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Bad Manners and Brimstone
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#Post#: 36403--------------------------------------------------
Re: Paying to volunteer
DIR By: Oz Diva
Date: August 10, 2019, 7:06 pm
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I didn’t vote in your poll because none of your options appealed
to me.
I once had the odious job of asking volunteers to pay for their
simple pizza dinner at the conclusion of the school fair. Now
bear in mind we are not talking about people who gave an hour
here and there, but the convenors of the stalls, people who had
contributed hours of time. The school was asking these people to
stump up $5 for their dinner.
I intervened the following year and told the principal it was
ridiculous. The school could easily afford a few pizzas as
payment for all the hard work and they reluctantly agreed.
I’ve worked other places where volunteers get vouchers for food
as part of their on the day package.
#Post#: 36407--------------------------------------------------
Re: Paying to volunteer
DIR By: Hanna
Date: August 10, 2019, 8:07 pm
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I guess it really depends on the situation. I will always
donate/buy my ticket if I can afford it. If I couldn’t afford
it, I’d probably not want to volunteer. That’s a huge shame,
right?
I’d never ask volunteers to pay if I were the coordinator. If it
was a crazy expensive gig I’d have the caterer provide a
different meal option for volunteers and staff, and cover that
so they didn’t have to pay.
On a side note, Volunteer and non profit orgs have gotten so
insane. More on that later!
#Post#: 36416--------------------------------------------------
Re: Paying to volunteer
DIR By: lakey
Date: August 11, 2019, 1:32 am
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--- Quote ---
> On a side note, Volunteer and non profit orgs have gotten so
insane. More on that later!
--- End Quote ---
Well, this has me curious.
#Post#: 36421--------------------------------------------------
Re: Paying to volunteer
DIR By: Hanna
Date: August 11, 2019, 7:43 am
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--- Quote from: lakey link ---
>
> [quote]On a side note, Volunteer and non profit orgs have
gotten so insane. More on that later!
--- End Quote ---
Well, this has me curious.
[/quote]
After years of involvement in a few I have almost completely
stopped donating or giving my time to anyone. I just got fed up
with the politics and have become skeptical of how much good
some charities are even doing. I still give, but I’m much more
careful of how and to which.
A few reasons:
In my town (maybe everywhere) the big thing is to “honor”
someone in a ceremony and invite their friends to pay $100 or
more to attend the event to see their buddy honored. Again, they
pick people who they perceive have friends with lots of $$$. I’d
never go to one of these or agree to the “honor”.
I worked with one org where the founder treated me with great
respect and friendship, until we were at an event with a local
big wig and then he treated me like the help. I don’t have
endless $$$ to give but I had been helping with what I do have
skill wise. The straw that broke the camels back was him
loosing a check I’d given him as a donation. It was big money
for me. He called a couple months later and asked for a new
check. “No, I’m sorry that will not be possible” was my answer.
Also, I have a friend that works on the legal front re:
charities running amok of the law re: registering and reporting
the org’s income and then crying “but it’s for a good cause!”
One recent example: woman running and animal based charity who
was just basically living off the donations. She’s telling
everyone how she’s been maltreated but the fact is, she’s a scam
artist.
All anecdotal but I do have other personal bad experiences and I
just got worn down.
#Post#: 36423--------------------------------------------------
Re: Paying to volunteer
DIR By: gramma dishes
Date: August 11, 2019, 8:31 am
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--- Quote from: Hanna link ---
>
>
> ... I worked with one org where the founder treated me with
great respect and friendship, until we were at an event with a
local big wig and then he treated me like the help. I don’t have
endless $$$ to give but I had been helping with what I do have
skill wise. The straw that broke the camels back was him
loosing a check I’d given him as a donation. It was big money
for me. He called a couple months later and asked for a new
check. “No, I’m sorry that will not be possible” was my answer.
...
>
--- End Quote ---
Was the lost check ever located? In other words, had it been
cashed?
#Post#: 36426--------------------------------------------------
Re: Paying to volunteer
DIR By: Hanna
Date: August 11, 2019, 9:49 am
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--- Quote from: gramma dishes link ---
>
> [quote author=Hanna link=topic=1265.msg36421#msg36421
date=1565527431]
>
> ... I worked with one org where the founder treated me with
great respect and friendship, until we were at an event with a
local big wig and then he treated me like the help. I don’t have
endless $$$ to give but I had been helping with what I do have
skill wise. The straw that broke the camels back was him
loosing a check I’d given him as a donation. It was big money
for me. He called a couple months later and asked for a new
check. “No, I’m sorry that will not be possible” was my answer.
...
>
--- End Quote ---
Was the lost check ever located? In other words, had it been
cashed?
[/quote]
Nope, I had to stop payment on it.
One of the people that worked in the office told me she had seen
it laying around. She was aghast at the whole thing. She
indicated that he would save checks then deposit them when
needed to fund specific things. In other words, he was so
terrible at managing the funds that he knew if he made the
deposit immediately it would be spent on something other than
what he intended.
So not only did he mismanage the funds. He also left my check
with routing number laying around where anyone in the office
could potentially view it.
They have a great mission and the whole thing is a shame.
I was on the board of another 501(c)(3) for 4 years. The last
year the new president decided it was too onerous to expect the
treasurer, (a very capable and willing CPA and banker) to
provide financial statements. We went without for 9 months. I
quit mainly because of this but also because of a couple other
avoidable issues. It was a massive dereliction of duty and
violation of our by-laws, putting our status with the parent org
and the government in jeaopardy.
My other reasons for leaving that one were: a board member
constantly gossiping unchecked by the president before meetings
about another woman on the board.
Also one big fundraiser where I busted my tail for months only
to end up feeling completely disrepute this and unappreciated.
They’d completely dropped the ball and didn’t have a way to move
the necessary equipment for the fundraiser; a massive rummage
sale which required many clothing racks, tables, etc. . I called
in a favor from a friend with several commercial trucks to get
it all moved both in and out. Free! It was raining and the event
was totally over; doors closed.
I looked but the Chair was no where to be found, so I asked
President for the OK for us to start packing up. I didn’t want
to leave our free help standing in the rain and take up more of
their time than was needed. President said just get moving, get
it out and then the Chair appeared and started chewing me out
for moving things. A simple apology and thank you at any point
over the next month would have made all the difference.
The OPs negative experiences with her family charity reminded me
of all this. 1-2 people treating others poorly can really mess
up things in a good organization.
#Post#: 36429--------------------------------------------------
Re: Paying to volunteer
DIR By: lakey
Date: August 11, 2019, 10:19 am
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Hanna, your descriptions remind me of the same types of
mismanagement that go on with some small or family businesses.
Running a small business or a charitable organization requires
certain organizational, financial, and management skills. When
people don't have these, all the good intentions in the world go
to waste. Also, organizations that are loosey goosey with
finances are more likely to have embezzlement occur.
#Post#: 36431--------------------------------------------------
Re: Paying to volunteer
DIR By: lakey
Date: August 11, 2019, 10:25 am
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I've seen owners of small businesses treat their employees
poorly. The same thing can happen with the way volunteers are
treated. It's bad enough when you are a paid employee, but when
you are donating your time, you at least expect to be treated
decently.
As far as the lost check, in the U.S. banks charge you a fairly
stiff fee for stopping payment.
#Post#: 36454--------------------------------------------------
Re: Paying to volunteer
DIR By: vintagegal
Date: August 12, 2019, 6:38 am
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I have volunteered as a server at a spaghetti dinner fundraiser
where we were expected to buy a ticket if we wanted to eat. That
was the last time I volunteered at that event.
IMHO, you take care of your volunteers. Without them, you have
no event.
As an aside, at the dinner, people bought their tickets on the
way in and were seated at large tables. Then gave their orders
to us (servers) and we walked across the hall to the kitchen and
brought back plates. So I could have, as I saw other volunteers
do, just ask for a plate and then go sit at an empty table and
eat. But I didn't care for their bland spaghetti dinner.
#Post#: 36481--------------------------------------------------
Re: Paying to volunteer
DIR By: QueenFaninCA
Date: August 12, 2019, 1:05 pm
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--- Quote from: JXB1000 link ---
>
> This is usually when there's a large membership involved and
many/most both work and attend. A couple of examples are certain
conferences held by professional groups (i.e., volunteers
organizing the conference also have to be registered and pay to
attend) and organizations that have a single major fundraiser,
like a dinner where there are dozens of people working on it for
months. When you start comping volunteers, it gets really
complicated quickly.
>
--- End Quote ---
The professional conferences I have attended and volunteered for
have only a handful of people who "work" full time during the
conference. Those don't need to sign up for the conference and
also get fed (even get tickets to the fancy dinner that
attendees have to pay for separately from the registration) and
depending on the location get their hotel room paid. People who
simply chair one session (half a day out of 3 to 5 days) need to
sign up like everyone else and don't get any perks.
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