To think the requirements for this volunteer position are ridiculous?

[PPMMppmm]

I've got some spare time on my hands and have been perusing volunteer jobs and came across this one.

https://www.volunteermatch.org/search/opp3585933.jsp

AIBU to think they have got ludicrous expectations of someone voluntarily giving up their time?

@TheSilentPicnic

I wish! I've been a grant writer and it pays circa £30k

It is interesting - how we get unpaid people to deliver justice.

I do know that you have to be careful not to write what looks like an employment contract

www.ncvo.org.uk/help-and-guidance/involving-volunteers/planning-for-volunteers/writing-volunteer-role-descriptions/#/

Volunteer role descriptions can look a lot like job descriptions. They are not. Instead, they describe unpaid roles and should only describe expectations of a role.
You must be careful not to imply a volunteer is under contract to perform specific tasks. If it looks like you treat them as an employee, they may be eligible for full employment rights. You could also find yourself in breach of employment law.

I wonder if magistrates have a volunteer role description?

reachvolunteering.org.uk/opportunities-solr

There is no body they could complain to as they aren’t covered by any sort of law.

Indeed. If you’re writing a volunteer role description that strays into job description territory, then you don’t know what you’re doing.

Things such as hours, duties and so on are agreed on an individual basis with the volunteer in question.

If you want to learn more about magistrates, specifically, this is a good starting point: www.magistrates-association.org.uk/About-Magistrates

Well thanks to this thread I am thinking about it. I doubt if a Kenyan charity can afford you (or me if I charged). Not everything is about money.

As a fundraiser, i have a huge issue with other charities devaluing the fundraising position by making it seem as it any volunteer can do it. There is a big movement at the moment about not having volunteers do the job of something that should be paid.

Will you be letting Kenya know your opinion? Your point as a professional paid fundraiser may be valid - but even in the UK many charities can't afford fundraisers, so are you suggesting that anyone who can't afford to pay for a fundraiser shouldn't be raising funds???

The only thing I think is weird is the degree in creative writing is desirable. Successful bids tend to be grounded in hard facts with just a bit of fluff. The rest of it can easily be taught to anyone who can string multiple decent sentences together.

Agree with a PP who said often retired people step up to volunteer in such roles.

And it’s In Kenya.

not renowned for its legal system when it comes to human rights

If they want part time people, who can leave on a whim with no legal repercussions whatsoever and take as much holiday as they like, whenever they like and on any notice whatsoever…. Sure! @cakeorwine

You wouldn't normally get unpaid people in other sectors doing essential tasks

You'd probably be aghast to realise that one of our emergency services is set up that way. RNIB lifeboat crews are volunteers, as are nearly all the organisations staff.

St John Ambulance is now the NHS ambulance auxiliary. Their ambulance crews are a mixture of paid and unpaid members. (They have around 2k paid staff versus 30k+ volunteers.)

The RNLI also has a lot of paid staff - about 2500.

The RNLI couldn't function without paid staff - and those paid staff couldn't do their job without the volunteer lifeboat crew.

Like most charities which employ people. They couldn't do their job without volunteers. I know that's true of our charity.

And if we were all paid, then we couldn't get enough money to make us sustainable.

The charity sector is a strange combination of paid staff and volunteer staff.

By other sector - I was referring to public sector and the private sector.

The voluntary sector is a strange mix of people doing what is essential work, with a mixture of paid and unpaid staff.

I agree, the only thing that really stands out as weird is the specification that you need a degree in creative writing or a similar field.

That's really not how grant applications work. You need to be a good writer, but there are a million graduates in non-"creative" essay-writing subjects who could write to the required standard of English prose.

Won't lots of professional services companies (accountants and lawyers) lend staff to charities. Ie a secondment pretty much.

So not paid by the charity but paid by your main job.

I don't get it. Who's going to move to Kenya and do a difficult job and not get paid? Who could afford to? I think they are being optimistic in expecting anyone to apply. It's a bit niche, finding someone with that particular skill set, who was going to move to Kenya anyway and is happy to give away their skills for free.

This thread. So very MN. Almost no-one realised the job is in Kenya, and less care. Typical

Move to Kenya? Wow.

Do you not realise there are university educated people in Kenya?

Firstly, there are people in Kenya who can and will volunteer for Kenyan charities.

Secondly, it’s a virtual volunteering opportunity. You don’t need to move anywhere to write a bid.

I skim read the ad. Assumed it was advertised in the UK.

My sister volunteers with all those qualifications. She is retired by the way.