The Challenges of Working in Not-for-Profit (Part 2)

In my last post I talked about the challenges of working in a not-for-profit organisation in terms of the implications of low budgets on staffing.
However, something I forgot to mention was the the issues that arise when outsourcing work.

I experienced the frustration of having project development delayed significantly due to the reliance on pro bono work, that is professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment or at a reduced fee as a public service.

The events and programs that Cancer Support WA run are not done so with the ultimate goal of generating large profits. The aim is basically to provide support services to those in need at a price they can afford while bringing in enough funds to keep it running. 
Due to this when CSWA needs to outsource a consultant or specialist for tasks their own staff can not effectively handle themselves they do not have the funds available to be highly selective, they have to take the best option they are provided with which tends to be companies offering services for free.

An example of where this affected me was when we wanted to improve our website and raise awareness of our project in the community. We needed a website redesigned to make it look more appealing to participants and other promotional materials produced to spread around the local area. No one in the office was able to do this to a high standard without compromising their normal workload so we required a graphic designer.
There was one lined up but it fell through and left us searching for an alternative which took weeks to find and held up the progress of a number of other areas of the campaign.  

The project I'm working on is running until the end of next year so realistically it's not that big of an issue that we've lost a few weeks here, I just wanted to help as much as I could in my short time at CSWA but now it looks like I'm not going to be able to go ahead with everything I had planned which is disappointing.

Not long to go now so I'd better just make the most of these last few days and do all that I can in the time I have left. 

Thanks for reading,
Kelsey 

The Challenges of Working in Not-for-Profit

I felt good about getting a placement at Cancer Support WA because it meant that in my 20 days not only would I be able to gain valuable experience in the Public Relations field but I would be able to lend a hand to an organisation that relies heavily upon volunteers.
It wasn't until about half way through my placement that I really saw the implications of this reliance.

While there are 15 paid staff employed at CSWA there are around 65 volunteers and 10 interns every year that make all of their programs and events possible.
Specifically in a PR context there are only two staff dedicated to marketing and communications.

It appears that a number of the volunteers helping out are involved in the organisation due to a personal connection - being touched by cancer in some way and wanting to give back to the organisation that helped them through a hard time.
This means that their volunteers are very passionate and willing to put in significant time and effort to ensure the organisation can continue to provide its valuable services.

I found an article on the topic that put it quite nicely by saying "the ability to attract, maintain, and develop human resources, places ongoing strains and stresses on the constancy of programme and service delivery for not-for-profits".
The organisation doesn't have the time or resources to thoroughly train all of its voluntary staff nor is it feasible for them to be constantly monitoring their work. Having to trust their work without quality control is a risk that leaves potential for a lot of errors and without any monetary incentive it is harder to set expectations and deadlines.

On the other hand, due to tight budgets the paid staff have both limited resources and very high expectations. They work incredibly hard to better the organisation but as there are so few of them their work load tends to be very big and they can't help but rely on their volunteers to get everything done, so the challenge is being able to strike a balance between paid staff and volunteers.

That's it for now, thanks for reading.

Kelsey