To Volunteer Independently Or Not To Volunteer Independently

No Comments | February 20th, 2007 | Trackback

Volunteering independently, such as with one of the organizations featured at Independent Volunteer, generally entails dealing directly with staff from the organization you’ll be volunteering with – which is a plus because it means you will have the opportunity to ask specifically about the nature of your potential tasks. Does this mean everything will go according to plan? Of course not – this is the real world. Will using a placement organization ensure that things will go according to plan? Not necessarily, though if it’s a good placement organization, it may guarantee some basic level of security.

Know that the people running independent or local or grassroots organizations are often very dedicated and accordingly very busy, so do your research before contacting them and realize that they will probably not have specific “programs” on offer. Many smaller independent charities do not have the funds or time to deal with an influx of short-term volunteers and so may request longer-term volunteers, or you might need to put more thought and planning yourself into what you can offer and how you will spend your time than you would with a placement organization. That said, if you are genuinely interested in volunteering, it’s fair enough to contact a specific organization and form a better idea of it based on their reply.

Be realistic about what you can expect – with a small organization the work needed will change from day to day and it is unrealistic to request some itinerary or schedule. But it is fair to establish an understanding about what your responsibilities will be and what they won’t be; how many working hours and when; specifically what you can expect in terms of support (an hour a week of one-to-one guidance? Training in some area?). If the organization is too busy to provide a thorough answer to a serious inquiry, they may just be committed to doing their work. But realize that the same thing might hold true when you are there; if you are dependent on having a lot of guidance you might not get it. Volunteering independently will frequently give you more of an opportunity to “muck in” and be directly involved in the work, but many people fairly enough look at it as riskier as well.

For examples of some independent organizations, have a look around the Volunteer Logue Table of Contents.