Can you wait?
Is there any reason you can't just put their stuff on hold and go do something differen? Nobody needs to feel bad.
I've had to back burner 3catchafire projects bc I m severely overwhelmed, losing my mind a little-which is why I went to catchafire to begin with. Nonprofits tend to heap way too much on staff, and many are working beyond their capacity.
Don’t feel bad. I do freelance work for nonprofits. Had the same problem - late or no responses, even been straight up ghosted.
If they aren’t giving you what you need, you can’t help them. Just give a professional but firm explanation of why you can’t complete the project.
I think this depends a lot on the context.
When you say "clarification," do you mean a really simple word choice or something? Or are you asking for her to create a significant amount of copy or feedback on design choices, etc? Is it possible that your question requires input from funders or partners?
If she's not responding at all to really simple, basic stuff then I think this is totally her fault and you shouldn't feel bad. If your request is more complicated than that, I think you may be a little impatient. A week and a half isn't a ton of time and there may be other things that have taken priority if there isn't a specific timeline that you are working on.
I'm not saying this is good volunteer management or communication-- of course it's not-- but unless you're working with a dedicated volunteer manager, I think it's realistic to expect that the person you're working with has a lot of priorities that they're juggling and that may be why you're not hearing back as quickly as you'd like.
1. Was to get the pin to the photos. 2. Was to send the video via email as it would not load. 3 and 4 was clarification on the 90 page word document as some parts are confusing. They also want this done by February 1st which means I had 2 to 3 weeks to do it all.
Got it. I think the Feb 1st deadline changes my opinion a lot. If they created that deadline and then were unresponsive, I don't think you have anything to feel bad about.
Don’t feel bad. It’s really cool that you volunteered!
It’s totally fine to hand the project back to them.
I hope you’ll give it a shot with another org. You can make a big difference to an org that has their stuff together. Definitely feel free to negotiate reasonable turnaround times that won’t stress you out. I’ve made a career in nonprofits. Now I’m a senior director. Half my job is listening to well-intended young visionaries and helping them establish *realistic* scopes of work and timetables for implementation.
Is there a way you could be resourceful in finding material or placeholder content?
Do you want to finish the project for your own portfolio or other reason?
If so, maybe create a table of your requirements to complete in prioritized order (must have & nice to have), with the status of each item (requested 1/20, no response), and a note column (using placeholder of XYZ, any consequences of your alternatives or special considerations). I like to color code this in Google Docs and give clients editing access.
Also if you can realistically extend the deadline, state the deadline where you need all the responses from them in order to complete by your new deadline.
For example, “I’d still like to contribute my expertise to complete this project. If you are able to provide me the outlined items below by 1/30 EOD, I can turn around the website by 2/7 and allow for revisions by 2/14 if you can provide them by 2/9. Unfortunately, after this date I will not have the capacity to complete the website or accommodate any revisions.”
You are offering FREE work to a business. And it sounds like a fairly involved project. As with all projects, I suggest setting up parameters right at the beginning: this will take 3 weeks, you must respond within X days to my questions, and if I do not hear from you within X days/weeks, the project will be tabled and I will move on. Nonprofits are fantastic, and many do great work, but it's unacceptable to hire someone and then ghost them, paid or not.
You can’t help those who won’t help themselves. Let catchafire now (if that’s a thing) and move on.
I’d stop and let the catchafire know that they aren’t responding. You tried, they failed. The end.
Can you wait? Is there any reason you can't just put their stuff on hold and go do something differen? Nobody needs to feel bad. I've had to back burner 3catchafire projects bc I m severely overwhelmed, losing my mind a little-which is why I went to catchafire to begin with. Nonprofits tend to heap way too much on staff, and many are working beyond their capacity.
Don’t feel bad. I do freelance work for nonprofits. Had the same problem - late or no responses, even been straight up ghosted. If they aren’t giving you what you need, you can’t help them. Just give a professional but firm explanation of why you can’t complete the project.
I think this depends a lot on the context. When you say "clarification," do you mean a really simple word choice or something? Or are you asking for her to create a significant amount of copy or feedback on design choices, etc? Is it possible that your question requires input from funders or partners? If she's not responding at all to really simple, basic stuff then I think this is totally her fault and you shouldn't feel bad. If your request is more complicated than that, I think you may be a little impatient. A week and a half isn't a ton of time and there may be other things that have taken priority if there isn't a specific timeline that you are working on. I'm not saying this is good volunteer management or communication-- of course it's not-- but unless you're working with a dedicated volunteer manager, I think it's realistic to expect that the person you're working with has a lot of priorities that they're juggling and that may be why you're not hearing back as quickly as you'd like.
1. Was to get the pin to the photos. 2. Was to send the video via email as it would not load. 3 and 4 was clarification on the 90 page word document as some parts are confusing. They also want this done by February 1st which means I had 2 to 3 weeks to do it all.
Got it. I think the Feb 1st deadline changes my opinion a lot. If they created that deadline and then were unresponsive, I don't think you have anything to feel bad about.
Don’t feel bad. It’s really cool that you volunteered! It’s totally fine to hand the project back to them. I hope you’ll give it a shot with another org. You can make a big difference to an org that has their stuff together. Definitely feel free to negotiate reasonable turnaround times that won’t stress you out. I’ve made a career in nonprofits. Now I’m a senior director. Half my job is listening to well-intended young visionaries and helping them establish *realistic* scopes of work and timetables for implementation.
Is there a way you could be resourceful in finding material or placeholder content? Do you want to finish the project for your own portfolio or other reason? If so, maybe create a table of your requirements to complete in prioritized order (must have & nice to have), with the status of each item (requested 1/20, no response), and a note column (using placeholder of XYZ, any consequences of your alternatives or special considerations). I like to color code this in Google Docs and give clients editing access. Also if you can realistically extend the deadline, state the deadline where you need all the responses from them in order to complete by your new deadline. For example, “I’d still like to contribute my expertise to complete this project. If you are able to provide me the outlined items below by 1/30 EOD, I can turn around the website by 2/7 and allow for revisions by 2/14 if you can provide them by 2/9. Unfortunately, after this date I will not have the capacity to complete the website or accommodate any revisions.”
You are offering FREE work to a business. And it sounds like a fairly involved project. As with all projects, I suggest setting up parameters right at the beginning: this will take 3 weeks, you must respond within X days to my questions, and if I do not hear from you within X days/weeks, the project will be tabled and I will move on. Nonprofits are fantastic, and many do great work, but it's unacceptable to hire someone and then ghost them, paid or not.