Guidelines & Opportunities

Special Olympics Illinois (SO ILL) classifies volunteers in two types:

Class A: Individuals with 1-on-1 unsupervised contact with athletes; individuals who have fundraising responsibilities or authorization to spend SO ILL money; and volunteers authorized to speak on behalf of SO ILL. This includes all Special Olympics Illinois staff members, Board of Directors and Area and Games Committee members. A background check is conducted for all Class A volunteers.

Class B: Individuals who are day-of-event volunteers with no athlete supervisory responsibilities.

Special Olympics Illinois requires all volunteers to complete a registration process, which varies depending on a volunteers Class A or Class B status. An Illinois State Police background check is part of the registration process for all Class A volunteers.

Special Olympics Illinois uses volunteers of all ages, however general volunteers must be at least 10 years old and head coaches must be at least 18 years of age.

Volunteer Opportunities

At the local level:
Special Olympics Illinois has satellite offices in 17 geographic Areas. Each Area has the responsibility to provide the highest quality training, competition and fundraising events. Each Area is managed by an Area Director. While SO ILL offers 19 different sports along with fundraising activities, each Area offers its own unique mix of sports competitions and fundraisers. Possible volunteer opportunities in an Area include:

• Coaching
• Competition - day-of-event volunteer (timer, scorekeeping, awards, etc.)
• Office help
• Fundraising - event organizing committee, day-of-event volunteer
• Sports officials
• Area Committee (Area committee members make a long-term commitment to serve a vital role in guiding the progress of the Area. In coordination with the Area Director, committee members have specific responsibilities to oversee such things as public relations, fundraising, family registration, volunteer recruitment and registration, games management, athlete/coach training, medical, etc.)

At the state level:
Activities and events managed at the Area level funnel into the state-level activities. SO ILL coordinates seven state championship-level tournaments plus district and regional tournaments and various fundraising events. The state offers the same day-of-event and committee volunteer positions described in the Area opportunities section above.