Student Affairs at the University of Oklahoma has launched a new online database called GivePulse to provide all three campus communities with a digital billboard of volunteer opportunities. The database includes information for students, faculty and staff for volunteerism, community engaged research, service learning, internships, philanthropy, and more.
With this platform, the university consisting of over 30,000 students and 6,000 faculty and staff can make the largest impact on the state with volunteering and community engagement. GivePulse will help match skills and resources of our institution to the needs of the community, complete with a roster of student-led organizations, community partners and staff in charge of the operation.
With this resource, students, faculty and staff will be able to log and track their volunteer hours for future opportunities and various career-building skills.
“Prior to GivePulse, there was no centralized system for students, faculty and staff to track their community engagement efforts,” said Victoria Bumgarner, the Volunteer Coordinator for Student Affairs. “Volunteer opportunities were shared as often as possible on our website, through newsletters and on social media, but sign ups were spread out. GivePulse is a single sign on platform available to all students, staff and faculty at the university.”
The platform will help streamline volunteer opportunities while displaying real-time data for hours served, impacts and number of community partners. The economic impact of the campus community and beyond can now be quantified.
Bumgarner hopes the platform will help encourage more student engagement as well as more collaboration between the university and community partners.
“This would comprehensively demonstrate the great work our faculty, staff and students are already doing to better our world,” Bumgarner said.
For more information, visit ou.givepulse.com.
