Why do charities often treat volunteers so poorly...

[Greenfairydust]

I am a bit annoyed that I had to leave my volunteer role this week.

I applied to do a few hours in a charity shop on the high street (selling books, CDs and small gifts) and made it very clear during the initial chat with the manager that I could not carry heavy loads so would not be able to do lifting of bags, boxes and so on.

The first couple of weeks were OK has I trained to do the till, stocks and book sorting but then I was expected to come in every week, sort through heavy bags stuck on my own in a small room at the back near the loos and then take the books (that includes heavy encyclopaedias and hard backs) up and down two flights of stairs for 3 hours.

I also noticed that the male volunteers were the ones who got the till and the comfy back office desk jobs and that the women always happened to be doing the running around with books...

I would have expected at least a rota so that people got to do different things in the shops rather than be stuck in one single role.

Anyway I emailed them today to say I would not be coming back and now I have to start again with my search for a volunteering role.

Have others had better experiences with charity shops and volunteering in general?

It would be great to hear some ideas about what I could apply for next, maybe I should consider something other than shops.

I also want something that gives me a bit of social contact, not to be stuck in a backroom on my own for hours...

I volunteer in three places and have always felt valued so perhaps your experience is due to that particular manager not listening to you.

I volunteer in a charity office for the eBay department researching items donated, photographing them and putting on eBay.

Second one is a local charity that helps families/individuals/homeless in need so I help in their social supermarket receiving the food delivery and then making up food parcels to distribute. This is now ceasing so I will see if the Foodbank need any volunteers.

The third one is my DS Beaver group where I am a regular parent helper but I will stop this when he moves to Cubs (I don’t like it anymore- too many behaviour issues etc).

Have a look at the websites of local charities, Indeed have volunteer roles listed, Do-It website and see if your local council have a volunteer database (ours does), and your local library.

Did you ask if you could be trained on the tills? Or just assume they'd say no?

Ime then tend to put the people who have less initiative on the tills because it needs far more common sense to sort items than run things through the tills.

Have you got a Voluntary Support group in your area? They match people with volunteering opportunities.

Put something on facebook marketplace for ‘free to a good home’. Often you’ll get a load of grief and messing about, whereas if you’d charged a tenner, it’s a lot less hassle.

Basically, if something doesn’t have a monetary value to it, people often don’t value it. The same can apply to volunteers.

Doesn't sound like where I volunteer at all. We all have a huge say in what we do. One lady I volunteer with on a thursday morning doesn't like sorting, she wants to be out the front on the till. I don't like being on the till, so spend my time in the back sorting. Putting together a rota would be really difficult as people regualrly change the days they are doing and priorities in the shop will change. Plus it's yet another job for the manager.

But there was nothing stopping you saying "Hang on, I'd prefer NOT to be lugging books to the back door for 3 hours, how about I do that for 90 minutes, then spend the rest of the time sitting sorting out jewellery or china marks?" Most managers are more than happy to accommodate what volunteers want to dfo.