A profession that respects its volunteers gets the volunteers it deserves.
The thing I respect most about associations is that they take volunteer labor seriously.
By Ion Despoiu. Originally posted on LinkedIn, .
- A surgeon who gives up a weekend to review award submissions.
- An engineer who scores grant applications between client deadlines.
- A scientist who sits on a selection committee at 9pm after her own work is done.
In most industries, that kind of contribution would be quietly classified as free labor. Useful, expected, undervalued.
In associations, it’s treated as what it actually is. Real work. Done by real experts. Worthy of structure, recognition, and respect.
Reviewers get briefed. Their time is bounded. Their input shapes the outcome. Their names go on the decision. The program is built around the assumption that their expertise matters.
That ethic is rarer than it should be.
It also shapes how I build. When a reviewer logs in to score, the platform should ask for as little of their attention as possible. No accounts to create. No interfaces to learn. No friction between them and the work they came to do.
Software earns the reviewer’s respect by getting out of their way.
There’s a reason associations attract the volunteers they do. It’s not just mission. It’s that the work is taken seriously when it arrives.
A profession that respects its volunteers gets the volunteers it deserves.
The opposite is also true.