In addition to the immense pride and gratification of directly or indirectly providing bereaved families in your community the priceless gift of heirloom portraiture that they will forever treasure, volunteers of NILMDTS receive a number of benefits, which will help them not only with NILMDTS sessions, but also in their professional career.

Support

Volunteers will receive support to provide their volunteer services – you are never alone.

  • Volunteer Support – Caring support staff at NILMDTS are available Monday – Friday, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm Mountain Time to help you with whatever situation you may come across. You may email or us at info@nilmdts.org or 720-283-3339.
  • Training – Your private training account is stocked with dozens of the latest resources and documents you will need for your sessions, hospital outreach, recruiting, and a number of other events. These are updated on a regular basis so check back often!
  • Monthly Session Preparation Calls – Volunteer Leadership holds monthly meetings for photographers to discuss how to best prepare for and unwind after a session.
  • Private Volunteer Account – You are able to access your own private Volunteer Account area within the NILMDTS website. This is where Affiliated Photographers are required to log their sessions Consent Forms and able to keep track of their sessions.
  • Grief Support Videos – As volunteers, we understand the sessions you take can be extremely emotional. In the Introduction to NILMDTS course, you have access to various grief support videos.
  • NILMDTS has a Marketplace Chaplain available for all staff and volunteers. You can call our nondenominational Chaplain for emotional support at any time you need to have a conversation.
  • 24/7 Online Support – We have a closed/private Facebook group for all active volunteers. This is a safe place to ask questions, vent and build relationships with other volunteers. The group is facilitated by Volunteer Leadership so there is always someone in an official capacity who can help answer questions as well as other knowledgable volunteers.

Training

  • Online Training – NILMDTS provides role-specific online training to ensure understanding and build skills. You may revisit the training as many times as you would like for a refresher.
  • Professional Development Courses – You will further develop your skills for NILMDTS sessions and your professional career through these regular Live Editing/Retouching Courses on an array of topics or come with your own questions to get answered by experienced Digital Retouch Artists. These courses are open for all volunteers who may be interested in these topics no matter their role.

Liability Coverage

  • Liability and Volunteer Insurance – NILMDTS holds insurance to help protect volunteers. You must be an active volunteer in compliance with our Volunteer Services Agreement to be covered. We also strongly encourage volunteers to have your own insurance, as this will provide extra protection for your NILMDTS volunteer work.
  • Legal Services – While highly unusual, you may encounter a situation where you may need legal advice. NILMDTS works with an attorney who can help advise you in the situation. Please call us with your concern.

Session Production Support

In order to produce the best quality product to our families, NILMDTS and its sponsors offer the following:

  • Retouching Assistance – If you are unable to retouch your images due to time or skill constraints, NILMDTS has volunteer Digital Retouch Artists to assist you.
  • Digital Skin file to assist you with retouching work.
  • ShootProof gallery delivery and data retention.
  • Data recovery via Drive Savers

Vendor Discounts

A number of NILMDTS sponsors offer generous discounts on products for photographers. Most of these products can be purchased for your professional career as well. Please see our updated list of discounts in the Additional Resources course.

Marketing and Promotion

  • Official NILMDTS Name Badge & Lanyard – included in your welcome packet you will receive a NILMDTS badge and lanyard.
  • Brochures – Marathon Printing provides brochures to all NILMDTS volunteers to promote services. Please contact us to order brochures.
  • Marketing, Branding, and Logo Usage – NILMDTS provides a Marketing Guide as well as permission to use and access to NILMDTS logos and images for promotional use.
  • Media Support – You will receive information on how to contact and respond to the media as well as Talking Points.
  • Displays – NILMDTS can provide you, upon request, with a display for an event in which you are promoting NILMDTS. These are used at photography, medical and bereavement-type conferences to recruit more volunteers to help more families. Additionally, the displays assist in educating the medical community about the services our volunteers provide.