Volunteering

Maybe one woman had a lot of family support and the other had none. Or one has a fairly chilled out job while the other is a trauma surgeon. Or one lives next door to the voluntary job location and the other is five miles away. Or one has kids with no additional needs and the other has. Or one has family that require practical support and the other doesn't. And so forth.

Maybe you didn't mean it this way or the volunteer didn't mean it this way but it read a bit like a 'gotcha' as if the person being asked to help out just needed to pull themselves together and do it, or the person who does volunteer is some kind of saint. Volunteering is wonderful but people are able to decide it's not for them or they can't commit. Sometimes a 'I can't, I'm too busy' is a soft 'I don't want to', the person in your story would probably do well to learn that rather than trying to put people on the spot.

I help run a cubs group. I started doing it when my DC were in cubs and they needed the extra help and continued because a) they still need help and I am grateful for how much my DC got from the experience and b) we have a great team who have become good friends so it's really enjoyable. However, I have experienced quite a lot of pressure from the wider leadership team, and from parents, to do even more. Eg. being asked to take on additional admin/district leadership roles, parents 'suggesting' that we do more weekend/holiday activities (but never offering to help organise it), parents of children who want to join asking why we can't 'just' run a second group on a different day of the week when ours is full. Luckily my team of cub leaders are great and support eachother but we have had to be very firm about boundaries and how much extra time we are willing to give. I can see why that some people will be put off by the fact that once you start to volunteer you are asked to do more and more.

I think people also underestimate how much time it takes behind the scenes to organise everything and/or assume that volunteers have nothing else to do. If anyone reading this has DC in scouting and is not able to volunteer you should know that being the parent who reads messages, replies to event invitations on time and pays for subs/events promptly (or tells the leaders if there is an issue with this) makes out lives so much easier and we will love you for it.

I volunteer over the spring / summer / autumn as a steward for a sport that I love, the days are long and outside in whatever the weather is doing that day. I thoroughly enjoy it though and have met a lot of people through it. I'm also part of a local community driving group that was set up to help elderly / vulnerable / disabled attended gp appts, transport to the local lunch club or visit partners in nursing homes. The local hospital and social workers have picked up on this service and we frequently now get requests to take people shopping, help them clean their houses, transport people to hospital appts including minor ops which involve waiting with the person at the hospital and then making sure they're safe at home and collecting people that are being discharged after a stay in hospital as there are no carers in place yet. This is where I am stepping back as I feel we're covering the gap in social care / hospital care and services are never going to be improved unless volunteers step away

The easy to find (I'm sure there are other harder to find ones) volunteer roles round here turn up on job searches alongside paid jobs. They are a lot like paid jobs actually, with set hours/days and similar expectations to a paid role. They're taking the piss.

The selfish honesty is that I don't want to have to give up my weekends for a charity I'm afraid. I'm so knackered and stressed even having two days off I'm not willing to compromise them. And whilst I could maybe fo something more sporadic, I don't really know how to get started... everywhere needs so much training and a longer term commitment it seems!

I was talking about this last night. Requiring volunteers to be so professional really blurs boundaries - the organisations and public expectations are sky high.
I’m expected to have safeguarding and first aid qualifications, complete detailed risk assessments, differentiate for children with disabilities etc. We have email and parent chat group and people expect prompt response (and chase). People treat us like a paid teacher but we are unpaid volunteers. In my day it was accepted it was ‘brown owl’ doing her best for the children and parents wouldn’t have dreamt of complaining.
I do think we need to be more explicit I’m an unpaid volunteer. Also trips - yes I’ve taken annual leave, yes I’m paying full price to accompany your girls on a 4 day trip etc.
I do it as I enjoy it but it’s a huge time commitment on top of a ft job.

My utter favourite was on the PTA - trying to get volunteers for a 45 minute shift at an after school on a Friday event. "Sorry, Fridays are my me day, but I will see if the au pair can help". Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I was told by someone this week that "between having to ferry the (3) kids around to their activities and plan all the meals, I really can't fit it in" - it's 2 hours on a Saturday once every 6 weeks and even though their kids are all mid teens, they're a SAHM. They also sit in the on site cafe and chat to people during this two hours each week, so not like they're off doing other things.

The only two, out of probably 25 volunteers, who don't have a full time job etc are two who are retired and their kids left the club 15 years ago!

My friend was a scout leader for many years. They were desperate for help. One mum said oh I can’t possibly I work ft and am a mum of 3, my friend said snap same as me you’ll fit right in. The woman was gobsmacked.

From experience (of 20 years volunteering) those with the most time are the least likely to volunteer!! In my volunteering with young people, every single one of our volunteers does it on top of a full time job and their own family commitments.

Totally agree with this. Volunteering squeezes the job market. And only people who are comfortably off can ‘gain experience’ for better jobs as they can work for nothing. Whereas poorer people can’t afford to do these ‘work experience’ type roles and can’t get into certain jobs. I’m not a fan of volunteering as you can probably tell 😂

I stopped volunteering in a charity shop because I needed to increase my income. Upped my hours at work and just do not have the time.

I don't currently volunteer as I haven't got the time between work and childcare, but I did for over a decade. I was a Samaritan for over ten years, volunteered in a prison rehab for several months and also trained prisoners to become Samaritans within local prisons. I've also volunteered in several animal rescue centres, walked greyhounds, and so forth.

It has all been amazing, but it's quite difficult to keep up once you're a parent if you're also working. A lot of places rightly want people who will commit to being there and I always treated my voluntary jobs as a proper job, but I just can't commit right now. I do feel bad about it and plan to return when my child is older.

I have five volunteering days a year through work. It's actually really difficult to find anywhere to volunteer for ad hoc days for all the reasons listed above, or you can pay to volunteer with some of the higher organisations.

The company offers it as part of their 'social value' commitments but in reality the take up is incredibly low.

I used to be a school volunteer and nearly gave up at one school as the form teacher, who showed her obvious dislike of me, would make a point of getting me to do stuff like to sharpen all the pencils or wash up after the teachers, but the following year I did reading for a different teacher which I enjoyed.

I recently started volunteering as a virtual buddy for a socially isolated disabled person through Sense. 1 hour a week Zoom call plus a small amount of prep sometimes. It makes a huge difference to the person I call, and I really enjoy it too as they match you with someone you've got common interests with. We're currently reading through a book and then discussing it at each session, as well as general chat. It suits me as it's not too much of a time commitment and no travel.

I think there is a big divide between life stages. I couldn't possibly have found time to volunteer when I was younger. But now, in my 60s I do several volunteering roles.
But what they all have in common is that I enjoy them.
I've tried some volunteering roles where I was either bored or I felt unappreciated. So I gave up on them.

I have both a paid (part-time) and volunteer hat for a charity. The trustees and managers are all voluntary positions. We need volunteers with particular skills - especially digital, social media input, and fundraising. Many role profiles have a lot of views but no applications, until they carry some kind of payment such as a set amount for a project. The current senior volunteers seem to have no comprehension of the time demands of the roles above, nor the actual amount of time or skills that it would take, operationally, to improve the current portfolio of what we do, before taking leaps into new directions. They see it as dull, easy grunt work that they don't need to engage with. Half of what I have discovered is actually on my plate was not even in the job description when I applied; I think they simply did not know it's crucially behind the scenes of a website, event, etc. As the senior vols are working around paid jobs, bank holidays, school holidays etc. are often times when floods of work or organising comes through, and I often have to respond even when I want to be on leave (especially if there is more than one person who is away at the same time). The quietest period so far has been a few days in the middle of February.

For a long time I have balanced part time work and parenting, and even committing to something for relaxation like a choir has not really been possible. I'd see volunteering as more like work, and would probably be more attracted to one-off things such as helping with an event, cooking, or similar.

I see my volunteering as an enjoyable hobby that happens to help people - I definitely wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy it and find it rewarding. I’m your classic older part-time-working middle class volunteer.

My organisation struggles to find volunteers because
a) nobody knows we exist (and our organisation doesn’t advertise for volunteers)
b) it’s not a role many people would want or feel able to take on and
c) their recruitment programme is poor - they apply the same criteria as to a paid employee but fail to check whether people are likely to actually have the time to volunteer or will stay the course. So they recruit and train the wrong people, who never get going but hang around on the books doing nothing.

They also tend to think of all volunteers as low-grade staff when many of us have had careers and jobs that far outstrip theirs in qualifications, experience and seniority.

Luckily for them the role is unique, so if you enjoy it you have to put up with the pretty poor management.

That is fantastic @Longtimelurkerfinallyposts . I have volunteered in a variety of roles for the past decade or so and the only places that have been really consistently grateful/managed their volunteers well have been schools. It sounds like your organisation does brilliantly.

I volunteer at my local hospital, I'm retired so can fit this in. I get a generous mileage allowance, free parking and a free lunch. My role is a "nice to have" rather than a necessity, but there are some roles, office based which to me should be a paid role.

I am Treasurer for our local Scouts and a co-opted member of the Audit & Risk Committee for a local school. DH is a governor for the Primary DSs attend. We both work FT. I would love to be able to volunteer for the cricket club that DSs go to but I don’t have enough time.

I have volunteered most of my life apart from when my children were very young and I didn’t have time .

Mainly fund raising and committee work. Peaked when I helped set up a charity, that was really hard work. Just believe in helping others, instilled by my Mother, her favourite phrase was ‘there but for the grace of God go I’

I don't volunteer, frankly because I'm a lone parent working full time and I don't want to spend my precious free time doing it. I do have regular charity donations set up though.

I agree @Lincslady53 - Round Table and Rotary do so much good in communities across the UK. When I was looking to volunteer I was open to the idea of being a part of my local Rotary Club, have skills and expressed interest, but was left with the impression that my face didn’t fit.