Volunteering nightmare

Well how else do you stop people playing the system?
If Ops got her kid a place by saying, I'll volunteer, having an extra volunteer could mean theyve opened up an extra 6 spaces, one of which is the Ops kid, they can no longer offer those six spaces so how do they keep within their ratios? Other than roping another parent in, but no parent is going to volunteer for a club they can't get their kid into.

Its Scouts isn't it?

Honestly, it can't keep on the road with out parent volunteers, but see if you can negotiate to a managable level for the same reason. They ned all the help they can get.

YABU by allowing this to continue. Communicate your boundaries and keep to them.

they are adamant DC can’t keep his place unless I volunteer
That's blackmail OP. ,

I put an out of office on and now they are calling my personal phone. What do I do?

If it's Scouting or similar, make a new email, use Gmail if your club doesn't have a website/emails already set up for the role, something like Admin@mychildsactivity. Set up an automatic reply saying the email account is checked "once a week" or similar so there may be a delay in a response but you will get back to all enquiries. I'd also include basic information like "you can add your child to the waiting lists here", "the hall booking form can be found here" etc so the main easy questions are immediately answered. Then circulate said email account around all groups stating very clearly that for GDPR reasons you won't be using your personal accounts for charity purposes and that all correspondence should be sent to the new email address. Tell them that is good practice in case of SARs and add that as it's best to have a record of all charity business, requests are to be made via email rather than by phone.

I chair the Trustees for our Scout Group as well as doing other charity work and boundaries are definitely needed.

@Pigriver Intresting to hear a teacher describing Squirrels as feral, I got roped into Beavers and I often thought some of them were feral because we the leaders weren't the best, all fairly new with little experience.
I certainly wouldn't touch Squirrels with a barge pole. They seem more calm at Cubs but then our Cubs leaders have skills. They just seem to stand for no nonsense!

Op what are you getting messages about at this time of the year, its summer!

If its the scouts then everyone is a volunteer. (Except for those few paid people at " head office") So those that are asking the OP to do more than she agreed to do, are not some paid employee they are volunteers. Most will have full time jobs themselves, children of their own and a commitment to giving other peoples children a fantastic experience.
The movement has a desperate need for more volunteers because it is so popular.

I would imagine it is scouting but not all groups are the same. My eldest goes to one group where they ask very rarely for a helper if one of the leaders is ill. That's it. It's very well run.
I signed the youngest up at Squirrels at another group as ours didn't have one. Was told the list was too big and there would be no chance if him getting in before he aged out unless I volunteered. I agreed to be a helper as it was only 45 mins and barely time to get home and back.
Well, within 2 weeks they had me trained up as an assistant leader planning and running most of the sessions. The other leaders kids had left and they desperately wanted to give it up.
I was clear from the off, 1 year and then we are gone. I was asked if I was enjoying it after the first half term. In a word, no! The kids were feral and everything was so slap dash, last minute. Not how I work at all. I'm a teacher of this age group but my pupils listen to me! I reaffirmed my boundaries and planned. Set number of sessions and stepped back and let the others get on with it.
We moved to my eldest group for beavers and other than an occasional helper. I'm done.

Take yourself off any WhatsApp groups as they are a time suck. Set time aside to sort admin and only do it then. And make an exit plan!

I am employed by a charity and volunteer for a different one. This is very inappropriate

That's how charities are
Not very charitable at all

I once put a volunteer application for nature organisation for just doing 1h admin per week. Immediately 3 people emailed me with sagas, accusations against each other and a rich woman who didn't have paid work tried to get to know me , asking me for walks when there were still covid restrictions. It was just 1h admin per week.

I absolutely liked the main man but his colleagues just were beyond any normality

I learned the hard way volunteering for a charity. It takes over your life if you let it.

You have to be assertive. They'll carry on taking the piss if you let them.

You ignore the calls if the child is not at the club

I’d make myself very, very bad at the job. Have some fun.

In my experience, the vast majority of children starting at scouts start after being on the waiting list. Occasionally (probably once or twice a year) a child will start because their parent has agreed to help out in some way (be a leader, or a trustee or similar). I don't think that's an unreasonable thing to do, as without volunteers, no children would be able to attend at all, as there'd be no group with out regular volunteers.

But it's not at all reasonable to shift the goal posts of what's expected from the volunteer after the child starts. Leaders should be very clear what's expected, and then stick to that, unless the parent wants to become more involved.

At our scout group, we wouldn't allow a child to jump the waiting list unless a parent was able to give regular, weekly help. We encourage all parents to help out occasionally, but it's not more than once a term, and wouldn't be enough to allow a child to jump the list.

Basically, yes. Find another club and tell them why you've left. Hopefully that'll wake them up.

I used to ask for parents to help if one of my regular leaders was ill or on holiday. I had parents tell me they couldn't do it due to their other kids - i used to work FT, go pick up my 2yo from nursery and then take her to brownies with me every week as without me, the unit would close. Then again whilst heavily pregnant with DD2 as well.

If everyone volunteered, it would mean doing maybe 2 nights a year at most? But as with most volunteering, lots won't (even when able - shift workers etc excluded) so it ends up falling more on the few who do, who then end up in OP's position and need to step back. Sadly there is a massive crisis in volunteering after covid and ultimately, clubs for kids will disappear if people don't step up.

The original poster hasn't specified if this club is Scouting, so it would be helpful if the Scout-bashing could stop. As a Cub Leader, I'd ask that you not tar us all with the same brush.

I rarely call upon parents for help; it would only be because I don't have enough leaders to run the evening properly. I seldom accept parental help anymore, as experience has shown that once parents get their child enrolled, the help they promised to provide often disappears.

I now run the waiting list in order of age and sign-up date, which eliminates this problem entirely.

IME volunteers are exploited by charities quite ruthlessly, though your case does sound extreme. If you have evidence in writing you could raise the issues with the trustees as it certainly sounds dubious.

The problem with something like scouts is that all the leaders are volunteers. And if people don't volunteer they can't run. So insisting parents volunteer is one way of ensuring that there is actually a club for the children to attend.

Short answer - yes! They are being CF’s. I have had to do the same recently as they’re simply taking the mick!

Nah, sod that, get them into Army Cadets instead.

Sorry, I clicked on YABU by mistake!