We are ruled by corrupt idiots who spend money with no care because the money is not theirs.

All charities run scams like this all the time. Just do your own "charity " one person at a time.

The trouble  is you sounded more intelligent than your interviewers and so you were perceived as a threat to their position

I do my own volunteering helping my elderly neighbours, no red tape, no politics just doing my best for two people in the nineties.

Even in paid employment, employers want every drop of ability and energy out of you for little recompense.

I love doing voluntary work when it's the right people.  Otherwise it's just getting used.

I've seen and experienced this too. The people who graft and try to do it right get stepped on and treated like doormats and the lazy so and so's who don't care get the privileges, the respect and the pats on the back and handshakes. People who enjoy grafting need to learn to hold back and treat every situation they walk into as if 80% of the people around them don't care and are looking for someone to run around after them and do their share of the work. If you want to make enemies and annoy people, just work hard, follow the rules and do things properly. People can't stand it and your face will never fit!

It always amazes me how you can walk into a charity shop and the women behind the counter look down their noses at you, like You have just entered their very expensive boutique...

Worked half a decade in the 'Third Sector' for a large provider. My god! The amount spent on lunches for SMT and managers' meetings! Made your eyes water. The inefficiency:meetings about meetings, and  meeting after meeting after meeting. And the huge disparity between all the flowery industry (yes, industry) speak and what goes on with real people using the service was unbelievable - especially true when we met with local government and national quangos & NGOs. When it came to jobs, simply put: pure unashamed favouritism. As others have noted, the biggest irony is bug charities and volunteer organisations seem to attract the least empathetic, caring and 'human' people to the top positions!

I worked at a gov job gor 2 years covering for a person on medical leave. That person wasn’t coming back and they said they had to interview. I didn’t get the job.. they chose someone off the street with zero experience in a job that required added training and worked with  the courts, lawyers and judges. I put my notice in immediately. Injustices like yours happen all over. The only match my situation has to yours is the time and commitment that is tossed aside. Stay positive.. thank you for sharing..

Most charities are some of the most uncharitable organisations on the planet,if you want to donate,do so on your own terms.

Its like the charity shops now skim off any valuable items and sell them online for themselves.

Working in Voluntary (Wellbeing Services) has wrecked me. Having new ideas is deadly.
Machiavellians and Narcissists abound.
Particularly in the Mental Health aspect.

Anything cancer is a scam. They get government money for research that goes to private laboratories, AND they get your donations..and when they develop a treatment, they sell it to the NHS for millions.  The big drug companies are laughing.

Been there, I applied for jobs, they say “ you need this qualification before we can employ you” so went and got it, went back then I am told I need another, so went and got it, by the time i finished getting all the qualifications needed was told “ you need experience for this roll”. So I wasted months and months along with money to end up cleaning in a restaurant and stacking shelves in a supermarket. I did get my bus driver qualification which cost £2,500 thankfully I can walk out of one job straight into another, currently I’m not working because a few months ago I was attacked while driving a double decker into Leeds bus station, need some time away from people.

There is certainly a dark side to volunteering

This was so interesting.  I did voluntary work at a vineyard for a few years hoping I could get employment there one day.  When they eventually employed people they chose University graduates over the people who had slogged themselves silly working in all kinds of weather conditions to maintain the grapes.  When we had grown, maintained and harvested the grapes to be made into wine we were offered a bottle each at a discounted price!  I wouldn't do voluntary work again.  At 63 I will probably never get paid work again either.    I am so pleased I found you today.

I'm angry for you. Maddening. They obviously don't want regeneration in deprived areas and want to keep people dependent on the state.

The whole system is broken..did community care and support for 14yrs..achieved nothing for the supported people because they're just numbers..these places don't care about really helping people they are just a means to getting contracts off the council. ✌️

I worked volunteering and ended up teaching a class of 10-15 learning disabilities on my own "illegal" btw, also cooking dinners and handing out, washing up etc etc.

Also no funds, made the best of the situation i could only to be told they wanted more from me whilst the manager did her best to farm out all her duties.

This society "humanity" has to change! We have morons as leaders and dangerous sheep who do their bidding.