Offering your expertise: what makes a good offer

This guide is for any small charity that has been helped and wants to help back, or that simply knows it's good at something. Many small charities think they have nothing to offer because they have no lawyer or accountant on staff. That's rarely true. If you've run a food drive, recruited 40 volunteers, won a local grant or built a newsletter people actually read, another charity wants to know how. After reading, you'll know how to find what to offer, how to describe it, and how to give help without wearing your team out.

Find what you're good at

Start with a 15-minute conversation with your team or board. Ask:

• What do other charities ask us about? If people already call you for advice on something, that's your strongest offer.
• What did we learn the hard way? Your first grant, your first audit, your first big event. Hard-won lessons save other people a year.
• What do our people do in their day jobs? A board member who manages payroll at work, or a volunteer who builds spreadsheets, may be glad to give a few hours.
• What do we have that others don't? A space, a tool you know well, a template that works, a relationship with your county.

Write down three to five things. Then pick the one or two you could give well this season.

Shape it into an offer

A good offer is specific enough that the right charity recognizes itself in it. Compare:

Each specific offer answers four questions:

1. What exactly will you do? A call, a document review, a template plus a walkthrough, a workshop, a few weeks of mentoring.
2. Who will do it? Name the role, like "our volunteer coordinator", so people know the kind of experience they'll get.
3. How long will it take? An honest number of hours, or a fixed piece of work.
4. What's not included? "We can review your plan, but we can't write it for you."

Choose a format you can keep

On the Golden Hint Exchange, help comes in a few formats: one-off video calls, document reviews, mentoring over several weeks, workshops for several charities at once, and short secondments of staff time. Pick the one that fits your team's real week.

• One-off calls are the easiest to give and the easiest to say yes to.
• Document reviews have a natural finish line, which makes them good fixed-scope tasks: a piece of work with a clear end, priced at an agreed number of credits (between 0.5 and 20) instead of by the hour.
• Workshops let you help many charities with one session. Our guide to running a workshop or webinar can help you plan one.
• Mentoring is the biggest commitment. Offer it only when you can keep regular time free for several weeks.

On the Exchange, one hour of help is worth 1 credit, whatever the skill. An hour of design help counts the same as an hour of legal guidance. You earn credits when the work is done and both charities confirm it, and you can spend them on help your charity needs. Credits have no cash value. The credit rules explain the details.

Write the offer

Keep it short and concrete. Use this shape:

1. A plain title that says what you'll do: "Review your volunteer handbook".
2. One or two sentences on why you're a good fit: "We've run a volunteer program of about 50 people for six years."
3. What's included, and what's not.
4. The format and the time.
5. Who it's for: "Best for charities starting their first volunteer program."

Here's an example:

Review your first grant budget. We're a small literacy charity that has written and managed a dozen foundation grants. Our treasurer will review your draft grant budget and budget narrative, and send written comments within a week. We'll check that the numbers add up, match your narrative and follow the funder's rules. We can't write the budget for you or advise on taxes. About two hours. Best for charities applying for their first or second grant.

Protect your team's time

Giving help should feel good, not like a second job. A few simple limits keep it that way.

• Cap it. Decide how many hours a month your charity can give, and pause your offer when you reach it. On the Exchange you can pause or close a listing at any time.
• Agree the scope first. Before you start, agree in writing what you'll do and when. Our guide on working with a volunteer expert works from both sides of the table.
• Say no kindly. "That's bigger than we can take on, but we could do this smaller piece" is a generous answer.
• Share the load. If one person gives all the help, they'll burn out. Our guide on leading when you're tired has more on this.

After you've helped

• Confirm it's done and leave an honest review.
• Ask for feedback. One question is enough: "What would have made this more useful?"
• Improve the offer. If people keep asking for something slightly different, change your offer to match.
• Share what you made. A template or checklist that worked for one charity may help many. Members can submit resources to the Golden Hint library.

Your offer checklist

• We listed three to five things we know well, and picked one or two.
• Our offer says exactly what we'll do, who will do it and how long it takes.
• We said what's not included.
• We chose a format our team can keep up.
• We wrote a plain title and said who the offer is best for.
• We set a monthly limit on the hours we'll give.
• We agree the scope in writing before any work starts.
• Questions that need a licensed professional are passed on, not guessed at.
• We ask for feedback and update the offer.

Every charity is an expert in something. Offering it is how small charities stop reinventing the same wheel. When your offer is ready, post it on the Exchange.