MMNP Policy on What Counts as MMNP Volunteering and Use of Your MMNP Credential

The purpose of the Maine Master Naturalist Program (MMNP) is to train volunteers who teach others in order to spread knowledge and appreciation of Maine’s natural world to an ever-widening audience. In return for acceptance into the MMNP course, graduates commit to volunteer teaching for 20 hours in the year after graduation. After that, MMNP graduates are expected to volunteer at least 10 hours annually.

Activities that count toward the MMNP volunteer requirement

To count toward the MMNP volunteer requirement, the volunteering work must be:

  1. Done without compensation to the MMNP graduate. The work may not be part of an existing paid job unless the volunteering is an unpaid extension of the job. (For purposes of this Policy, “compensation” means payment(s) or gift(s) to the MMN in return for the MMN’s services or participation in an activity. It includes honorarium, but excludes direct reimbursements to the MMN for expenses incurred by the MMN in order to do the activity, e.g., necessary travel costs, food, lodging, or student supplies that will be used for the activity).
  2. Open to the public. Informal instruction of friends, family, or fellow workers does not qualify.
  3. Nature-related education that furthers the MMNP mission.
  4. Sponsored by a nonprofit or for-profit organization or organized group that does not charge a fee for the activity that is more than a reasonable administrative overhead amount. 
  5. Conducted face-to-face either in person or over video-conferencing.

Activities that don’t count toward the MMNP volunteer requirement (unless covered by the MMNP Organizational Service section of this policy and done directly for MMNP)

  1. Creating a natural history blog, Facebook page, video, book, article, letter to the editor, or brochure.
  2. Developing curriculum.
  3. Making or organizing specimen collections. 
  4. Advocating at the legislature or working on a political campaign.
  5. Citizen/community science such as work on the Bird Atlas or plant surveys. (However, teaching during a citizen/community science event would count as MMNP hours.) 
  6. Physical labor such as trash cleanup, invasive species control, clearing trails, or building infrastructure. 
  7. Projects conducted in isolation from direct users such as desk jobs, data entry, administrative tasks, and committee work.
  8. Event facilitation such as coordinating speakers, taking registrations, and communicating with attendees.
  9. Informal instruction of friends, family, fellow workers, or community members about the natural world.

MMNP Organizational Service as Volunteering

While it is the mission of the Maine Master Naturalist Program to train volunteer naturalists who will enrich nature education in Maine, we recognize that this all-volunteer organization is dependent on volunteers to ensure the ongoing functioning of MMNP. Accordingly, for those who provide 10 or more hours of organizational service to the MMNP Board and/or MMNP Committees in a calendar year, the teaching commitment is waived for that year. The following conditions apply:

  1. This section applies to the following groups:
    1. Board Members
    2. Non-board committee members
    3. Mentors
    4. Coordinators
    5. Ad hoc committee members.
  1. Volunteers who provide organizational service to MMNP are encouraged to report their organizational service hours.  This will allow us to recognize the immense amount of time that volunteers dedicate to the organization  and will allow us to quantify the amount of time needed in various functions to keep the organization functioning well.
  1. Course Coordinators and Mentors will automatically be credited with service hours based on amounts established by MMNP.
  1. It is still recommended that all MMNs continue to provide 10 hours of volunteer teaching each year, if possible. 
  1. MMNP will treat organizational volunteer hours as eligible for incentive recognition.

Use of Your MMNP Credential

  1. Graduates may use their MMNP credential in advertising for any activity that meets all of the criteria described under “Activities that count toward the MMNP volunteer requirement.”
  2. Graduates that receive compensation for their work, or do work that otherwise does not meet the criteria described under “Activities that count toward the MMNP volunteer requirement” cannot use their MMNP credential to promote the activity or draw attention to their participation in the event. In these cases, graduates may refer to their MMNP credential or their MMNP volunteering in their biographies, but the credential cannot otherwise be used in advertisements for the activity. (Example: If a graduate is paid for the activity, the graduate’s biography may state that the graduate “volunteers for MMNP” or “graduated from the MMNP,” but advertisements cannot not describe the graduate as “Maine Master Naturalist James Doe.”)

Reporting

Please go to the graduates’ page on the MMNP website to navigate to the online form for reporting volunteer hours. The information enables MMNP to give Master Naturalists credit for volunteering and, importantly, measures how well MMNP is accomplishing its mission.

THANK YOU!