ILMPD 2023 Report

Acknowledgements

The I Love My Park Day (ILMPD) Planning Committee, as well as the Friends ofAllegany State Park, Inc. (FOASP)wishes toexpressits sincerest gratitudeto everyoneinvolvedin making this year's ILMPDone of the most successful volunteer events in the history of the organization.

This includes FOASP board members, ILMPD Planning Committee members, Allegany State Park (ASP) staff, individual donors and FOASP members, corporate event sponsors, and our central supporting agency, Parks & Trails New York (PTNY). Lastly, of course and above all, it includes our incredible volunteers who signed up, showed up, and were ready to give back to the park they love – the park that has given us all so much over the years, and to which we all owe an irredeemable debt, from its experiences, its bounty, its beauty, and the inimitable and ineffable bond of community that only Allegany State Park campers know.

The Friends of Allegany State Park Board

Jill Bryant

Barb Conklin

Jamison Crawford, Secretary

Paul Crawford, President

Joe Eberle, Vice President

Kevin Gallineau

John Luby, Treasurer

Jim Schwartzmyer

Ralph Tidd

ILMPD Planning Committee

Jill Bryant

Barb Conklin

Jamison Crawford, Chair

Paul Crawford

Jim Schwartzmyer

Supporting Organizations

Allegany State Park

Cattaraugus County Real Property Services

Parks & Trails New York

Event Sponsors

Bear Paw Gift Shop

Edna's Grab n' Go

Redeye Beverage Co.

Save A Lot

Worth W. Smith Hardware

Special Thanks

William Coté, Parks & Trails New York

Shaina Hogan, Parks & Trails New York

Christopher Holewinski, Cattaraugus County

Chris Tripoli, Allegany State Park

Adele Wellman, Allegany State Park

Executive Summary

This year, I Love My Park Day (ILMPD) was one of the most successful volunteer efforts in the history oftheFriendsofAlleganyStatePark,Inc.(FOASP),boastingthehighestattendancesincethebeginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and myriad innovations to enhance the experience.

A standard operating procedure (SOP) was ratified by the FOASP executive board on February 14, 2023, which included a semi-experimental series of new, highly regimented activities and communicationstobeperformedbyanewlyformedILMPDPlanningCommitteeundertheleadership of the ILMPD Chair. This event reflected the fruits of those labors.

A total of 149 individuals pre-registered for the event, with 140 volunteers in attendance. 137 volunteersremainedthroughouttheentireevent,witharetentionrateof97.9%.Specialprojectswere determined via needs analysis in cooperation with Allegany State Park (ASP) management and staff, including remediation of Carnahan and Barton Cemeteries and "spring cleanup" landscaping for six Quaker Area buildings. In addition, volunteers carried out routine campsite maintenance for 164 campsites and 266 cabin lots.

Total in-kind contributions from Public, Nonprofit, and Private Sector contributors amounted to $1,564.97. Event sponsors contributed the majority, at $1,118.90, for food, tools, and giveaway prizes, while FOASP and individual board members contributed $371.07, and Allegany State Park's in-kind pavilion donation amounted to $75.00. It was the first ILMPD with corporate sponsorship.

A total of 61 respondents provided data via post-event surveys, at a response rate of 43.6%. The average score for all Likert scale responses was 4.65 of 5 total points. Items indicating respondents would recommend ILMPD to friends and family as well as perceiving a positive impact on the park received overwhelmingly positive scores, at 4.97 and 4.75, respectively. Other items, though scored highly, were less dramatic, including the lunch and giveaway providing value, clarity of instructions, and learning about other nonprofits, receiving average scores of 4.62, 4.52, and 4.35, respectively.

Future recommendations gleaned from survey feedback are numerous. Primarily, the giveaway should be an integral part of future ILMPD events, restroom availability for volunteers must be prioritized, complimentary shirt orders must be more conservatively estimated, both in quantity and size, team leaders should be more identifiable, task assignment should be conducted in advance, instructions should be clearer for independent teams, and work must begin more promptly on the morning of the event.

Volunteers & Projects

I Love My Park Day 2023 showcased the highest number of pre-event registrants and volunteers since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. All volunteer work was performed in the Quaker Area, including restoration of two New York State historic sites – the Carnahan and Barton Cemeteries – as well as "spring cleanup" landscaping for six major park amenities and maintenance for 400 cabin and campsites.

Registration & Attendance

A total of 143 volunteers registered by Thursday, May 4, 2023, two days prior to the event. This snapshot of registrants created an unspoken "soft deadline" necessary to print physical sign-in sheets for check-in. However, 5 additional registrants signed up during the interim, totaling 149 registrants. While 33 volunteers were deemed "no-shows" – that is, registered but unaccounted for on the day of the event – 25 additional volunteers, deemed "walk-ins", were unregistered but present for the event.

Sign-In & Sign-Out Procedure

Allegany State Park is one of the largest state parks in the United States, boasting over 64,000 acres and known colloquially as the "Wilderness Playground of Western New York". To reduce the breadth ofscopeandorganization effortseachyear,ILMPDalternatesbetweenthenorthern"RedHouse"area and southern "Quaker" area along the Pennsylvania border. Managing volunteers in a state park of this scale therefore requires innovation and incentives.

Five sign-in stations wereprepared in advance of9:00AM check-in toaccommodate event registrants. Four were organized by last name initials and included registration data such as email address and emergency contact information, while a fifth station was designated for walk-in volunteers. The latter

were required to provide their first name, last name, email address, and emergency contact information.

Volunteers were required to sign in before 11:00 AM EST and sign out after 1:00 PM EST to qualify for the volunteer prize giveaway. This incentivized participant retention, minimized mid-event attrition, potentially flagged missing volunteers, streamlined distribution of post-event evaluation surveys, providedanidentification systemforgiveawayprizerecipients,andensuredthegreatestparticipation in post-event group photos. Of the total 140 volunteers, only 3 did not sign out, indicating a 97.9% retention rate throughout the course of the event.

Three volunteers were assigned to an "Administration" team, co-led by two FOASP board members and members of the ILMPD Planning Committee, which oversaw sign-in, sign-out, evaluation survey distribution, project team assignment, and ILMPD shirt distribution, in addition to other tasks.

Volunteer Work & Special Project Teams

Discussions among ILMPD Planning Committee members, FOASP board members, and Allegany State Park staff, including Park and Regional Managers, were held several months prior to the event to identify and prioritize key volunteer projects in the Quaker Area.

From these conversations, the Planning Committee developed a "Master Task List" for three principal categories of volunteer tasks, organized in order of priority, namely:

 Special Projects: High-priority projects at special request of park management, or landscaping work typical of "spring cleanups", such as raking, debris removal, weeding, edging, and mulching.

 SiteMaintenance: Medium-priority maintenancework suchas debris removal,campfire and grill restoration, and general tidying of individual campsites and cabin lots.

 Trail Cleanup: Low-priority trail maintenance involving debris removal and needs assessment, e.g. identification of potential erosion prevent projects, hazardous traversal, etc.

Five "Special Projects" team leads were assigned in advance and comprised exclusively of FOASP boardmembers,while"SiteMaintenance"and"Trail Cleanup"tasksweredividedintocabin,campsite, and hiking trail teams by quantity and proximity. Each team was provided estimated minima and maxima for volunteer crew size. As crew size minima were reached, teams with lower-priority tasks were then filled.

High- and moderate-priority teams and instructions in the "Master Task List".

High-priority "Special Projects" teams included the following:

 Carnahan Cemetery: Brush and debris removal, natural perimeter wall, headstone remediation for the Carnahan Cemetery, a New York State historic preservation site.

 Barton Cemetery: Brush and debris removal, natural perimeter wall, and headstone remediation for the Barton Cemetery, a New York State historic preservation site.

 Quaker Museum: Spring cleanup landscaping tasks for the Quaker Museum and Gift Shop.

 Quaker Beach Bathhouse: Spring cleanup landscaping tasks for the Quaker Beach Bathhouse and playground.

 QuakerRentalOffice: Spring cleanup landscaping tasks for theQuaker RentalOffice,Quaker Store, Commissioner Fancher Cabin, and both Cain Hollow campgrounds and Bradford, PA entrances.

Among "Special Projects" teams, all landscaping teams were provided new equipment, courtesy of Worth W. Smith Hardware, a corporate event sponsor and local business operating in the Southern Tier and northern Pennsylvania. In-kind donations included three wheelbarrows, pitchforks, and edging shovels.

Five medium-priority "Site Maintenance" teams were assigned adjunct team leads during the event and cleaned a total of 164 campsites and 266 cabin lots. Team leads were provided with copies of the "Master Task List" to ensure completion of each site. All teams were provided insect repellent.

Cain Hollow Campsite & Cabin Locations

Source: Cattaraugus County Office of Real Property & GIS Services.

All Other Quaker Area Cabin Locations

Source: Cattaraugus County Office of Real Property & GIS Services.

Total campsites and cabin lots per trail were calculated using proprietary data provided courtesy of the Cattaraugus County Office of Real Property & GIS Services. All Quaker Area campsite and cabin locations are available on the FOASP website: www.friendsofallegany.com/map

Due to failures organizing low-priority task teams in advance of the event, organizers cautiously overassigned volunteers to high- and medium-priority teams. In effect, no low-priority teams were organized or dispatched. We address these shortcomings in Recommendations for Future.

Sponsors & Finances

Excluding donations of bagged mulch by Allegany State Park and ILMPD shirtsby Parks and Trails New York, the ILMPD Planning Committee raised atotal of $1,564.97in in-kind donations to host the event. It was the first ILMPD event to solicit corporate sponsorship in the history of thepark and the greatest total expenditure for any volunteer event conducted by FOASP.

Identifying Potential Sponsors

In the months leading up to the event, the ILMPD Planning Committee conducted a stakeholder analysis identifying local businesses to solicit event sponsorship with the secondary objective of cultivating and stewarding potential long-term strategic partnerships. To achieve this, they collected and cataloged all flyers, brochures, pamphlets, and other promotional materials displayed in both the Quaker and Red House administration buildings under the working assumption that local businesses promoting within the park would be interested in the promotional potential entailed in sponsorship.

No specific sponsorship or fundraising goals were established prior to donor solicitation, except for $484.19 budgeted to feed 120 participants in the post-event volunteer lunch. However, the ILMPD Planning Committee took inventory of available tools and materials, leading to the specific request for three wheelbarrows, three edging shovels, and three mulching pitchforks. Notably, Save A Lot and Worth W. Smith Hardware were the two largest sponsors of the event by donation value, as well as the only two donating organizations to which a specific, calculated request was made. Ultimately, most in-kind contributions – $1,118.90 – were from private sector sources.

In-Kind Donations by Category

All in-kind donations may be classified in one of three categories:

 Tools & Amenities: Hardware and other tools for special projects, including landscaping, as well as rented shelter space, such as Quaker Area pavilions.

 Food & Beverages: All foodstuffs and beverages used for the complimentary, post-event volunteer lunch, as well as copious amounts of bottled water for volunteers.

 Giveaway Prizes: Physical camping- and tooling-related gifts, cabin rentals, and gift certificates used for the post-event volunteer giveaway.

The ILMPD Planning Committee did not aim towards any particular distribution of donations across this uniqueand inadvertent "triplebottom line". However,the proportion of donation categories were fairly similar, including $565.25 for "Tools & Amenities", $506.48 for "Food & Beverages", and $493.24 for "Giveaway Prizes".

Key Sponsors & Promotion

All but one sponsor was contacted via "cold calling", a technique in which one party contacts another party unsolicited to sell or, in this case, request. Once one sponsor had seen various other local businesses promoted on the FOASP Facebook page and event flyer, the owner of Bear Paw Gift Shop and longstanding supporter of FOASP contacted the organization's President to offer gift certificates as giveaway prizes.

Included in the "elevator pitch" to support the event was the option to include the sponsor's company logo on both ILMPD promotional flyer as well as any online webpages and social media, including the FOASP Facebook group, which boasts a reach of over 48,000 followers. All logos underwent additional modification in Paint 3D to have transparent backgrounds to be web- and flyer-friendly, while basic, albeit proprietary online graphic design tools were used to create a flyer from a purchased template.

In some instances, letters of interest (LOIs) were required by certain sponsors as a formality. This prompted all future solicitations to include a formal LOI, which provided an opportunity to relay a "case for support" for FOASP and a unique value proposition specific to each sponsor.

In addition, the FOASP web page, www.friendsofallegany.com, featured sponsor logos in pre-event announcements, an official calendar event and countdown, and the home page under an "Our Partners" section, including hyperlinks to visit the sponsors online.

The final version of the ILMPD 2023 promotional flyer, including all sponsor logos.

Corporate event sponsors include,in order of contribution size,Save ALot,WorthW. Smith Hardware, Redeye Beverage Co., Edna's Grab n' Go, and Bear Paw Gift Shop. Nonprofit event sponsors include

Parks & Trails New York (PTNY) and the Friends of Allegany State Park, Inc. Lastly, public sector event sponsors includes Allegany State Park. Note that these calculations exclude PTNY's contribution of 120ILMPDshirts and Allegany State Park's severaldozen bags of mulchusedfor landscaping projects.

Volunteer Feedback

Event surveys were distributed to volunteers upon sign-out as each project team returned to the staging pavilion for the volunteer lunch and giveaway. A total of 61 respondents submitted an evaluation at a response rate of 43.6%. We attribute the unusual success of this response rate to the brevity of the instrument, simplicity of instructions, and most of all our policy that volunteers must sign out to be eligible for the post-event giveaway.

Survey Content

Quantitative survey metrics were designed by the Planning Committee to measure two areas of interest:

 EventInnovations: New activities fortheevent,such asthe prizegiveaway,invitation of other park-adjacent nonprofit organizations to set up informational kiosks, and the use of a "Master Task List" for assigning volunteers to teams.

 Event Efficacy: The perceived impact of volunteers and interest in returning the following year, as well as word-of-mouth event promotion.

As such, five statements were used that included 5-point Likert scales ranging from "Agree" (5) to "Disagree" (1). No reverse-scored items were included. That is, a score of 5 was the most desirable score possible for every item in the survey. These statements included, in order of appearance:

1. I felt like I made a positive impact in the park today.

2. We had clear instructions as to how best to perform our work.

3. I enjoyed learning about other nonprofits during the event.

4. The volunteer lunch and giveaway added value to the event.

5. I would recommend I Love My Park Day to friends and family.

In addition, three open text fields are also provided in order to gather positive feedback as well as recommendations for improvement. In order of appearance:

1. What did we do well this year for ILMPD?

2. What can we improve next year for ILMPD?

3. Please provide any other comments.

Lastly, a single line is provided for respondents to leave an email address should they wish to become a member or supporter of FOASP. Notably, this inclusion almost certainly introduces the potential for response bias by eliminating anonymity.

The half-page post-event survey to which 61 volunteers responded.

Quantitative Results

Responses were overwhelmingly positive, with an average score of 4.65 for all items. The highestranking item was whether respondents would recommend ILMPD to friends or family, receiving an average score of 4.97, with 96.7% of respondents scoring "5" and the reaming two respondents scoring "4".

The lowest-scored item in the survey was still markedly well-received: "I enjoyed learning about other nonprofits during the event", with an average of 4.35.

It is likely that significant bias is introduced via extreme responses (e.g. scoring a "5" for all items without regard to their content) and social desirability (e.g. "They are volunteers so I won't give them a low score"). Therefore, scores lower than a "5" warrant particular attention. We address this in Recommendations for Future

Qualitative Results

Open text fields allow respondents to provide feedback without the restrictions of specific questions. Again, these three responses may be classified in three broad categories:

 Strengths: What did we do well?

 Weaknesses: What can we do better?

 Other: What else would you like to share?

Strengths. Thematically, there was a strong appreciation for team designation and the ease of the sign-in process. Overwhelmingly positive feedback, however, centered around the overall organization, planning, and execution of the event. 12 of the 37 responses provided mention "organization" or "organized", and more including responses using the term "planning", "execution", etc.

A basic word cloud below maps font size to word frequency for the top 25 words.

Weaknesses. While the sentiment was appreciated, respondents suggesting that "nothing" could be improved introduced "nothing" as one of the most frequent words to appear in feedback requesting suggestions for improvement.

Other themes emerge clearly, however, and may be summed up in the following:

 More open and equipped restrooms must be available immediately.

 All team leaders and volunteer assignments should be determined in advance.

 More shirts, larger shirt sizes, and prioritization of shirts for registrants.

 Improved selection of tools appropriate to certain tasks.

 More immediacy during morning check-in.

These themes are also reflected in the basic word cloud of the 25 most frequent words appearing below.

Again, "Nothing" appeared as one of the most popular responses to the question: "What can we improve next year for ILMPD?" However, high word frequency underscores other key themes, such as "shirts", "tools", "start", and "leaders". These findings are addressed in Recommendations for Future

Recommendations for Future

The collective experiences gathered by the FOASP board and ILMPD Planning Committee, as well as invaluablefeedback providedbyvolunteers, haveprovencriticalin identifyingareas to improve future ILMPD events.

Volunteer Provisions & Accommodations

Providing for volunteers is critical to retention, creating a more comfortable and pleasant experience, providing tangible rewards and memorabilia, and motivating volunteers to return for future ILMPD events.

Giveaways. This was thefirst year in which ILMPD featured a volunteer giveaway. The purpose of this activity was threefold: (1) Enthusiasm, (2) Attendance, and (3) Retention. Simply put, giveaways are entertaining, and a simple method to generate excitement, community, and tangible rewards for volunteers. Moreover, by advertising a free prize giveaway, memorabilia such as shirts, and complimentary lunches, volunteer turnout is likely to increase. Lastly, several benefits result from making volunteer sign-in and sign-out mandatory for eligibility in the giveaway:

 Event retention is increased, and mid-event attrition is reduced as volunteers are more likely to return to the staging pavilion for post-event activities.

 Potentially missing volunteers may be flagged in cases of emergency, where they may be accounted for by their team lead, emergency contacts, or other volunteers.

 Ensuring the most participation in group photos, which are one of the most important images to document the event, as well as promote future events.

 Provideanopportunitytogiveeachvolunteerapost-eventsurveytomaximizeresponserates.

One respondent did suggest that group photos should take place during check-in, however. This is not ideal as future ILMPD events must focus on expediting and streamlining the sign-in and task assignment process to allow teams to begin work immediately.

This giveaway has also proven a powerful inroad to connect and cultivate relationships with local businesses. By simply asking for a small in-kind donation, such as a $25 or $50 gift certificate, an organization can cross-promote local businesses as well as establish a long term and mutually beneficial strategic partnership. This is especially important in smaller, economically disadvantaged towns surrounding Allegany State Park, which would benefit from increased exposure and new customers.

VolunteerComfort. For many campers, comfort is king – and volunteering at a state park, even for a day,meansthatcomfortshouldbeprioritized.Twostrongthemesemergedfromqualitativevolunteer feedback: (1) Volunteers appreciate insect repellent, and (2) Public restrooms should be numerous and as accessible as possible.

Six cannisters of insect repellent were purchased and provided to volunteers at the staging pavilion. These were particularly popular among survey respondents, while ensuring the good health and safety of ILMPD participants as ticks become very active in mid-May. Considerations for future provisions should include insect repellent, sunblock, and a portable first aid kit for each project team.

While water was in abundance, it was stored in coolers with sodas and other beverages. This presented an issue as volunteers would begin consuming snacks and beverages reserved for the complimentary lunch prematurely, creating concerns as to whether all volunteers would have access to the full array of food and beverages provided. Hence, water may be provided in abundance as a matter of comfort and safety, but it should be stored and available separately from beverages reserved for lunch. In a similar vein, snacks should only be made available at the scheduled lunch time.

Restrooms had proven particularly problematic immediately. Several state park guests travel from Buffalo, NY on the morning of the event, while some travel from as far as Ohio, which is two states away. As the journey from Buffalo typically lasts between one to two hours, by the time volunteers reach the park, nature calls in many ways. While the Quaker Picnic Area is centrally located, it is a considerable walk to the nearest public restroom. Moreover, special projects may be located some distance from any restroom or outhouse, such as restoration of the Carnahan Cemetery. Lastly, outhouses and restrooms may not be unlocked, nor properly equipped with hand sanitizer or toilet paper. Organizers must ensure that pre- and post-event activities are near accessible, sanitary, and fully equipped restroom facilities, while team leaders must consider the needs of their assigned volunteers,theirproximitytoarestroomorouthouse,andhygienicnecessitiessuchassoap,sanitizer, or toilet paper.

Complimentary T-Shirts. Each year, Parks & Trails New York (PTNY) provides registered event hosts with new, ILMPD-branded shirts. When registering, hosts may anticipate the total number of shirts required and the number of shirts in each size. The quantity, size, and availability of shirts fell short of the total number of volunteers and reactions by participants, both in real time and in surveys, ranged from disappointment to anger.

The initial order of an estimated 130 shirts was already 10 shirts too few. A handful of size "S" shirts remained following the event, while respondents cited a shortage of "L", "XL", and "2XL" sizes. Lastly, some walk-ins received 2023 ILMPD shirts, while registrants did not receive any, which was unfair to those who registered in advance.

To remedy this in future, a more conservative estimate should err on the side of overabundance, ranging from 20-30% of estimated total volunteers. Sizes ordered should skew larger. A registration deadline should be advertised to guarantee a shirt, such as 10 days before the event (or whatever PTNY can accommodate), and registration should also request a shirt size for each registrant, rather than a simple shirt "opt-out" option, for the most accurate order. A policy should be made clear that failure to register by the deadline does not guarantee a shirt. Furthermore, registrants should still be prioritized over walk-ins, even if they do not meet the deadline. All volunteers should be eligible for a shirt if available, though they may come from the previous year.

Note the following sizes originally ordered and the adjusted proportions below.

Pre-Registration & Task Assignment

The"MasterTaskList",whichincludesthecreationofteams,minimumteamsize,locationsofprojects, teamleads,andtaskpriority,waslaudedbothduringtheeventandinpost-eventsurveysasavaluable and effective organizational tool. However, future use of task lists should implement several practices recommended below.

TeamLeaders. While several special projectleads were assigned in advance and comprised of FOASP board and ILMPD Planning Committee members, several adjunct team leads were assigned the morning of the event, adding to delays in starting work and difficulty visibly locating one's team and team lead.

Consideration should be given to the visible identification of team members and leaders, as well as other key event organizers. Task assignment at the staging pavilion had been particularly challenging due to volunteers and organizers being virtually indistinguishable in matching ILMPD shirts. Donning, for example, large, colorful hats for leaders, colored wristbands for team members, or even strips of construction paper would have greatly increased efficiency and expedited the check-in and assignment process. Teams assigned multiple trails for site maintenance should establish a designated meeting area for the first 30 minutes of work to allow crews to immediately embark on their assignments while permitting late sign-ins to join the team without significant effort.

Both task team leads and team members volunteering in subsequent ILMPD events should be assigned similar tasks at similar locations to breed familiarity, increase experience, identify and anticipate needs, and develop comradery with recurring team members. A moderately important theme found throughout qualitative feedback centered around meeting and working with others, as well as developing a sense of community. Opportunities to delegate leadership responsibilities by diving large teams into sub-teams would also build volunteer leadership capacity for future events andconsiderationshouldbegiventothepossibilityofinterchangingqualifiedvolunteersinleadership roles, while maintaining team composition, to ensure domain experience and institutional knowledge transfer for future contingencies. For example, one landscaping team was responsible for a variety of small "spring cleanups" at two entrance booths, a commissioner's cabin, and the Quaker rental office.

This team lead, a board member with significant landscaping experience, assigned a cadre of volunteers to focus on the largest project (the rental office) while a smaller detachment quickly completed the smaller bed cleanups.

Team leaders and their assistants should be afforded ownership, accountability, and latitude to increase buy-in, responsibility, and efficiency, respectively, by leveraging their boots-on-the-ground perspectives. Rather than being prescribed solutions, they should be offered recommendations and theappropriateresourcesforsuccessfulcompletionofassignments.Aboveall,however,teamleaders should be provided with key requirements for successful task execution and the discretion to satisfy those requirements as they see fit. These may include, but are not limited to, transportation needs, volunteer comfort needs, material and tooling considerations, task requirements (or "win conditions"), etc.

Task Assignment. While the "Master Task List" was lauded by organizers and volunteers alike – the task prioritization levels in particular – task assignment during morning check-in was the most challenging experience for organizers and, perhaps, the most ill-conceived during planning. The fastpaced environment of the morning sign-in process was streamlined, in part, by multiple sign-in stations organized by surname and registration status. However, upon signing in, volunteers did not no where to go for their tasks. Several volunteer groups vied for placement at historic site cleanups such as Carnahan and Barton Cemeteries, while others were content with less demanding labor due to physical limitations, young participants, etc. Moreover, some high-priority landscaping teams were allotted fewer volunteers than needed to complete their tasks, as well as inappropriate tools.

Above all,task assignment is criticalto ILMPD and similar volunteer events as it ensuresthat volunteer labor is conducted meaningfully and with perceptible impact, rather than scattering volunteers to the wind or, worse, assigning "busy work". It ensures that park needs are identified and addressed and marks the most important distinction between functional utility and symbolic tokenism in state park associations. Symbolic volunteerism, no matter how well-intentioned, should never unduly burden a resource-deprived park system. Instead, well-organized events driven by diligent needs assessment will genuinely fulfill the classically theorized "gap-filling" functions of the Nonprofit Sector – functions which neither the Public nor Private Sectors are able or willing to perform.

In future, tasks must be identified, and teams must be designated well in advance of registration. This would allow online event registration or similar mechanisms to include self-assignment options which address both the volunteer's desired tasks as well as their physical limitations. In effect, volunteers arrive at the event with the knowledge of what they are expected to achieve, with whom, where, and facilitated by which team leader. At least three approaches, or some combination of them, may accomplish this:

 Registration & Self-Assignment: During PTNY registration, volunteers are provided a list of task teams, brief descriptions, priority levels, and degrees of physical intensity, and may selfassign if openings are available.

 Registration & Preference: During PTNY registration, volunteers are provided broad categories under which tasks are classified and indicate their preference and physical ability and are assigned tasks by organizers.

 Post-Registration Assignment or Preference: After PTNY registration, volunteers are provided an additional form via email to either self-assign or indicate preference as described above. Allowing event hosts to automatically send acustom messageto registrants will enable and streamline this process while being the least intrusive to current PTNY registration architecture.

The lattermost approach offers the greatest flexibility to event organizers while being the least intrusive to current PTNY registration mechanisms. Although PTNY offers an up-to-date spreadsheet of registrants available for download at any time, it is a manual process. Automation by these means is possible, but would necessarily involve webscraping – however limited – and place undue burden on PTNY web servers while skirting legal grey areas. Moreover, most state park associations do not possess the technical acumen to do so. Hence, providing an option to automatically email registrants with a custom message allows ILMPD hosts to provide their own mechanisms for task assignment or preference, as well as informing other registrant-enabled decisions, such as shirt sizes, physical accommodations, and nuances in their respective parks.

TaskInstructions. Whilesomerespondentscelebratedthespecificityofinstructionsprovided,others reporting feeling that instructions may have been too vague or lamented that sufficient foreknowledge of their assignments would have prompted them to bring their own materials and tools from home.

Each team should be provided succinct, accessible instructions in plain language, albeit not at the expense of nuance. Plain language should abide by federal definition as a standard using www.plainlanguage.gov, while text size, font selection, and font-background contrast and other graphical elements should strive to meet 508 or WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) compliance. Sign-in sheets, for example, should consist of the minimum information necessary to identify aregistrant, as well as a sign-inandsign-outcolumn,allowing sufficient spaceforlarge,legible text.

Pre-assigned team leaders were provided general instructions as a natural consequence of diligent needs assessment and specific instructions provided by Allegany State Park management. However, adjunct team leaders for trail and site maintenance tasks lacked specific instructions. For example, firepit remediation is not common knowledge to many volunteers, despite being second nature to seasoned campers. What is more, trail and site maintenance is generally assumed to be a tool-free job. While this is largely true for debris cleanup, firepit remediation may require roundhead shovels or mattocks, while branch or brush cleanup may require handsaws, loppers, hatchets, etc.

Therefore, teams should be provided with explicit instructions as to perform all work relevant to their assigned duties, including examples and illustrations, and these should be provided to registrants in advanceof theevent toallowboth betterunderstandingoftaskrequirementsas well asthepossibility of bringing their own tools. Other tools may be provided by FOASP and ASP as appropriate.

Task preparation should be facilitated by team leads and state park employees prior to ILMPD. Team leaders reported gratitude for Allegany State Park employees who were able to clearcut significant brush to open trails to more remote areas, such as the Carnahan and Barton Cemeteries. While sufficient mulch was provided for most landscaping tasks, one or two large beds required additional mulch, leading to only partial task completion for some projects and decreased volunteer productivity in order to carefully "hand spread" mulch for more complete coverage.

Lastly, as mentioned, priority should be given to streamlining the morning check-in process, allowing volunteers to start their respective assignments as quickly as possible. While pre-event task assignment is critical, instructions should also facilitate this process, including designated meeting areas for latecomers and "overflow projects" if tasks are completed prior to the end of the event, including existing albeit potentially understaffed projects or smaller, less prioritized projects.

Other Recommendations

Two additional recommendations should be addressed briefly for future events. They include the areas of donation solicitation and post-event evaluations.

Donation Solicitation Goals. Future efforts to garner corporate sponsors via in-kind donations, whether for tools, supplies, food, or giveaway prizes, should be goal oriented. That is, Planning Committee members involved in development (e.g. fundraising, corporate-social responsibility, etc.) should endeavor to define their fundraising goals in advance.

The two largest Private Sector sponsors by monetary value, Save A Lot and Worth W. Smith Hardware, contributed in-kind donations based on a highly specific "ask". For Save A Lot, a flexible budget was prepared in anticipation of providing for 120 volunteers, creating a specific "ask" down to the penny. For Worth W. Smith Hardware, an equipment inventory and park needs assessment of landscaping duties provided the specifications necessary for requesting appropriate tools for three separate teams.

As sponsorship for the volunteer giveaway gained traction in terms of donated gift certificates to local businesses, the ILMPD Planning Committee sought to offer more diverse, camping-related prizes. To accommodate this, board members purchased prizes out-of-pocket, rather than pursuing in-kind contributions from local businesses. Future efforts should be made to identify prizes well in advance to ensure a greater breadth and specificity of sponsorship requests. Notably, larger corporations are typically liberal with in-kind donations but require several months of advance notice and are not guaranteed, whereas smaller, local businesses allow a far easier process to contact owners directly. The latter is preferable as promotion of local businesses to strengthen economies in the region is, of course, desirable as a secondary objective of FOASP as an organization which aims to promote the park in all aspects.

Post-Event Survey Items. Briefly, post-event surveys proved valuable in gathering performance metrics for the event, as well as areas for improvement. The same items will be used in subsequent surveys for interoperability and comparison both between events and over time.

One item which should be added to these surveys is, broadly, the category of work assigned to respondents. These data will help organizers identify which areas of work are most preferable to volunteers and which require improvement, as mapping volunteer evaluations, for example scores on the quality of instructions, was impossible.

Requesting respondents to list their specific teams should be avoided as this may jeopardize survey anonymity and introduce social desirability and other forms of response bias.

Contact

For questions regarding this publication, please contact the author and ILMPD Chair, Jamison Crawford, at jamisoncrawford@gmail.com.

If you or your family wish to become members of the Friends of Allegany State Park, Inc. please visit www.friendsofallegany.com/membership. To donate, visit www.friendsofallegany.com/donate. For all other questions, please visit www.friendsofallegany.com/contact.