Why is it so hard 2 find a charity that I can volunteer for?

Anglea

Contact them and offer help with fundraising, that's my advice. I've done it lots of times with different charities and they never turn down help of finance.

ahai1

Sometimes it is worth contacting them as has been suggested to make sure. On the other hand the organisations can do a bit more like sending out an aknowledgement to all emails and telling people what their processes are.

Savvy_Sue

ahai1 wrote: »

On the other hand the organisations can do a bit more like sending out an aknowledgement to all emails and telling people what their processes are.

Yes, I accept that many organisations can fall down in this area, and I hope we'll improve our communications soon.

However, in the last month and currently, as well as recruiting volunteers (interviewing them, taking up references, sending off for CRB checks), we have also been busy

• preparing and sending out our annual reports and invitations to our AGM, along with a supporters letter to 500+ people
• recruiting for four new staff posts for a new part of our work (140 enquiries to respond to, 45+ applications to photocopy and collate, a full day shortlisting and 3 days of interviews)
• refurbishing and furnishing a property for the new part of our work
• learning new accounting systems
• working on a new fundraising strategy
• sending out a newsletter to all our current volunteers
• donations coming in from a half-marathon and other 'events'

That's just what I can think of on the admin side, and doesn't include 'the work', ie what we do with our clients 5+ days/nights a week. We've had staff on leave, staff off sick, staff leave, staff start.

In an ideal world, we'd acknowledge every contact, send out thank you letters the same day, and never have to use the answerphone. But like many voluntary organisations, we operate in the real world! We don't always do things as well as we'd like, and we probably err on the side of meeting the needs of our clients rather than those of our volunteers.

Don't get me wrong, we care hugely about our volunteers, and do our best to look after them and care for them. BUT in the recruitment process, it may not always look like it!

ahai1

Thank you.