Community service, first and foremost, is intended to serve the community and provide a benefit to the community. Last week we discussed how community service is valuable to individuals. This week we will discuss how community service aids communities in need.
Volunteers are a great resource for non-profits. Often, a volunteer’s time can be very valuable in multiple ways. The work they are doing is often time-consuming labor, labor that the non-profit no longer has to supply staff for, therefore alleviating one stress. Volunteers are also not paid for this labor. The time they donate is free, therefore the non-profit can save its often limited budget for other economic needs.
Volunteers can help non-profits in other ways as well. By speaking about their experiences with a non-profit, they are spreading information not only about who that specific non-profit is and what they do, but also about the root mission that the non-profit is trying to accomplish. This kind of word-of-mouth transfer can be tremendously helpful to non-profits in that it can lead to a boost in volunteers, donations, and publicity for their organization.
Volunteers can advocate for their non-profit’s needs. This can be political advocacy in which they lobby for laws that aid non-profits or work to counter the issue the non-profit is addressing. This could also be raising awareness. Volunteers can spread awareness about the organization and the issue they are addressing so that others become aware of what is going on in that community.
Volunteers provide many benefits to non-profits but it’s easy to agree: there doesn’t need to be a reason to help out your community when it’s in need.
written by Gabrielle Miller
