You would think that charities that can only offer thanks are having a harder time finding people than employers who offer a paycheck are. But it has never been very easy to get volunteers in the first place, says Stacey Muse at Nevada Volunteers. As she told us, "At a charity, you realize you need a volunteer in the moment, rather than thinking more systematically...like what are the needs of the organization, and preparing for it."
Stacy has been in the non-profit field her whole career. She's never found anything more rewarding. "I really believe in the power of people to make a difference. And so by volunteering you're engaging with your community. You're building relationships."
Today, she's executive director at Nevada Volunteers, which works closely with local charities. They use state, federal and private funds to support community-based organizations here in town. Stacy says, "We seek to strengthen Nevada through national service, AmeriCorps and volunteerism." She says, despite a record demand for workers with a very low 3.5% unemployment rate in Reno, local volunteerism hasn't been affected much, and here's why: many volunteers are retired, and students...not in the workforce.
Several local companies, like Patagonia and Microsoft, have programs where their employees donate their time.
There are more remote volunteer jobs you can do from home, like working on a charity's website.
And finally, organizations are doing a better job getting the word out about their needs and bringing in new recruits. As she puts it, "There are so many different options. You can post on LinkedIn, you can post on Facebook. There are all these different platforms." Nevada Volunteers hopes to have a website developed that will combine those volunteer openings into a one-stop site.
All great news, because volunteers are invaluable, for so many people. They know this at Nevada Volunteers. As Stacy put it, "Most non-profit organizations rely very heavily on volunteers."
