US
VSO might not want you, but there’s another element of the charity sector eager to enlist volunteers from the banking and financial sector.
Away from the organisations providing water to villages in Africa, there are charities which provide business consulting and coaching services to other charitable organisations. They need people to help with financial planning, business strategy or even HR or IT advice.
And they are keen to hear from financial professionals.
One such charity is Pilotlight, which counts JPMorgan, Coutts, Lazard and Barclays Capital among its corporate members.
It tends to focus on very senior people, so if you haven’t worked at MD level and above you need not apply.
Needless to say, you won’t get paid. Pilotlight also charges 1,300 a year to individual members volunteering their expertise.
Fiona Halton, chief executive of Pilotlight, tells us: “Firms that might have offered staff a shorter working week are now are viewing Pilotlight as another option for them. We’re also seeing people who have been made redundant re-thinking their careers and seeing us as a good place to start.”
If Pilotlight doesn’t take your fancy, you could also try Cranfield Trust, which offers things like financial management, and business and strategic planning to charities.
Amanda Tincknell, chief executive of the group, says the number of volunteers has trebled in the last two months alone, and a lot of new recruits are coming from the financial sector.
“The majority of enquiries we’re currently getting from charities are around financial scenario planning, managing finances and cash flow, so we’re keener than ever to hear from financial professionals.”
Then there’s Reach, a charity that offers business consulting services to voluntary organisations. Its membership increased by 15% in 2008 and it places around 1,500 volunteers a year.
Andrew Phillips, head of fundraising, says its not just redundant bankers that are making up the ranks.
“Financial firms are keen to lift their existing employees out of their comfort and provide them with a more rounded skill-set.”
Or you could just do this stuff, albeit on a smaller scale but it still looks good, whilst employed and earning. My bank endlessly offers the ability for all employees to take part in various charitable activities. My CV now looks amazing, like I’m this really warm, genuine person who takes part in educational mentoring, sponsoring orphans etc when in fact I’m a complete psycopath.
No need to state the obvious – we all know you are a psycopath!
Henry – it’s time for your soup….come along, put your bib on.
Corporate charity happy clappy fun day’s are always hilarious and pointless. A minion once asked could he not go and just donate his days pay to a properly skilled builder/conservationist/teacher rather than having to go across town to build a shack/feed ducks/read to kids.
Deep down, I think Henry does have a real hear inside him.
I have a small crush on Henry…
are you Henry in disguise ..you low life scumbag……it might do you good to spend a day helping people rather than just sitting on your bum inputting trades all day
Hannah,
It is a beautiful thing when 2 lonely people who spend most of their time posting on job sites find each other. You both seem very alike, which makes me wonder if you are one of Henry’s “other personalities”. We will have to consult Henry’s doctor to confirm this…..
i lik ehenry i said this before. He is Efinancial’s Alter Ego, and is placed here, so taht we can get all agitatede and fill the form with more pointless arguments with “Henry”… and.. it works!
Felix, Zaam is only telling the truth. IB’s et all couldn’t give a jot about charity etc,etc. It’s all PR rubbish. Why do you think the economy is in the state it is now? Selfish Greed and sod everyone else is their ideology.
I’m sure Barclays do a corporate fun day where they teach Millwall’s kids to read. An MD disappears for an afternoon, feels fulfilled, publishes some nonsense photos in the company newsletter about how they’re ‘part of the local community’ and something about stakeholders. He then goes back to structured capital markets to wheel multiples of the schools annual budget offshore. I’m not against charity or volunteering, indeed my workplace often has charity bobbins organised by people of their own bat (e.g someones child has a certain illness and they do a cake drive etc), these I’m okay with but the cynical tokenism of IBs being involved on a corporate level is breathtaking. They really what to make a difference, donate a fixed % of profits each year or pay taxes due without any chicanery. Otherwise admit that your a legal entity whose only duty, only purpose in law is to return as much money to shareholders as possible without any window dressing.