Community Relations Team Ready to Serve

Serving The Woodlands Since 1975

The Community Relations Team (CRT) is made up of business leaders that have the heart for giving and the spirit of generosity. Some are first time volunteers that are looking to find their passion and others are finding ways to get their companies engaged in giving back. Whatever the case, the team enjoys meeting representatives from the various nonprofit organizations and learning what their needs are and how they can be of assistance. The team is open to all Chamber members. This team spearheads The Chamber’s fourth core function, supporting charitable causes.

In order to best serve The Chamber’s 150-plus nonprofit organizations as members, CRT has established a monthly schedule of projects and organized an application process that takes place every summer. Are you interested in applying?

WHAT DOES THE APPLICATION LOOK LIKE?

The application asks for specifics about your project. Such as, how many volunteers are needed, is there an age limit, and how many hours will the project take. If ever in doubt on what to include contact Cyndi Alvarado at cyndi.alvarado@woodlandschamber.org. She is eager to get you involved and available to answer your questions.

THE APPLICATION PROCESS:

If you work for a nonprofit organization and want to know how the team can help you, please consider applying to be a CRT project. The team will invite each eligible nonprofit that submits an application to their August Strategic Planning Meeting on Wednesday, August 5. Each organization will be given the opportunity to present their project to the team and answer any questions. We say “eligible” because those that have received CRT assistance in the last two years are not eligible to reapply until year three. Following the Strategic Planning Meeting, the team deliberates over the many project opportunities and selects a project a month.

WHAT KIND OF PROJECTS ARE SUCCESSFUL?

It is the team’s goal to serve one nonprofit per month. Projects for consideration are volunteering to work fundraisers, help with a collection drive or a community service day where the teams goes out to provide sweat equity to help conquer a project. The most successful projects are the ones that are already established since the team is made up of volunteers all with full-time jobs, they are not equipped to create a project or solicit opportunities, but rather to increase your projects awareness or impact. Since many organizations present projects that often occur within the same month those with flexibility on dates are advantageous. We recommend proposing more than one project if dates are not flexible. In April the team will be busy preparing for the Annual Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon and will not select projects presented to occur in the month of April.

WHAT IF MY PROJECT IS NOT SELECTED?

If your project is not selected, we encourage you to consider joining the team and applying again. Each meeting concludes with community announcements and allows everyone the opportunity to discuss what is going on in their organization. We have seen projects that the team was unable to fulfill, but the project impacted another team member and they were able to get their company involved.

WHO CAN JOIN CRT?

CRT is open to all Chamber members. It is a great opportunity to get to know area nonprofits and can help you establish philanthropic endeavors for your business and engage your staff in the rewards of serving others.

The Community Relations Team meets the first Wednesday of every month from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at The Chamber offices. For more information, please contact Cyndi Alvarado, vice president of membership, at 281-363-8109 or cyndi.alvarado@woodlandschamber.org.