This is, frankly, unsuprising, and an extension of Maple's "Spectrum of Philanthropy" (usually applied to cash gifts, but the same principle). Few gifts are completely altruistic. Most seek some reciprocity even if it is the feel good factor. Volunteering to have something valuable on the CV has been around as long as I've been in the sector!

Charities can benefit greatly from the giving natures of volunteers, so why should the volunteer not get something back. We want to encourage people to continue to volunteer, something has to motivate them and while the feelgood factor is appealing, we all have to eat.

I always think that alturism is a red herring when it comes to volunteering. People have always had a range of motivations which include the feel good factor of 'giving back', social contact, learning skills etc. What the article above is really about is skills based volunteering where people volunteer their expertise rather than just their time. The benefits of this type of volunteering for both charity and volunteer have always been high. The charity gains expertise and capcity that it could not otherwise afford. The volunteer has the reward of seeing their work make a significant impact for a cause they care about, and the chance to hone their skills in a new environment, aquire new ones, extend their network, and work with insiprational colleagues (hopefully!).

Agree with Peter Maple - I remember many eons ago giving talks to students about the benefits to their career of volunteering. It's just one of the motivations to volunteer.
While I accept that the sector could be doing a lot more to accommodate a diversity of potentially valuable volunteer applicants, it's also a fact of life that the volunteering function in small to medium nfps particularly, is starved of resources to manage volunteers - staff, budget, hours - and that does impact on the ability to accommodate the needs of today's volunteers (btw, I don't like the use of the word 'selfish', prefer 'healthily self-interested). Also, volunteer managers can be inexperienced, or managing volunteers in addition to their substantive role - they can be risk averse, and unsure about what volunteers can be asked to do; and we don't yet have a professional body or standard volunteer management training structure to guide them. It's sad, but maybe unsurprising that an organisation didn't feel it could be flexible enough to make the most of Fiona's offer.

Thanks for reading and for your comments.

Janet, I think you hit the nail on the head that my article is about skills based volunteering, rather than the fact that volunteering goes beyond altruism.

Anne, you quite rightly point out that lack of resources to manage volunteers is a huge barrier to taking on extra skills based volunteers. I agree that there would need to be more investment in volunteer managers to give them the support and training required for a more flexible approach to volunteering.

There is a balance to be struck. For a charity, having volunteers does have resource implications: they need recruiting, inducting, managing, somewhere to sit, telephone and IT access. The law surrounding volunteers also makes some charities nervous, it's easy to slip into claims about employment rights, health and safety or for volunteers to breach eg data protection laws. But equally charities need to ensure that volunteers do gain something from their experience. Just taking volunteers for what you can get from them is not a recipe for a beneficial relationship. And why should volunteers be totally altruistic? Charity staff do not work out of altruism, they get paid, so why shouldn't volunteers get something out of their experience too? Especially when the volunteers are brought in to do work that a staff member continues to get paid for, but hasn't actually got the skills to do themselves. Now there's a whole other debate...

I couldn't agree more, Fiona! Your story is so similar to the ones we hear from volunteers on almost a daily basis. At Vantage Point, we believe there is an abundance of talented people who are willing - even yearning - to contribute their skills and expertise to causes and organizations. We are missing a huge opportunity to advance our missions when we fail to engage them in meaningful ways!

At Vantage Point, we've spent the last decade studying this issue - and experimenting with solutions. Along the way, we've reinvented our own organization. And last month, we released a new book, titled The Abundant Not-for-Profit, to share what we've learned and propose a new way forward for the sector.

I'd love to share a copy of the e-book with the NFP Synergy team, and with your readers. I'm very curious to hear what you think, and whether the ideas in the book transfer to the sector "across the pond." Just email me at lgerty@thevantagepoint.ca, and I’ll send you a link to download it for free.

Thanks for this honest and bold article, Fiona.

Lynda Gerty
Director, Engagement
Vantage Point
www.abundantnotforprofit.ca