Jayne Cravens: As a Volunteer

Many people know me as a consultant regarding volunteer engagement, a speaker and trainer on volunteer engagement issues and as a manager of volunteers for nonprofits I work for.

But I am also a volunteer myself.

Being a volunteer myself, and committing to regularly volunteering myself, is one of the things I think distinguishes me from other consultants: I regularly volunteer, and I take on a variety of roles, with a variety of organizations, so that I can experience volunteer management from the "other" side.

I also volunteer for my own personal reasons, and I would volunteer even if I wasn't a nonprofit consultant researching for work. I guess I'm a typical Gen Xer in regards to why I volunteer: I don't volunteer primarily out of a sense of duty to my country, nor because I think I have to in order to pay society back, or nor because I think it's "nice"; I volunteer to make a difference, to have impact, in the causes I believe in, and for what I personally and professional gain out of doing so. I sometimes volunteer because I'm angry about something and want to DO something about it. I sometimes volunteer because an activity sounds fun.

Since returning to the USA in 2009, my emphasis in volunteering has been to put into practice what I encouraged United Nations agencies, national governments and other entities via my international work to do regarding building community trust, engaging local communities in local governance and supporting efforts that empower women and girls as leaders. Spoiler alert: it is way harder to live it than it is to teach it.

Some of my volunteer activities were undertaken simply because someone asked me , and I liked the idea of being associated with the particular organization or activity. And for some I thought, after being asked: hey, this will look great on my CV. Some volunteering activities I sought out specifically, because the organization is one I am a fan of, or because there was a particular type of volunteering activity I wanted to do.

I believe that there is nothing wrong with any motivation to volunteer, as long as the motivation isn't something destructive, the volunteer wants to do quality work, and the volunteer always puts the mission of the organization first when engaging in his or her activities (and priorities regarding, say, CV development or feeling good about yourself, second). I think it's important to remember that different people volunteer for very different reasons, and to respect and appreciate these differences -- and even to leverage these differences for the benefit of the organization. I do not believe that saying you want to help because the activity will look good on your CV or because you need the class credit means you give up the right to being called a volunteer.

What has kept me volunteering longer term for some organizations?

feeling that my contributions are valued by the organization and those it serves (which is rare among organizations)
regularly hearing from the organization about the difference my contributions have made (again, rarely do I hear about this)
working with other volunteers (very energizing)
getting the opportunity to do things I don't get to do in my professional work (participating in trainings outside of my area of expertise, for instance)
learning more about the cause and the conditions that have lead to the need for the organization or initiative: why don't some people register to vote? why don't many voters actually vote? what causes a disconnect between police and the communities they are supposed to serve? what challenges do Latina youth face, in particular?
having fun while volunteering
receiving regular communications; always feeling a part of the organization (never isolated or left out)

Here is a selected list of my advisory board experience, pro bono work, and other volunteer contributions to various organizations:

Mentoring colleagues in and from Afghanistan regarding immigration, career explorations and skill building, as well as simply letting them know I still care. I do this online. I don't do this through any formal organization. But I treated it with the same sense of responsibility and care as any other volunteering, and follow the safety practices I've volunteered under elsewhere. This volunteering requires a lot of time researching information, especially with regard to visas for a variety of different countries, verifying information that those I'm trying to help have heard, helping them get answers to questions like, "Can I get a GED online?" and more. It's the hardest volunteering, because I have no organization to say, "I'm struggling with such and such - how do I do this?" I'm entirely on my own.
I'm a regular contributor and editor on Wikipedia, since December 6, 2005, when I made my very first edit (I added a reference to "Red Banks" on the page for my hometown back in Kentucky - I was living in Germany at the time). My contributions include creating the original pages for Knowbility, Susan Ellis and San Franciisco Women of the Web. When the page, that someone else created, for International Year of Volunteers was deleted by Wiki editors for copyright violations, I re-created the page to meet the standards of Wikipedia, and though frequently edited and changed by others, my page still exists. I have created many other pages, and regularly contribute to various topics, all of which you can see on my contributor page, but I have to be careful, as all it takes is one cranky Wikipedia Snob to decide I'm "too close" to a subsject to write about it and to delete all of my contributions as a result (I'm forbidden from contributing anything to the online volunteering page, for instance). I also served as a member of the Enhance community health and culture task force, part of the Wikimedia Strategic Planning process, in 2009. If someone out there ever wants to create a Wikipedia page for ME, get in touch - I know better than anyone what it should say.
Current moderator of the subreddits for philanthropy, community service, volunteering in Oregon, inclusion and others Reddit. See my Reddit profile for groups I am currently moderating. I'm a former moderator of the Afghanistan subreddit, where my focus was attempting to keep attention on the situation for women there and to keep off anti-Islamic posts (including by the main moderator). I also am the former moderator of the volunteer subreddit, for more than 10 years, until just before 2025 ended; I grew the community exponentially because I took it from a group where people endlessly asked "Where can I volunteer" and "Where can I find volunteers" to more focused conversations and awareness-building, such as the need for more resources at nonprofits to effectively engage and support volunteers, ethics in volunteer engagement, safety both for and from volunteers, and where to find resources to help organizations better engage and support volunteers. Also posted resources to help young people understand the massive range of opportunities available to them to volunteer.
Volunteering with Habitat for Humanity International on a volunteer trip to Paraguay. March 2025. This was a big shock to some professional colleagues and some other folks who knew about my years of railing against voluntourism: paying a nonprofit to let you travel there and volunteer. But a few years ago, I changed my mind - evolved - and started to see real value for local people in voluntourism, as well as seeing a critical need for greater global understanding and empathy and a critical need for greater understanding of the needs of people in developing countries, or the environment, etc. There is nothing quite like volunteering for a person to feel much closer to an issue and feel like it matters. It became clear to me that there was ethical voluntourism and unethical voluntourism - and that Habitat for Humanity's program is most definitely the ethical kind. I wrote about my trip as a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and I wrote about the trip as a volunteer management expert.
Volunteering at American Red Cross blood drives in the county where I live. 2022. I have promoted volunteering for the Red Cross for many years, noted what a huge variety of volunteering opportunities they have to fit just about any schedule and interest, etc. I talked about them so much that I decided I need to actually do it myself. I was a "blood donor ambassador": I would look through the calendar of upcoming blood donation events and pick one that I could get to easily by walking or by mass transit or felt okay riding my motorcycle to (I don't have regularly access to a car). I greeted every donor and got them checked in, then made sure they knew about all the candy and juice and water we had available for their post-procedure time and watched them to make sure no one fainted. I did it just once a month, for almost a full year, mostly in 2022. I loved it! I gave it up for two reasons: 1) I got a paid job, and had trouble finding even one day a month where I could volunteer and 2) the scheduling web site broke and I could no longer look at a calendar and easily see all the available events and what still had openings (they had to switch to the old "here's a long list of days and events, you have to email us and figure out which have open slots") - all that back and forth to find a slot was just too inconvenient.
Serving on the Cultural Coalition of Washington County, Oregon, 2019 and 2020. The CCWC is one of the Community Boards and Commissions of Washington County. It serves as an advisory body to the Board of County Commissioners to promote the cultural identity, quality of life and economic vitality of the county and its arts, heritage and humanities organizations. The CCWC is also the re-granting board of the Oregon Cultural Trust in Washington County. The Oregon Cultural Trust receives its funding from donors who receive a generous state tax credit for giving as long as their contribution to the Trust is matched by equal or greater charitable gifts to any number of Oregon’s 1600 cultural non-profits. Washington County is home to over 100 heritage, humanities and arts nonprofits. I applied to be on this county commission and was appointed by the board. We met quarterly, for a year face-to-face and then mostly online. Right after I agreed to be the chair of the group, Washington County officials told us that we had to immediately form a 501 c 3 nonprofit if we wanted to continue to exist; I spent all of my only year as chair orchestrating this process, and then recruiting three new members for the board of directors, as myself and some others intended to quit, as we were not interested in the substantial time commitment required to be a board member.
For a few years, I contributed essays and commentary on WorldPulse, a nonprofit organization: "We are a worldwide sisterhood speaking out and lifting each other up." Here's my profile there. And here is an example of what I contributed to the community: My Journey to Virtual Volunteering, the United Nations & So Much More.
Member of and volunteering with the League of Women Voters Oregon - Washington County Unit. 2018-2019. I managed the @LWVWashcoOR Twitter account (I blogged about this experience here), helped register voters at public events where the League has a table and helped register voters and in other ways I could at public League events, such as candidate debates / issue forums. I suggested refinements to the web site that moved it to the top of a search for washington county league of women voters oregon (it didn't before) and increased the number of Twitter followers from about 30 to more than 200, and those followers included local elected officials, government offices and even the President of the national league.
Served on the Forest Grove, Oregon Public Safety Advisory Commission (PSAC), a council of residents (volunteers) and city staff members (police department, fire department, school district, etc.), which advises the Forest Grove City Council regarding public safety concerns, service levels, fiscal budgetary impacts and other issues that affect the safety and livability of neighborhoods. I applied to be on this commission and was appointed by city council. I tried to elevate the commission's focus to include bicycle and pedestrian safety, but I'm not sure I really did (Oregonians, contrary to their reputation, really do not like bicyclists nor pedestrians). I also asked a lot of questions - and these weren't welcomed. After I left, the group was disbanded. 2017-2019
Volunteered as an overnight host at a local temporary family shelter and advised a new, local coalition set up to help the homeless regarding communications and volunteer recruitment. I did the hosting three times. Never once got asked by anyone if a shift had gone okay (one didn't), if there were any challengeswere (there ), if I had any suggestions (I did). Never got training on appropriate and inappropriate things to say to clients or appropriate or inappropriate activities to engage with them. Never got told I was expected to provide childcare for two hours as a part of my shift. And the coalition did some things with its funds that I did not feel comfortable with. On and on... I quit. 2018. And I'm not naming either because I can't recommend them.
Online tutoring, mentoring and advising a colleague in Afghanistan. First I mentored her while she was at Kabul University when she was completing her Master's Degree project regarding the lack of women leaders in community and government organizations in Afghanistan, and why women's leadership in such is essential for development success in Afghanistan, as well as regarding her work at an Afghan government agency and her own career development. From 2008 - Spring 2013, I mentored her while she was in Australia studying for a second Master's degree at a university in Brisbane, helping her to understand assignments, recommending online resources for her assignments, reading her assignments before submission and asking questions to prompt her to do more research, and helping her to understand how to link what she was learning to her work in Afghanistan or any developing country. Then, I helped her in her work at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, mostly regarding reports she's writing and how to use social media to promote water and sanitation issues. I also flew to Chicago when she visited in 2019 as part of a State Department program so I could show her around a couple of evenings.
As an online volunteer, I regularly contributed career advice via Goodwill Industries' GoodProspects program, advising people who are looking for a job or a career change. 2012-2016.
Member, Canby Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee, 2010 - 2012. This government committee is made up of volunteers who work to keep informed about current trends in bicycle and pedestrian services and administration, to contribute to plans for bicycle and pedestrian services and facilities in Canby, and recommend policies related to the bicycle and pedestrian transportation system in our city. I initiated participation of the city in Clackamas Co. Tourism & Cultural Affairs' 'Bicycle Tourism Studio' in Nov. 2011; created & manage a Facebook page to announce activities & information related to bicycles & pedestrians in our city, & allows any Canby-area citizen to offer information and comments regarding bicycling and walking in our community; and directed events of the Walk+Bike to School Day for a local school when the original organizer was unable to do so at the last minute.
Various duties for Bpeace (Business Council for Peace), a UNIFEM partner and non-profit organization that mobilizes business professionals as volunteers to help entrepreneurs in countries emerging from war, to expand local businesses and create employment (and thereby build a peaceful, prosperous future). They started working in Rwanda and Afghanistan, but have had to switch to more stable but still-in-need countries. I've detailed my volunteering with BPEACE on a web page of its own. I volunteered here mostly from 2008 to 2013, though I still did stuff here and there, as asked, like drive one of their entrepreneurs in the Portland, Oregon area (our mass transit isn't as good as you may have heard), and help pass on some resources to an Afghan professional newly arrived in the San Francisco Bay area soon after the fall of Afghanistan, whom BPeace had worked with years before and had stayed in touch with (he needed advice on where to find public access TV outlets). That's one of the things I admire about this organization - they stay in touch with everyone they've ever worked with. They aren't working in Afghanistan anymore, but still care so, so much about their former clients there.

In November 2010, I received a VERA (Volunteer Excellence Recognition Award) from BPeace, in recognition for my online volunteering work with BPEACE which I detail here. I then posted a photo of myself holding the award online, posted it to my Facebook page, to my blog, etc. So in addition to making me feel a part of BPEACE and feeling appreciated for my contributions, I got to help further build excitement for an organization I care about and, I hope, recruit more volunteers for them. I hope that my endorsement of this organization means something - I'm rather picky about organizations I choose to say, "These folks are amazing!"
And in addition to that fabulous trophy pictured at left, I also got the fabulous DOSTI soccer ball pictured here as a thank you (made by women in Afghanistan - women that received support from other BPEACE volunteers). And, FYI, I connected with Bpeace via their posting once upon a time on VolunteerMatch.
Girl Scouts of the USA. From September 2009 to the summer of 2011, I was the volunteer communications coordinator for Service Unit 12 (includes all troop leaders and other Scouts volunteers in Canby, Colton, and Molalla, Oregon - South Clackamas County, Oregon), part of the Girl Scouts Oregon and Southwest Washington (a regional office of the Girl Scouts of the USA). Most of my volunteer service was performed online, from my home - while Girl Scouts counted that as volunteering, they do not keep track of how many people are providing online volunteering service with the organization (they probably have no idea that there are several hundred, even thousands, of online volunteers supporting Girl Scouts!). I also did some very traditional volunteering, so I could feel more connected to the Girl Scouts program and so I could relate to traditional volunteering in my consulting and trainings, including helping at event registration/welcome tables and helping at a weekend camp - yes, I lead groups of girls on daily hikes, something most of my friends have a really hard time imagining, as well as cooking one of the evening meals for about 100 girls (yikes). I left because the troop leaders in my area weren't interested in things like STEM-related activities for girls - they wanted to stick to jewelry-making and spa days. I also could never find volunteering opportunities to support girls regarding hiking and camping beyond that one overnight camp experience I had.
Volunteer Coordinator, Advice Page Editor and Forum Moderator for Aid Workers Network (AWN). Dec. 2007 - Dec. 2008. Advisory board member for AWN, providing information about board governance and nonprofit management to the organization behind the forum, as well as a frequent poster to the forum to answer questions about volunteerism and civil society capacity-building. 2004-2006.
Online mentor for new women bloggers in Kenya, through Fahamu and the Women's Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC), to help them learn to use blogs as a method of democratic expression and empowerment. 2008.
Online mentor for the inaugural Blogs for African Women (BAWo) Mentoring Project, focused on women living in Nigeria, to help them learn to use blogs as a method of democratic expression and empowerment. 2008.
One-on-one career counseling volunteer (online) for students interested in careers in international development work, through Open University (where I completed my Master's Degree) and its OU Career Links program, 2004-2007. Also a participant in the OU's Careers Quick Queries Forum, advising OU undergrad students regarding volunteering for career experience and working in international development. 2011.
Online mentor for the Young Caucasus Women Blog Project, for small group of young women from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia living as exchange students in the USA. January - March 2006.
Online volunteer, contributing volunteer management resources and commentary, to CYBERVPM. 1998-2006
Providing advice regarding board development and management for Pearls of Africa. 2005.
Through onlinevolunteering.org: advisory board member/online volunteer regarding increasing volunteer involvement for the Youth Resource Center of Guria, in Georgia (formerly part of the Soviet Union). 2004
Advisory board member and onsite event volunteer for Knowbility and its Accessibility Internet Rally (AIR) events in Austin, Texas. 1998-2004
Facilitator of the soc.org.nonprofit / NONPROFIT online discussion group, 1997 - 2000 (I think those dates are right... it seems so long ago...), and frequent poster to the group to answer questions about volunteerism and civil society capacity-building. 1995 - 2005
Online mentor with a fourth grade girl in Austin Texas, part of the Sanchez Elementary School Online Mentoring Program, to help build students writing abilities and to reinforce good practices in online safety (2000)
Online and onsite volunteer with HerDomain, based in Austin, Texas, advising on membership outreach and staffing the booth at SXSW, as well as actually working at said booth, and serving food at one of the evening events. 1997-1999.
Organizing committee member advising on online mentoring for the Governor's Mentoring Initiative (Texas). 1999
Judging panelist for the Governor's Volunteer Awards (Texas). 1999
Online volunteer advising on nonprofit creation and management, and web master, for Twangfest. 1998-1999
Board member in charge of communications for the Austin DOVIA chapter (Directors of Volunteers in Agencies). 1997-1999
Judge for the National Volunteer Awards by Women in Community Service (WICS). 1998
Member of the Nonprofits' Policy and Technology Working Group, sponsored by OMB Watch. 1997-2000
Onsite volunteer helping with online communications for the Texas Freedom Network. 1996 - 1997
Onsite volunteer helping with database issues for the Texas Abortion Rights Action League (TARAL). 1996
Onsite and online volunteer with Impact Online from 1994 - 1996, helping to support organizations using this pioneering volunteer-sign-up service (it later became VolunteerMatch).
Member of the 1995-96 San Jose (California) Festival, Parade and Celebration Grant Review Committee. That included reading all of the proposals submitted by various community groups, then spending a day giving feedback to representatives of these groups regarding their proposals and telling them how much funding we were recommending the city give them in support. It was, at times, very tense - many community representatives were not happy with our findings. The range of quality in proposals was massive - it was amazing how some of the most well-written were light on facts and figures and specific goals, while some of the more poorly-written proposals, in terms of grammar, had specific details on what they were trying to accomplish and what city funds would pay for.
Compiling, editing and coordinating production and distribution of the newsletter for the South-Bay chapter of the California Abortion Rights Action League, staffing public information booths for the chapter, conducting a workshop for all Northern California chapters regarding creating effective newsletters, and participating in an intensive two-day training by the National Abortion Rights Action League for North Western state offices regarding countering campaigns by religious fundamentalists, then training South Bay grass roots volunteers, including from the local chapter of Planned Parenthood, in a mini-workshop later. 1992-1994
Member of the first technology advisory committee for the Nonprofit Support Center in San Francisco (1993?)

You can also read a long list of causes I actively support as a volunteer or donor.

Did I volunteer as a child? Indeed! As a teenager, I stuffed envelopes for St. Anthony's Hospice in Henderson, Kentucky and helped in the radiology department as a candy striper for what was then Henderson Community Methodist Hospital. Also as a teen volunteer, I escorted kids from Henderson, Kentucky participating in the Kentucky State Special Olympics in Bowling Green. As a pre-teen (way back in the 70s), I was a Junior Girl Scout (and before that, a brownie) but, sadly, my troops never engaged in volunteering activities.

If you have read this page in its entirety, then here's a fun tidbit for you: my volunteering, and attempts at volunteering, have lead to a LOT of blog posts. A LOT. You can find a list here of all of the blog posts these experiences inspired, through 2012. Many of the blogs are about, or inspired, by my own negative experiences with volunteering. What you won't see as you read these blog posts is the name of the organization I'm talking about. I've done my best to keep out information that would immediately identify organizations to a reader. All of the organizations I volunteer with are informed that I blog, but they either don't read my blogs or don't realize I'm talking about them in these blog posts. All organizations I volunteer with are informed in a conversation or email communication regarding any negative experience I have; it is often their lack of response that leads to a blog. Only one organization I've volunteered for has written to ask if any of these blogs were about them, and I was so happy to tell them, no, not at ALL - of course it's one of the organizations that does such a great job of supporting volunteers that would worry a volunteer wasn't happy, while those that do a poor job probably haven't even read these blogs! I'm not at all trying to be passive-aggressive; I'm trying, as a consultant and trainer, to give real-world examples to help those that work with volunteers or those charged with communications for their agency to do the best, most responsive job they can.

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