Volunteer Works: Precious Gifts; Time, Talents And Treasure

By Danita Brisson

The most significant contribution you can make to an organization may not always be money. As nonprofits evolve from start-up to maturity, their needs change. Established programs cannot be delivered without a reliable workforce. Through periods of growth or retraction, specific expertise based on professional experience might be the precious gift that enables the association to survive and thrive. This month’s virtual panel, Susanne Carter, Chip Swab and Judith Gille, share their observations concerning gifts of time, talents and treasure.

“While all organizations need financial assistance to survive, the majority have missions that can only be accomplished by volunteers willing to give their time and talents,” says Susanne Carter. “As an English as a Second Language teacher at La Bi-blioteca, and grant writer for the Anike Foundation, I have primarily volunteered for nonprofits that have minimal budgets. These organizations recruit volunteers who are willing to work on the front line to help others whether that involves teaching a second language, promoting sterilization of cats and dogs, or writing proposals seeking funding for the drilling of a borehole in Tanzania so that villagers have a clean source of water,” she explains. “It’s important for more experienced volunteers to mentor newer ones. This helps less experienced volunteers to learn the organizational culture and build skills to carry out their mission. My obligation is to give my talents but also to train others who come after me so that the organization is not left without talent. You’ve got to have that core to function. It’s more important than the cash. If there are gaps in the core of volunteers, no amount of money will change that.”

Chip Swab, Driver Co-ordinator for Feed the Hungry agrees that when volunteers are away for parts of the year, “It’s a juggling act (to deliver food to 40 schools in the campo).” He recalls another instance where talent actually saved treasure. “Kitchens are built at participating schools. Because we have gas tanks, fire and boiling liquids, for safety, we want the kitchens to be away from the school building. The typical construction of bricks, mortar and a concrete slab would take several months to complete. We found a Spanish-born architect named Rafael who came up with the process of using tube steel and pre-insulated aluminum panels. If we have a concrete slab in place, which many school yards will, we can put a kitchen up in one week. It cut the cost in half and totally revolutionized the process. We’ve done three so far and Rafael even financed one. There’s a case where specific talents had greater value than the monetary donation.” And finally, “People (in San Miguel) come from such diverse backgrounds. The ability to use your talents, to find your niche in an organization, is tremendous and resources go further here. You don’t have to be rich to have an impact.”

Judith Gille, President of the Latin American Relief Fund says her organization presently faces bifurcated priorities. “Our mission is to educate others about the plight of migrants and to raise funds for organizations who deliver services to those individuals. For us, that’s ABBA House. To do that, we need to build our Board by adding two or three more active members, particularly those with fundraising expertise because we are launching a major capital campaign.” The website explains: “ABBA is now creating the Cultural Center for Human Rights, a transformational new shelter to provide long-term housing to asylum seekers, families, amputees, and LGBTQ+ people.” Says Judith: “An acre of land in Celaya has been donated and will hopefully be cleared this summer. Construction will take a couple of years. Our contribution was supposed to be $500,000USD but under the new (US Federal) regime, we lost our funding from USAID and the UN Refugee Agency. So now we need to raise most of the $2.5 million USD needed to complete the facility. Once it’s built and operating, the priority will change. We’ll need many volunteers with different skills to staff the center. Right now, we need help to spread the word and raise the money.”

Just as an organization’s needs change, so does our capacity to contribute. These three examples demonstrate that whatever we have to give is exactly what some nonprofit needs to make this world a better place. What we accumulate in abundance but choose to hoard is worthless to mankind. What we accumulate in abundance and choose to share is a precious gift to mankind. Time, talents or treasure, what’s your precious gift?