[HN Gopher] Volunteer.gov: Discover volunteer opportunities arou...
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Volunteer.gov: Discover volunteer opportunities around the country
Author : KoftaBob
Score : 148 points
Date : 2023-11-18 09:50 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.volunteer.gov)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.volunteer.gov)
| oooyay wrote:
| There's two opportunities open at Crater Lake that are literally
| full time jobs in search and rescue.
| GavinMcG wrote:
| _Preventative_ search and rescue, for at least one--which is
| the opposite of what you 'd typically imagine "search and
| rescue" entails, and if effective, obviates the need.
| oooyay wrote:
| It does require going on dangerous trails in inclement
| weather and it's a full time job. That was more my point.
| Seems like things that should be paid.
| umvi wrote:
| Nice, didn't know about this.
|
| Perhaps much smaller in scope, but justserve.org is a good one
| for finding service/volunteer opportunities in your local
| community
| styxfrix wrote:
| > JustServe.org is provided as a service by The Church of Jesus
| Christ of Latter-day Saints.
|
| hmm...
| idiotsecant wrote:
| Careful, you might accidentally interact with someone with
| different ideas than you!
| jimmygrapes wrote:
| Say what you will about Mormon/LDS religious beliefs, but I
| have never met anybody more selfless and pleasant when it
| comes to volunteering and caring for those in need. I've been
| a recipient of that kindness and co-participant in many
| volunteer activities with them, and not once felt like there
| was any attempt to push a belief on me other than "be kind to
| others". I probably wouldn't want to join them at church or
| read their literature other than as entertainment, but the
| individual people don't deserve all the hate that the church
| gets as a whole.
| fragmede wrote:
| Do you have a specific allegation here or are you just
| casting aspersions because you don't like the LDS church?
| WarOnPrivacy wrote:
| My state has 15 physical opportunities and 1 for data work. The
| closest physical option is 4 hours away.
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| https://codeforamerica.org/ might have more flexible, remote
| opportunities.
| KennyBlanken wrote:
| > We aren't accepting new volunteers for this program at the
| moment. Please check back in early October for further
| updates.
| tootie wrote:
| There are few if any ways to do voluntary software
| development. At least not for a charity org. Few of them need
| software work and of those that do it's really hard to just
| bring in volunteers have them do something useful. Probably
| the best thing you can do is just work on useful open source.
| saulpw wrote:
| These all appear to be full-time unpaid work? Like the
| expectations are incredibly joblike and the pay is free housing
| and a visitor's pass to all national parks.
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| They are volunteer opportunities, typically sought by folks who
| don't need an income (retirees, students, etc). If you're
| looking for paid work, there are alternatives:
|
| https://www.usajobs.gov/
|
| https://www.whitehouse.gov/climatecorps/
| boomboomsubban wrote:
| I wasn't expecting paid work, but I also wasn't expecting
| "come live in this cabin for several months while you work
| full time in a visitors bureau."
|
| The map data entry opportunity that seems to be available in
| every state was closer to what I expected, some projects
| people could spend a few hours a week on in their hometown.
| arrakeenrevived wrote:
| You can filter the opportunities to only show "Event" types
| (as opposed to "Position" types) which are things like one-
| off volunteer events like this one:
| https://www.volunteer.gov/s/volunteer-
| opportunity/a093d00000...
|
| But in general, I agree with you. From what I can tell,
| even though this is just broadly called "volunteer.gov", it
| really seems like it's specific to the Bureau of Land
| Management/National Park Service, and is missing a large
| amount of types of positions that I think most people would
| expect when they think "go volunteer".
| anjel wrote:
| Old enough to recall a time when parks and museums were
| free of admission costs as was the parking? Congress in
| all its wisdom slashed those budgets but good over the
| last 4 decades and these job postings are symptomatic of
| these Bureau of Land Management/National Park Service
| fiscal funding revisions as well.
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| A family member works one of these jobs, so it's probably
| my bias that this is reasonable. They love it and live off
| a military pension, getting to live in the wilderness (a
| national park near the Canadian border) and provide service
| to others who want to experience it.
| boomboomsubban wrote:
| There's really only two kinds of people I can see going
| for these. Those like your family member, with a steady
| revenue source and a desire to spend 40+ hours a week in
| a park anyway, and those hoping to leverage this into a
| paying gig.
|
| This isn't a bad thing, just isn't what I expected when I
| saw this post.
| codemac wrote:
| There is some crazy stuff in these volunteer positions:
| https://www.volunteer.gov/s/volunteer-opportunity/a093d00000...
| Volunteers are expected to contribute a minimum of three 8-hour
| shifts per week (8:45AM-5:15PM) with a half hour lunch for a
| period of three to four months. Weekend
| availability is required. Consecutive days off
| are offered, except in unusual circumstances.
|
| Days off are offered? lol
| hanniabu wrote:
| > Consecutive days off
|
| "Consecutive days off" is much different than "days off"
| slimsag wrote:
| Might not be all that crazy; people are often sentenced by
| courts to perform community service - perhaps related?
|
| There's also apparently a volunteer -> actual employment
| process for national park service.
| synergy20 wrote:
| is there a site to students for volunteering hours or regular
| volunteering
| Isthatablackgsd wrote:
| This is neat thing! Is there similar site for non-profit
| organizations or private sectors?
| lcall wrote:
| https://justserve.org if available in your area.
| hoppyhoppy2 wrote:
| https://volunteermatch.org
| KennyBlanken wrote:
| Warning to any mobile users: the site has an enormous banner
| image that is absolutely crawling over a high speed wired
| connection. I'm going to guess some idiot uploaded a high
| resolution PNG...
|
| There's a general "search" field with no indication of how to
| search for a geographical area.
|
| I did a search and everything that comes up are janitorial
| positions for the national park service. In what reality are
| people going to volunteer to scrub bathrooms for tourists?
| WarOnPrivacy wrote:
| The thing about volunteer sites, the first one you visit can be
| impractical or worse, especially if it was placed in front of
| you.
|
| If I search for->thru a half doz volunteer sites, I tend to find
| usable opportunities.
|
| Case in point: americorps.gov. Enter zip code; go to the results
| page. Distance is 20mi. Results: 1-4 are four states away, 5-6
| are virtual, 6 is seven states away. 8-9 duplicate Exchange
| Student hosting. 10-11 are nearby and look like what I'd expect.
|
| Volunteerism is trust-based and confusing me at step 1 isn't the
| best way there.
|
| habitat.org. My zipcode yields HFH offices (not build locations).
| None in my county. I imagine there's an (reasonable!) onboarding
| process beyond a background check. There are HFH stores that are
| closer; they prob have volunteers. It's not obvious on this page
| that there's somewhere I can click to find a FAQ or a splainer
| about different opportunities.
|
| volunteermatch.org. This seems more inviting+useful. My zipcode
| gets me 2 dozen nearby opportunities with locations, informative
| headlines and brief descriptions. All right on the results page.
|
| These were from the top results of a Kagi search. There are quite
| a few beyond that that look worth clicking into.
| beams_of_light wrote:
| Anecdote: My wife has been in volunteer management for quite a
| while now, and in her multiple roles has used Volunteer Match.
| It's a good platform, both for volunteers and organizers.
| pierat wrote:
| Really? Why the hell should I volunteer to work for one of the
| richest governments in the world? What are they going for? The
| wealthy and bored housewives?
|
| I have no issue with volunteering for non-profits to do things
| like food distribution and homeless shelters. But volunteering
| for the USG? HAH fuck you pay me.
| idiotsecant wrote:
| We _are_ the government. It 's just people. The more rural and
| remote you get, the more this is true. There are countless
| volunteer search and rescue, firefighter, food distribution,
| etc in rural areas who volunteer to help because they want to
| improve and safeguard the community. This is the natural state
| of humanity, it just gets weird once you have enough people in
| one place that you need to make abstractions like 'government'
| instead of 'joe who has a snowmobile and does s&r for the town
| when needed'
| pierat wrote:
| That's not true. It's an organization made up of people, but
| is something distinctly different that individuals.
|
| Again, I made a point to say I'm for actual volunteer work,
| but doing so for a organization with trillions of dollars not
| even accounted for is laughable. Joing a group for SaR is
| completely different than a job and not paid.
|
| And, at the same time the federal government is begging for
| free labor, they're selling our national parks to Booze Allen
| Hamilton for $$$$$$
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37549569
| mistrial9 wrote:
| the (implied) social contract around volunteering is "everything"
| .. here in California I was bluntly told by my Japanese colleague
| "never volunteer, you are being taken advantage of"
|
| true to his words, the only volunteer contact I got with that guy
| later was to be an usher at an exclusive dot-com event in San
| Francisco, pre-covid.. I did do it to hear the speakers, and lo-
| and-behold, the organizers mostly thought of the volunteers as
| worthless suckers.. you could see it. And, volunteers got the
| 'show up on time' authority talk from a typical hotel-worker-
| manager type, too! awful
| circuit wrote:
| Quite a few of these "opportunities" are asking a LOT of
| volunteers, implicitly asking for unpaid labor. These are not
| your typical "volunteer a few hours a week helping fix up a
| school/sorting at a food bank/helping the homeless" to give back
| to your community.
|
| Look at this[1] particular ask:
|
| > Applicants must be available to work a minimum of 32 hours per
| week.
|
| > [minimum 3 month commitment with possibility to extend to a
| year] ... Weekend and holiday work is required.
|
| > shovel snow for extended periods of time, hike-ski-snowshoe in
| extreme weather conditions with a 35-pound backpack at 7,000ft,
| live in remote locations with regularly snow packed roads.
|
| > Groceries and shopping facilities are approximately 60 miles
| away; reliable personal transportation is required.
|
| [1] https://www.volunteer.gov/s/volunteer-
| opportunity/a093d00000...
| stephenr wrote:
| I think you missed out this part:
|
| > Housing is included
| circuit wrote:
| You missed the last half of that sentence. It's a room, not a
| house, that you will be likely be sharing with someone else.
|
| > room in a shared apartment or house.
| arrakeenrevived wrote:
| The target audience of volunteers for this type of position
| are people that are probably used to happily sleeping in
| tents and eating camp food for days/weeks at a time. I
| don't think they'd mind.
| abluecloud wrote:
| guess it's a race to the bottom then
| Apocryphon wrote:
| It's for the self-selecting who see it as an experience,
| not a race.
| stephenr wrote:
| Why would you expect it to be an entire house for one
| person? It's a volunteer position in a national park, not
| Jimmy Carters newest deal: homes for extremely introverted
| humans.
| hyperhopper wrote:
| As somebody that's enjoyed many months living exclusively
| in hostels:
|
| You're out of your mind. Homes should be a standard.
| That's like, one of the basic human wants/needs as an
| organism. And having the privacy of your own space is
| essential to the human psyche.
| lazyasciiart wrote:
| What?
| hyperhopper wrote:
| Which part are you confused about? I like to have a lock
| on my door.
| abluecloud wrote:
| does that include food and drink?
| kjlkjlkjkj wrote:
| healthcare too? and food and pension?
| seabass-labrax wrote:
| I don't know how it works across the pond, but in Britain,
| some amount of volunteer activity is allowed whilst
| officially unemployed. This means that the country
| contributes National Insurance payments on your behalf so
| that you'll be able to receive treatment by the National
| Health Service and a state pension.
|
| https://www.gov.uk/guidance/volunteering-and-claiming-
| benefi...
|
| https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits/eligibility
| michaelmrose wrote:
| On this side of the pond unemployment is mostly 13-26
| weeks of a fraction of the money you earned previously
| and requires you to be actively seeking and available for
| work. You can neither be volunteering nor pursuing
| education even if you are laid off and need training in
| another field.
|
| In some particularly stingy places this is as little as
| the equivalent of 80 pounds per week whereas rent is oft
| closer to 800 pounds per month.
|
| In many cases its something you receive later after weeks
| or months of bureaucratic wrangling after you would long
| ago have lost your housing if you didn't have any of your
| own money saved.
|
| Hell we make sure you can't exploit the system by getting
| food stamps or housing help while going to college even
| if you are poor as a church mouse.
|
| Heck we set the benefits threshold low enough that as you
| move from part time employment to full time employment
| the poorest households experience a hump where if you
| move to full time you may end up poorer than you started
| because you lose more benefits than you gain income. This
| is especially true if you go from free medical care to
| $500-$800 out of pocket.
|
| Because most professions don't involve doubling your
| wages regularly one has to in effect agree to take on
| more work to climb into greater poverty in order to work
| your way out the other side IF increasing costs ever let
| you get ahead in the first place.
|
| One of the most attractive ways OUT of permanent poverty
| is naturally a college education however this will almost
| certainly be by way of borrowing tens of thousands of
| dollars but since you don't qualify for benefits during
| your education and you need to keep eating and living
| inside you are liable to need to continue to work full
| time which creates a much higher chance of failure which
| stands to leave you without a degree with thousands of
| dollars of undischargable debt.
|
| This concludes our tour of one of the shitty parts of
| America.
| constantly wrote:
| Where exactly are you drawing the line before using scare
| quotes around volunteering? Is 10 hours a week too much? Is
| requiring transportation too much? Would working at 5,000ft vs
| 7,000ft be ok?
|
| For what it's worth: if I were at a time in my life where I
| could do the linked opportunity, I absolutely would. Even
| better would be an Antarctica opportunity for a winter season.
| circuit wrote:
| Depends on the person, but requiring anything over 30 hours a
| week to me is part-time work commitment, and compensation is
| deserved
| constantly wrote:
| Then if I were you, I would absolutely not take any
| volunteer opportunities that don't meet this criterion.
| Otherwise, in some cases these seem like amazing
| opportunities that pay in experiences much more valuable
| than money. Working at Crater Lake would be a dream come
| true for me.
| zlg_codes wrote:
| I'm sure _experience_ can pay my bills...
| hiatus wrote:
| Since when is volunteering supposed to pay your bills??
| zlg_codes wrote:
| Do bills stop existing because one chooses to volunteer?
| Volunteering is an economic decision every bit as
| impactful as a job.
| dragonwriter wrote:
| > Do bills stop existing because one chooses to
| volunteer?
|
| Bills don't stop existing because I choose to eat a watch
| a sunset, either, but I don't ask if watching a sunset is
| going to pay my bills. People obviously need a way to pay
| their bills, and lots of activities they might engage in
| aren't part of that. If _you_ aren 't in a position where
| you can do an activity because of what _you_ need to do
| to pay your bills, than that activity clearly isn 't for
| you, but unless you were personally and specifically
| solicited for that activity by someone who should have
| been aware of your personal circumstances, I don't see
| how that warrants anything besides "well, that's not for
| me".
|
| Your circumstances aren't universal.
| dragonwriter wrote:
| No, it can't, but then, volunteering isn't a job, and its
| function isn't to pay your bills.
|
| A particular volunteer opportunity may not be interesting
| to you, because of the time commitment and the
| opportunity cost of sacrificing paid work, or because you
| aren't interested in the particular area of volunteer
| work, or because you just aren't interested in donating
| labor in general, but... so what? The posting of the
| volunteer opportunity isn't a personal solicitation aimed
| at you, either.
| stephenr wrote:
| I don't think you understand what volunteer means.
| circuit wrote:
| It's called having boundaries. I volunteer on the
| weekends and some weekdays at a local homeless shelter. I
| volunteer at the local library. I will be volunteering at
| our local food bank to help support food insecure
| families. It's a good way to get grounded in your
| community and impart some real positive impact on your
| fellow neighbors.
|
| What I will not do is be exploited for free labor by the
| USGS who can absolutely afford to pay someone to do the
| contract work they are asking for. But by all means, if
| you want to, go for it.
| arrakeenrevived wrote:
| Your boundaries aren't the same as someone else's
| boundaries, and just because someone else has different
| boundaries doesn't mean they don't have any at all.
|
| Some people wouldn't want to spend their weekends working
| at a homeless shelter unless they were paid for it, but
| would happily spend time in a national park without being
| paid for it, and don't see it as being "exploited". You
| have different values/interests, and that's fine, but I
| don't know why you're trying so hard to be condescending
| to people that just have different interests than you do.
| stephenr wrote:
| > if you want to, go for it
|
| They described a _high_ of 4degc as "mild". Fuck that.
|
| But that isn't my point: people do all sorts of things to
| volunteer for others/organisations. Just because you
| wouldn't do it unpaid doesn't mean it isn't volunteering.
| dragonwriter wrote:
| Any labor _deserves_ compensation. Volunteering is choosing
| to donate labor, not doing labor that doesn 't deserve
| compensation. That's true if its 1 hour every other week or
| 40 hours a week, not a function of the time commitment.
|
| IF and how much any given person is willing and, given
| their other circumstances, able to donate is, obviously,
| highly variable between people.
| no_circuit wrote:
| Some people may see the use of the word volunteering as
| virtue signaling, it depends on the audience. IMO, if you
| assist at the local blood bank during a donation drive after
| a disaster -- that's volunteering. If you are retired and/or
| rich and can afford to go do Antarctica to assist with
| research for three months as an essential role or not --
| that's free labor.
|
| A person living paycheck-to-paycheck may view the Antarctica
| opportunity as pompous, but environmental-club peers may view
| it as volunteering to save the planet and deserves a round of
| cheers with drinks in hand.
| mistrial9 wrote:
| somewhat similar to unpaid internships for adults who have
| finished an expensive 18 month MBA program? slightly worse?
| stephenr wrote:
| I'd wager the volunteers are less annoying to be around.
| arrakeenrevived wrote:
| Some of these postings are indeed asking a lot, but I don't
| think this specific one is that crazy. It's essentially an
| opportunity to live out in the wilderness and go hiking
| regularly, with free housing provided in exchange for
| maintenance and rescue work. I know a lot of outdoors
| enthusiasts that would love to do that. Hell, I know a lot of
| outdoors enthusiasts that would probably do it without the free
| housing, or even pay out of pocket to do it (see also: PCT or
| Appalachian Trail hikers).
| waveBidder wrote:
| not exactly what I'd describe as volunteering though.
| apwell23 wrote:
| yea thats more like barter
| lazyasciiart wrote:
| No. It's a legal status that says you will perform work
| for a registered nonprofit and they will cover some of
| the costs you incur, but you will not come out
| materially/financially ahead.
| bruce511 wrote:
| I'm going to suggest a new term here - "context
| dissonance". This occurs when you see something, and
| because it doesn't apply to your context, you can't imagine
| it applying to any context.
|
| For example, you use Linux, and can't understand why anyone
| would use Windows. Or you're a work-from-home fan and can't
| understand why some people want to work in an office, or
| why management might need it.
|
| Or, as in thus case, if you work primarily for money the
| idea of a job that pays in something other than money seems
| exploiting.
|
| Whereas, of course, there are lots of people who have
| enough money to meet their needs, and are instead looking
| for something else. Solitude, Community, Experience and so
| on.
|
| I don't say this to be disrespectful at all, but part of
| maturing is in understanding that others can have a
| different point of view of things. We don't all have to be
| the same, with the same goals.
|
| These are unpaid positions, with specific requirements and
| benefits. Clearly they don't sppareal to you and thats
| fine, but perhaps, just perhaps, there's someone out there
| this is perfect for.
| sharkweek wrote:
| I can't do it right now (young family, work
| responsibilities) but if I'm fortunate enough to retire
| at a reasonable age and am in good health, I 100% plan on
| doing these extended volunteering opportunities with NPS
| or other similar more localized efforts.
|
| There are so many things I complain about in the US but
| our national parks and the services that make them
| accessible are not one of them.
|
| I truly believe capital E everyone benefits from spending
| time in nature, and want to find ways to support this
| however I can. I really appreciate the feelings I get
| after extended periods of time in the woods/mountains.
| nonrandomstring wrote:
| > "context dissonance"
|
| I like that and think it fits here.
|
| Some people can't imagine picking up litter or caring for
| the elderly as anything but torture and humiliation. For
| others, the chance to do it, to feel valued is what makes
| life. Context might be that you became unemployed and
| just got sick of seeing garbage in your street.
|
| During the pandemic cabin fever drove me out to do
| volunteering at the church and vaccine drop-ins.
|
| I volunteered a lot in my 20s. Homeless patrols handing
| out blankets etc. The typical "Kibbutznik" doesn't go to
| dig soil expecting it to be a picnic, but to satisfy a
| bunch of other drives. At a certain age you have a ton of
| energy, a desire to meet people, and the world you know
| seems too small.
|
| Of course that's always a good recruitment chance for
| armies, but I was taken with William James' "Moral
| equivalent of war", at least the abstract ideas and
| insightful social psychology. There are thousands of
| environmental and rebuilding projects that need doing -
| but won't get done - because it falls outside the realm
| of "capital".
|
| The problem is when profitable interests and corporate
| workflows intersect with altruistic labour supply. It's
| obvious the most cynical sort of exploitation is afoot.
| Many large organised charities suffer from being poisoned
| that way, I've heard.
|
| I guess before volunteering for an org these days one
| should do a lot of diligence, check out who runs things,
| who they're associated with, and whose ethics are behind
| whet you see on face value.
| rocket_surgeron wrote:
| There are some people for who this is the opportunity of a
| lifetime.
|
| PSAR volunteers are also called Trailhead Stewards and
| people who care a lot about the environment and the health
| and safety of people flock to these positions. You get
| training, accommodation that is impossible to obtain
| otherwise, and experience. There is almost always a waiting
| list for trailhead stewards.
|
| I'm a watershed steward so I spend a ludicrous number of
| hours poking around storm drains, parking lots, and
| streams, writing and giving presentations, compiling
| reports, and wrangling volunteers for cleanup and drainage
| projects all in exchange for $0.00.
|
| I like sailing and swimming and fishing and I want my local
| rivers and bays to be clean. If I liked hiking in the
| mountains I'd probably be a trailhead steward.
|
| Here's a video with some psar volunteers: https://www.flick
| r.com/photos/grand_canyon_nps/51252679717/i...
| GavinMcG wrote:
| These full-time positions are fairly common at National Park
| Service (or other agency-managed) public lands, and are
| attractive to retirees. I was a paid (and housed) intern at one
| site, but I lived alongside three or four couples in their RVs.
| Some used it as a way to vacation, while for others it was more
| of a lifestyle, volunteering for four months at one location,
| then traveling for a couple months before volunteering at
| another location.
| karaterobot wrote:
| This feels like making something into a problem when it's not a
| problem. These are volunteer opportunities, no money is being
| offered and that's made very clear. People volunteer because
| they want to do something, or feel like it needs to be done.
| That's what volunteering is, that's the opportunity that's on
| the table, this website lists those opportunities.
| giantg2 wrote:
| Those last 2 are just business as usual for anybody who already
| lives in those area.
| dragonwriter wrote:
| > Quite a few of these "opportunities" are asking a LOT of
| volunteers, implicitly asking for unpaid labor.
|
| Its not implicit, "volunteer" is the word for a non-coerced
| unpaid laborer.
| efd6821b wrote:
| Don't worry about it, son; you're not the kind that the
| National Park Service nor Search and Rescue is looking for.
| michaelmrose wrote:
| It's asking a lot because the vast majority of folks can't
| not work unless they also want to stop eating or become
| homeless after the end of the season not because they
| implicitly lack the commitment. It's also unpaid labor for a
| government with a 6 trillion dollar budget.
|
| Most of the old folks retiring at 70 aren't doing any of
| these labor intensive affairs so its mostly a task for the
| idle children of the upper middle class to rich. Are we
| feting people for being born on third base again?
| Rebelgecko wrote:
| Most of the volunteer SAR people around me are still able to
| have full time jobs.
| arrakeenrevived wrote:
| This posting isn't for SAR, which typically requires
| specialized skills and the time commitment is different.
| This is for _Preventative_ SAR aka PSAR, which basically
| means just being physically present on trails to give
| people guidance, direction, and education about how to not
| get into dangerous situations. The time commitment for PSAR
| can be greater.
| ourmandave wrote:
| Ah, you're looking for USA Jobs.gov.
|
| https://www.usajobs.gov/
| l33t7332273 wrote:
| Isn't asking for volunteers _explicitly_ asking for unpaid
| labor?
| freeopinion wrote:
| Worth mentioning https://justserve.org
|
| Post a need or find one.
| mistrial9 wrote:
| salaried employees with health benefits and work rights are paid
| while building that site! so you can work for free! be sure to
| login with your cell phone.
| smallerfish wrote:
| > the country
|
| Protip: the internet is available outside the US.
| tptacek wrote:
| .gov is a US domain.
| oytis wrote:
| Domain for the government of the country
| lolinder wrote:
| As a general rule, government websites tend to assume that if
| you're visiting them you understand that all information is
| directed at residents of the country the government is in
| charge of.
|
| This is not limited to US entities: data.gov.uk purports to
| provide "data published by central government, local
| authorities and public bodies" without specifying which country
| it belongs to, yet I can't find my local information there!
| dbg31415 wrote:
| This site has issues.
|
| Why can't I search by Zip Code? Or by Remote?
|
| For a non-profit, and a government site, the Accessibility scores
| are pretty low... just using WCAG scanners. This should be a
| flawless site.
|
| They also claim "Volunteer.gov is committed to being in full
| compliance with the requirements of the American Disabilities
| Act..." but they aren't... there are at least 10 issues per page.
|
| There should be multiple languages supported.
|
| There's a post... "National Park Service 2024 COUPLES ONLY
| Opportunity" -- I'm not sure that's even legal.
|
| There should be a way to post non-profits, maybe there is. Just
| feels like any non-profit should be able to use this to post
| needs.
|
| I can't find any opportunities in Ausitn. Ok, we're just a small
| backwoods town.
|
| There aren't like "profile pages" for non-profits, or real job
| posts... you click on a card to learn more, and all it shows you
| is a button "apply now" -- it's missing the page that tells you
| more about the job and more about the non-profit.
|
| Ugh, anyway terrible UX. Curious how these people got funding for
| this... No thoughts were given to SEO, or usability, or growth...
| seems like it's destined to fail in the shape it's in.
| sangnoir wrote:
| > This should be a flawless site.
|
| > Ugh, anyway terrible UX. Curious how these people got funding
| for this... No thoughts were given to SEO, or usability, or
| growth... seems like it's destined to fail in the shape it's
| in.
|
| Perhaps you should volunteer to fix it?
| ourmandave wrote:
| About page says sponsors are:
|
| US Fish and Wildlife Service
|
| Bureau of Land Management
|
| US Forest Service
|
| US Army Corp of Engineers
|
| National Park Service
|
| US Geological Survey
| samcheng wrote:
| Pretty interesting to see the visceral and divided reactions in
| this comment thread. Some people are like, "that's crazy" and
| others think, "I wish I had the time for that."
|
| I feel this is precisely the divide that would be worth bridging
| in the US. Spend some time knowing and loving nature, and you'll
| realize that there are many people who would take these
| opportunities, and they're not crazy, they just have a different
| perspective.
|
| I wonder what other opinions people have that we think are "nuts"
| but are really just a different perspective?
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