The Big Help Out

App doesn’t work. Can’t even register. Shame on the developers releasing an untested update. Foobar

It’s the same situation with anything I try to use DoIt for… While it’s a lovely concept to get more people involved in volunteering nationwide, unfortunately the apps and websites rarely work correctly, plus the people adding opportunities do so very hap-hazardly so it doesn’t match a particular format (no or wrong shaped images/headers, timings or locations are too varied for search engine to pick up on, etc) As always seems to be the case with the types of sites or apps where others can submit and monitor their own opportunities, everyone does things a little bit differently and the whole site ends up a mess… And because these sites are often buggy as well, the good causes give up using it to advertise & then there’s not enough opportunities and you are shown opps that are miles away… Also, you should really be able to book shifts on here for things like charity collections, but it just gives you the whole day. Marie Curie’s website is an example of a volunteering slot booking system which works perfectly! So, it’s such a nice idea, but too much of a mess at the moment to work efficiently, shame… Maybe I will try again in a few months to see if it has been updated or upgraded…

Much improved from last year, can see huge potential. I like the new search filters and like finding actions I can do at home. Would like to see reviews and profiles and maybe a social feed of people doing volunteering👌

Stuck on the loading page watching this app’s equivalent of a beach ball: a little man swinging a briefcase on a rocket

Unfortunately the app doesn’t work at all for me. Won’t let me get past the first screen to enter name in order to sign up for an account. Really disappointed as you have to use the app to register i.e., no website facilities for sign up. Such a shame. Was eager to help out… 😔

I’m sure many people want to support but can’t travel a round trip of 70 or 80 miles. I have simply given up.

I have found volunteer opportunities on here for my family, so am very happy !

Scrolling the listings on a phone is frustrating. I can see maybe three words in the title if I’m lucky (most truncate on the third word) and have to click on all the events to see what they’re about. Why can’t more of the listing be shown? I’m not clicking on every listing. Multiple listings state “everywhere” for their location when they require in-person attendance at a specific location, 50+ miles from me. Thanks for wasting my time reading until I discovered that. Other listings don’t make it immediately clear what help they’re looking for. Save the blurb about what your charity is or what your organisation is for the end. I’m looking for stuff I can actually do first of all, and then I’ll decide which charity or organisation I want to support if there are multiple things I could do. This app is putting me off volunteering because it’s too difficult to even find anything I could do.

An initial use of the app returned no results and my preferences were not narrow. I thought this might be because I hadn’t signed up yet so I went through the registration process. There were errors entering the validation code. The app doesn’t seem to properly support password managers so I had to reset my password, the verification email is exactly the same as the sign up email so I thought I hadn’t received my password reset code. I finally reset my password but there are now errors logging in even after restarting the app. Visually it looks polished but under the hood it’s clear it’s buggy and in its infancy. It’s a shame, I was really looking forward to using this but it doesn’t deliver on what it promises. Update: There was an update to the app so at least that shows it’s being actively worked on however I’m still unable to log in, only seeing a “Something went wrong!” message when I’m definitely using the correct password. I would still encourage people to give the app a try. It would be great for this to be successful. Feature request: It would be great to add events to favourites. We may be interested in an event but not ready to sign up right now and would want to attend a future event.

Looks good and a great idea, but I found very limited opportunities available despite living in an area with lots of things going in. It looks like there’s not enough buy-in from local charities and organisations. If there’s an intention for the app to go on beyond the coronation, it would help to address that aspect.