Nature Groupie is Growing

Volunteer holding wood on trail work day

Since the launch of Nature Groupie in 2014, our community of stewardship and citizen science volunteers has grown from a few hundred people to over 5,000 subscribers. Although an increasing number of volunteers learn about opportunities through social media, subscribers to the Nature Groupie weekly bulletin form the largest pool of potential volunteers for projects posted on the Nature Groupie events calendar.

Map of Experiences

As an initiative based at the University of New Hampshire, most Nature Groupie outreach takes place in New Hampshire. As a result, most of the volunteer experiences on Nature Groupie occur in the Granite State. However, an increasing number of volunteer opportunities are posted by groups beyond New Hampshire, including dozens in Massachusetts and Maine. Check out this interactive map to see where Nature Groupie Events have taken place since our launch in 2014: Nature Groupie Action Map:

What does this map tell us?  It shows the clusters of events in certain regions, but also shows the wide range of organizations from across the region using Nature Groupie Events to recruit volunteers (see organizations listed, along with their posts, at bottom of map).

The Nature Groupie Community - Where Are They?

The data on events in the map, above, show that conservation groups beyond New Hampshire are using Nature Groupie to recruit volunteers. But what about the other half of the volunteer equation? Where are the potential volunteers?  A previous blog post showed how Nature Groupie can track volunteer action, showing volunteers willing to travel beyond their home county to volunteer (see Stay Smart About Stewardship Volunteers).  Yet the location of a volunteer opportunity remains a key factor in the decision by most people looking to volunteer.

To get a sense of where subscribers to Nature Groupie live, click on the interactive map above, showing subscribers to Nature Groupie in counties across the region (pan out for national data). Our data shows most subscribers to the Nature Groupie weekly bulletin live in southern New Hampshire. However, significant numbers are in Middlesex County, MA and York County, ME.
 
We've heard that conservation groups and organizations value Nature Groupie for fostering a culture of stewardship in New England, by encouraging more people to volunteer for nature. To make that shift - where everyone who enjoys nature in New England also gives a little of their time to volunteer - we need more people to be part of the Nature Groupie community. As the chart below shows, the more Nature Groupie subscribers we have, the more volunteer sign-ups there are for all events on the calendar. 
Chart of Nature Groupie Action through 2019

Want to increase Nature Groupie subscribers – and potential volunteers - in your region?

  • Increase brand recognition for Nature Groupie: share Nature Groupie posts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
  • Encourage people who want to volunteer or who follow your organization to also sign up for Nature Groupie
  • Use the URL from each event that you post on Nature Groupie for all your promotions for the event. This will ensure that everyone who hears about your event will also learn about Nature Groupie.

Spread the word!