47 min
Ep 21: Making Volunteering Sexy w/ Dave Coles I Want to Change the World
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- Personal Journals
Is it just me or does the world kind of seem like a flaming dumpster fire right now? The list of issues and worthy causes include things in the headlines today like the humanitarian crisis in Gaza to ongoing issues poverty, climate change, homelessness, the loneliness epidemic, and on and on.
How do we choose which cause to pour our limited time and energy into? How do we decide whether to serve a cause at all? How do we define what it means to make an impact in the world?
These are questions that my guest Dave Coles helps hundreds of students think through every year in his role as Volunteer Centre Manager at the London School of Economics. Also, these are questions which Dave continues to engage with in his own life.
His answers have led him at present to serving as a volunteer coach for a women’s football club, the South London Laces, serving on the board of the charity Facial Palsy UK, and to contributions that he makes in other ways as a blogger, a passionate advocate for ethical voluntourism, and more.
Whereas in my last chat with Dave, featured in Episode20, “Do’s and Don’ts for
Doing Good” we focused on lessons he’s learned on how to avoid doing more harm than good when volunteering through his own experiences in Ghana, this time around what emerged from our conversation was a great primer on how to make volunteering and more broadly, the idea of service, sexy (and inclusive).
Our conversation is the perfect start to a new series that I'm launching calling “Do Gooder School”.
As I’m consider what’s next for me career-wise, I’ve decided to take myself back to school to explore questions like:
Do I need to be a professional do gooder to feel like I'm really making an impact in the world?
If I do go back into the nonprofit sector or in the social impact space, how can I do it in a way in which I maintain hope and a sense of joy in the work and minimize the amount of time I spend feeling jaded and cynical? And how could I show up as bravely and boldly as some of the people whom I've admired most in the work?
What are the potential opportunities and challenges to taking any of the career paths that interest me?
I can’t imagine a better way to start school than by (figuratively) going back to my alma mater, LSE, to chat with Dave. 😊
You can keep up with him at https://davecoles.blog/ or on IG @davidmcoles.
As always, I invite you to drop me a line on IG @missjanaiashley or send me an email at janai@gilmorefacilitationllc.com to share whatever reflections this episode brings up for you.
Is it just me or does the world kind of seem like a flaming dumpster fire right now? The list of issues and worthy causes include things in the headlines today like the humanitarian crisis in Gaza to ongoing issues poverty, climate change, homelessness, the loneliness epidemic, and on and on.
How do we choose which cause to pour our limited time and energy into? How do we decide whether to serve a cause at all? How do we define what it means to make an impact in the world?
These are questions that my guest Dave Coles helps hundreds of students think through every year in his role as Volunteer Centre Manager at the London School of Economics. Also, these are questions which Dave continues to engage with in his own life.
His answers have led him at present to serving as a volunteer coach for a women’s football club, the South London Laces, serving on the board of the charity Facial Palsy UK, and to contributions that he makes in other ways as a blogger, a passionate advocate for ethical voluntourism, and more.
Whereas in my last chat with Dave, featured in Episode20, “Do’s and Don’ts for
Doing Good” we focused on lessons he’s learned on how to avoid doing more harm than good when volunteering through his own experiences in Ghana, this time around what emerged from our conversation was a great primer on how to make volunteering and more broadly, the idea of service, sexy (and inclusive).
Our conversation is the perfect start to a new series that I'm launching calling “Do Gooder School”.
As I’m consider what’s next for me career-wise, I’ve decided to take myself back to school to explore questions like:
Do I need to be a professional do gooder to feel like I'm really making an impact in the world?
If I do go back into the nonprofit sector or in the social impact space, how can I do it in a way in which I maintain hope and a sense of joy in the work and minimize the amount of time I spend feeling jaded and cynical? And how could I show up as bravely and boldly as some of the people whom I've admired most in the work?
What are the potential opportunities and challenges to taking any of the career paths that interest me?
I can’t imagine a better way to start school than by (figuratively) going back to my alma mater, LSE, to chat with Dave. 😊
You can keep up with him at https://davecoles.blog/ or on IG @davidmcoles.
As always, I invite you to drop me a line on IG @missjanaiashley or send me an email at janai@gilmorefacilitationllc.com to share whatever reflections this episode brings up for you.
47 min