Volunteers - have charities lost the plot?

Kitty, I suspect that the inflexibility stems from managers not accounting for volunteers having the necessary skills and thus they are supplying scripts rather than ensuring their training and recruitment programmes are robust. As a volunteer I find it quite insulting that prior experience is often overlooked due to such inflexible attitudes

My sister has worked for a charity for a long time but recently they really have been taking the mickey, she started off doing one day a week but as they lost some of their volunteers the manager started asking my sister to do more and more days saying she wouldn't be able to open the shop if she, my sister, couldn't do more days.. she has spoken up to say she really can't do more but the woman keeps ringing and pleading on the phone for my sister to just come in to cover for lunches etc... my sister is now contemplating giving up as she feels she is being used somewhat.

I think you have made a very valid point phoenix and it exemplifies the sort of thing I am talking about!

Granjura - from personal experience, the amount paid to CEOs and other directors does not necessarily reflect their ability to do the job. Middle 'managers' and office staff are paid appallingly and given huge amounts of responsibility with very little supervision, are subject to covert bullying which, in my case, was passed onto the volunteers! Luckily, I could walk - most of the staff can't. Nor did the upper tier of managers want to know about the things that were going on lower down the ladder - it might reflect badly on them - in fact it does!!

I can't comment on Bring and Buy sales - they have not been my scene for quite a while.

A lot of fundraising is contracted out to private enterprise as some charities are 'big business' and can no longer rely on donations or volunteers for all their fundraising, although the volunteers continue to do a sterling job and are the backbone of the charities.

Unfortunately this has led to all these 'mailshots' we receive which make many of us cross as we can't support them all and they go into the recycling bin. What a waste of money.
It has also led to a certain impersonal attitude. For instance, trying to remove the name of a deceased off their mailing lists, leading to distress for the bereaved as the demands continue to arrive.

It must be disheartening as a volunteer to have to stick to a (possibly politically correct) agenda causing some rigidity which may not always be beneficial when trying to help people.

DH volunteers for a big organisation, but I prefer to help a smaller project as well as donations to others.

I work in a charity shop, and am amazed at some of the prices for the old 'junk' but people aren't prepared to pay even for the cost of the materials for beautifully made new stuff

That is a very difficult question. It's been mentioned many times here that charity managers earn large salaries. But at the end of the day, we must not lose touch with the ultimate aim of a charity, to raise as much as possible for the cause. Paying a good manager, with excellent qualification and experience, can make a HUGE difference to the amount raised, and really improve the prospects for the recipients of the charity. So it is difficult to say it is wrong, really. I know some youngsters who did they Masters at the same time as my daughter who now work for large charities to achieve this. They do earn a good salary, but for their education ane experience, a much much lower salary than their friends who went into the Professions or other businesses- and do a brilliant job of raising much larger sums than otherwise would be the case.

I can understand your frustration kitty, but if they have made a real study of changes required to maximise profit (and it is what it is all about- more help can be given with larger sums)- then maybe it is worth being open to new business minded ideas.

Reminds me of the first 'Bring and Buy' coffee morning I went to when we lived in Staffs. I brought a jar of Nescafé Gold- can't remember the price, but say it was £3.50- so the host said, OK, put a sticker for £2.00. I was taken aback- I said 'but it is for charity so it should be more, not less'... She looked at me as if I had gone mad. A friend had spent, again can't remember figures, but say £5.00 on lovely wool, and spent weeks knitting the most beautiful, intricate, lacy, baby matinee jacket- and the host stuck a £3.00 sticker on it. AGain, when I said it did not make sense- it would be better to give the money direct, and save all the hassle, the reply was 'ah but this is not in the spirit of the thing, is it'. It has stuck in my mind- as for me, raising as much moeny as poss was more important (it was OXFAM)...

Not quite the same, but I was once horrified at the amount a large charity had been spending on a previous mystery shopping programme.