Need some feedback for my ideas of website related to NGO
Is it a good idea to start a website where NGO's can post volunteer's requirement just like jobs and people or students can apply to volunteer. Do u think there is a huge demand for such things? as far as I know people generally don't take volunteering in a NGO and they generally go for internships in some companies.
What u guys think? please give me support from your feedback
Thank you
Good initiative. LocalMotion is very similar to what you're thinking. I think it's a good reference. @Ayushmayank
I've been a volunteer recruiter for an international NGO, I have some insight into this area.
My first thought is that, as a quick web search would tell you, such websites exist in spades. There are general job sites that also list volunteer positions, there are sites that only list volunteer work, there are sites that only list positions at NGOs both paid and volunteer, there are voluntourism sites, there are international sites, local sites, the whole lot.
So thats my initial reaction: Yes, obviously there is (growing) demand, but its not exactly a new idea. There are incumbents, and it will be hard to carve out a niche.
However, it must be said that despite all this, it was still a huge pain in the ass to find, vet, onboard, and ultimately make volunteers actually show up. That was literally my whole job. So there is certainly a business here, its just not going to be as simple as "a job board for volunteer work." You need to be better than that. You need to be "not just a job board for volunteer work."
First of all thanks for ur support. As per ur expertise in this field I want to ask u some questions. 1. Do u get paid for ur job. 2. What perks people can expect other then money for volunteering in NGO. 3. Do u think people can get benefit by volunteering that can help in advancement in their career.
Sure,
The recruiter job was paid, yes. I was the in-house recruiter for a medium size international ngo, recruiting for about 100 positions a year in several countries.
There werent really "perks" in the employment sense, like you might get for a regular job; but depending on the position you might get housing, meals, maybe transport (like a moto or bicycle. Projects might have vehicles and drivers for work but they were not really for volunteers to use for whatever they want.) There would activities, trips, and events organised for volunteers to take part in, and the local staff often befriend volunteers and take them places.
There is certainly an aspect of career experience in some positions, more or less an even split between younger people getting a start in the field, and experienced experts and professionals who were either semi-retired or taking a break.
There are definitely organisations that do this sort of thing like https://do-it.org/ in the UK. So probably yes it is a good idea. I'd look around at what they do and either think what you can offer that's different - or maybe it's just not available in your area. I often think that it should be easier for people with specific skills eg coders to be able to put their skills to use for charity - as opposed to just giving money. So maybe that's a niche to explore?
I'm trying to validate an idea around charities - trying to make it easier - targeting people who don't give much or anything to charities but would if it was easier. So interested in this space
Thanks for ur feedback and the resource u shared with me. I am from India and there are not much website who address this problem. I want to know can we create some business idea from NGO job posting, like premium service just like other job sites. Do u think NGO's will pay for such features.
I'd love to help - but I'd just be guessing. I just read Freeboots comment who seems to have a good insight into the niche. But I would have guessed that yes NGOs would have budgets for this kind of thing - but that those budgets are probably tight...
As Freeboots said getting volunteers "to actually show up" is the hard part. If you could massively increase the top of the funnel and somehow pre-vet people so timewasters are filtered before they are passed on to NGOs internal recruitment then that is probably a cost saver/value add for them.
Pre-vetting people can be as simple as getting them to answer a questionnaire with probing questions. Most people will just drop out or be unable to answer them.
An example - I was once helping someone to find tenants for a property. After weeks of showing around people who were not serious, just sending a follow up email with a few questions like: what is your annual income and can you attach a recent payslip. The people who respond are much more interested and motivated to go further.
Another example - After an email response - call them on the phone to verify they answer the phone - verify their answers.
If you pass all of that information on - then you have something of real value. Basically lead generation