Cabot Partners With Mobius to Reward Volunteer Mentors

Here in the Vermont mentoring community, we often talk about how rewarding mentoring is for mentors.  Programs across the state report that around 95% of current mentors feel so positively about their volunteer experiences that they would recommend mentoring to a friend, family member or colleague.  Just this week, the SB Mentoring program shared that 97.4% of its mentors felt that participation in the program resulted in them feeling an increased sense of connection to the community.

But today, when I tell you how “rewarding” mentoring is, I mean that in a very literal sense. Mobius is proud to announce a new partnership with Cabot Creamery Cooperative that will allow mentors to qualify for prizes for themselves and their programs simply by logging their mentoring hours.  It’s free, it’s easy, and may not even require mentors doing anything new in order to participate.

Reward Volunteers, now in its fifth iteration, is an initiative that Cabot launched back in 2012 to highlight the important work that volunteers are doing for their communities here in Vermont, and across the nation.  By tracking their hours through the Reward Volunteers iPhone App and web widget (and sharing links with their friends), volunteers have been able to earn free rewards for themselves and the organizations they serve.  The prize list continues to grow, and includes cash for non-profit organizations, vacation packages, gift cards, gift baskets featuring Cabot’s award-winning cheddar, and a host of other amazing prizes.

Many mentoring programs, especially community-based ones, require mentors to track more detailed information in addition to just their volunteer hours.  Cabot’s new partnership with Mobius will allow mentors whose programs are using the Vermont Mentoring Database to participate in Reward Volunteers automatically when they submit their weekly session logs about the time they spend with their mentees.  The next time mentors log into the database, they will be offered the opportunity to “opt in” (see image on the right) to begin participating in Reward Volunteers. (Mentors, click here to log in to the Vermont Mentoring Database).

Programs and mentors who are not tracking mentoring sessions in the Vermont Mentoring Database—don’t worry, this opportunity is open to you as well! Visit the Reward Volunteers page on our website to access a web widget that will allow you to sign up through your Facebook account, or download the iPhone app.  Just remember to search for your mentoring program or organization, and select “Mentoring” as the category for your volunteer hours!

We’re grateful to our long-time friends at Cabot for extending this opportunity, and recognizing the importance of the service volunteer mentors provide for young Vermonters.  We hope you enjoy taking part, and we encourage you to reach out if you have any questions or feedback about the program.  Visit the Reward Volunteers page on our website for a full summary of this partnership, and to learn how mentors can earn rewards for a job well done!