This is a guest post from my husband, Ashley, who was made redundant from his job at 2Simple Software due to education budget cuts. He is now hoping to change careers, and is looking to volunteer to get the experience he needs.
I’ve been a designer for about 15 years, and I really enjoy the creativity. But I feel it’s time to stretch my skills and find a new challenge. I’ve been considering a move to events organising for some time, and am very keen to get some experience in this area. Talking with Alex, we both quickly realised that community fundraising teams are an excellent place to find that experience because so much fundraising is events-driven – like Dogs Trust’s Waggy Walks, which I took part in last year, as you can see.
I’ll be looking for relevant internships and events to volunteer for, but I also thought there might be a way I could use my existing talents and both give and learn at the same time. So here’s the idea.
I’ll exchange a day of free design work, for a day of volunteering with your events / community fundraising team.
My design experience is wide, spanning flyers, catalogues, exhibition banners, invitations, newsletters, web graphics* and more. I’m a flexible user of Photoshop, Illustration, InDesign, Quark XPress and more, so whatever your preferred format, I’ll be able to use it. I’ve also done some event photography, including Waggy Walks 2009 (you can see some of the photos on Flickr).
As for the experience, I’ll happily muck in with anything; all I want to do is learn and be helpful! So whether it’s a nationwide event like Waggy Walks or a small local fete, I’m keen to get involved. And of course if you could just do with a hand with this and don’t need any design work, then that works too!
Here are some examples of things I’ve designed:
- Web graphics for www.2simple.com and web graphics and branding for www.2simpletrust.org (nfp)
- Original illustrations for www.purplemash.com
- Logo for www.icawc.org (Dogs Trust)
- Branding / logos for www.jaggedonline.com and www.brownandblue.co.uk
More examples can be provided as needed.
I’m not completely new to events in my professional life as I’ve done sales presentations and product demos at huge exhibitions like BETT and I also had the job of keeping photo and video records of any events held at 2Simple’s offices.
So, can I help your team? If so, please email me and I’ll get back to you asap.
*Not animation or Flash, though, sorry!
MOKUSKA 
I’d like to suggest looking into Red Cross if you want to get volunteer chops. They are quite persistent, almost to the point of annoyance, when it comes to getting volunteers in and training them. I’ve just found this out because I signed up for more than ‘just passing through.’
There’s a site in the US called VolunteerMatch.org. I found one that looks similar in your area – might be a good place to peek if you haven’t already: http://www.do-it.org/
I think your offer is wonderful! I wish you and Alex and the Lady Ramona all the best 🙂
That’s very helpful, thank you! Hope all’s well with you and the boys? I should have thought of the Red Cross, especially as I’ve met some of their team. 🙂
[…] Ash (my husband) is still casting an eye out for any way that he can swap some design skills for events experience. He’s spent a week at Dogs Trust HQ and a day at a centre making himself useful and is […]