to this job include often getting in free to some very fun events.
Sales & Sponsorship
This is an area still in development. Currently the need here is to explore various methods and ways Spreading Roots, Spring Forth can set up an online store, and work to develop criteria with which to select and encourage various environmentally-friendly sponsors. Working in partnership with Message Development, a person working here would most likely need to have an interest in attending meetings, doing background research, and a basic interest in ecologically friendly businesses. Patience with the development process is a must.
Message Development
Another word for this might be "education", but people working in this arena would go much deeper than that to also include various aspects of media work. The "message" is what we are trying to say here Spreading Roots, Spring Forth as represented by our actions as fellow humans living in this society and on this earth, what is said in the educational topics we touch on in our website and through the email publication's weekly inspirational messages. Part of message for development is, of course, how we say it matters - both to us and to our readers. Skills Needed: A person here must be philosophical, analytical and creative, knowledgeable about and willing to explore environmental issues in the world - specifically those that are local to Portland, and have the ability to think critically and create inclusive inspirational messages that encourage action from an interested and involved general public. A person working in this position would need to have time and interest to attend meetings and work with other Dirt! volunteers to ensure message consistency across all information outlets.
Image & Artist Coordinator
This is an area still in development. Looking for an artistic type of person who is interested in working with the Message Developer(s) to create a space on our website to showcase various local artists' work - specifically those whose subject topics explore nature and what is natural. Skills Needed: A person here must be creative, knowledgeable about environmental issues in the world - specifically those that are local to Portland, and have the ability to network within the artist community to showcase various forms of artwork on our website. A person working in this position would need to have time and interest to attend meetings and work with other SRSF volunteers such as Message Developers, and technical database folks to devise ways to keep track of images for historical purposes. Since this idea is still in the development stages and dependent upon other areas for final product outcome, initially the work here would be to collect various art images to upload onto the site at a later date.
Organizational Process Facilitation
Wanted: People willing to listen closely at meetings, type up notes, develop and keep track of organizational processes in order to facilitate communication and keep records in a consistent manner for historical purposes. Process facilitation could also take the form of making a conscious effort to be aware of and facilitate the meeting of various volunteer needs - send out reminder notices for meetings, dream up great ways to team build and appreciate fellow volunteers etc. Although these things may sound mundane to some, we know that this is an important part of the glue that holds an organization together. Skills Needed: Detailed note taking and record keeping abilities, a strong sense of fun and great people skills.
Issue Production and Online Calendar: Event Editor
Perhaps you would like to be one of our first ever web event editors? The amount of time you devote to this endeavor could be as much you like or as little as an hour or two per week depending on your availability. The new interactive capabilities of our online website have greatly facilitated the ease of accomplishing this task. Not only would you be honing your editorial skills but you could even learn some website tricks along the way!. Skills Needed: People need to have an eye for detail, typing ability, knowledge of grammar and punctuation (editor), and patience to sit for periods of time. People that get enjoyment out of "making things look exactly right" are a plus! We are looking for a weekly commitment.
This page was last updated on: 10/14/2004
Thank you for your interest in volunteering with us. As you can see, a lot goes on here at Spreading Roots, Spring Forth. Please contact us if you would like to get involved. Click on the link to find out when we are having our next gathering.
Contact us:
Spreading Roots, Spring Forth
Email: info (at) spreadingroots.org