What volunteers say

 

We always love to hear about your experiences volunteering and we were especially pleased to see this nice message from Barney Haywood

I have recently had the opportunity to work with a non-profit organisation that matches legal professionals offering their services for free to members of the public requiring free legal assistance. As part of a 5 day project, my colleague and I replaced their current multitude of disparate and inaccurate spreadsheets with a Salesforce.com application (as a registered non-profit/charity they were entitled to a free database and 10 free user licenses).

The joy of working on a project of this nature was the look of amazement and gratitude on the faces of the staff as they realised a) what this new database could do, b) how much of a time saver this new database would be, and c) the extent of the positive impact that this would have on the quality of service they could offer their clients.

In addition, the employees were eager to learn and to adopt the new system, the key stakeholders made speedy and well informed decisions, and we were inundated with cups of tea and lemon slices!

Regards,

A very satisfied volunteer!

If you've had a similar experience to Barney please let us know. It's good to know that even in a recession tea and lemon slices are available.

Why you volunteer

Our revamped registration form now asks volunteers to tell us why they volunteer. This is something that charities often ask us. Sometimes they simply can't believe that skilled professionals are prepared to give up their leisure time to help.

Some of the responses we've received are:

I have a good skillset that I feel could be of benefit to an organisation which hopefully frees them up so they can be of more help to people that need it.

It's high time I gave something back!

Want to work for a good cause. To learn and devote my services for community and celebrating the happiness after achieving the success.To accept the challenges of life and be remain a part of IT team.

I have come to a new chapter in life and I want to put something back into my community.

I have a broad range of general knowledge, so could hopefully help fill any gaps or start specific projects for charities. I currently do have a full time IT job but volunteering would give me more experience and help me put my skills to good use.

I enjoy meeting new people and tackling new challenges. I wish to help my local community.

I want to give something back to the community. I am where I am today, because someone (maybe many someones!) took the time to encourage me, now it is my turn.

To give charities the opportunity to utilise resources they may not normally have easy access to.

I am not working and would like to feel empowered and be useful.

These quotes are invaluable in reassuring voluntary organisations and very interesting and inspiring for us to read. If you've been with us a few months or more and haven't provided this information why not update your account today? We love hearing what motivates you.