Charity CHAMPs – get involved with microphilanthropy now!

If anybody out there knows of a way for me to do volunteer work for a few hours on short notice in Toronto, please let me know! It’s not often that there’s free time in my schedule, but there have definitely been times where I had a few hours to spare in the evening or on the weekend that I would have loved to volunteer somewhere,  only I don’t know of any charities that have programs like that.

I realize that setting up volunteer work requires careful planning on the part of the charities, and often requires a certain amount of paper-work, introductions, training, and possibly even background checks. But maybe a model can work where all the prep is done in a one-time session, and periodically thereafter I’d be able to volunteer when I have the free time, similar to pick-up sports.  I realize this non-committal volunteer method might leave charities in a lurch without volunteers to get a job done at a specific time, but with enough volume of people participating, and with tasks that are not super deadline dependent, I’m sure it can work. And what better way to engage people who have busy schedules?

A few friends now have mentioned this event to me, http://www.timeraiser.ca/, and I would definitely like to check it out this year. Although it’s not the “drop-in” concept that I’m looking for, I hear it’s become very popular, and who knows, maybe we can recruit for CHAMPs volunteers there next year!