[constantly]

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.

[no_circuit]

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.

[brightlancer]

If I have a million dollars to donate to a charity, is not a donation nor an act of charity because most people don't have a million dollars to donate?

It's near certain that every person on HN is in the top 20% of intelligence in the world, and probably in the top 20% in their country. Are our actions and achievements less meaningful because we are lucky enough to be smart?

If someone has the ability to donate months of their life volunteering, I see no reason to diminish or demean their actions simply because I or other people couldn't do it.

[circuit]

Depends on the person, but requiring anything over 30 hours a week to me is part-time work commitment, and compensation is deserved

[dragonwriter]

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.

[constantly]

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]

I'm sure experience can pay my bills...

[dragonwriter]

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.

[zlg_codes]

This is a public forum, why are you so against a differing perspective that you go through two rounds of trying to essentially say there's only one way to think about it?

There are some things that are too much work for anyone to call it merely volunteering, and should be compensated. I don't care if you find that opinion acceptable.

[hiatus]

Since when is volunteering supposed to pay your bills??

[zlg_codes]

Do bills stop existing because one chooses to volunteer? Volunteering is an economic decision every bit as impactful as a job.

[dragonwriter]

> 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.