Smart Volunteering
by Guy Ball, Orange County STC Senior Member
What if I told you that you could learn new skills on someone else’s dime, try out new ideas with a “client” who is just appreciative that you’re helping, and maybe even network yourself into a new job or a new direction in the process?
I won’t use the dirty “V” word to taint this conversation. Let’s just call it helping out, paying it forward, maybe even good karma. Works for me. I’ve been loaning my technical writing skills for free to a few nonprofit organizations over the last couple of years and, besides helping them with needed skills, I’ve received more benefits than I ever expected. I’ve learned how to adapt to new situations better, “to do more with less,” and to think like a guerilla fighter in the war on providing maximum content on a minimum budget.
And I’m not alone. Look a little closer at your local chapter, and you’ll see people who maintain dynamic websites, produce award-winning newsletters, coordinate educational programs, and organize some pretty great events—all on their own time and with no expectation of financial return.
Sharing communication skills
But let’s talk about sharing communication skills that are, at times, in short supply in the outside world. How many nonprofit groups could benefit from a few hours of your help in rewriting mission statements, program brochures, or event instruction materials for their staff?
Do you want to grow your skill set or offer yourself some variation from the same types of material you do day in/day out? How about creating a newsletter for your local community foundation or an informative website for a new cancer patient support group? Are you interested in history or science? Small museums are always in need of informative little brochures to help their visitors. They don’t need to be fancy, just well written.
How about doing something that impacts not just one or two, but hundreds or thousands of people?
A few years ago, tech writer Sam Poppas was simply helping out when the teacher at his son’s school asked him to speak at career day. Sam puts in his 40-plus hours a week and was content coming home and just dealing with family stuff, but he liked the idea of sharing his career with students. After his presentation, the principal asked if he could help out by writing a brief summary of a program the school was trying to get a grant for. Sam saw how disorganized they were and eventually took over the whole grant application, and the school won the funds. Sam commented that the feeling of elation over the success was unlike anything he’d felt at work for a long time. And without Sam’s help, they probably would not have gotten the grant.
The payoff
So, what sorts of projects might you be able to do? I’ve mentioned a few. Others I’ve personally helped with include editing, formatting, and publishing minibooks for a local historical society; collaborating with graphic designers on a downtown walking-tour guide; developing a video-based oral history program; and, my favorite, writing a book on local history for a mainstream publisher.
Did I get paid for any of this? Outside of the miniscule book royalty, nope. Nada. Did I learn new tools, have amazing control over projects, and feel like I impacted a whole bunch of people? You bet!
Sam said it well. “I picked up new skills that I was able to bring to my work environment and it’s made me a bit more valuable. And should something unfortunate happen to my job, I can move into grant writing to bring in some extra income.” (He’s already written a few more.)
Caveats
Let’s talk about the caveats, though. If you’ve volunteered for anything, you know there are too few people doing it and you will be called on for other unplanned roles. This is a great way to burn out on a relationship with a particular group as your workload increases.
Try very hard to limit the extra work you find yourself taking on to the tasks you really want to do. Try to suggest better ways to do existing things so that you’re creating a value (and interest) to your work—not just filling a gap. This philosophy has kept me interested in continuing what I do. (Fifteen years with one group alone!)
Try hard not to impact your family time or the free time that’s important to you. I tend to do a lot of my work late at night once my family has gone to bed. Learn about the group and their operation before you overwhelm them with your great new ideas. Often, an organization operates a certain way because of deeper reasons—or personalities. Your new idea might be wonderful, but it could also hurt them as everyone scrambles to accommodate something you’re trying to change. (On the other hand, you could also be that breath of fresh air they’ve needed for years!)
Don’t start a project you can’t finish. I’ve helped out several groups with websites that the previous volunteer never completed. The group was left hanging to dry when the well-meaning webmaster got busy with something in his life. Don’t enter into a project if you can’t finish or gracefully complete it in a short time. (Remember, these people will talk—and they will either relate how you “walk on water” or left a big mess that no one could fix.)
Lastly, and possibly most important: Remember that some day you will not be there to help. For recurring projects, try to make your work as simple to follow as possible. Try not to work in complex tools if you can. I’ve created newsletters in Word and websites in FrontPage—all because I knew that whoever was going to take it on would not be using InDesign or Dreamweaver. I purposely designed things that can be easily updated by a novice. (I made sure they had lots of copy/paste solutions.)
In conclusion
At the start of this article, I spoke of the new skills you would learn, the new ideas you could bring to an appreciative client, and the new career direction you might stumble upon. The more you do, the more you will receive in return. It’s worked for so many of us willing to give it a try. It isn’t really rocket science, just wisely using your talents to help others.
Payback? Well, how about smiling faces, a very grateful organization, a successful event or project where you had serious input, and a wonderful feeling deep in your gut. All without worrying about how it was going to look on your yearly review.
And maybe, just maybe, a payback of a better, smarter you as you head off into the crazy job market.
Guy Ball (e-mail, guy@guyball.com) is a senior technical writer for EADS North America Test and Services in Irvine, California. He’s volunteered his technical writing skills for over 20 years and swears it gave him skills that let him grow his career and discover new opportunities. He’s written a couple of books, created a few organizational websites, developed an award-winning history coloring book for kids, and honed his professional skills helping on a wide variety of projects.
This article was originally published in the April 2009 issue of TechniScribe, the newsletter of the Orange County Chapter.
Read about one chapter member’s rewarding volunteer experience in Students Say “Thank You!”