5 ms·

I've actually tried to do stuff like this before. Offers of skilled assistance from individuals seem to be refused or ignored. You're welcome to fill some soup

I've actually tried to do stuff like this before. Offers of skilled assistance from individuals seem to be refused or ignored. You're welcome to fill some soup bowls, though!

tbrownaw 13y ago
Do you know if this is because they don't know how to handle that, or because it would step on people's toes (giving volunteers power over presumably-paid staff), or because they're afraid of legal issues (suppose the volunteer bookkeeper gets something wrong), or some other reason?
- nknighthb 13y ago
  No, I don't. Mostly I was outright ignored, where it was active refusal it wasn't exactly a detailed explanation, just some polite version of "Thanks, but we're not interested.". I'm not particularly motivated to press matters when someone refuses help.
  - prawn 13y ago
    Tried something similar, and received a similar response. Lost interest and moved on to other things.
- notatoad 13y ago
  I think it's because they don't have any way to vet your credentials. You say you're an efficiency expert and offer to re-work the food bank's delivery process, what if you're incompetent and make things worse? They don't have the time or resources to fix people's fuck ups. The food bank has a pretty solid level of confidence in your ability to pack boxes though.
  - nknighthb 13y ago
    How would they accomplish anything, then? At its simplest, somebody has to deal with the money, how do they vet that person? In theory, all the ways an employer vets someone are open to them. Review a resumé, contact references, ask other people who might know the reputation. If this is really what's stopping them, then it might be time for someone more motivated than I to set up a non-profit to deal specifically with this sort of problem for other non-profits.
    - nathanb 13y ago
      This is an interesting idea. In the area where I live and work, there's a charity called Activate Good (http://www.activategood.org/ http://www.activategood.org/) which is designed to place willing volunteers with nonprofits who need help. It's really quite cool for those of us who want to arrange for teams of people to do community service but don't have a lot of time to research worthy causes. All I have to do is tell them about how many people will be there, and they'll find something for us to help with. They also look for specific jobs (like marketing, copywriting, IT help, etc). This could be expanded into process engineering.
- James_Duval 13y ago
  Sometimes it's cronyism, sad to say. One particular non-profit I've had contact with is really bad at this. It verges on pure corruption at times. Why receive a service for free from someone you don't know when you can pay a friend to pretend really hard that they're working?
- mhb 13y ago
  I'd venture that it's because almost everyone is happy to tell other people how they can do their jobs better (yes even for free), but very few (and all those people think they are among those few) actually understand the constraints under which the existing enterprise operates. See also Chesterton on the fence: http://stuartbuck.blogspot.com/2004/05/chesterton_14.html http://stuartbuck.blogspot.com/2004/05/chesterton_14.html
throwawaycan 13y ago
Well you have to understand the structure of those organizations. They might not know anything about IT and have someone they don't know offering to "fix it", they might think you are there to remove virus from their PCs. Lots of org wouldn't know the benefits of getting a proper IT management system before they see it. Sometimes you have to get started volunteering at that organization, see what they really need, and then propose to develop some IT projects that would help them fix real world problems that they have. Before they see what problem you could solve, you are just a volunteer that doesn't fit with their core activities and they wouldn't know what to do with you. Anyway, there are so many NGO out there that even if you get refused somewhere, find another one, there's no shortage.
josh2600 13y ago
You can't really just walk in and say "I wanna optimize your shit yo!". The way I would approach it would be to attend a board meeting or email the Managing Director of the charity directly. Folks at the retail level of soup kitchens are really busy and deal with difficult people all day long. I think if you use a top-down sales technique to donate your experience you'll fare better. Yes, I believe you do, in fact, need to sell your donated time. Less sales really, and more positioning. Source: I'm a marketer and I've failed at helping non-profits by starting too low on the totem pole. Conversely, I've also succeeded by starting at the top.
- nknighthb 13y ago
  I didn't physically "walk in" anywhere. I was attempting to communicate with administrators. I'm not going to go around begging to be charitable, nor immerse myself in organizational politics that I don't put up with when I'm getting paid for it. I can't even begin to express how ridiculous such an idea sounds to me. At this point I'm happy to stay home and relax.
  - jacalata 13y ago
    It sounds very like being a serious contributor to open source actually. Its not for everybody, but its not ridiculous to think that there might be causes/groups that you wish to succeed, you think you can help them, and you have to convince them that you can. You don't let just anyone waltz in and patch the Linux kernel.
    - nknighthb 13y ago
      Actually, they do exactly that. The process to become a contributor to the Linux kernel is to send a patch to a public mailing list. The patch is evaluated on its own merits. There's no interview process, no convincing anyone that you can help. You just do it.
      - jacalata 13y ago
        While technically true, I personally feel that the various obscure formatting/selecting reviewers/don't piss off Linus rules [1] are pretty synonymous with 'you have to approach a non-profit in the right way and convince them to even look at your suggestion that you can help them'. [1] https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/SubmittingPatches https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/SubmittingPatches
slantyyz 13y ago
Part of the challenge are the mindsets within a food bank. The first is that the food bank's mission is philanthropic, so any suggestion that "you should consider operating like a well-run restaurant to be more efficient" is usually dismissed. Secondly, most food banks are under-resourced, so they're always "stuck in the weeds" by just trying to get everyone served, and that prevents them from taking a step back and thinking about how to make things better. The third is simply human nature, people who have been doing things for a long time are resistant to change and perceive advice from outsiders as a threat. This is usually illustrated quite well in those "restaurant makeover" types of shows, when the celebrity chef and/or restaurant consultants try to talk sense into the struggling restauranteurs.
tobtoh 13y ago
In Australia, there is am organisation called Good Company (http://www.goodcompany.com.au/ http://www.goodcompany.com.au/) which coordinates charity organisations requiring assistance with professional people willing to donate skills. I'm sure there must be similar organisations around the world - they are probably your best bet if you're looking to contribute your talents/time to assist a charity/non-profit.
ebun 13y ago
VolunteerMatch.com is a great site to use for seeking Opportunities. Orgs with tech needs often post there seeking help.

I've actually tried to do stuff like this before. Offers of skilled assistance from individuals seem to be refused or ignored. You're welcome to fill some soup bowls, though!

tbrownaw 13y ago

Do you know if this is because they don't know how to handle that, or because it would step on people's toes (giving volunteers power over presumably-paid staff), or because they're afraid of legal issues (suppose the volunteer bookkeeper gets something wrong), or some other reason?

nknighthb 13y ago
No, I don't. Mostly I was outright ignored, where it was active refusal it wasn't exactly a detailed explanation, just some polite version of "Thanks, but we're not interested.". I'm not particularly motivated to press matters when someone refuses help.
- prawn 13y ago
  Tried something similar, and received a similar response. Lost interest and moved on to other things.
notatoad 13y ago
I think it's because they don't have any way to vet your credentials. You say you're an efficiency expert and offer to re-work the food bank's delivery process, what if you're incompetent and make things worse? They don't have the time or resources to fix people's fuck ups. The food bank has a pretty solid level of confidence in your ability to pack boxes though.
- nknighthb 13y ago
  How would they accomplish anything, then? At its simplest, somebody has to deal with the money, how do they vet that person? In theory, all the ways an employer vets someone are open to them. Review a resumé, contact references, ask other people who might know the reputation. If this is really what's stopping them, then it might be time for someone more motivated than I to set up a non-profit to deal specifically with this sort of problem for other non-profits.
  - nathanb 13y ago
    This is an interesting idea. In the area where I live and work, there's a charity called Activate Good (http://www.activategood.org/ http://www.activategood.org/) which is designed to place willing volunteers with nonprofits who need help. It's really quite cool for those of us who want to arrange for teams of people to do community service but don't have a lot of time to research worthy causes. All I have to do is tell them about how many people will be there, and they'll find something for us to help with. They also look for specific jobs (like marketing, copywriting, IT help, etc). This could be expanded into process engineering.
James_Duval 13y ago
Sometimes it's cronyism, sad to say. One particular non-profit I've had contact with is really bad at this. It verges on pure corruption at times. Why receive a service for free from someone you don't know when you can pay a friend to pretend really hard that they're working?
mhb 13y ago
I'd venture that it's because almost everyone is happy to tell other people how they can do their jobs better (yes even for free), but very few (and all those people think they are among those few) actually understand the constraints under which the existing enterprise operates. See also Chesterton on the fence: http://stuartbuck.blogspot.com/2004/05/chesterton_14.html http://stuartbuck.blogspot.com/2004/05/chesterton_14.html

throwawaycan 13y ago

Well you have to understand the structure of those organizations. They might not know anything about IT and have someone they don't know offering to "fix it", they might think you are there to remove virus from their PCs. Lots of org wouldn't know the benefits of getting a proper IT management system before they see it. Sometimes you have to get started volunteering at that organization, see what they really need, and then propose to develop some IT projects that would help them fix real world problems that they have. Before they see what problem you could solve, you are just a volunteer that doesn't fit with their core activities and they wouldn't know what to do with you. Anyway, there are so many NGO out there that even if you get refused somewhere, find another one, there's no shortage.

josh2600 13y ago

You can't really just walk in and say "I wanna optimize your shit yo!". The way I would approach it would be to attend a board meeting or email the Managing Director of the charity directly. Folks at the retail level of soup kitchens are really busy and deal with difficult people all day long. I think if you use a top-down sales technique to donate your experience you'll fare better. Yes, I believe you do, in fact, need to sell your donated time. Less sales really, and more positioning. Source: I'm a marketer and I've failed at helping non-profits by starting too low on the totem pole. Conversely, I've also succeeded by starting at the top.

nknighthb 13y ago
I didn't physically "walk in" anywhere. I was attempting to communicate with administrators. I'm not going to go around begging to be charitable, nor immerse myself in organizational politics that I don't put up with when I'm getting paid for it. I can't even begin to express how ridiculous such an idea sounds to me. At this point I'm happy to stay home and relax.
- jacalata 13y ago
  It sounds very like being a serious contributor to open source actually. Its not for everybody, but its not ridiculous to think that there might be causes/groups that you wish to succeed, you think you can help them, and you have to convince them that you can. You don't let just anyone waltz in and patch the Linux kernel.
  - nknighthb 13y ago
    Actually, they do exactly that. The process to become a contributor to the Linux kernel is to send a patch to a public mailing list. The patch is evaluated on its own merits. There's no interview process, no convincing anyone that you can help. You just do it.
    - jacalata 13y ago
      While technically true, I personally feel that the various obscure formatting/selecting reviewers/don't piss off Linus rules [1] are pretty synonymous with 'you have to approach a non-profit in the right way and convince them to even look at your suggestion that you can help them'. [1] https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/SubmittingPatches https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/SubmittingPatches

slantyyz 13y ago

Part of the challenge are the mindsets within a food bank. The first is that the food bank's mission is philanthropic, so any suggestion that "you should consider operating like a well-run restaurant to be more efficient" is usually dismissed. Secondly, most food banks are under-resourced, so they're always "stuck in the weeds" by just trying to get everyone served, and that prevents them from taking a step back and thinking about how to make things better. The third is simply human nature, people who have been doing things for a long time are resistant to change and perceive advice from outsiders as a threat. This is usually illustrated quite well in those "restaurant makeover" types of shows, when the celebrity chef and/or restaurant consultants try to talk sense into the struggling restauranteurs.

tobtoh 13y ago

In Australia, there is am organisation called Good Company (http://www.goodcompany.com.au/ http://www.goodcompany.com.au/) which coordinates charity organisations requiring assistance with professional people willing to donate skills. I'm sure there must be similar organisations around the world - they are probably your best bet if you're looking to contribute your talents/time to assist a charity/non-profit.

ebun 13y ago

VolunteerMatch.com is a great site to use for seeking Opportunities. Orgs with tech needs often post there seeking help.