Finding Skilled Volunteers Has Never Been Easier

Skilled Volunteering in a Nutshell

We’ve said it before and it’s worth saying again. Skilled volunteers are professionals who use their skills & expertise to help a nonprofit. They could be marketers, computer programmers, HR professionals, accountants, or pretty much any profession you can imagine.

At Purposely, we work with companies that employ these professionals. Nonprofits can then leverage the expertise of these professionals by posting skilled volunteer roles!

We break down skilled volunteering into two types: projects & consultations. Projects are time-bound and scoped out, usually taking volunteers a few hours a week over the course of a month or two.

Consultations are 30- or 60-minute video/phone calls to discuss a subject of the person’s expertise. It can be so refreshing and liberating to just cut through the noise by chatting with an expert instead of spending hours googling and reading blogs.

Here are some examples of skilled volunteer roles:

Social Media Strategy Consultant
Fundraising Plan Assessment Volunteer
Change Management Coach
Web Design Volunteer
and many more!

Having Trouble with Project Scoping?

Practical project scoping at a nonprofit organization or charity is often easier said than done. I’m sure you’ve thought many times, “Wow, I have this really great idea, but I don’t have the time or money to tackle it all by myself or with my limited staff and/or resources...” We really sympathize with you there.

Especially when tackling a project that’s outside your core area of expertise, it can be difficult to pinpoint your exact needs and know what outcomes you want. It is even more challenging if you don’t have the knowledge and/or tools to start with. But fear not, because there are people out there that want to help!

It should go without saying that bringing on individuals with expertise and leveraging their skills is a total plus for your organization. But what are the best ways to do that?

Back to Basics

Firstly, you have to establish a need for a project, build context around why you want it done, define deliverables for achieving your goals, and flesh out a timeline for you, your staff, and your volunteers to get it done. But again, easier said than done! Our newest feature aims to turn that first step into a rock-solid foundation for you to build on! (For a full refresher, check out our previous blog post on 4 Steps to Transform Your Nonprofit with Projects).

Let’s talk about the inherent challenge in Step Numero Uno!

You know your organization and where it can improve. There is nobody better at that job! But now you need to come up with a solution. Establishing your need for a project often feels daunting because your first few ideas might seem super far-flung because it’s in an area you have little experience in. Maybe there are too many ideas to choose from! Where to even begin?

We saw this as a huge hurdle for organizations we’ve connected with. That is why we have integrated this brand-new feature, templates for projects and consultations, into our opportunity creation page — giving you great solutions for your current needs.

The Project Vending Machine

You’ll notice when you go to post an opportunity on Purposely from now on, you’ll be greeted by our lovely new template page, displaying a fantastic array of categories and opportunity templates for you to peruse at your leisure. Take your pick and order up!

Our new templates offer a unique service for you. We handcrafted project and consultation ideas for you and got the ball rolling on what you need to scope it out! Not only are the ideas ready for you to use, but we also got the ball rolling on what volunteers want to see when they view your postings.

Scroll through the main list or choose one of our seven specific categories, such as Professional Development, Marketing & Communications, Finance & Operations, Fundraising, Technology, Program Management, and Human Resources. You’ll see a plethora of tantalizing options, from Email Marketing System Setup, to Time Management Consultations, to Interview Training; the choices are bountiful! If you know what you want, great! You can post your opportunity right then and there.

We are going to be packing Purposely with a lot more templates in the next couple of weeks. We currently have over one hundred and forty ideas for Nonprofits to utilize Projects and Consultations! That is over a hundred and forty ways that you can pick up new skills from professionals, bring volunteers in to manage projects, and in all, benefit your organization.

Sign in today and get the ideas rolling!

Purposely is in a great position to find you these skilled volunteers. All of the employees in our network of volunteers come from great local businesses that want their people to give back to the community. And they are waiting for you!

Stop by Purposely and post your next Project or Consultation to get you talking to experts and your next challenge covered.

P.S. Curious about what other nonprofits have done? Check out our case study of the Trout Lake Community Centre Association here. They used a project to save $3000, and it netted them a new board member too!