Our volunteers are the driving forces in our community. Without them dedicating their valuable time, skills and energy, we would not be able to build and grow one of the largest women in tech communities in Switzerland.

Volunteering is an excellent way of getting to know the community and the wonderful people behind our non-profit organization. As a Girls in Tech Switzerland volunteer, you will be able to quickly build a strong network of inspiring and passionate women and allies in tech. In the following article, you can learn more about what it means to join Girls in Tech Switzerland as a volunteer.

What volunteering options are there?

Depending on your interests and availability, we have different volunteering opportunities.

One-Time Engagement

With a one-time Engagement you can support us by:

• joining an event as a speaker or panelist
• delivering a workshop to the community
• helping out at a specific event as a volunteer
• writing an article for our blog post series #DecodingTech sharing your personal story or knowledge about a career or tech topic

This option is the most flexible and allows you to contribute to our mission whenever you have time available or there is an event or initiative that is dear to your heart. In return, we will be sharing your contribution and highlighting your engagement to our community.

Official Volunteer

As an official volunteer, you get the chance to join our team at Girls in Tech Switzerland. This will allow you to support our mission on a regular basis and in a specific area. In the following we will explain the roles and responsibilities in more detail.

Our team is split into two groups: the board members are responsible to lead and plan the work in their specific areas. Our managers in the specific areas are involved in executing and managing the work. The specific areas area:

• Community
• Events
• Marketing
• Partnerships
• Press & Communications

The community team is involved in building and strengthening our community activities including our LinkedIn group and other initiatives. They are actively involved in community building and are monitoring the requirements of our members all over Switzerland.

The events team organizes community and partner events which involves finding an event topic, creating a compelling description together with our team and/or partners, acquiring speakers and panelists, booking locations and catering, and hosting the events.

The marketing team is responsible for our communication on social media. They create visuals for events and initiatives and post content on LinkedIn and Instagram. Together with the press team, they are also running the website as well as our monthly newsletter.

The partnerships team is in touch with companies and other organizations to build our partnership network. They are looking for strategic partners for events and find the right sponsors for our mission and initiatives.

The press team is coordinating and conduction our role model interviews, e.g. women who inspire us and allies who inspire us. They are responsible for making our communication consistent and inspiring, and are supporting and reviewing event descriptions, blog posts and social media content.

What are the expectations?

Our official volunteers commit for a minimum of six months. We have a 6 month rotation system that allows our volunteers to take breaks whenever needed and get back on board afterwards. When a volunteer agrees to be committed for the next six months, we plan with their availability.

Our board members typically spend 12 hours per month (3h/week) with volunteering activities at Girls in Tech Switzerland. Depending on the number of initiatives, there might be months where it is more and months where it is less. The board meets virtually on a bi-weekly basis to sync the different activities and discuss open questions.

Our managers roughly spend 4 hours per month (1h/week) on volunteering activities on average over 6 months. Especially in the events team there might be peaks around events and lows when they aren’t involved in events. Our event managers are usually leading the organization of 2 events per year and help out as supporters in 2 more events. We organize roughly 1 event per month spread between Zurich and Geneva/Lausanne.

Apart from the “daily business”, we also meet as a team on a regular basis. We have quarterly team meetings where we meet in person in Zurich and Geneva. Every year, we meet once for our general assembly and once for a strategy weekend called fall retreat where we discuss what we want to do and achieve in the upcoming year.

What are the benefits & impact?

There are 5 main benefits from being a volunteer at Girls in Tech Switzerland:

• Build a strong network in the tech industry in Switzerland
• Attend our team events and connect with other volunteers
• Actively contribute to change the face of the tech industry
• Trying out and learning new skills
• Help our community grow and thrive

Our volunteers have access to a large network in the tech industry. They are invited to attend all our events and increase their own visibility within the community by taking over important roles such as moderation and hosting. Through our role model interviews, our volunteers get the chance to connect to and meet inspiring women in tech and allies in an intimate setup.

Our team members can also attend all our fun and interesting team events all year round for free. The main goal of those team events is to connect and get to know each other. Like this, we build strong relationships. We have each other’s backs and always lift each other up. And we never miss a chance to give kudos and help each other grow.

As an organization, Girls in Tech Switzerland reaches about ⅓ of all women in tech in Switzerland. With our events and initiatives, we are actively influencing the face of the tech industry. We highlight role models, we inspire the next generation of women in tech and we create change with thought leadership. Together, we make a difference.

We encourage everyone on the team to grow their skills and gain experience with tasks such as moderating panel discussions, conducting role model interviews, writing about their own stories, and negotiating with partners. As a volunteer, you can experiment and try out new things that you might not be able to do in your daily job yet.

And all our volunteers will agree to this: it’s such a pleasure to see how our community benefits from attending our events, learning from our knowledgeable speakers and panelists, getting inspired and growing their own network. We always receive such positive feedback from our community. Seeing our impact grow and our members thrive is our biggest reward.

What is the experience like?

Now let’s hear from our current volunteers how they experience being part of our Girls in Tech Switzerland team, and what they love about volunteering with us.

“As a board member of Girls in Tech Switzerland I get the chance to actively contribute to changing the face of tech in Switzerland. Besides that, I love working with our team – it’s such a cool bunch of highly motivated, inspirational and fun people. If you’re looking to make the world a tiny step better while making lots of amazing connections – come join us!” – Corinne Ruckstuhl

“Volunteering in the marketing team for Girls In Tech Switzerland adds a vibrant dimension to my life, allowing me to merge my passion for technology with my drive to empower women. It’s not just about marketing; it’s about shaping narratives, fostering inclusion, and making a tangible difference in both the tech industry and the lives of aspiring female innovators. Furthermore, collaborating with inspiring women amplifies the impact and makes the journey even more rewarding…and fun!” – Annalisa Hüppin

How can I become a volunteer?

Is it a match? We’d love to have you join us as a volunteer for one-time engagements or as part of the team. We are always looking for passionate and inspiring people (yes, all genders welcome!) to become part of our mission.

You can simply fill out this form to let us know that you are interested. We will then contact you for a virtual call to get to know you better and understand your interests. We can’t wait to hear from you!