Canine Companions for Independence is recruiting DogFest Committee Chairs for the 2020 event. We are in need of volunteers who can get involved in a variety of ways in the planning of the event through participant recruitment, sponsorship, publicity, logistics, etc.

What is DogFest?

DogFest is a family-friendly, dog-friendly walk and festival benefiting Canine Companions for Independence, so grab a leash and get ready to have a tail-waggin’ good time! Celebrate the community of people and dogs that make it possible for Canine Companions to show that the most advanced technology capable of transforming the lives of people with disabilities has a cold nose and a warm heart. Bring your family, friends and pet dogs for a fun day while supporting a great cause!

Be Part of the Vision

DogFest will engage communities across the country in an event that raises money to support the mission, recruits volunteers to help propel the mission, and educates the public about the organization’s life-changing work of providing highly-trained service dogs to people with disabilities. Fill out our interest form if you are wanting to serve as a committee member or chair. The responsibilities of each committee are laid out in detail below.

Event Chair/Co-Chair

Time Commitment: Estimated 15 hours/week when establishing committee and strategy; 5 hours/week during planning stages; 20 hours/week in final month before DogFest.

Responsibilities:

• Responsible for the overall running of the DogFest event and managing the committee chairs. The DogFest chairperson is tasked with leading a committee of volunteers in the planning and execution of DogFest. They work in partnership with the regional volunteer coordinator and the national community events manager to ensure organizational goals are met and policies and procedures are followed.

Sponsorship Committee Chair/Co-Chair

Time Commitment: Estimated 5 hours per week for first few months; 2 hours per week in the month leading up to the event

Responsibilities:

• Organize a subcommittee consisting of two or more committee members to assist.
• Secure sponsorship dollars from local/national businesses to support the event and bring on some teams in the process.

Participant Recruitment Chair/Co-Chair

Time Commitment: Estimated 2+ hours per week leading up to event; 1 hour per week in the month leading up to the event

Responsibilities:

• Work closely with the publicity chair, sponsorship chair and registration
 chair in soliciting and encouraging the creation of teams and the registration of individual fundraisers.
• Reach out to different sectors, including 
Canine Companions volunteers, sponsors and the local community, and encourage them to not only participate in DogFest, but to ask their friends, family and colleagues to register and join them on a team. 
Headquarters will send encouraging emails to Team Captains at various pre-determined times leading up to the event. Additional emails will be sent to all registrants, whether on a team or not.

Volunteer Recruitment Chair/Co-Chair

Time Commitment: Estimated 2 hours per week while committees form; 4 hours per month leading up to the event while securing day-of-event volunteers; 8 hours in the week prior to the event

Responsibilities:

• Recruit two to three committee members to assist.
• Identify fun, passionate volunteers to help make DogFest happen.
• Recruit talent to the committee and round up people to help on event day.