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Ask HN: Why would you volunteer for a non-profit?

by Phlogi on 1/20/23, 8:39 AM with 4 comments

Under what conditions would you work for an NGO for free? Is it important that the work is technically interesting, or would the greater purpose of the organization be sufficient? What other reasons are there for motivation? What does the organization have to offer so that you would support it? Also, where and through what channel could volunteers be found?

Thousands of people work on FOSS, why not for an NGO?

Background: I'm working in a large NGO for 3 years, and we're currently looking for software and data engineers. As a long-standing FOSS enthusiast, I was wondering whether we could find talent to support us freely in technically interesting areas such as automated testing and implementing a modern data stack.

  • by GianFabien on 1/20/23, 10:32 AM

    Motivation is an individual thing. There are no doubt at least two intersecting dimensions, i.e that of technical interest and alignment with the organization's purpose. For some people working on CRUD apps might be Ok because they are deeply aligned with the purpose.

    Most people need to earn an income to support themselves. Thus you probably need to consider part-time contributors. Which in turn might require considerable project management skills to ensure that substantial units of work can be accomplished by teams of people.

    Not all FOSS projects are purely by volunteers. Many contributors are actually employed to work on those projects part-time or even full-time.

  • by _benj on 1/20/23, 4:48 PM

    For me it comes down to happiness. I find it meaningful and enjoyable to solve problems for others. I remember reading in Give and Take by Adam Grant about how the happiest people volunteer around 100h per year.

    With that said, I think that often the issue with volunteering is that it feels too much like work, that is, the emphasis is placed on some abstract goal (finish X thing) vs the why (by finishing X we’ll be able to help Y people!)

    I also think that working with volunteers is interesting because one has to also worry about how they find value in what they are doing. There are a bunch of valuable things apart from money like community, belonging, purpose, doing something bigger than one self.

    Hopefully this disparate collection of thoughts and ideas makes sense :)

    PS. Email is on profile, feel free to reach out, I’ve been on the look for technical volunteering opportunities :)

  • by brudgers on 1/20/23, 3:39 PM

    talent to support us freely

    Just pay for professionals because that's how you insure stakeholder buy-in for the project. Is this something donors expect you to be spending time on? Have the executive team green lighted the action? Budgets are always a bright line test.

    If not, then there is a good chance a volunteer is wasting their time...and worse, you will be wasting a volunteers time simply by not valuing it. People smell that pretty quickly.

    If you want professional work, hire professionals. Good luck.

  • by DamonHD on 1/20/23, 9:10 AM

    I do stuff for local environmental groups (unpaid), as I used to be a school governor for many years (unpaid) for example, because I think that it makes the whole of society work better for my whole family and is a GoodThing(TM)! And a bt of purpose makes me feel better, and gets me out of the house and socialising a bit more than I otherwise would...