Hands On Greater Portland

This place is a great resource and for all I know it does even more stuff than I’m remotely aware. But I have volunteered for three different non-​profit organizations through Hands on Portland. The best part is how very easy it is to do! You look at the calendar (
), you find something that sounds interesting, you click on it to learn more and then you sign in and sign up. or something that includes those steps.
But the organization seems, well — disorganized. I’m not entirely sure they know who’s doing what and what isn’t getting done. I’ve been at one non-​profit now for many months volunteering. But the only time I ever went through Hands-​On is the first time. So I have worked with lots of Hands On people, some amazing, some less so, some paid, some not — I couldnt tell you which was which, and that says something in iself.
I know that they are part of the United Way. I know that they work with companies to get them involved as well as giving credit for employee’s volunteer hours. That’s cool. But if a volunteer shows up 30 minutes late for an hour long volunteer gig, they just sign them in. And in some cases, the non-​profits are providing very little guidance or don’t know how to manage/​use a volunteer efficiently — they are part of the same skill. There’s very little accountability, and I’m way too anal retentive for that.
I think the trick in general is to find one contact person at the organization who’s willing and able to work with you to make a volunteer project or situation better. But it’s more than possible that by the time you find that person, they will have moved on to another project or another job.