Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have had luck with dog rescue and teaching ESL to adults thru a nonprofit. Have tried other things and did not like. Red Cross and Habitat are off my list.
Everyone says to get into volunteering when you retire. But, I've had the worst luck trying volunteering. I knew I hadn't had good experiences in the past with group dynamics and politics, but there isn't much in the way of options where I live in this little town in the boonies. There are no senior bus trips or recreation department catalogues with classes I can take. And the senior center will kill you via pinochle and sit down exercises - in other words, they assume everyone has a child mentality and must be from the big band era.
My latest misadventure was with a local nonprofit that was being taken over by a small faction who were using the nonprofit for personal gain. Very much against the law (IRS, losing nonprofit 501(c)(3)status, etc.)
My knowledge in the law and dealing with bullies proved helpful, and the initial bad business deal was stopped.
But, legally, they need to report this misadventure with the IRS. Whenever a nonprofit gets in bed with a voting board member who is obviously profiting personally, once they realize the mistake, they are absolutely required under state and federal law to let them know they "may" have entered into a self-serving deal, come clean and fix the problem. The IRS doesn't want to take down small nonprofits, but if you hide this type of info, you can be in serious hot water.
So, you have probably guessed by now - they don't want to let the IRS know what happened. I was told by one board member that the IRS has bigger things to worry about, etc. And the clincher, is that the bad guys have seen that nobody is going to actually do anything to them, so they are back in force, trying to take over the association for personal gain.
So, I have told them I'm available to help them with research, which I'm good at, but I otherwise will leave them to deal or not with their problems. But, I can't be involved in decisions to hide required info from the IRS and the state.
They were thrilled to have me stop the bad guys by exposing they were breaking the law, but now they just want everything to go back to the way it was before the bad guys came along, and just pretend nothing bad ever happened, and not do anything to prevent it in the future - as in write clear bylaws, or educate board members so they will not vote for self-serving deals in the future. I was told educating the board would be too expensive. Like IRS fines won't be? Or losing their 501(c)(3) status won't be more expensive??? And the deal I found to educate the board would have cost a total of $250. Crazy. Anyway, one week I was called an "angel" and a week later, when I told them they need to report this to the IRS, they are happy for me to go away.
Argh!!! I guess it's kind of funny in a pathetic kind of way.
Mainly just venting here. But, also letting people know that if you are thinking volunteering will be all sunshine and flowers - think again!
My last attempt at volunteering here was a Christian food bank, and I'm agnostic, but respectful of other people's beliefs. I was delivering food to the foodbank from a local restaurant, and a woman at the foodbank decided she'd been told by God to save my soul. She stalked me relentlessly, and no amount of nicely asking her to leave me be would work.
Before that, it was the Democrat party group and I wasn't radical enough for them.
Anyway, I give up. Just beware that if you are hoping or expecting volunteering to fill any void or give you happiness, etc., in retirement, beware that it may be all drama, politics and gossip.
Bummer! Anyway, feel free to share your volunteer stories.
Wow. What an awful situation, and kudos to you for doing the right thing. I have no advice for you, just sympathy.
Yes, volunteering can become disappointing. I never saw anything outright illegal in my experience with volunteer groups, but I did see some big departures from what their mission was stated to be. Without going into details, let's just say that instead of actually getting the planned work done, the goal turned into one of window dressing, of gathering the largest number of volunteers to show up for a media presence and make the organization LOOK like it was accomplishing a lot. More of a feel-good, aren't-we-so-community-minded kind of activity than one of real productivity. A citizen-science project that originally would have taken individual contributions of labor turned into one that required a scheduled, mass presence at a specific place. This kind of bait and switch happened several times in at least two organizations that I was involved in. It did fit the mentality of the town, that emphasized group dependency over independent work.
The good thing is that it IS voluntary. When the style changes, you leave and, maybe, find another way to contribute. I have two organizations in mind for future volunteering, but I am waiting to find out more about them before jumping in.
Meanwhile, I have plenty to do without adding more. Any volunteer work I would do wouod be to help repay the good things that other volunteers worked toward. In the past, I was happy to volunteer time with a county open space department as well as a tiny, privately-run park group. In all cases, the work directly benefited public assets that I frequently used. Yes, I paid taxes toward them already, but I also benefited from them whenever I went to them.
I volunteered for a year on a Battered woman hotline- mostly it was just providing an ear for someone needing to talk- it wasn't all gory details. I forget your gender(sorry you have to be female), and did a couple afternoons at the shelter, mainly helping with kids and organizing supplies...
I , many times, think that some small communities only want certain people that are their "buddies" to volunteer.
Our scenic town is constantly trying to attract retirees to relocate there as the older ones are dying off.
I have left my name with the Welcome Center and stated I would be willing to serve as an escort ( my car ,my gas) to give anyone interested a tour of our city and answer all their questions.
It seems strange in over 2 years I have never gotten a single call.
I doubt they ever mentioned it to any inquiring people.
Get a dog and train it to be a therapy dog. Very rewarding visiting veterans, shut ins, reading with children with disabilities and hospitals.
No thanks. Years ago we volunteered to help with the initial training for a dog to assist the blind. It was a horrendous experience. The poor puppy wanted to play. Not allowed. No chasing of sticks. No frivolity. Instead we were supposed to stand on the dog's leash and hold its head to the floor while we ate dinner. I understand the need for a highly trained dog but that was not something I could handle.
Hmm, this part sounds familiar I think I have read it before, Let's see, Dickens I think it was. LOL
You can be as generous in contributing to charities as you want. Remember that well known and well respected charity, The March of Dimes. It seems 90% of the money collected went to advertising and administration. There are now better regulations but still plenty of outright scams and abuses. Even when the charities are well run, the money is often not spent wisely.
At this time of year the big charity on every corner is the "Salvation Army". Does anyone really know much about the SA? I know it is an organization with highly defined religious beliefs. I support attempts at reason, not group beliefs. And what is the money used for? I believe it is to help the poor and homeless. We should support government programs to deal with need and poverty. It should not be something we do as a hit or miss charitable program.
Everyone says to get into volunteering when you retire. But, I've had the worst luck trying volunteering. I knew I hadn't had good experiences in the past with group dynamics and politics, but there isn't much in the way of options where I live in this little town in the boonies. There are no senior bus trips or recreation department catalogues with classes I can take. And the senior center will kill you via pinochle and sit down exercises - in other words, they assume everyone has a child mentality and must be from the big band era.
My latest misadventure was with a local nonprofit that was being taken over by a small faction who were using the nonprofit for personal gain. Very much against the law (IRS, losing nonprofit 501(c)(3)status, etc.)
My knowledge in the law and dealing with bullies proved helpful, and the initial bad business deal was stopped.
But, legally, they need to report this misadventure with the IRS. Whenever a nonprofit gets in bed with a voting board member who is obviously profiting personally, once they realize the mistake, they are absolutely required under state and federal law to let them know they "may" have entered into a self-serving deal, come clean and fix the problem. The IRS doesn't want to take down small nonprofits, but if you hide this type of info, you can be in serious hot water.
So, you have probably guessed by now - they don't want to let the IRS know what happened. I was told by one board member that the IRS has bigger things to worry about, etc. And the clincher, is that the bad guys have seen that nobody is going to actually do anything to them, so they are back in force, trying to take over the association for personal gain.
So, I have told them I'm available to help them with research, which I'm good at, but I otherwise will leave them to deal or not with their problems. But, I can't be involved in decisions to hide required info from the IRS and the state.
They were thrilled to have me stop the bad guys by exposing they were breaking the law, but now they just want everything to go back to the way it was before the bad guys came along, and just pretend nothing bad ever happened, and not do anything to prevent it in the future - as in write clear bylaws, or educate board members so they will not vote for self-serving deals in the future. I was told educating the board would be too expensive. Like IRS fines won't be? Or losing their 501(c)(3) status won't be more expensive??? And the deal I found to educate the board would have cost a total of $250. Crazy. Anyway, one week I was called an "angel" and a week later, when I told them they need to report this to the IRS, they are happy for me to go away.
Argh!!! I guess it's kind of funny in a pathetic kind of way.
Mainly just venting here. But, also letting people know that if you are thinking volunteering will be all sunshine and flowers - think again!
My last attempt at volunteering here was a Christian food bank, and I'm agnostic, but respectful of other people's beliefs. I was delivering food to the foodbank from a local restaurant, and a woman at the foodbank decided she'd been told by God to save my soul. She stalked me relentlessly, and no amount of nicely asking her to leave me be would work.
Before that, it was the Democrat party group and I wasn't radical enough for them.
Anyway, I give up. Just beware that if you are hoping or expecting volunteering to fill any void or give you happiness, etc., in retirement, beware that it may be all drama, politics and gossip.
Bummer! Anyway, feel free to share your volunteer stories.
Kinda with you on this but different situations. Living here was fine when I was working and raising my children I do like the place
But upon retirement finding like minds is a little difficult, my community is children and family oriented so even the county recreation offerings are child centric, and the churches tend to reach out to families. Most of my work friends retired and moved back home. And being a single female retiree hasn't fit in with some group dynamics
What has been nice is taking classes at the local college, fun classes I didn't take the first time through.
Bottom line to me is even a nice place may not be the right place. Communities have personalities. I am beginning to wonder if I shouldn't look for a 55+ community and maybe find more commonality
You can be as generous in contributing to charities as you want. Remember that well known and well respected charity, The March of Dimes. It seems 90% of the money collected went to advertising and administration. There are now better regulations but still plenty of outright scams and abuses. Even when the charities are well run, the money is often not spent wisely.
At this time of year the big charity on every corner is the "Salvation Army". Does anyone really know much about the SA? I know it is an organization with highly defined religious beliefs. I support attempts at reason, not group beliefs. And what is the money used for? I believe it is to help the poor and homeless. We should support government programs to deal with need and poverty. It should not be something we do as a hit or miss charitable program.
On the Salvation Army, my first out of college job was as a caseworker and in the direst of circumstances I could always count on the SA to come through with at least clean and safe shelter and food for my clients until I could find something better.
They and Goodwill served different needs but came through when needed. So I continue to support them
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
