Volunteering Without Overburdening Yourself: Knowing Your Limits

There are hundreds of organizations, civic clubs, churches and the like that rely on a huge contribution of time and effort from volunteers. The equivalent payroll cost and expense for these volunteers would be massive as a business expense.

One big lesson I have learned about contributing time in a volunteer effort is that an organization can obtain money much more easily than they can obtain volunteer time. If there is any doubt about this try to sign people up for three hours volunteer work or thirty dollars. You will get the money before you get the volunteer time. These volunteer efforts and willingness to contribute time can be and have, occasionally, been abused by some organizations. Once the organization finds someone who will work hard, they tend to load that person up with responsibilities that the older members tend to avoid. I once heard an elderly man in one organization say "that's just too much work".

My experience has been that the most common abuse comes from an extreme age differential in an organization's membership. Twice in my life, I have belonged to an organization that had a membership that had eighty to eighty-five per cent of the members fifty-five and older. I was under forty years of age in both cases.

The first was a church where my wife and I together had twelve different jobs. The jobs included teaching various classes, responsibility for various youth organizations and sport teams, and head of a large church day care program. When I relocated out-of-state for a different job, my wife and I left some big holes in the church's organization chart.

The second was a civic club that held a major annual event that required a major logistical effort. We had a seven-day world championship competitive event, so-called big name entertainment and personalities, fairly substantial prize money, a new car raffle, beauty contest and many other activities. There was an abundance of work required and I usually ended up with responsibility for logistical efforts like obtaining two to three hundred tables and one thousand chairs, managing the facilities for large events or simply finding an available corporate jet for a well-known celebrity to attend the event. There was so much work involved that I began to schedule a week's vacation time prior to and during the event so I could get the work done. I did learn very quickly that boy scouts and county convicts are available and anxious to contribute time and effort in meeting some of the logistical requirements of an event like this. They were a lifesaver.

How do you avoid situations involving age differences?

The rule should be that the organization in question should recruit the members that are capable and willing to work if the organization wants to conduct these activities. Unfortunately no one is ever going to make such a rule. When you join an organization, know the age mix of the membership. Know what the organization does and try to learn what will be expected. For example, you can expect the Jaycees to be a group of young adults that have many activities and projects going constantly. If you do not plan to participate to the fullest, you probably need not join. The problem is created when organizations with older members attempt to continue activities that may have started many years ago but are becoming more difficult to support as the group ages. Along comes a fairly young new member and they view the person as the one that can solve many of their problems. The only solution is to not allow yourself to become that new member in this case or if you should join, do not allow the organization to put too many responsibilities on your shoulders. If you are the kind of person that wants to help, you can easily be over burdened with more work and responsibility than any other member of the group. I have learned that self-control is the only answer.