Why Become A Volunteer Treasurer

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?