Do you know if this is because they don't know how to handle that, or because it would step on people's toes (giving volunteers power over presumably-paid staff), or because they're afraid of legal issues (suppose the volunteer bookkeeper gets something wrong), or some other reason?
No, I don't. Mostly I was outright ignored, where it was active refusal it wasn't exactly a detailed explanation, just some polite version of "Thanks, but we're not interested.". I'm not particularly motivated to press matters when someone refuses help.
I think it's because they don't have any way to vet your credentials. You say you're an efficiency expert and offer to re-work the food bank's delivery process, what if you're incompetent and make things worse? They don't have the time or resources to fix people's fuck ups. The food bank has a pretty solid level of confidence in your ability to pack boxes though.
How would they accomplish anything, then? At its simplest, somebody has to deal with the money, how do they vet that person?
In theory, all the ways an employer vets someone are open to them. Review a resumé, contact references, ask other people who might know the reputation.
If this is really what's stopping them, then it might be time for someone more motivated than I to set up a non-profit to deal specifically with this sort of problem for other non-profits.
In the area where I live and work, there's a charity called Activate Good (http://www.activategood.org/) which is designed to place willing volunteers with nonprofits who need help. It's really quite cool for those of us who want to arrange for teams of people to do community service but don't have a lot of time to research worthy causes. All I have to do is tell them about how many people will be there, and they'll find something for us to help with.
They also look for specific jobs (like marketing, copywriting, IT help, etc).
I'd venture that it's because almost everyone is happy to tell other people how they can do their jobs better (yes even for free), but very few (and all those people think they are among those few) actually understand the constraints under which the existing enterprise operates.
Comments
Do you know if this is because they don't know how to handle that, or because it would step on people's toes (giving volunteers power over presumably-paid staff), or because they're afraid of legal issues (suppose the volunteer bookkeeper gets something wrong), or some other reason?
No, I don't. Mostly I was outright ignored, where it was active refusal it wasn't exactly a detailed explanation, just some polite version of "Thanks, but we're not interested.". I'm not particularly motivated to press matters when someone refuses help.
Tried something similar, and received a similar response. Lost interest and moved on to other things.
I think it's because they don't have any way to vet your credentials. You say you're an efficiency expert and offer to re-work the food bank's delivery process, what if you're incompetent and make things worse? They don't have the time or resources to fix people's fuck ups. The food bank has a pretty solid level of confidence in your ability to pack boxes though.
How would they accomplish anything, then? At its simplest, somebody has to deal with the money, how do they vet that person?
In theory, all the ways an employer vets someone are open to them. Review a resumé, contact references, ask other people who might know the reputation.
If this is really what's stopping them, then it might be time for someone more motivated than I to set up a non-profit to deal specifically with this sort of problem for other non-profits.
This is an interesting idea.
In the area where I live and work, there's a charity called Activate Good (http://www.activategood.org/) which is designed to place willing volunteers with nonprofits who need help. It's really quite cool for those of us who want to arrange for teams of people to do community service but don't have a lot of time to research worthy causes. All I have to do is tell them about how many people will be there, and they'll find something for us to help with.
They also look for specific jobs (like marketing, copywriting, IT help, etc).
This could be expanded into process engineering.
I'd venture that it's because almost everyone is happy to tell other people how they can do their jobs better (yes even for free), but very few (and all those people think they are among those few) actually understand the constraints under which the existing enterprise operates.
See also Chesterton on the fence: http://stuartbuck.blogspot.com/2004/05/chesterton_14.html
Sometimes it's cronyism, sad to say.
One particular non-profit I've had contact with is really bad at this. It verges on pure corruption at times.
Why receive a service for free from someone you don't know when you can pay a friend to pretend really hard that they're working?