This morning, my dad forwarded me this article:
The first thing I thought was, do more people volunteer to do work that they are already doing, or to have a chance to help people doing something different?
For me, the answer is definitely to do something that I don't already see as "work." I haven't looked at any statistics for the above question, but my guess is that if non-profits are willing to pay $200/head for a placement to do operational work, than they don't have a bunch of CPAs running to them after hours to balance their books.Recently, though, I've started getting involved in marketing writing for Project Angel Heart on a volunteer basis. This is arguably a "professional" task, but I got involved precisely because I don't have a lot of direct professional experience doing fundraising writing. It's an opportunity to stretch my professional skillset and develop the portfolio, and it comes at very little risk to the organization.
So from a non-profit volunteer management standpoint, wouldn't it be better to cultivate this kind of quid-pro-quo crossover?
What do you think?
Photo Illustration by Aidan Jones
Posts
