Volunteering

[rattymol]

The number of people volunteering has really fallen. I am interested in why. So
Yalu = I don't volunteer and won't
Yanbu = I do volunteer or would

Interested as well to know why people volunteer or don't volunteer.

That sounds poorly handled. Did the food bank explain why, and did you agree what types of items you would collect with them first?

I do ad hoc volunteering through my sports club. I’m on the committee making sure members are supported but much like the PP who volunteers at parkrun, mainly I will do an event or two a month as a marshall/timekeeper/scorer etc because if every participant volunteers at a couple it means events continue and are affordable to take part in.

I volunteer for Girlguiding. I enjoy planning and running the meetings and I haven't had any problems with the parents, but what is likely to drive me away is the admin burden. Trying to change signatories on a Bank account, endless forms and risk assessments, having to attend first aid and safeguarding training but struggling to find a course in my area. I think these areas have become more challenging in recent years and this hasn't helped volunteer retention.

Farmerama1

It wasn't myself that set up the food collection

The letter said the money would be for a van to collect & distribute donations

I used to do quite a lot of unpaid ‘benevolent’ work through the W.I. All sorts of things, from running the tea tent when the Tour of Britain came through the village, making support bags for chemo, transcribing some registers, and just helping out when other members were ill or in difficulties.
I don’t belong to the WI any more. I dislike the fact that men are now allowed to join as long as they ‘identify’ as women, and they change the feeling of any group they belong to.

I also used to do cleaning ( especially brass polishing, I’m a demon polisher) in my parish COE . I stopped when Welby told us we were too pale and middle class to be an acceptable congregation. DH stopped doing the mowing, as well.

my ( gay male ) friend packed in his unpaid coordinator role for a large heritage association when they tried to insist on him wearing a Gay Pride lanyard.

I now volunteer for a local gardening based charity and a fund raising event.

I think that a lot of the reasonably active and well off ‘Retired ‘ are discouraged by the politicisation of volunteering and of charities. We don’t want to stop anyone else holding their own opinions on these things, but we don’t want to be forced to espouse views which we don’t hold.

This with bells on!

On the two most recent occasions I have volunteered (a food bank and RDA) I have been taken advantage of, including timings over running by 1-2 hours every time and organisers and other volunteers being rude and shouty.

It would take a hell of a lot to get me to go back to volunteering.

It used to be SAHMs who had a bit of spare time while the DC were at school, or who had never worked so had more time to give when the children flew the nest. Most mothers work now, or have commitments at home.

Retired people used to volunteer, but are now called on to help with grandchildren childcare.

Older volunteers paused during covid and don't feel comfortable returning.

Most of the volunteers at the charity I work for are linked to faith groups where the volunteering bug is ingrained.

We also get fabulous teams of volunteers from local businesses to do ad-hoc projects.

Teens who are doing DofE are are great source of committed volunteers, albeit 1 hour a week.

It takes a lot of time and expense to manage charity volunteers. But the commitment, generosity, expertise and positive attitude can be priceless.

Personally, I volunteer at PTA, Parkrun, School Governor and the occasional community event. I encourage my DC to volunteer when they're not too busy with exams, as I think it's a positive way to be part of a community.

I used to volunteer and also run a group voluntarily but
a) I don't have the time to commit anymore
b) volunteering was taking too much time
c) people started taking the piss -because I was volunteering in one area they wanted other things for free relating to my skill set
d) lack of appreciation for the work I was doing - eg. doing something for months on end, some bloke shows up and does it once and had his name and photo all over the local magazine (he wasn't a celebrity - just a bloke from the village). I never had my name and photo in the local magazine
e) too much paperwork and too much risk regarding health and safety, risk assessments

@OverTheHillAndDownTotherSide

How do you get arounf the references?

It’s not so much getting around it. We’ve had SAHMs get references from their children’s teachers, for example. It’s about working with the volunteer to find something that works.

I have to work! I’m doing 52 hours a week just to maintain the lifestyle I had before col crises when I was doing 30 hours. Plus kids. Also a lot is expected of volunteers. Set hours and weekly shifts. I’ve seen volunteer roles being advertised. For charity shops must have weekend availability, cv and references. I mean surely you’d just get a regular retail job.

I volunteer at a very well-known London venue.

I have been doing it for 4 years and plan to continue for as long as I can (I'm 63).

It is connected to something I am really interested in which I think is key - if you enjoy the volunteering you do, you will stick at it. So choose carefully

I think there is a huge expectation gap between what charities need (reliable, qualified labour) and what volunteers can or want to offer.

see donations for Ukraine/ food bank/ Red Cross… people want to feel good and donate their old stuff. The charities want and need money…

Once a year work organised a volunteer thing… for years, people would paint a murial, do some gardening etc - when really, you don’t need a bevy of accountants and lawyers to do that - they could have donated their one day pay I stead and achieved so much more.
then they organised something using their skills, which was much better.

@OverTheHillAndDownTotherSide Thanks. I was reluctant to ask my employers who are busy.

I do ad-hoc bits of volunteering for local sporting events, because I take part in other events that wouldn't happen without volunteers, so it's only fair. One of them is the local marathon and I love it, I do two roles across the day and I think this year will be the 6th or 7th year in a row.

I'd volunteer at a local visitor attraction but understandably they ask for a particular day of the week commitment which I can't offer at the moment. When I'm retired I'll look at it again.

Why don’t people volunteer anymore?

Why don’t people come back and engage on threads that they start?

I've volunteered for different causes from time to time, some requiring a regular commitment, some more casual. I have limited free time so can't commit atm. I need to work to earn to live.
I've had public sector jobs eg in Education and NHS where Ive regularly worked unpaid overtime. I've extended my last sppointment because a patient is upset, or needs help using a piece of equipment. I've spent time shopping/paying/making resources to help patients and learners. I consider this volunteering. I've done this voluntarily.

I volunteered for over 15 years and ended up being the chief volunteer in charge. In that time the main reason for people leaving was change in life circumstances. The volunteer demographic was younger women and the biggest single reason I'd say for people stopping was either people getting married or having children- priorities changing.

I stopped volunteering because I was volunteered out. I'd done so much for so long and then as with most things once you get to the organisational top of the tree it becomes unpleasantly political and managerial so you stop doing the actual core volunteering work you were interested in to start with.

Now I don't really have the time due to life priority changes but also feel demotivated. I can imagine maybe going back to it when I am retired perhaps but not right now. I do other free voluntary work that I wouldn't class as "volunteering" though like trusteeships, free education of others and so on.

When I think of volunteering I mean a very regular turn up and provide repeated labour situation like working at a soup kitchen or a food bank or brownies or scouts that sort of thing.

I volunteer as a mentor for people who are on probation. It takes up about 3 hours a week of my time. I only work part time though, not sure I'd have the time for volunteering if I worked full time, with other commitments too.
I'm lucky that I get expenses paid, mileage, and parking etc. I really enjoy it, but it's not completely fot altruistic reasons! I'd like to train as a probation officer when I've finished my degree, so it's good experience for that. Should imagine if I did become a probation officer I wouldn't be able to carry on volunteering, conflict of interest type situation I would think. Not sure I'd actively pursue another volunteer role in the future, but if I saw something that took my interest I might.

I have a question - can a non-profit organisation get their volunteers to carry out any duty for free (I'm talking both legally and morally here)? Cause I volunteer for an independent, not for profit cinema and most of my work is unpaid, but recently I had to do something which I really thought should be paid for. I had to work the bar at a rave night until past 1am, dealing with a drunk customer early on and obviously doing the physical work that comes with serving alcohol...all for free. I was initially told I was going to get paid (my fault for not getting it in writing) but my boss later changed her mind and said "You're a volunteer".

I've refused to do the next one but am still wondering whether I was unreasonable expecting to be paid if they're non-profit? Her reasoning for changing her mind was, "Do you know how much I'm paying the DJs?"

I looked into helping at a soup kitchen. They wanted me to sit an interview and if I passed, then commit a minimum of 6mths and complete THEIR food safety course at my own expense. I already have an advanced DBS and food hygiene certificate- but this wasn't accepted.

I then enquired at a food bank- but they only wanted people in the day- and I work full time

MIL volunteers at a luncheon club for the elderly. Its 'run' by a family who are paid- the rest are volunteers. Customers pay £5 for mains, dessert and tea/coffee. There is always left over food. MIL suggested making up plates customers could take away and re-heat at home, even for say £3. Volunteers need to buy their own food and are not allowed to take any left overs. The family take home ALL leftover for themselves!

I get that volunteering can give you experience when you are young but at my age I wouldn't want to work for free. Much rather get paid.

@Gazelda I agree with these reasons for fewer volunteers nowadays

Also, I'm earning less in real terms than I was a few years ago, so I already feel my role has an element of volunteering to it

Me and teen DS volunteer at parkrun. It's as low commitment as you can get, no forms to fill in and choose when you want to "work".
I also litter pick the estate and send annoyed emails to the council to get them to clear up flytipping.

About volunteering any activity. My husband has a chartered level skill that attracts a high wage in his field and thus has skills that mean he can easily contract/ consult providing expert advice and literally gets phone calls from the national provider over queries to do with regulations/ procedures. He ALSO does this job on a voluntary basis for a business (heritage version) usually a full time week or two every year, saving them thousands of pounds as it HAS to have this level of input for running / regulations/ insurance. It also means legal challenges would come to his door. So I think yes you can literally volunteer to do any 'job'.