Why does no-one want to help?

 

As soon as we publish opportunity details on our website there is usually a rush of volunteers asking for more details. Hopefully one of those volunteers starts work with the charity soon after that.

But occasionally no-one shows any interest in an opportunity and we don't know why. Can you help us make these opportunities more appealing? Perhaps we haven't provided enough information? Are there certain types of organisation you don't want to work with? Does the task sound too boring?

Below are descriptions of some opportunities that no-one is interested in:

This charity based in Kingsbridge, Devon, provides services to safeguard, protect and preserve good mental and physical health of children and their parents. Like many charities they have funds (restricted and unrestricted) from different sources which need to be accounted for separately on the balance sheet, while being able to maintain one set of accounts. Their treasurer is looking to find a suitable package that could mainly be used 'in house' and requires only limited accounting knowledge.

Another unusual and interesting project. This charity based near Stamford Brook tube station is working to improve the legacy we leave our children - in the form of better health and a better environment. They do this through education, provision and most importantly rewarding healthy choices. They have a website that includes news stories, the ability to adopt land, and much more. They would like to have a Photo Images News Strip along the lines of Yahoo's Hot Topics which shows a number of scrolling horizontal images with each image linking to a different news story.

This long established charity based near Temple tube station is an umbrella group for liberal religious groups around the world, and their main work is programmes for education in the human right of freedom of religion and belief at grassroots level, primarily in South Asia and the Philippines. They want to improve services to religious groups suffering persecution around the world and enable them to report on what's happening and present their case for change online. They feel the best way to do this is to provide a wiki and a forum, perhaps with registration for both - could they be linked ? They would like you to recommend the wiki and the forum, install and configure them, and train them how to administer them. They use Dreamweaver MX 2004 to keep their website up to date using pre-defined templates. They have an associated opportunity to resolve problems with CSS and templates.

These are all virtual opportunities so geography doesn't matter. So why have no volunteers shown an interest? If you've any thoughts please let us know by email to info@it4communities.org.uk. It will help us give advice to charities about the chances of finding a volunteer for them.