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| Volunteer opportunities at ISHK Volunteers with a wide range of skills and interests work in all areas of ISHK programs and administration. Some work a few hours a week, some only a day or half-day per month. Via email, team members around the world collaborate on projects. You can volunteer to work on ISHK projects. Just fill out the online ISHK Volunteer Information Form. NOTE: E-mail access required for all ISHK volunteers. If you know of potential funding sources and/or literacy partners or other resources of benefit to our programs, please contact us. SELECTED ISHK VOLUNTEER PROJECTS (in alphabetical order) Administration: Every aspect of ISHK projects is overseen and administered in the Los Altos office. Volunteers help with major administrative work, such as keeping mailing lists updated, bookkeeping, accounting, filing, maintaining computers/printers, stock-level maintenance, handing mail and shipping. All About Me: Production of a series of books for middle-school children on what we know about who we are. This program needs child psychologists, middle- and high-school teachers and curriculum planners, professional writers and others with experience in education to serve as evaluators and help in the development, production and promotion of this series. Audio-Visual (CDs, DVDs and Videos): We have a goal to make Hoopoe Books and ancillary materials available in multi-media for greater exposure. Volunteers for this project include professionals in video, graphic, editorial and duplication efforts. Book Service: The Boston Book Service Office plays a variety of roles in the operation of ISHK. While the principal function of the office is to receive and process all orders for the company, it also manages numerous special projects associated with publishing, literacy, inventory, customer service and other ongoing ISHK programs. Volunteers assist the Boston office with physical management of the warehouse, packing & shipping for larger trade orders, receiving and storage of large incoming shipments, local fundraising for the Share Literacy program, promotional efforts, and assistance in trade account oversight. Books for Afghanistan: This project's goal is to get Hoopoe Teaching-Stories to Afghan children and into schools and libraries inside Afghanistan. Volunteers for this project include translators and proofreaders (must speak the languages involved), graphic specialists, and so on. Canada - Institute for Cross-Cultural Exchange (ICE): The goal of ICE is to get Teaching-Stories to literacy programs in Canada for at-risk children. This nonprofit has been established by volunteers associated with ISHK in Canada. ICE is already distributing an initial shipment of The Lion Who Saw Himself in the Water and is setting up procedures to enable it to raise funds to provide more Hoopoe titles in both French and English editions to children in need. If you live in Canada and can help, please contact ICE at www.iceeducation.org. Conferences: Exhibiting at book, trade, school and public library conferences enables ISHK to place our material in the public's eye and in schools and communities that need them most. Volunteers help with more than 20 national and state conferences per year by setting up exhibits, receiving and shipping material, researching possible exhibit opportunities, gathering and following up with important literacy, library and distributor contacts. Continuing Education: Psychologists: ISHK is approved by the American Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. Our program has assembled over 200 courses, introducing clients to the most advanced ideas in the field. Volunteers include professionals to select the books for the courses, writers to produce the needed tests, editors, brochure production and customer relations pros, market researchers, and much more. Psychiatrists: ISHK is exploring the possibility of beginning a CE program for psychiatrists through the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education organization, and this project will give rise to the need for psychiatry professionals for development of our coursework. Early Education Curricula: This program's goal is to get Teaching-Stories into mainstream education for grades pre-K - 6. The curricula includes Home Literacy Kits for children and parents, Early Literacy Teachers Guides and Training Workshops. Volunteers include educational, assessment, writers and graphic design professionals. Foreign Rights Marketing: Our goal is to sell the right to publish editions of Hoopoe Books to reputable overseas publishing companies. Volunteers help to find these publishers and make arrangements for the transactions. Fundraising: Our goal is to develop grant proposals and seek funding for our projects from outside corporate and/or foundation sources. Volunteers are helping to develop professional proposals with all accompanying statistical, financial and factual information, initially for the Hoopoe Share Literacy and All About Me programs, but eventually for all the work of ISHK. Volunteers also help with other fundraising efforts from identifying potential funding sources to holding book sales, concerts, wine tasting events, and more. Graphic Work: This project involves creating manuals, newsletters, teacher and parent guides, brochures and flyers, publicity and informational material on our programs--for all our projects. Hoopoe Share Literacy: The major goals of this project are to get Teaching-Stories into the hands of at-risk children through established centers and to provide measurable and qualitative statistics on the benefits of our curricula through pilot programs at these centers. Volunteers find and contact programs serving this community and help to establish pilot programs for our early-education curricula. We hope to cover the cost of these pilot programs through grants and the assistance of Share Literacy Chapters which have the goal to facilitate local Share Literacy Programs through the involvement and support of local communities. Volunteers research, identify and contact funding sources; identify and contact potential literacy organizations interested in having Hoopoe Books distributed through their programs; produce and disseminate materials to get publicity for this project; design and produce "point-of-sale" collateral such as sponsor stickers, certificates, bookmarks, refrigerator magnets, etc.; help with duplication and distribution of video, DVD, and CD versions of the material; and so much more. Human Nature Website: More than 20 volunteers have been involved with the design of this web page on our main website and for writing summaries of important work in the human sciences to provide information on why we have come to think the way we do, from human universals, to math and music. (See ishk.net/human_nature.html.) Library Project: The goal is to ensure that the work of Idries Shah becomes part of as many permanent collections as possible in school, public and university libraries throughout the country. Volunteers help contact libraries to research the needs and acquisition practices. Public Relations/Marketing: Our goal is to promote the work of ISHK and all its programs. Volunteers help with developing professional marketing tools and material, and include graphic artists, editorial writers, market analysts, and much more. Publishing: ISHK has several imprints, including: (1) Hoopoe Books: Children's Teaching-Stories by Idries Shah. Volunteers help from manuscript to finished book in diverse editions and languages as well as the promotion, cataloging, distribution efforts. (2) Malor Books: High-quality paperback books on important subjects in the human sciences that ISHK keeps in print. Volunteers along with our office staff handle all layout design, scanning, editorial work, production, cataloging and promotion. Representatives to Distributors & Bookstores: Volunteer book reps help us contact book distributors and stores about our material. Volunteers also help maintain our liaisons with major book distributors; update distributor databases; send out new publication announcements; deal with some customer-service issues; and so much more. Volunteers also help us establish overseas distribution in the UK and elsewhere. Volunteers: ISHK has a database of over 200 volunteers (and growing). Volunteers help maintain this database and contact other volunteers for various needs and projects. Web Development: Volunteers design, maintain and update all our websites, including the main ISHK website (ishk.net), the MalorBooks, CE at Home, and Hoopoekids websites. They are helping to develop, update and redesign many other ISHK sites. HOW CAN YOU HELP NOW? Volunteers for all our projects ARE ALWAYS NEEDED! We urgently need help in such areas as drafting letters to our mailing lists, research, book writing, PR and sales, data entry and analysis. We need help to continue and expand our fundraising efforts; we need grant writers, researchers, and financial advisors. To volunteer for any of these projects, please fill out the ISHK Volunteer Information Form. We will contact you with how you can get started. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||