The best avenue on how your business can be a stakeholder volunteering to the Global Partnership [Why Volunteer for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)]
Why volunteer? What volunteering opportunities are the best fit for you? Why volunteer in the startup and small business niches and spaces as an entrepreneur?
The question of ‘why volunteer as an intern’ is a no-brainer, whether locally or at international level. To empower yourself, enhance your skills, uncover your competencies and push your boundaries, you are better off onboarding specially designed and personalized international internships. For this reason, international internship and volunteering programs go hand in hand, covering all the bases of International exchange students.
Why volunteer in a firm, organization, or a business? While it’s frightening to start working with different cultures in a new country, this is one of the best platforms to equip future global leaders? Any internship or volunteering opportunity gives you a sense of purpose and shapes your life goals and objectives because you practice how to solve problems in the community first hand!
You master some of the best principles and guidelines that give you a better platform of effectively launching your startup or small business with little capital. Consequently, you cross the bridge of cashflow mismanagement that greatly hinders the success of business.
Volunteers are happier and healthier than non-volunteers.
– Psychology Today
Why volunteer?
It is not peculiar to find volunteers working at a Non-governmental organization or one that is not for profit. Are you greatly concerned about the treatment and well-being of the earth? For example, volunteer opportunities at an institution that advocates for change of human behavior to reduce adverse effects of climate change will help you address a social problem that is meaningful to you.
For some, it offers the chance to give something back to the community or make a difference to the people around you. How about why volunteer in the profit making enterprises? It’s the ThExtraordinariOnly playground that provides an opportunity to develop new skills or build on existing experience and knowledge in project management, running a business, and dealing with people of diverse cultures, behaviors, and backgrounds.
“In hard financial times new principles, behaviors, and trade activities arise in order to handle the new circumstances.” — S. U. Raymond #whyvolunteer #SDGs #businessinfluencers #futuregloballeaders Click To Tweet
What is volunteering?
Because volunteering means giving your time and abilities to aid others (usually a nonprofit organization) without the want of financial compensation, it may beat logic why an aspiring or wildly successful businessman or businesswoman should volunteer. Since an entrepreneur initiates, challenges, drives, and creates something new, either an initiative, a business, or a company, every volunteer is an entrepreneur.
Just like an entrepreneur, a volunteer identifies with a cause and initiates a project, then looks for resources and allocate them accordingly. Further, they take risks, diving into unknown situations, and in the end reaps the rewards, profits, and benefits giving their time, skills, and network.
Apart from the fact that volunteering provides valuable community services, so more money can be spent on local improvements, this why volunteering should be part of your transformational process for your life and personal development:
- Business owners who sacrifice their time, money, and talents create lasting legacies like Andrew Carnegie.
- You will never regret volunteering your time to support a cause you are passionate about because it enriches you and build your self-confidence, self-actualization, and character.
- As an entrepreneur, you need to be able to expand your thinking capacity and perspective beyond the minute tasks of the day to day running of your business.
- Have you chosen a longer term volunteering opportunity? Being committed as a volunteer on a regular basis for a period of time can be a great way to gain knowledge, skills, and make a lasting impact with your work.
- Volunteering is a platform that helps you make the decision to help people in selfless ways.
- As a volunteer, you connect with other people and develop a solid support system that protects you against depression.
Why volunteering matters
What issues do you feel strongly about? Though simple, but rewarding, you decide to spend your time fundraising, proposal writing, reporting, or handling finance, communications, photography, human resources, et cetra, without any worries. The reason being, you look forward to gaining some meaningful work experience within the reach of the organization you are volunteering with.
So, why volunteer? As the communities you spend time with are empowered too, an entrepreneur or professional gets equipped with social and global skills because of volunteering adventures all over the world. It’s a win for everyone.
Surprising benefits of volunteering
Whose life is not busy?
It can be hard to find time to volunteer. However, the benefits of volunteering can be enormous. Volunteering is a great and powerful thing. Not only will you help someone else, but you also benefit your own life as well.
- It offers vital help to people in need, worthwhile causes, and the community. The benefits can be even greater for you, the volunteer.
- When you volunteer and help others, you reduce stress, combat depression, keep your mentally stimulated, and provide a sense of purpose.
- Volunteering helps you make friends, learn new skills, advance your career, feel happier, and feel healthier.
Should You Volunteer with the Global Goals (SDGs)?
Why volunteer with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals? There is a universal call to action to:
- end poverty
- protect the planet
- ensure all humanity on earth enjoy peace and prosperity
This is the blueprint of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for a better and sustainable future for all.
To learn more about the SDGs, click here.
A set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, also known as the Global Goals) to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice and tackle climate change by 2030 were adopted by world leaders at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015. These global goals are universal, inclusive and signal a bold commitment to people and the planet.
The Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face.
The SDGs cannot be achieved without people’s engagement at all stages, and without new partnerships, including with volunteer groups. Volunteer groups can be brokers of and provide spaces for engagement, connecting institutional initiatives with volunteer action at the community level.
Do you have an idea to improve volunteering so that it can make the greatest impact on sustainable development?
For the purposes of this post, we address volunteering and entrepreneurs in the startup and small business niche.
Opportunity for Entrepreneurs
Entreps
Entreps began as an informal off-line lobby on the 26th of June, 2010 (sixty-five years after the founding of the United Nations). It is now an official community around the world that studies, defends, promotes and shares with entrepreneurs (entreps), business people, investors, mentors, leaders, companies, associations, entities, and governments.
Entreps is thus the United Nations for entrepreneurs.
Would you love to build a world-class ecosystem of entrepreneurs supported by the community?
But first, let us get out this of the way.
5th Global Entreps Awards Nomination
Entreps adorns its best finery every year via the Global Entreps Awards.
The Global Entreps Awards are the Oscars for Sustainable Business Development in the world. Organizations, institutions, companies, and individuals who achieve outstanding results in innovation without any negative impact on the planet are rewarded. These are the trendsetters that lead to the permanent transformation of society’s dreams and making a difference.
How to proceed
Self-nominate or to nominate others for the Global Entreps Awards in any of the 17 UN SDG categories.
Follow the link and fill in details with supporting documents.
You can nominate yourself or another candidate if they fulfill any of the 17 UN Sustainable Development goals (SDGs)
Who can be nominated?
A public figure
Outstanding initiative
Successful policies
Iinstitutions
Start-ups
Qualifications for 30 awards, 30 different chapters for 126 countries
Sustainable
Devoted to the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals SDGs.
Candidates can fill their own candidatures themselves.
Use these hashtags: #EntrepsAwards and #5Gcitizens @Hazloe3, @extraordinari, @Entreps_Global, and @JoaquinBoston on Twitter.
Who does not qualify
- Any political party
- Religious entities
Rules
Do not criticize anyone.
Highlight only those who are exceptional, both locally and internationally.
Can a Small Business Give Back?
As a small business, how important is it to volunteer?
A study on volunteering showed 62 percent of 18 to 26-year-olds polled preferred to work for a company that offered volunteer opportunities [PDF] (Deloitte Volunteer Impact Survey, 2007).
Another study funded by The Case Foundation, about millennials and volunteering in the workplace found that 63 percent of millennial women and 45 percent of millennial men said that a company’s work on charitable causes helped influence them to accept a job offer. (Millennial Impact Report, in partnership with Derrick Feldmann and the researchers at Achieve)
In a study by Boston College’s Center for Corporate Citizenship (2005), 84 percent of company executives reported bottom-line benefits after they started a volunteer program.
Deloitte’s 2017 Volunteerism Survey results indicate that creating a culture of volunteerism in the workplace may boost morale, workplace atmosphere, and brand perception.
A small business can find creative ways to volunteer in the community the business operates in. It allows staff and employees to operate in an all-inclusive new way. This also creates a sense of empowerment.
The volunteer action of the small business that makes an impact should align with business goals, values, and mission, but also be the voice in your sphere of influence.
Please Retweet!
Oppose
1, violation of human rights
2, war
3, genocide
4, aggression
5, bullying
6, crimes against humanity
7, torture
8, propaganda
9, war crimes
10, incitement
11, abuse of humanityy#FF#TBT#Bethechange#PeaceDay2018 #thextraordinarionly— Hazloe3 #thextraordinarionly 💎#Fintech 💕Writing (@Hazloe3) September 20, 2018
Why a volunteering program?
Do you have to create a volunteer program for your business?
The goals of the volunteer program must align with your business plan, goals, objectives and vision.
Engage the employees, Use surveys to determine all the details of the volunteer program. After identifying the specific issues to focus on in the community, define the goals and the steps that need to be taken to be successful and effective.
Register the voluntary arm of the business with relevant bodies in your country.
Create an online presence for awareness and recruit members globally. The duties should be distributed according to the strengths of the employees. You may decide to give your employees paid time to volunteer.
Volunteering and Startup Companies
Startup companies with great potential look for talented volunteers to become part of their team. You help them grow and create jobs. If you are passionate, with a can-do attitude you can support the startup community with your expertise and dedication.
When volunteering abroad, you can go on short, week-long excursions, or you can commit to much longer periods of volunteering; You could even join an organization like the Peace Corps for a long-term experience, where you can volunteer in fields like agriculture, education, health, economic development, and youth development.
6 Challenges in Creating Volunteer Opportunities and Dealing with Volunteers For Startups and Small Businesses
By having a reverence for life, we enter into a spiritual relation with the world. By practicing reverence for life we become good, deep, and alive.
~ Albert Schweitzer
When you know the most common challenges in dealing with employees who volunteer, managing them in your organization’s volunteer program becomes easier.
Inadequate Resources
Why are resources always inadequate?
Since volunteers perform tasks for free, volunteer managers and organization leadership might mistakenly think that a volunteer management program does not need much – or any – funding. Without resources to attract, train, and honor them, volunteers can hardly establish and maintain the crucial support of the organization to meet its objectives.
There are creative ways that your volunteer program can use to ensure its self-sustaining.
Motivation of Volunteers
Research is not adequate on my some volunteers remain motivated while others are not. It is unknown why some people get involved and stay involved while other people quickly grow tired of volunteering or refuse to volunteer. Keeping volunteers intrinsically motivated by using recognition, along with little or no monetary value, you reinforce the idea that they are volunteering because it is meaningful to them.
For both employees and volunteers, extrinsic motivation results in people working banker’s hours. Many people may volunteer for career-related motives and would not want to continue volunteering for the long term without remuneration or career achievements. A small business and/or s startup needs to plan to remunerate volunteers and create career development models or stand the risk of losing them, with negative effects
Time Scheduling
Employees have different times when they would like to volunteer. That means you have to coordinate their schedules for your organization to achieve its goals. This is not easy when you want some volunteers to work together. Inconsistencies in interests, efforts, and time across may pose a challenge.
Technology today has solved this barrier. There are a lot of digital interventions that make volunteer scheduling easy with automatically assigned schedules based on your volunteers’ work time preferences. with features like an unlimited number of schedules, scheduled email reminders, and text message alerts.
Leadership Support
Has your organization set up a leadership encouragement and support system?
You want to ensure that one does not stay in a leadership position until burnt out. Sometimes, you may have high hopes in a volunteer but they do not want to lead and suddenly drop off. That means the organization has to interrupt the schedules of the other employees to have them perform the tasks of that volunteer or recruit a new volunteer.
Frequently hold sessions to pass on information, share ideas about activities, and celebrate successes. When your team in the volunteer program discuss issues and challenges and brainstorm ways to grow their out, it helps build a community. No one feels alone. New leaders are supported.
Insufficient Volunteers
Which organization ever has enough volunteers?
At times, employees may be required to step up and use their networks to recruit more volunteers.
Proper Volunteer Management
For nonprofit organizations, volunteers are the majority. That means they are responsible for performing the most daily tasks in these organizations. They are not paid like employees of a profit-making organization.
If they are not managed they underperform. More than one-third of those who volunteer one year do not donate their time the next year – to any other nonprofit. That adds up to an estimated $38 billion in lost labor.
Love is the most powerful motivator in the world. It spurs mortals to greatness. Their noblest, bravest acts are done for love.
– Rick Riordan
Love is the most powerful motivator in the world. It spurs mortals to greatness. Their noblest, bravest acts are done for love. – Rick Riordan #EntrepsAwards #5GCitizens #SDGs #bethechange #thextraordinarionly Click To Tweet
Related post: Check out these volunteering opportunities for freelancers.
Conclusion
Successful volunteer programs should strive to address real needs in the community. They should forge meaningful relationships with community members in need and connect volunteers with opportunities that match their passions and skills. Listen to understand what your target community wants. Make your choices wisely since you can not solve all the problems.
Always evaluate the mission, goals, and processes for your volunteer program. A bad volunteer program model can ruin a good company.
If your research and planning at the onset are clear, you will run a more efficient volunteer program. Don’t bring a volunteer in until you have everything worked out, from the job description to a place to work with proper equipment, to something to do immediately.
Now, tis your turn to share on ‘why volunteer?’
Did you find this post valuable? It’s our hope you’ll share it on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or your platform of choice so that another upcoming entrepreneur can build their skills because they have read simple reasons on why volunteer. 🙂 Use those social sharing buttons on this page!
What is your experience as a volunteer with a small business or startup?
Why should you volunteer for the UN SDGs from where you are?
Do you have an opinion that you can add in the comment section below? Why volunteer? Your feedback will be responded to ASAP.
Do you know an exceptional person, institution, or startup that you can nominate for the 5th Global Entreps Awards? Follow this link and fill in the details. You can also nominate yourself. Do not hesitate to contact us if you find any challenges in filling in the form.
Why volunteering References
Connors, T. (2012) “The volunteer management Handbook: Leadership Strategies for Success.” 2nd ed, Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Raymond, S., (2010) “Nonprofit Finance for Hard Times: Leadership Strategies when Economic Falter.” Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Follow us on our socials
Flip your favorite articles with us on Flipboard.
Join other trendsetters and global change agents by being a part of ThExtraordinariOnly members-only email list, where you receive extra details for entrepreneurship not published in the blogs. We will not share your email address. Our website is ranked Top 100 small business blogs, websites, and influencers.
You’ll love
- 159 TOP Inspirational Quotes About Debt, Money, Wealth, and Business Fuel Your Crawl Outta Debt Now Journey [Live a Full Life of Financial Freedom]
- Small Business: What The Trend About Small Business Enterprises That Everyone Goes Crazy (Black Business Month)
- Warning: Pinterest Descriptions Not Showing On Pins – How to Write Viral-Worthy Pinterest Pins That Pop (Pinterest SEO 2022)
- What’s exciting with link party 316 this week?
