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by the Volunteer Coordinator

BCN Volunteer Guide


email: Volunteer Coordinator

What is BCN?

BCN is most definitely a volunteer-driven organization. With over 100 volunteers participating, we hold over 48 public internet orientations per year and have helped over 200 Boulder County community organizations develop websites.

We are a private, 501c3 non-profit agency with a volunteer Board of Directors from the community, who are responsible for policy making, fundraising, and financial decisions. With two full-time staff, two part-time staff, and a student technical assistant, we depend on our volunteers to help us serve Boulder County!

What Does BCN Do?

Since 1994, BCN has been a nationally-recognized leader in fostering the use of the internet and technology for the public good.

Our mission is to help individuals and public sector organizations in Boulder County take advantage of technology and the information available to them on the World Wide Web. We:

What are the current BCN Volunteer Projects?

How is BCN Funded?

BCN is primarily supported by the following sources:

You can help by volunteering your time, making a donation, or asking your employer to make a donation or match your gift to BCN.

What Kind of Volunteer Positions are Available?

BCN has volunteer positions to fit nearly every interest or ability. The following are examples of our volunteer opportunities:

What are the steps for Volunteering?

If you want to volunteer to do website development or general technical assistance, follow these steps. If you want to teach or assist with internet orientations, skip to Steps for Teachers below.

  1. Register to be a volunteer using the online form at http://bcn.boulder.co.us/volunteer/register.html . Please provide as much information as you can on your interests, skills and availability.
  2. The Volunteer Coordinator will follow up with you on your registration.
  3. You will get a call when a request comes in that matches your skills, interest and availability. The Volunteer Coordinator will give you information on the nonprofit such as contact information, what they do, details of the project and the subdirectory the website will be under on the BCN server.
    IT'S OK TO DECLINE AN OPPORTUNITY, especially if you're too busy. We'll call you another time.
  4. Meet with the client to understand the project and expected schedule for completion.
    If you're doing a website project, find out how often information will change on the site, collect as much information in electronic format as you can, and figure out a reasonable timeline for completing the work.

If the client's website will change frequently, suggest they use DIPP (see Maintaining a Web Site for more information).

If the website will change infrequently and the client has access to email (most do), suggest they use TELNET and access their files directly on the BCN server. We will give them a userID and password.

The goal is for clients to be able to update their own websites after you do the initial site. After you've created the site, please let the client know what the files are named, what's in them, and what subdirectory they are under on the BCN server. If you can, please explain or show them how to use FTP or TELNET to access their files.

Before actually starting work on the website, please read the Steps for Page Development Volunteers information on naming conventions and header/footer standards. This page also tells you how to FTP files to the BCN server. You can use any tool you are comfortable with to do the site, but please follow the basic standards.

If the client has information in hardcopy only, BCN has volunteers who are willing to enter data for you.

If you're doing a technical assistance project, please refer to If You Read Nothing Else - Technical Assistance below.