I've volunteered a lot of places and money is easy to give, but to invest time is frequently more valuable and makes more of a difference. It's also a lot harder to give up a Saturday (or in this case a few productive engineers) in order to really help out. It puts the problem on your radar in a completely different way.
I think there is a value to know when to do which. Some charities have more money than expertise. Some have more expertise than money. By giving a little time, you can see what's needed. For better or worse, the average person running a charitable organization has more good intentions than managerial or technical training.
People are usually unaware of their own incompetence (I don't mean the term harshly), so I would expect hiring outside expertise seems would usually take a back seat to just buying supplies.
Not sarcasm. Yes, supplies are one of those first things as well, but I've been to plenty of charities to note that when things get overwhelming (and it's very easy to get to that point, even before they realize that's what's happening because they're so busy with other things), they need outside consultants ASAP.
Often times, bookkeeping and organization become some of the biggest chores when a charity that gets big. It's quite something to watch someone manage a charity with just a bunch of Excel sheets, but I've seen that in action.
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Giving expertise can be much more valuable than tossing money at a problem.
I've volunteered a lot of places and money is easy to give, but to invest time is frequently more valuable and makes more of a difference. It's also a lot harder to give up a Saturday (or in this case a few productive engineers) in order to really help out. It puts the problem on your radar in a completely different way.
I think there is a value to know when to do which. Some charities have more money than expertise. Some have more expertise than money. By giving a little time, you can see what's needed. For better or worse, the average person running a charitable organization has more good intentions than managerial or technical training.
Especially since expertise is usually one of the first things bought with donated money.
I can't tell if this is sarcasm.
People are usually unaware of their own incompetence (I don't mean the term harshly), so I would expect hiring outside expertise seems would usually take a back seat to just buying supplies.
Not sarcasm. Yes, supplies are one of those first things as well, but I've been to plenty of charities to note that when things get overwhelming (and it's very easy to get to that point, even before they realize that's what's happening because they're so busy with other things), they need outside consultants ASAP.
Often times, bookkeeping and organization become some of the biggest chores when a charity that gets big. It's quite something to watch someone manage a charity with just a bunch of Excel sheets, but I've seen that in action.