Mentor Together

We Can't Do It Alone, So Why Should You?

Did you know that nationally, women volunteer at a greater rate than men? It's true, across all industries, there are more women signing up for volunteer opportunities than men. And the same is definitely true for iMentor, where all our mentor-mentee pairs are same gender matches. We have many more female mentor applicants than male applicants—but our student body actually has slightly more male students than female students! Because of this, we need your help to find all the mentors we need for the upcoming school year. And one way to address this is to sign up for Mentor Together.

When you and a male friend fill out applications and request to volunteer with each other, iMentor will place you at a school together. You will each have your own mentee in the same grade at the same school! We are excited to help you mentor with a friend, coworker, or significant other.

Please be sure to send this page to a friend to tell him about this opportunity. Then fill out your application here! Remember to select "Mentor Together" on the application. Then list your friend’s name and tell your friend to list yours as well. Please remember that participants can only be male-male or female-male pairings

Please see important information in the FAQs and Guidelines below.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q. How do I request my friend? 

A. Fill out the iMentor Volunteer Application and on the first page indicate that you would like to participate in Mentor Together. Be sure to provide your friend’s name and email at that time!

Q. I’ve heard iMentor needs more male volunteers than female volunteers. Why is that?

A. You heard right. It’s because iMentor receives far more female volunteer applications than male applications, and right now about 65% of iMentor's student body is male. That means we need more men than women to apply. To address this discrepancy and to close the male mentor gap, we ask that Mentor Together participants be only male-male or female-male pairings.

Q. Why should I volunteer with a friend? 

A. People volunteer for many different reasons. This is one way you can spend more time with a friend! You will always see your friend once a month at our monthly events. You can ride the subway together, catch up, and spend time giving back together.

Q. What if I live in Brooklyn but my friend lives in Manhattan? 

A. We take volunteer placement very seriously. We will do our absolute best to accommodate both your needs and your friend’s needs when placing you at a high school to volunteer. Keep an open mind—you may discover a new neighborhood you never knew you loved.

Q. Can I recruit more than one friend?

A. Of course! iMentor needs thousands of new volunteers this year in New York, Chicago, and the San Francisco Bay Area. However, since we cannot predict the size of the student body at any of our partner schools, we cannot match more than two people together. Please feel free to recruit your friends, but remember that we can only match two friends together at a time.

Q. Does this mean my friend and I are both mentoring the same student?
A. No, each volunteer is matched one-on-one with a student in our program. You and your friend will each have your own mentee to get to know. You will simply be matched at the same school together. Your mentees may even be friends themselves!


Q. What if we find out that my friend can’t volunteer this fall? Can I still volunteer? 

A. Of course! If you and your friend go through the process to become mentors, but one of you can’t make the final commitment in the fall, you can still volunteer on your own. We’re excited for you to join our program with a friend or on your own. If your situation changes at the start of the school year, simply reach out to let us know. We’ll help you make it work.

Guidelines

In order to volunteer with your friend, please consider the following:

- Both volunteers must request each other
- By requesting to be matched with a friend, you accept that iMentor will place you at a school location that works the best for both of you
- Both volunteers must have completed the mentor screening process by October 1, 2017
- Mentor Together participants should be either male-male or female-male pairings
- iMentor will honor match requests between two people at a time. We can't guarantee that groups larger than two will be matched together
- Only NEW mentors are eligible to be matched with a friend. Existing mentors cannot invite friends to be matched in their grade at their schools

If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to contact us!