# Really? I have to pay in order to volunteer? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 17, 2015, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-i-have-to-pay-in-order-to-volunteer/728065 "2015-08-17T11:59:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2015, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-i-have-to-pay-in-order-to-volunteer/728065/81 "2015-08-23T23:40:03Z")
City of Hope makes volunteers shell out for their uniforms. ---
**Author:** ![CannyDan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cannydan/32/548_2.png) [@CannyDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CannyDan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2015, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-i-have-to-pay-in-order-to-volunteer/728065/82 "2015-08-24T02:05:16Z")
Requiring a certain standard of clothing for safety reasons (e.g., closed toe shoes) is justified. Requiring a uniform may be justified if it’s necessary to identify volunteers as distinct from staff or the general public, or for branding in public interface positions. Making those volunteers defray the costs of expensive articles of clothing also seems justifiable, although a similar argument could be made that volunteer efforts provide a net benefit that outweighs the initial cost. But it’s much easier to accept drawing a line at laying out significant amounts of hard cash for untested, unproven, and possibly ephemeral new volunteers. I live in the nonprofit world and routinely interact with the highest level administrators of a number of local charitable organizations. Volunteers are a constant topic of conversation – how to attract them, how to keep them, how to use them, etc. I honestly don’t know of a single one that claims a turn-away number of qualified people bidding for the opportunity. Not to say it couldn’t happen. I can envision, say, a theater troupe in a large metropolitan area, or perhaps a high-end art museum, having an excess of people who want to get close to the stage or the artwork, indoors in the air conditioning, no physical exertion required. But the rest of us who need volunteers to supplement staff in actual dirty jobs (trademark not applied for) will have to keep on begging. ---
**Author:** ![Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-i-have-to-pay-in-order-to-volunteer/728065/83 "2015-08-28T06:05:57Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > Signing up to volunteer doesn’t show a lot of commitment. I’ve volunteered at various arts events where multiple volunteers are fairly late, or just don’t show up, and the other volunteers have to be shuffled around to cover everything. It’s easy to sign up and say you’ll volunteer for something, but also easy for on that day to just decide you’re too tired or don’t feel like it and don’t show up. So it seems like the options for the organization that needs volunteers is to either sign up more volunteers than they need and expect X% not to be there, or to require payment or some other further commitment and weed out the people that are less serious about volunteering. > > But how vital is it for a volunteer to be there saying “the elevator is down that hall”? If it’s helpful, but not essential, then it’s not a big deal if there’s a volunteer or not. But if there absolutely needs to be someone there directing patients to the right area, then I can see the hospital needs to have some sort of commitment. > > But I’m glad you found a good volunteering place at the Veterans House. 8 years working at a hospital ER. As far as I know, we didn’t require anyone to pay to volunteer there was a volunteers orginization and they may have charged to be part of that. Anyway, we loved our volunteers and could not have gotten through the day without them. They were a vital contact between the patients and their families and the staff. They were super and made everyones life better. Somehow we never really got bad volunteers. Oh, and they didn’t show people where the elevators were. Believe it or not, we paid staff to do that. I’d personally like to thank anyone who had volunteered at a hospital ER. I appreciate you very very much. Special thanks for those who paid the $15 to do it. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-i-have-to-pay-in-order-to-volunteer/728065/84 "2015-08-28T11:56:59Z")
It’s nearly 2 weeks since I offered my services to the Vet’s Home. Still haven’t heard a thing - not even “Thanks, but we’ve got plenty of help at the moment.” I didn’t expect an outpouring of gratitude, but acknowledging my offer would have been nice. Back to looking for something to do… ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-i-have-to-pay-in-order-to-volunteer/728065/85 "2015-08-28T13:25:14Z")
> [@CannyDan](#): > > My place could always use more volunteers. Removing – err, ahh – animal excrement from cage walls and floors (most creatures simply drop their crap, but hawks, eagles and the like squirt it, often a couple of meters), scrubbing perches and water bowls, raking mulch outdoors in the heat and bugs isn’t some people’s idea of a glorious volunteer experience. All along I thought that _we_ should be giving _them_ whatever small rewards we can. But I guess I’ve learned from this thread that the better way to attract volunteers is to _make them pay us!_ Come Monday I’m gonna solve all of our volunteer shortfall problems. I’m gonna run an ad “Volunteers wanted! Dirty, nasty work! And as a bonus, you get to pay us XX dollars!” How much should we charge? Do we get more and better volunteers the higher we price it? Need answer fast. But you aren’t getting enough volunteers because it sounds like the “experience” you offer is insufficiently diverting for bored suburban retirees. Or not impressive enough for a scholarship application. It’s too much like work. Hope you get the help you need. Other organizations might well need money more than untrained hands… ---
**Author:** ![CannyDan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cannydan/32/548_2.png) [@CannyDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CannyDan)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-i-have-to-pay-in-order-to-volunteer/728065/86 "2015-08-28T14:20:04Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > But you aren’t getting enough volunteers because it sounds like the “experience” you offer is insufficiently diverting for bored suburban retirees. Or not impressive enough for a scholarship application. It’s too much like work. > > Hope you get the help you need. Other organizations might well need money more than untrained hands… Yeah, amazingly enough, it really _is_ a lot like work! 😃 Part of the plea I use when talking to a live audience goes something like: > [@Me](#): > > In the non-profit world there’s never enough time, never enough money, and never enough hands. I doubt you can grant us more time. You may or may not be able to give us money. But perhaps you can offer us your hands. If so, just a few hours a week will mean an awful lot to … Sometimes it actually succeeds in getting a new volunteer or two. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-i-have-to-pay-in-order-to-volunteer/728065/87 "2015-08-28T19:13:49Z")
This is pretty simple. Clearly, the people who are “volunteering” are offering services that are of less value than it costs the organization to accept. It’s only fair to require them to make up the difference. It’s that old thing: Your gift is actually a burden. It’s the proverbial white elephant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-i-have-to-pay-in-order-to-volunteer/728065.md?page=4)