Volunteering for nonprofits is not a hobby. It’s not something done in your spare time. It’s not something you do when you maybe sorta might feel like it and might find some time. If you want to volunteer, as a whatever skill you hold, you have to make the time. You have to set aside the time.
Even for micro volunteering. When you sign up to volunteer, you are making a commitment. The nonprofit organization is counting on you. If you don’t fulfill that commitment, that task doesn’t get done.
What are the consequences of that? Maybe the organization has someone else that can do the work – but, usually, not. So that Website may be still has a Virus, that interview is still pending, that post is still unplanned, that event still not decided, that text still not translated into Swedish.
That child you said you would mentor will have to be told “Sorry”, and he or she will further lose faith in adults. Other volunteers that were going to do something with your work as a volunteer will be kept waiting further. Other volunteers will now have even more to do.
Organizations: you have every right to test a volunteer applicant’s commitment, to make absolutely sure they understand the serious nature of their volunteering. Don’t apologize for having a form to fill out, for having a followup interview or orientation that volunteers must attend or view online. If they can’t make those minor commitments before they even start on a task, it’s very likely they won’t complete the task they are given.
And doesn’t your organization deserve better? Don’t your clients, audiences and other deserve committed volunteers?
Volunteering is described as an unpaid activity where someone gives their time to help a not-for-profit organisation or an individual who they are not related to.