To think that it's harder to offer something for free than sell it

[VolunteeringSucks]

I'm baffled - but I am starting to think it is an education in human nature.

I had three schools blank me when I contacted them to offer myself as a volunteer maths helper. Then a fourth school advertised (and employed me) in the same role but at £18per hour.

I can charge ££££ for software development work privately - but when I constructed a protype (free) website for a charity I'm involved in - only two souls clicked on the link - and no one gave feedback or support.

The PTA have just sent round minutes for a meeting before Christmas that no one was invited to . Presumably core committee knew from chatting to each other - but nothing went out on the mailing list. That's kind of weird - right? I've never done a job where I was put on a project but left off the meeting invites. They also previously ignored me when I asked the secretary to circulate a factsheet to save time at the meeting. I know the organisers are volunteers - but surely it's self-defeating to make it actively uncomfortable for new blood volunteers...?

I sent an email to the co-ordinator of a local health charity, telling them about my experience with this health condition, and how I'd love to 'give back' of they had suitable opportunities. No response. My blog on the same topic brings a steady trickle of ad revenue.

Final element of evidence: Ebay vs Freecycle. One gets you cash and positive reviews - the other aggravation and moany timewasters.

Should I toughen up and conclude that volunteering is a mugs game and money never lies?

Totally agree with the freecycle/eBay thing! I couldn't get rid of my microwave on freecycle, 2 people didn't turn up when they said they would. I ended up selling it for £40 on ebay and they came and collected it bang on time

I got a rap on the knuckles from Freecycle when I didn't follow the prescribed format for my offer email (had to go back to getting my posts moderated. ).

Another example, local to me a project launched called 'the exchange' the premise was that you brought your outgrown baby clothes/toys and got 'credits' to spend on the next size up (and HVs had a stock of 'credits' to offer to people they felt needed the support|). A great plan.

The first time I donated I brought baby clothes and a breastfeeding top. The ladies made a really big meal of 'what on earth is this?!?' at the breastfeeding top (sticking their hands through the boob hole to try to figure it out). The had a big huddle if it was an acceptable donation. Is it really such a wacky thing to assume a new Mum might like?!?

Another time, I was moving house. Stressed to the eyeballs, end of tenancy clean, compulsory declutter... I collected four bags of baby stuff and drove it across to the project on the allotted day. I was just donating - didn't want the credits. I got a really hard time from one of the ladies about one of the vests being stained. She was all "Would you really put your child in a garment like this". To which I answered that my child had been in that garment yesterday. Right underneath the offending vest was a lovely winter coat with the tags still on. I ended up so cheesed off that I didn't unload the two bags still in the car - and just ebayed them!

The lady was huffing and puffing about how it was too much to drop off at once and she'd have to put the stained clothes in the recycling bin on the corner. I wasn't meaning to offend anyone - but I thought the basic equation was that I didn't have too many hassles sorting through my stuff at this particularly busy point in my life - while the co-ordinators added value to the charity by sorting what was valuable or what had to go to a 'help yourself' bucket or what they thought was only fit for recycling and not alienating donors to never coming again .

I do think people value more expensive things/goods/services more!

I have a good friend whose hobby is oil-painting - still life mainly, some landscapes.

She's pretty good, I think, but under-confident, & whether anyone likes the subject-matter is always going to be subjective..

She had the chance to show her work in a local gallery for a couple of weeks & sold nothing in the first week, while her paintings were priced in the £50 - £100 range.

Another friend suggested she increased her prices - she did & the following week sold several at £200-£300

Ha ha - amazing!!

On a similar vein, a friend was having a sort out and wanted rid of 2 nice occasional tables. She left them on her drive with a note saying 'Free, please take'
They were still there next day, so she changed the note to say 'For Sale £10 please knock'

Yes, they had gone within a couple of hours (and no one had knocked!)

It's not helpful to donate stained or damaged clothes, and it costs charities time and money to sort and dispose of the crap. Donors should do that!

I have found this before, I put some of DD's old but good quality toys/books on my fb page to ask if anyone wanted them for free... not a peep, even though I'm friends with plenty of people who have small children. I put them on ebay and got quite a lot of money from them. I think maybe people don't want to be seen as a "charity case" or seem grabby by asking for free things

However, with things like a website - why not ask if they want one, rather than making one and expecting them to want it?

And while I would put my baby in a top which she'd stained, I wouldn't buy a stained top - because I didn't know where the stain came from. It's always the donor who should sort their donation, there was a thread on here a while ago about how annoying it is for charity shops when people act like they're doing a good thing by giving them loads of unsellable things.

I wasn't going out of my way to donate stained stuff - but the whole point was that I was very pressed for time and sorting wasn't achievable.

Minor food staining around the top is not the end of the world for messy play clothes or for people to chop up into craft projects - for example if they want to reuse the poppers). Bearing in mind that this was a project rather than a shop so they did give away probably about half of the stock anyway.

I accept that maybe I had Mum-goggles - but I found it upsetting having someone go through my DC clothes being sneery and critical. The two bags I didn't unload raised
£40 on eBay - and nice little reviews on my profile. After that experience I have stopped donating to charity shops and the like and either eBay or drop in the clothes recycling bins.

People think volunteers are desperate and probably not bery good at what they do if they offer their services. Just save it until you're asked. Otherwise offer your services at a reasonable fee.

Charity collections are a bloody nightmare though. We did one recently, putting a really explicit list of what we were looking for and by the time we got to about the 5th bag, people just thought it was a great way to get rid of their shit.

We weren't looking for brand new, but when we got old school bags that still had dirty tissues and half eaten lollipops in the pockets, it was pretty obvious that people couldn't be arsed even checking what they were sending. And given we had over 100 bags to go through and sort, it took us four hours to do what should have been a 30 minute spot check. We ended up with three bin liners full of objects which were entirely unsuitable. These bags were going to Malawi to be sorted out. Imagine having to sit in the blazing hot sun and sort through someone else's dirty tissues, ending up with bags of rubbish you can't just put out on the kerb for collection. Sure you were busy moving house, but that's no excuse. You keep the bags until you can sort them, then hand them in. You might be happy to put a stained vest on your child, but that doesn't mean someone receiving a donation or buying it should be.

I find it much easier to give stuff away than to sell it. Most of my stuff goes on freecycle rather than selling it a) I don't need the money and b) can't be doing with the hassle.

I do loads of volunteer work. It's rare to be turned down.

Maybe try doing things the other way round. Give them a quote for a service but offer a one off discount. Or, tell them you are doing a competition and they can enter with a chance to win.