Website: https://www.desmoinespridecenter.org/
Mission: The Des Moines Pride Center is a community organization that serves, supports, and celebrates gender and sexual minorities and their allies. Des Moines Pride Center was born to promote the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and ally community in Central Iowa.
Location: Des Moines (48 miles from Grinnell College)
Needs: We are happy to offer opportunities for volunteerism to serve the LGBTQIA+ community of the Des Moines Metro Area. Thank you for considering joining us in our efforts! If skills you have to offer or are looking to build aren’t included in our list of needs, but you are passionate about our mission, please contact us so we can explore possibilities.
Current needs include:
- Library assistance – staffing the library during open hours Sundays 2-4 and Wednesdays 6-8. We would like to extend these open hours as well.
- Archiving historical documents and library-related services such as shelving and categorizing.
- Media Outreach – help with the website, expanding to social media platforms such as Instagram and SnapChat
- Design and promote – use and information dissemination for the archives and biography project featuring local lgbtqia+ individual past and present.
- Fundraising and grant writing.
- Events – events throughout the year include workshops and informative sessions. Special events include the Queer Community Summit, Pride Month activities, Summertime Lemonade in the Shade community social gatherings, and our GLOW event.
Volunteers:
- One-time events: yes
- Ongoing: yes
- Groups possible? yes, we’d love to have your group assist with our annual event GLOW in November. Other opportunities may be available, please contact us.
When is service needed: Year-round for many activities. Also, January is a good time as we assemble 30 local queer groups for conversation at the Queer Community Summit. We always need volunteers in May and June for Pride Activities, and for our annual event GLOW held in November.
Number of hours: Flexible, as much or little as is possible for the volunteer. If volunteering in the library, current open hours are Sundays 2-4pm and Wednesdays 6-8pm, and we would love to have these hours extended if a volunteer is available to staff the library at other times.
Modality:
- In-person: yes
- Hybrid in-person/virtual possible: yes
- Fully virtual possible: yes
Background check required: no
Prerequisites: Understanding our niche and mission is required.
Training supplied: Training on how to use the library as well as any other relevant training for the service role. Some training and orientation required with opening on our board of Directors for those that have opportunity and time to help in that capacity.
Equipment/logistics needed: We cannot provide travel compensation. Having a laptop and providing lgbt books would be wonderful.
How to apply: Call Rick Miller at 515-274-5518, or by volunteer application available at https://www.desmoinespridecenter.org/volunteer/
Contact: Diana Prince, President, 515-657-2147, or desmoinespridecenter.board@gmail.com, or Rick Miller at erik2000dsm@aol.com
Operation information: Des Moines Pride Center (DSMPC or DMPC) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit all-volunteer community organization that serves, supports, and celebrates LBGTQIA+ individuals and their allies. The DSMPC provides a safe space for people to be connected, protected, and respected. We also maintain a library of over 3000 books which is open to the public on Sundays and Wednesdays.
We have a seven-member board at this time with a diverse number of backgrounds. We do not oversee the 30 organizations we connect with but help incubate emerging groups and provide meeting space and other help when possible.
In addition to our website, please visit us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/dsmpridecenter
Address: Mickle Center, Suite 244 1620 Pleasant St., Des Moines, IA 50314
If you are with this organization and need to update your listing, please access our update form on this page: For Community Partners