My journey from executive to volunteer executive recruiter
As a company director with executive responsibility for the human capital of a multi-national organisation, I was well attuned to dealing, among other matters, with senior-level recruitment across five continents.
This globe-trotting role had been my ‘life’ for many years. Therefore, as I approached ‘retirement’ and relocation to Surrey, I was rather apprehensive about how I [...]
The Four Levels of Volunteering
My experience over the last year of volunteering within various organisations has led me to the view that there at least four different types of volunteering.
The first level is an organisation consisting purely of volunteers. It has been estimated, for example, that there are over 49,000 formally organised amateur arts groups across the country with [...]
The frontline only functions with a brilliant back office behind it
Resource-poor charities that treat support functions as necessary distractions to service delivery are at high risk of failure no matter how good their frontline services are. There must be more help available for them to acquire or develop these skills if they are to survive. Living in hope simply isn’t an option.
Are volunteers the answer?
The encourager is encouraged
The innovative value of corporate volunteering
Train to be a trustee with TrusteeWorks
This is an interesting time for the Civil Society Sector, with many-not-for-profits facing financial pressures while simultaneously recording an increase in demand for their services. The sector is being tested in extraordinary ways and the need for good governance has never been more acute. If the Big Society is to become a reality, it is [...]
Volunteering with George Bernard Shaw
More than risk and red tape
Andrew Hind, former Charity Commission chief executive spoke about his own experience of being a trustee. This was not a lesson in the red tape of trusteeship, it was the story of how one person was captivated by charities and was willing to work at the tough bits of trusteeship as well as the rewards. It was a great personal story and sobering. But most of all it was oddly encouraging – even those who know can get in over their heads!