United States Eventing Association

Top 5 Refreshers of the USEA Volunteer Incentive Program

The official management system of the USEA Volunteer Incentive Program (VIP) is www.eventingvolunteers.com and it has recorded a total of 8,105 volunteers and 194,193 volunteer hours since December 1, 2016. With the growing popularity and increase in participation, the USEA would like to remind VIP participants of the rules, eligibility, and incentives.

1. Volunteers who earn hours in the VIP program should be unpaid volunteers.

A volunteer can be defined as a person who does something for other people or for an organization, willingly and without being forced or paid to do it. Therefore, the volunteers who record hours in the VIP program should be unpaid. Volunteers must be registered in eventingvolunteers.com in order to record hours. The VIP program excludes any person associated with the event that is named as an administrator in the program or given access to change, add, or subtract hours volunteered by themselves or others.

2. For volunteers to earn and record hours in eventingvolunteers.com, the event must also be registered with eventingvolunteers.com.

Volunteers can only record hours if the event itself is registered with eventingvolunteers.com. Please keep in mind that organizers and/or volunteer coordinators must have all of their volunteer hours submitted on eventingvolunteers.com within 10 days of the completion of the event.

3. The VIP program is limited to recognized USEA events listed in the USEA Calendar.

Although unrecognized events can still utilize eventingvolunteers.com, volunteer hours recorded at unrecognized events will not count towards the USEA volunteer leaderboards or USEA national awards.

4. Volunteers can earn a variety of awards through the VIP program.

USEA Volunteer of the Year award – The USEA Volunteer of the Year Award is presented annually at the USEA Annual Meeting and Convention. It is given to the volunteer who tops the Volunteer Incentive Program Leaderboard by accumulating the most volunteer hours over the course of the USEA competition year. The winner receives a cash prize of $1,000, a custom “USEA Volunteer of the Year” embroidered jacket, and a memorial trophy.

USEA Volunteer Leaderboard awards - The top ten volunteers on the USEA Volunteer Leaderboard receive a certificate of acknowledgment and a ribbon at the end of each competition year. The leaderboard may be found here:

Volunteer Medal Program - The VIP Medal Program will recognize the volunteers who consistently volunteer year after year. Hours earned are cumulative over a lifetime of volunteer service. Only volunteer hours logged and tallied via eventingvolunteers.com will be counted towards the medal program. The VIP Medal Program leaderboard is available on eventingvolunteers.com.

Volunteers who record 500 volunteer hours are recognized as bronze medal volunteers, volunteers who record 1,000 volunteers hours are recognized as silver medal volunteers, and volunteers who record 2,000 volunteer hours are recognized as gold medal volunteers.

Volunteer Area Awards - All Areas are encouraged to acknowledge the hard work of their volunteers with their own awards. Area representatives should contact the USEA Accounting Department to inquire about the funds for area volunteer awards.

5. The VIP program has a wide range of educational resources for volunteers, volunteer coordinators, and/or event organizers.

The volunteer committee has put in a tremendous amount of work to provide tools and resources for participants of the VIP program. Please see the list below for several of these resources.

• Volunteer Position Checklists
• Volunteer Video Tutorials
• Volunteer Jump Judge 6-Part Video Tutorial
• Volunteer Coordinator Guide

The USEA would like to thank all the eventing volunteers as they are the true unsung heroes of the sport!

Volunteering at a USEA event that is not registered with eventingvolunteers.com? Urge them to sign up, because the platform is FREE for all USEA recognized events to use, thanks to VIP program sponsor, Sunsprite Warmbloods. Connect your local event with the VIP Committee to learn more.

About the USEA Volunteer Incentive Program

Volunteers are the lifeblood of our sport, the unsung heroes, and the people who make it possible to keep the sport alive. In efforts to recognize the dedication, commitment, and hard work that volunteers put into eventing, USEA formed the Volunteer Incentive Program (VIP) in 2015. In 2017, an online management portal was designed for volunteers, organizers, and volunteer coordinators at eventingvolunteers.com (available as an app for iOS and Android).

Volunteer incentives include national and area recognition, year-end awards with ribbons, cash prizes, and trophies, a top ten USEA Volunteer leaderboard, and a Volunteer of the Year award which is given to the volunteer who tops the leaderboard by accumulating the most volunteer hours over the USEA competition year. Click here to learn more about the USEA Volunteer Incentive Program.