Where to Find Skills-based Volunteer Opportunities?
Delving into skills-based volunteering is as close as your computer and almost every schedule can accommodate the time commitment. Technology and several specialty organizations have made skills-based volunteering easy and convenient. Here are a few examples of organizations that match volunteers with worthy nonprofits.
Pathful Connect (formerly Nepris) virtually connects professionals with educators and students. The platform allows volunteers to sign up as guest speakers for various schools around the country. Each request details the time required, topics of interest as well as preferred expertise. According to their website, guest speakers can be asked to:
- Explain how certain topics apply to your work
- Show students what a day in the life of your career is like
- Review and provide feedback on student projects
- Be a virtual judge for (final) project presentations
Recent volunteer requests include:
- Careers in Graphic Design
- Micro-Enterprise Class 2023-2024. Volunteer provides review of student’s projects providing feedback and advice on their projects that will expand their knowledge of the subject.
- Vet Tech – what skills and training is needed
- What are the steps of a Crime Scene Investigator when processing a crime
While Pathful Connect is now part of a for-profit organization selling the technology to school systems, volunteers are providing support to the community of teachers and students from elementary to high schools.
Catchafire is an expansive online platform supported by foundations to link nonprofits with skilled professionals. Nonprofits post requests for projects as short as 1-hour strategy calls to longer-term assignments. Recently, Catchafire had close to 1,000 projects looking for volunteers. The platform allows volunteers to uncover projects targeting specific causes, areas of expertise, and length of assignment. An additional filter allows you to explore opportunities that are geographically nearby. While all opportunities are remote, sometimes it is nice to help out folks in your own community.
Catchafire focuses intentionally on quantifying the impact of volunteer efforts by producing metrics for the foundation, nonprofits, and volunteers. As a professional who is accustomed to numerically evaluating performance, it is somewhat comforting to see the total impact associated with dollar amounts.
I’ve utilized this platform over the last few years and it has expanded my understanding of the nonprofit sector and functioned as a mental health life preserver during the pandemic. Recent projects looking for volunteers include
- Email Layout and Template requiring 5 - 8 hours over 2 weeks
- Event Logistic Planning requiring 3 - 5 one-hour consulting sessions
- Organizational Strategy Approaches requiring 1-hour consulting session
- Finance Diversify Revenue Sources requiring 1-hour consulting session.
Based on my experience, the one-hour consulting calls act as a sounding board for nonprofit leaders. Often these leaders have no one to brainstorm with. Just asking questions can trigger novel approaches and expand thinking.
Taproot Foundation is another online platform connecting skilled volunteers with nonprofits. Taproot Foundation offers Taproot Plus, which are volunteering opportunities both in person and online, and Taproot Sessions, which are virtual 1 hour calls. Some examples of the projects include social media strategy, employee handbook development, business plan creation, financial analysis, technology assessments, and more. One-hour calls can be in areas of strategy, human resources, finance, marketing, and technology.
Have you done any skills-based volunteering? Are there other online platforms that matchmake volunteers and nonprofits? Is this something you would try?
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