Community Partner Resources

Service-learning is foundational to the FGCU experience because of the developmental opportunities it provides for the students while engaging in such a meaningful way with the community. Read more on our About Us page. However, it would not be possible without so many strong nonprofit and government agency partnerships - over 300 in fact! This page serves as a resource page for all of our existing and future community partners.

Co-Educator Resources

Each community partner serves as a co-educator every time they interact with an FGCU student - afterall, student learning and student development is half the objective.

You’re the expert in the work you do. Share your expertise - and passion - every chance you can.

Getting Started as a Co-Educator
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Schduele a one-on-one meeting with the Director of Community Engagement, Justin Fitzgerald at jfitzgerald@fgcu.edu.

Be sure to review the About Us page to learn about the learning frameworks from which we operate and think about how your work connects.

In fact, we can’t emphasize enough how important reflection is while students are on site with you. Need help with reflection? Check out this helpful document outlining some tips and tricks regarding on-site reflection.
Connecting with FGCU Students
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Just like the rest of us, FGCU students are busy! However, they are always seeking great experiences in the community. Here are the two best ways to connect your needs to their availability.

Community Partner Database

If you have not already done so, complete this form to have your organization added to the community partner database used by students and faculty alike. If you’re not sure if you’re in the database, please email servicelearning@fgcu.edu for assistance.

Specific Requests

If you have a specific service-learning request (one-time or recurring), please submit it here. This form allows you to connect with students and/or faculty. Once the form is submitted, your request is added to a database for all to see and shopped across campus to the most appropriate audiences.

Feel free to complete this form for each unique request you have. Example requests might be a need for tutors each Monday from 1-4pm or a need for volunteers to help with an annual fundraiser this Saturday from 5-10pm. Many times, these limited timeframe opportunities are perfect ways for students to get a taste of what your organization does and may lead to more regular FGCU engagement later on.

Sustainable Development Goals and career readiness skills are highlighted within each service-learning opportunity posted here.

Service-Learning Events

To learn more and explore participation in a future event below, please contact Justin Fitzgerald at jfitzgerald@fgcu.edu.

Service-Learning Fairs

Taking place within the first month of fall and spring semesters, our Service-Learning Fairs are opportunities for nonprofits and government agencies to connect with FGCU students regarding service-learning opportunities. The frameworks from which our office operates (found under the About Us section) are deeply integrated into this event as community partners are categorized by Sustainable Development Goals and career readiness skills are highlighted within the service-learning opportunities. Since COVID-19, this event has successfully taken place virtually with over 1,000 views. The Fall 2020 event can be seen here.

Days of Service

Week of Welcome (WOW) Day of Service

WOW Day of Service introduces first-year students to FGCU’s cornerstone value of community engagement while helping them quickly connect to the local community and each other in meaningful ways. The day begins with a short kickoff followed by several hours of impactful work for approximately 100 students serving at 10 nonprofit and government agency sites across the region.

Make A Difference Day (MADD)

Aligned with the national Make A Difference Day, this annual FGCU tradition sends approximately 200 students out to serve and learn at a variety of nonprofits and government agencies. The day begins with a short kickoff followed by several hours of impactful work for approximately 200 students serving at 20 nonprofit and government agency sites across the region.
Verifications of Service-Learning Hours
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Because FGCU has a service-learning requirement, it is vital to our students’ success that community partners verify all completed service-learning hours by clicking the link received via email as soon as possible. The official FGCU process for documenting service-learning hours is entirely electronic. An overview of the student process service-learning written guide. Once a student completes Step 2, you will receive an FYI email that a student wants to partner with you.
Objective-Base Service-Learning
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Regarding class assignments, students and faculty alike are strongly encouraged to practice objective-based service-learning. In short, this means students should develop a relationship with you to set shared objectives and a timeline that works for everyone involved. Students and faculty are strongly discouraged from ever working from a set number of hours they need to complete. The focus should be the agreed upon project, the learning, and the service, not the number of hours.

There are Four Types of Service:
- Direct
- Indirect
- Advocacy
- Research
This can be anything on site or in the community. We call this the boots on the ground service type. You could be playing soccer with youth, planting trees, tutoring, assisting at a hospital, and much more.

Indirect could be considered the behind the scenes work. You could be creating a program for a school, organizing a collection drive, creating a social media/marketing plan, writing a blog, calling nurseries for donation, and much more.

Speak up and speak out for your organizations. You could hold a community information night, attend a city council meeting, run social media platforms, table on/off campus, lead presentations, and much more.

Help your organizations by collecting, organizing, or compiling data. You could pull together information on best practices, lesson plans, supporting documents. This could also be scientific research, surveying sea turtle nests, documenting migratory birds, and much more.
Community Partner Workshops
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We encourage our community partners to call or email with any questions or concerns as they arise. However, we also offer community partner workshops once a semester. We provide resources, guidance, best practices, training, and much more during these meetings.

Future Workshops

To learn more and RSVP for future workshops, please email Justin Fitzgerald at jfitzgerald@fgcu.edu.

Past Workshops

View our Youtube playlist here.

To learn more about service-learning and the frameworks from which we operate, see the About Us section. Learn more about the FGCU service-learning graduation requirement.