Sustainable Princeton

Sustainable Princeton helps Princeton residents, businesses, schools, non-profits, and municipal governments live and work more sustainably.

Sustainable Princeton arose out of a partnership between the Princeton Environmental Commission and the New Jersey Sustainability State Institute, in consultation with the residents of Princeton. Initial funding for a part-time Sustainability Coordinator and an intern was provided by a grant of $15,000 from a local family foundation and $7,500 each from the Borough and Township of Princeton.

***** To express interest in any of the opportunities below, please visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SBVInterest to submit your contact information and a brief description of your applicable skills.*****
 

 
1. Special Events Planner
 
 As a fledging organization with a budget that only covers two part time staff members, fundraising and special events are critical to our continued success and growth.  We anticipate receiving our nonprofit status in early January 2012 and will then be ready to plan our first fundraiser.  We have held all manner of special events from eco-hours at local businesses to a flash mob, a bike rally and even a yoga class but none of these were fundraisers.  What we need is an event that capitalizes on the upbeat and creative energy of our organization.  We need an event that reflects who we are and what we represent.  If this event raised $20,000 for the organization's general operating budget, it would be fantastic.  
 
Required Skills- An organized self starter who is comfortable working in a team but also thrives taking a leadership role.  This individual needs to be organized, creative and familiar with the small details of planning a successful fundraising event.  The interested individual must also care deeply about the environment and be prepared to go the extra mile to ensure that this event's footprint is easy on the earth and as carbon neutral as possible.

Time Commitment- Five hours a week, increasing as the event nears to 15 hours a week with a six month time commitment.

2. Volunteer Coordinator
 
Volunteers are at the heart of our work.  Without invested and dedicated volunteers, we would never have accomplished as much as we have in our first two years of operation.  However, maintaining our volunteer database and ensuring that each and every volunteer is well taken care of is, at times, beyond the scope of our typical work week.

Required Skills- We are looking for an open minded and organized individual with strong people skills.  The individual who helps us organize our volunteers needs to understand and reflect our organization's goals and needs.  This individual will work closely with the director of the organization to ensure volunteers are placed in a way that best reflects their own interests and skills.  The volunteer leader will need to be comfortable with an online database program (we can teach you) and work flexible hours, possibly attending special events in the late afternoon and evening.

Time Commitment- Three hours a week, one year commitment.

3. Researcher
 
Our organization is a resource and catalyst for change in Princeton.  Our role is to encourage individuals to change their habits or their energy sources or even their curricula to better reflect sustainability in all its forms.  However, the field of sustainability is still relatively new and weeding through the plethora of sustainable model projects, programs and opportunities for residents, schools, municipalities and businesses is a time consuming task.  We need an individual who loves research and would create white papers or short one page papers on a series of sustainable topics.  The papers would be included on our web site and used in meetings and to help make critical decisions regarding sustainability in our schools, businesses, homes and municipal buildings.  An example of our current research needs is: research on reusable bags that would assist us in identifying the most sustainable bag or a selection of bags for recommendation to our local BYOBag businesses.   
 
Required Skills- Our researcher would be happy to work alone based on clear instructions from staff about the topic and the reason we need the research conducted.  This individual should be able to use the internet for research and condense information into a one page format which will be provided.  The individual also needs to have experience writing for a general audience in a non-technical format.

Time Commitment- Six hours a month on a project basis.

4. Sustainability Reporter and Writer
 
Hidden inside homes and local businesses are all sorts of stories of everyday acts of sustainability such as: residents capturing rain water and creating their own rain gardens; businesses that have quietly added solar or other energy saving measures; teachers who are growing gardens and increasing recycling efforts at their schools.  Each of these sustainable actions serves as a catalyst for change.  These everyday sustainability actions need to be captured in writing and shared with the public.  We need a reporter to cover these stories for our website and for distribution on our email to the community.

Required Skills- We would appreciate it if the volunteer taking this job was comfortable interviewing individuals and writing website content.  However, we would also be happy to train an individual who is open to learning these skills.  In addition, the individual interested in this volunteer opportunity would be detail oriented, own a computer and have the flexibility to work at night when needed.
 
Time Commitment- Six hours a month.

The inclusion of any organization or person in this database does not constitute a representation, warranty, or endorsement with respect to the competence, suitability, or reliability of such organization or person by VolunteerConnect; nor does VolunteerConnect sponsor or endorse any third-party web site. Legal Notices