Volunteering , come to dead end

[Breadandscones]

HI folks

retired from a stressful , front facing managerial role with ill and vulnerable people

Would like to do a admin type role , either in local office or from home. To my surprise its slim to non existing pickings.

dont want to do anything with vulnerable/ill people as I had years of it , so thought museums, art galleries, RSPB, etc

and its nadda available

happy for pointers, am in Scotland

It’s never a great time of year for job hunting. In a month when everyone is gearing up for the busy season is when job adverts go up to start in the next financial year.

just to confirm its a volunteer , one day a week thing I am looking for

They this organisation www.volunteerscotland.net/volunteer-practice/advertise-your-opportunities

It's particularly tough finding admin voluntary work, especially only 1 day a week. From my experience they're usually paid roles, although not well paid. Anything that requires certain skills requires training and it's often not worth a charity's time to train someone for only a fifth of the week.

Things like charity shops are usually much more flexible.

RSPCA have voluntary admin roles.

I volunteer in museums (London) - it is great and very flexible. I do front of house so all on site.

There are remote roles, however - research, archives, social media, that sort of thing. If you are happy to work remotely then it doesn't matter where the organisation you volunteer for is.

I would check both the volunteering databases (as you want remote work you could check the London one too, for example), and the websites of organisations whose work you are interested in, and follow them on SM too.

I would say however that most of the work is on site - and that one of the joys is meeting other volunteers.

Try your local Citizens Advice Bureau perhaps? I used to do similar voluntary office admin for them. You can also train to be an adviser if you want to, but my local one was also happy to have volunteer admin work.

If you search the volunteering opportunities on Volunteer Scotland, there are quite a few admin roles. It'll depend where you're based though.

Lots of charities would love to have experienced people as trustees. Look at your local volunteer centre or on the good moves website - can filter for volunteer roles. You could offer to be secretary, treasurer or fundraising help, all of which are admin type roles.

When I retired I gave myself a year to find new hobbies or expand old ones but the amount of voluntary organisations who wanted help especially if you are computer literate was enormous although if you are saying you don't want to work with vulnerable or ill people that eliminates some. A school, National Trust, RSPB or just organisations like the Ramblers all have some admin type roles. Local museums and attractions also sometimes have volunteer roles.

Why are you focusing on admin type roles? What are your interests? I love walking so I joined walking groups and now do admin for several of them in addition to the walking. I also volunteered at the local school to listen to children read and do debt counselling on an online forum. The CAB and National Trust always want volunteers.

Have you followed local charities on Facebook? Sometimes you'll see things on there.

Are you wanting to meet other people when you volunteer? Are you fit and able to do outdoor work? Sometimes the local wildlife trust do working as hoc days for specific tasks.

Contact organisations and put your name down on the waitlist. Look out for ad hoc roles. I think there are websites where ad hoc opportunities are advertised, such as marshalling a charity walk. Once in you might find ideas through other people. Have you tried the library? Both for volunteers and just advertising organisations looking for volunteers.

There are cost involved to the charity in employing a volunteer. I think your problem is that you can only commit to one day a week. They would not be getting value money in employing you. Costs and accountability are of paramount importance to the Charity.

Try your local church/youth work. Also a baby charity near me have advertised for admin volunteers in the past so they do exist. Try the smaller charities.

I can tell you right now that Girlguiding units would absolutely bite your hand off to have someone to help with admin. It would be responding to enquiries from parents wanting their daughters to join, helping to manage the waiting list, maybe doing the accounts for a unit, you could also become a DBS verifier and do DBS checks (i think it's called something else in Scotland though)? It isn't always obvious as everyone assumes you have to be a leader in a unit volunteering with the girls themselves, but that really isn't the case. If you fill in the link here, you'll be put in touch with a local group. You can put in the extra info box that you are looking to volunteer as admin support rather than with the girls.

https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/get-involved/become-a-volunteer/register-to-volunteer/?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrryQkv6IiwMVMaRQBh2wKRQjEAAYASAAEgLMy_D_BwE

You can volunteer for me if you like? I run a holiday activity club for disabled teens. We are just starting up and could really use some admin help. Pm me of you are interested and I can send you some more details and see if it could work for you?

If you're happy to work from home, I suspect many charities would snap you up for typing and admin type work, particularly if you don't restrict yourself to arts charities. The one I work for certainly would.

check out Action Tutoring

you would be helping year 5&6 kids with maths and/or english.

This is not true IME. One of the places I volunteer at says a shift (half a day) a week if you can but realistically accepts less, and everywhere else has been happy with less.

The exception is something like reading in a primary school (I did Beanstalk) where it is more little and often for continuity for the children, but also tends to be very local.