Get Involved – How to Become a Volunteer

We value and rely on volunteers to provide the labor needed to maintain and develop our gardens.  And, as a non-profit organization we have lots of other volunteer opportunities/ needs in order to operate effectively (e.g., Functional Committee members, Officers and Directors, Docents & Aides, and project work teams). Also, to meet County and non-profit operational requirement, we have code of conduct and volunteer application standards. 

To meet the before mentioned standards, we ask all our volunteers to take a few minutes to fill in our MNG and County Volunteer Application*.  Once you have completed those forms, we ask you to drop those forms off at the front library desk of the library.

NOTE: See the front desk of library for hardcopies of these volunteer forms and thanks for your Involvement!

Alternatively, if you wish to download our volunteer forms now, fill it out, and return it to the library front desk, you can download them from here. However, note that you may need to fill out the County Volunteer form — if you plan to be involved in our youth education programming (NOTE: Filling out the County Form is needed to meet our Grant asnd County youth protection standards and it is also available at the front desk).

THANKS!

Final 2025 Volunteers Survey FormDownload

Then, as an official volunteer of MNG you will have earned an official MNG hat, will be invited to participate in our social and educational activities, and you will be entitled to other perks…

Also, please take a minute to read details about our many volunteer opportunities which follow.

Description of many MNG Volunteer Opportunities :

There are lots of volunteer roles for you to choose from :

Garden Maintenance & Projects – These volunteers serve by coming to our scheduled work days and school service days. Those volunteers help with garden projects involving planting, watering, helping to manage groups coming to the gardens for tours or service, general garden maintenance — such as mulching, weeding, filling bird feeders, tool and shed maintenance, etc….

If you are just getting started with us, this could be a good volunteer role for you!

We have a number of Volunteer Teams/Committees that perform specific work. These need to be adequately staffed to keep us moving forward smoothly and these teams are as follows:

1. Outreach & Education Team – Marketing, promotional materials, writing articles and creating educational opportunities.

2. Gardens & Grounds Team – Overseeing and coordinating work in each garden and reports recommendations to the leadership team. Also, can serve on a project team to design and construct our garden related projects.

3. Volunteers and Social Team – Finding volunteers for a variety of jobs, developing incentives, rewards and planning volunteer social events.

4. Fundraising and Sales Team – Developing an annual budget and fundraising plan. Plans and operates the Spring and Fall Plant Sales.

5. Garden Champions – We try to have individuals or organization help us to manage and maintain our major themed gardens. Currently the Rotary Club of Madison County serves as the Champion for the Bird garden and we have individual volunteers who have stepped up to Champion our Rain Garden, Entry Garden, and Medicinal Garden. Champions help us to identify maintenance and renovation needs for their assigned garden. We are currently looking for a Champion for our Butterfly, Forest Farm, and Woodland Gardens.

6. Garden Docent & Garden Assistants/Aides – Throughout the year groups of adults and children frequently visit the gardens. Volunteers are needed to lead the groups and interpret the plants and their environments. Prior training is provided.

7. MNGI Photographer/s – Garden photos are needed for a variety of educational and outreach materials and events. With 11 gardens throughout four seasons, a number of photographers are helpful.

8. Online Media Coordinator/s – MNGI has a website and a Facebook page which need frequent updating and maintenance. This would be an opportunity for someone with good computer skills.

9. Volunteers Coordinator/s – One or more individuals are needed to coordinate the activities, roles and timeliness of the activities listed above. More than one coordinator would be helpful.

Can you help?

More Opportunities

For those who want to step up in our organization, the following roles are key to making us successful.

NOTE: As a 501c3 non-profit organization, we are need to have officers including a President, Vice President, Treasurer, Recorder for minutes, and we also have a Board of Directors. These positions are for those willing and able to step into such organization roles.

Executive Committee:  Is our operational team and consensus building team. It consists of organization officers and garden champions plus a number of at large members. This leadership team meets once a month to oversee and approve garden plans and activities, reviews finances and updates organization Strategic Plans and is the makes key decisions for the organization along with the Board of Directors.