Advice on working for a charity

[bornninthe80s]

Hi all

Name changed for this post.

I've left my job as an Exec Assistant in the city and we (me, DH & DC - we only have one) are looking to move out of London. I've been volunteering for a mental health charity only very recently, supporting people online (web chats). The charity means a lot to me, a cause very close to my heart.

I'm now deciding what I want to do (age 40!) and have been thinking how much I would love to work for this charity (as well as keep volunteering). I've never worked in the voluntary sector before and currently most of my skills are typical exec assistant so I'm not sure how transferable?? I'm not money driven, but it would be good to be able to financially contribute to the household and I love this charity so much I've got my sights set on getting more involved.

My questions are - what's it like working for a charity? And what is the best way in?

Thanks!

Hi OP,

I work for a charity and started out as an EA and have worked my way up into a management position.

As a sector it's very open to transferable skills, it's only in very specific technical roles that you'd be expected to have lots of sector experience.

It's a touch time at the moment as most charities have recruitment freezes, but the best thing to is just to keep an eye out on job boards for things that interest you and go for them! Networking is also a big part of the sector so no harm in letting the place you're volunteering for know of your interest just in case they know of anything.

My experience is that, with one major exception, the places I've worked have been hugely supportive and keen to bring people up and on.

Good luck!

@SequinCola you have lifted my spirits immensely!! Thank you. Been in a bit of a dark place wondering what's next and now I feel very buoyed up thank you.

Are you wanting to work in an admin / support type role, or do you like the idea of client-facing / project work?

If the former, yes your previous experience will be totally transferable. If the latter, you may need to think about further training / education.

It can be a bit nerve wracking if funding comes to an end. My colleagues and I have been in a redundancy situation about 4 times in the

Last 10 years. (We rely on funding from national and regional funders rather than donations)

We have an EA in our charitable organisation. And they hadn't worked in the chairty sector before getting this role. The charity I work for is also close to my heart and I love making a difference. I just have to remember that it's still a job! There are some colleagues who have PT hours and spend the other hours volunteering and for me personally I think a distinction is better. I volunteer for a different charity in my spare time.

@redjusplease I'm very keen to train further, definitely don't want to be in purely admin/support role as that wasn't fulfilling for me at all. Thank you for making me think more about this point :)

Should have mentioned in my original post that I'd like to work in a different kind of role, not wanting to be an EA really but if it's the best way in to learn more about the charity I would gladly try that way.

Imo, if your end goal is working as a 'project' worker, you're in a better position volunteering and retraining than you would be taking an EA type position just to be 'in' the charity.

Is there somebody you could talk to to find out what sort of qualifications they look for when they recruit? Depending on the role it could be anything from nothing to a degree! If you don't need any particular academic qualifications, then maybe you can access job specific training (e.g. Safeguarding : working with Carers / dual diagnoses / autism awareness / whatever) through your volunteering role, to strengthen an application...?

Work in charity is very pressured, poorly paid, unstable as contracts and fundings can be withdrawn or unrenewed. You often have to do other roles than the job you were hired to do. There is a fake air of we are doing good but terrible hierarchy and back stabbings going on. It's really not as noble or positive as they put on. Dont be surprised if in reality as an employee of a mental health charity there is actually stigma around employees mental health. I once worked for an employments rights charity and the treatment of employees was such might as well be a zero hour agency staff. They used their knpwledge to ensure you get the minimum. Im talking minimal holiday, letting you go before 2 years mark, bullying.
Charity jobs will squeaze every drop you have of energy, funding money mysteriously vanishing and trustees in it for themselves as a prestige, networking thing. It's very soul destroying.
I worked and volunteered in 7 different charities in England.
Look at glass door reviews of your charity.

I worked for a large national charity in a head office role and became completely disillusioned, I saw a lot of wastage of money and trying to scrounge extra labour out of shop floor staff by getting them to do unpaid overtime on the basis that it was for the charity. Meanwhile management were constantly having away days and jollies, or just generally spunking money up against the wall, without regard for the people who had donated that money or where it could be better spent.

Hopefully I just had a bad experience and they are not all like that.

I dont think I would personally recommend it. I worked for one years ago for a short time. A large well known one. . They were very demanding and extremely penny pinching. But you have the advantage that you've worked for your charity on a voluntary basis so will have some idea on how they operate.

@CloudsCanLookLikeSheep

I worked for a large national charity in a head office role and became completely disillusioned, I saw a lot of wastage of money and trying to scrounge extra labour out of shop floor staff by getting them to do unpaid overtime on the basis that it was for the charity. Meanwhile management were constantly having away days and jollies, or just generally spunking money up against the wall, without regard for the people who had donated that money or where it could be better spent.

Hopefully I just had a bad experience and they are not all like that.

It wasn't a large cancer charity was it ? My only advice would be don't ever work for them, bullying managers, constant restructuring and lots of money wasted. Shocking.

Clouds is spot on.

How you see the charity and get treated as a volunteer is a complete shock to the system when you become an employed staff. They tend to be well trained on talking the talk because the more free labour they get the less they have to do.

I work for a charity, am happy enough with my pay and love my colleagues. They’re not all bad!

I have worked for two charities, both jobs have been lovely, caring places to work with absolutely no back stabbing and a keenness to grow you, small to midsized charities often have little money and so pay can be less, but I have the ability to work flexibly, very little stress and opportunity for progression.

My current work place doesn't use volunteers but my previous one did and we certainly never used them as a way to 'do less work' the opposite in fact volunteers were hard to come by and highly valued.

I think like any job there are good and bad workplaces and teams.

@DevilsSpawn

Clouds is spot on.

How you see the charity and get treated as a volunteer is a complete shock to the system when you become an employed staff. They tend to be well trained on talking the talk because the more free labour they get the less they have to do.

No not cancer... one of the other health ones.

Sorry that was meant for @Babyroobs!

My daughter works for a medium size charity and it’s the best job she’s ever had. She’s had lots of personal career development . The people are very friendly and everyone enjoys their work and is happy to be there. Even on furlough they have been having a daily chat on Zoom.
The downside - you guessed it, the pay. But the job is near home and gives her a good work- life balance and she is prepared to earn less in return for being happy at work.
Charities are businesses in the end.

I work for a charity. I find it difficult to be enthusiastic about it at the moment. A new round of senior management comen in and want to put their stamp on things which invariably means job roles changing and redundancies. The public persona of the charity is very different to the reality for staff.

Aside from all that, volunteering is definitely a good way to a paid role if their funding is secure.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

That's been my experience of the small charity sector. Inexperienced trustees on ego trips, cults of personality. A complete failure to centre beneficiaries..

Complete failure to comply with safeguarding legislation because Trustees who should be ensuring compliance don't even understand safeguarding in the first place.

Our most vulnerable members of society put at risk: people with disabilities, children and teenagers.

David Cameron outsourcing to the big society who have absolutely no clue what they are doing and Trustees in oversight roles who are incapable of providing oversight.

I've had those experiences in 2 local charities over several years (different sectors). Unprofessional to the extreme and downright dangerous.

Thank you everyone - very interring replies x

*interesting !

Check out glass door reviews for your charity.

Third sector jobs are notorious for being badly paid, with long hours and a lot of pressure. You have the double whammy of job insecurity because funding can be very volatile.

I'd echo the comments about the difference in treatment between volunteers and paid staff. If you chose carefully, then it can be a really rewarding job.