Traditionally, people who have
little or no experience with volunteering consider it an activity in which you
give something directly to the community. You can spend time with the elderly,
help prepare food for the homeless, take part in the cleaning of a certain
public location or work with animals that are in need of a new home. However,
not many people realise that volunteering can also include what they are good
at – including design and programming, writing, marketing, or accounting and
financial processes. In this post, we will discuss why it is a good idea to
become a volunteer treasurer and use your skills to help the organisation of
your choice.
Feeling Good
Feeling good is arguably the
most important reason why people become volunteer treasurers or take any other
volunteer role. Knowing that you help someone, even if it is indirectly –
through managing a NFP organisation’s finances, will bring you a feeling of
satisfaction and true happiness.
Learning Useful Career Skills
If you are planning to work in
the field of finance and accounting full time, being a volunteer treasurer can
be a great start for your career. You will work in a real financial environment
where you can gain useful insight and practical experience and hone your
skills, especially if you are new to the field or if you haven’t worked in it
for years. There is no better preparation for the financial world than diving
in the books of a real organisation and starting to sort out any problems or
situations that may occur, while trying to improve its financial processes,
triggers and practices.
Making a Difference
Volunteering is all about making
a difference, isn’t it? However, in your case you will be making the difference
backstage – making sure that all the donations and collections, the available
funds and resources and all other money are safe, appropriately allocated,
wisely spent and, hopefully, multiplied. The difference you make will be on a
different level – you will not be out on site motivating people to donate. Instead,
you will make sure the efforts of other volunteers will not go in vain and
every cent donated will be spent for the best possible purpose.
Supporting your Cause
Many consider the role of a
treasurer or a board member less important and exciting one than the job of the
activists of the organisation. However, it is important to remember that every
charity needs its treasurer. We could go as far as saying that the treasurer is
the backbone of every NFP organisation – without them, the finances would be a
mess and the board may not have the financial insight to take future money
decisions, including preparing the budget, creating new financial milestones
and goals and cutting or expanding on different spending areas.
As you can see, being a
volunteer treasurer can be much more useful for the organisation than people
tend to think. Moreover, volunteering your time in such a way has a number of
benefits for you as well – improving and expanding your skills, adding some
valuable records to your CV, making new connections and finding like-minded
people. In other words, being a volunteer treasurer is worth it and has a
number of advantages for you, the organisation and the community. After knowing
all this, you would consider giving it a go, wouldn’t you?
