Years ago, I found myself voluntarily hawking promotional items on behalf of a children’s charity on a street corner in Melbourne, Australia. Back then, I had no real tradable skills to speak of (in a business sense) but years in the retail business had left me with a knack for making chit chat with strangers and, of course, sales, two things which served me well as I endeavoured to sell pens and plush toys to raise funds for said charity. The task was, without doubt, a good match for my abilities at the time.
The volunteering path isn’t always so straight forward and finding ways to ensure a placement is effective and useful to both parties can be an artform. This is what can make volunteering so tricky. On the surface, it seems like a win-win situation: someone volunteers their time for the betterment of a social cause or organisation. But when a volunteers’ skillset is not put to good use or their time not used in the most efficient manner, it raises questions as to the validity of having undertaken such an exercise in the first place. On the flipside, if a volunteer nominates themselves for a role with which they have little previous experience, it can also see good intentions go amiss.
This is what makes an organisation like Catchafire noteworthy. Based in New York City, Catchafire strategically places volunteers with relevant organisations, screening both parties beforehand to ensure a good fit. Catchafire Founder Rachael Chong came up with the idea for such an organisation after taking part in the CSR program of a former employer, building a house in the New York neighbourhood, the Bronx. Having no prior construction experience, Ms Chong soon realised that this was probably not the most effective means of volunteering. Years later, after setting up the US office of BRAC (and outsourcing key tasks to friends and networks with a compatible skill set), she set up Catchafire with the specific aim of delivering tailor-made volunteer placements. What started as an embryonic idea has developed into the world’s first and largest online pro bono service provider.
There are two ways to get involved: either as an organisation seeking personnel or as a volunteer seeking a placement. Essentially acting a matchmaker within the social sphere, Catchafire then couples up individuals looking to volunteer with organisations seeking support, based on select criteria. Individuals have the opportunity of using their skillset to assist a social cause without having to go through the time-consuming rigmarole of finding a suitable placement on their own steam (and can find opportunities to fit in with their regular day job). Organisations have access to a talent pool of professionals they might otherwise not have access to and the staff is able to build capacity internally by outsourcing certain tasks to volunteers. There are opportunities for people from a variety of professional backgrounds, from architecture to illustration to market research.
Pro bono opportunities are as individual as the people who undertake them which is why it is so important to recognise that traditional models of volunteering (language teaching, construction, ecological restoration) are not always the best fit for every volunteer. New project and organisation options are being added to Catchafire’s network all the time and they have helped tee up thousands of hours of volunteer time to date. Check out their website for a look at their full offering.
Author: Anna Rees/ RESET editorial
