Giving 2.0™ Guide: Giving Yourself: A Donation More Valuable Than Money

Overview

A philanthropist is “anyone who gives anything—time, money, experience, skills and networks—in any amount, to create a better world.” Chapter 1 of Giving 2.0 demonstrates how individuals can create significant social impact by sharing their non-financial assets more strategically to positively transform lives and organizations.

Volunteering can enrich your life in countless ways—expanding your knowledge and increasing your expertise, developing new skills, enhancing your networks—while simultaneously enriching the lives of those you seek to serve.

Summarized from Giving 2.0: Transform Your Giving and Our World by Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, published by Wiley: Jossey-Bass, 2012

Key Takeaways

Volunteering provides youthe volunteer with a wealth of opportunities and emotional rewards, from increasing overall health and happiness to unique learning opportunities, relationship-building opportunities, and personal and professional growth. Volunteering can also provide a host of professional and leadership opportunities. 

  • Volunteering as a family helps build and share enduring values across generations.

  • Investing your volunteer services has significant monetary value, something that we often underestimate. In 20198, 30 percent of the American population (more than 77.9 million people) volunteered. These volunteering efforts totaled more than 6.9 billion hours and have an estimated value over $1487 billion.

  • Before giving any resource in any amount, assess all of the resources you have to give. Consider what level of commitment is viable for you. Decide whether you want to give your time, compassion and skills in person, online, on vacation, through work or your religious community, locally and/or globally. When making these determinations, consider wherehow you can have the greatest impact.

  • Research target nonprofits to identify potential needs and/or volunteer opportunities. 

  • Reach out to or research target nonprofits and understand their needs, as well as how your unique expertise, experience and interests can help fill important organizational gaps.

  • Finding the right volunteering opportunities has never been easier. You can look to your local community foundation, your college or graduate school alumni service/consulting programs or ask your employer for company-vetted volunteering opportunities. Alternatively, use the matching services provided by VolunteerMatch, Corporation for National and Community Service/AmeriCorps, Idealist, Catchafire, United Way or Points of Light. You may also independently engage in a more involved program such as Encore.org, participate in community-based partnership through YCore, start a petition on Change.org or create a volunteering campaign on Points of Light Engage.

  • Joining a nonprofit or foundation board is a serious professional responsibility, as board members have fiduciary, legal and strategic oversight duties. Before committing to serving on a nonprofit board, make sure your mission and values align with that of the organization you seek to partner with.

  • Many companies offer in-depth volunteering programs that build team camaraderie and community relationships while boosting productivity, strengthening employee recruitment, workforce development and brand differentiation. 

Making It Happen

What to ask yourself when considering volunteering: 

Once you’ve identified organizations you’d like to volunteer for, ask them the following questions: 

Once you have learned more about the organizations you are considering, ask yourself the following questions: 

And remember:

  • Your offer of time and skills may not necessarily be accepted by a nonprofit. The organization may already have enough volunteers or may not have the capacity to manage your presence (free help, including student interns, can be costly to nonprofits in terms of staff time and energy).

  • When volunteering with organizations that engage with diverse communities, adopt a lens of cultural humility if you are an outsider.

  • There’s no shortage of nonprofits to volunteer at, so if your talents don’t fit in the first place you offer them, don’t stop looking.

  • An organization to which you’re also donating money may feel obligated to accept your offer of voluntary help. It’s your responsibility to make sure you’re meeting an unmet need and that you’ll be helping rather than hindering its work. Remember, your volunteering should not create more work for the nonprofit. 

  • For many nonprofits, offers of time, skills and talent are even more valuable than offers of money. Consider ways you may share the nonprofit’s work with your own network. 

  • Volunteer work can include the most unglamorous tasks. You may find yourself cleaning out a storage room, addressing envelopes or making photocopies. No matter how inspiring the cause, the work can be emotionally challenging, physically challenging or unstimulating. That said, changing people’s lives for the better makes it more worthwhile; improving the lives of others is exhilarating, regardless of the form your generosity takes.

  • Collaborating with others in your volunteering work can better transmit your values and effect greater community change.

References:

 “Does Volunteering Make Us Happier, or Are Happier People More Likely to Volunteer? Addressing the Problem of Reverse Causality When Estimating the Wellbeing Impacts of Volunteering,” Journal of Happiness Studies, March 17, 2020, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-020-00242-8 (July 5, 2022).

 “Key Findings from the 2019 Current Population Survey: Civic Engagement and Volunteering Supplement,” Americorps, December 2021, https://www.americorps.gov/sites/default/files/document/2019%20CPS%20CEV%20findings%20report%20CLEAN_10Dec2021_508.pdf (July 5, 2022).

 “Volunteer Programs That Employers Can Get Excited About,” Harvard Business Review, Jan.-Feb. 2021, https://hbr.org/2021/01/volunteer-programs-that-employees-can-get-excited-about (July 5, 2022).

 Lucy Bernholz, How We Give Now: A Philanthropic Guide for the Rest of Us, 2021, (October 25, 2022).

Does the nonprofit have the capacity to manage your presence as a volunteer?

Who will supervise your work or be your point of contact?

What learning opportunities does the organization offer?

What are examples of volunteer projects?

What do project timelines for volunteer projects currently look like?

Does the organization provide any training or introductory programs for volunteers?

Could you talk to one or a few other volunteers to learn about their experiences working with the organization?

How does the organization manage its volunteers?

Does the organization need volunteers in the field or volunteers to help with internal operations?

What does the nonprofit with need? Is this need something you can offer and something you want to do?

Will your volunteering create value for both you and the nonprofit? How will you create that value?

How will you measure the success of your volunteering?

What is your personal motivation for volunteering?

How might you share your knowledge, skills, and networks with staff to increase their organization’s capacity?

What are the most appropriate skills and knowledge you can offer nonprofit staff that they currently lack?

Do you want to work directly with those being served by nonprofits, or primarily with nonprofit staff?

How much time do you want to give?

How often do you want to volunteer—for example, a month every year, or a couple of hours every weekend?

Do you want to volunteer with someone as a bonding experience?

Are you looking to use volunteering as a means by which to meet new people for social or professional reasons?