Think Strategically: Be the Ultimate Volunteer

John is a versatile, results-driven technologist and manager and is recognized for leveraging his broad business experience, technical knowledge and analytical skills to drive change and help organizations achieve their strategic objectives. John loves sharing ideas through his articles and is eager to hear feedback from the community. John is also the President of PMTrainingOnline.com.

  Career Development   Strategy  

Whether thinking about giving your money or your time, your philanthropic efforts will yield the best results if you start with a good strategy. A good strategic vision is a good input to your project plan, and having a good strategic framework for analyzing opportunities is a great tool to have--whether for use in your not-for-profit or for-profit endeavors!

Take Some Time for Introspection
Your strategy, since it is personal, can be totally steered by you--and now is a good time of year to do this! Personally, I naturally look back on the year...and think about what I've learned, accomplished and would like to change. Try to tap into your natural energy at this transition from 2015 to 2016. Think about the things that turn you on and turn you off, and your core skills--what you know, how you think and how you do things.

As with a job, you surely want to consider where you might make the most meaningful impact, and with what types of people and organizations you will work best with. Another consideration with volunteer work is, “What are my time constraints?” The demands of volunteer work vary, and you will want to understand up front what you might face.

Just as your field and industry has a structure with strategic forces at work, the world of philanthropy, volunteerism and non-profits is full of structure around causes--such as curing cancer, …

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