By Carolynne Mahood, CHRP

Have you opted for retirement but are still interested in being active and sharing the value of your experience with others?

Or are you new to the HR world and looking for opportunities to build skills, network and learn new areas?

Have you considered volunteering?

Volunteering is a mutually rewarding and beneficial relationship for all parties and offers the opportunity to:

• give back
• learn new skills
• learn about a new sector
• gain work experience
• network

According to the 2011 United Nations State of the World’s Volunteerism Report, “…volunteerism benefits both society at large and the individual volunteer by strengthening trust, solidarity and reciprocity among citizens, and by purposefully creating opportunities for participation.”

Skilled Volunteering
Skilled volunteering is the practice of using work-related knowledge and expertise in a volunteer capacity. At one time, volunteering entailed such things as selling tickets, stuffing envelopes, entering data, etc.  Over time, organizations have realized that by engaging talented people and matching their skills and abilities to appropriate projects, both the volunteers and the charitable or non-profit organisation benefit. Volunteers learn and contribute expertise, information, ideas and practices that contribute to the success, growth and sustainability of the organization.

Human Resource Contributions
Strong human resources practices are integral to a successful organization and research continues to indicate the increasingly strategic value HR practitioners contribute to organizations. Sharing this expertise can have a significant impact on an organization or community group.

Your expertise may be used to:

• Share knowledge by delivering workshops
• Develop sustainable systems and programs
• Coach and guide non-profit personnel to develop HR skills
• Lead the development of policies and practices

The State of the Non Profit Sector
Nowhere can HR volunteers have a bigger impact than with non-profits. Sharing your skills with a sector that realistically can’t afford to hire human resources professionals, but badly needs their knowledge and skills, will result in a win-win situation for all parties.

Non-profit organizations contribute significantly to society and communities by supporting a large variety and cross-section of causes. However, Canadian non-profit organizations continue to bear the conflicting impact of budget cuts and increasing demands for their services; some organizations receive funding from various agencies, while many are required to raise funds through various activities for economic sustainability. As a result, non-profit organizations are highly dependent upon volunteers for the delivery of their services. 

In 2011, about 500 non-profit leaders from across Canada attended the National Summit for the Charitable and Non-profit Sector in Ottawa. During the summit, a working session had delegates identify three strategic actions related to HR (read related article):

• Need to build the capacity of organizations to implement and follow through on effective HR management policies and practices.
• Non-profits need to understand the role effective HR management practices can play.
• Many non-profit executive directors and boards lack core skills needed to implement effective HR management practices.

If you want to enrich your retirement, build your skills, do interesting work, or just share your expertise and give back, join the BC Human Resource and Non-Profit Exchange LinkedIn group. And those HR professionals who are still actively working are encouraged to join as well.

Carolynne Mahood, CHRP, creator/manager of the BC Human Resource and Non-Profit Exchange, is a semi-retired Human Resources practitioner, who still actively works with for and not for profit organizations, as a consultant and on a pro-bono basis, sits on the board of two non-profit organizations and instructs Human Resource courses part time at Vancouver Community College.