Most of what I write publicly is posted in one or the other of my Substacks. However, once in a while, a topic doesn't belong in either of those and I post it here.
Martin Luther King Day of Service
This piece grew out of an in-person conversation on January 16th, 2026 at a meeting of the Knowledge Management Community of DC (KMCDC) held around the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service at the MLK Library in Washington, D.C. I am grateful for Ninez Piezas-Jerbi for organizing and for the contributions of all the participants. The following also includes post-session reflections and as such, it is not a summary of the discussions per se.
The session focused on volunteering and pro bono work, and on the many ways people contribute time, skills, and expertise outside of paid roles.
What became clear in the discussion is that the usual distinction between “volunteering” and “pro bono” is too blunt to be very helpful, especially for knowledge workers. Most opportunities fall somewhere in between, and the differences that matter are not only about skill level, but also about structure, motivation, accountability, and impact.
The notes that follow reflect an initial attempt to make those distinctions more explicit. They are not a prescription, but a framework for thinking more carefully about fit, expectations, and tradeoffs when deciding how to contribute.
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| Infographic generated by AI (NotebookLM) based on the text of this post, which is human-generated. |
Volunteer vs. pro bono: What's the difference?
Type of Task
There's a spectrum of opportunities for doing “work” that does not fall into the category of a paid position, contract work, internships, or fellowships.
At one extreme, a ''general volunteering'' opportunity may involve serving food at a soup kitchen or participating in a community stream clean-up. Unless you're a chef designing the menu being served at the soup kitchen, your skill set is not especially relevant to the task, but you are providing valuable labor. This is not to say that general volunteering does not require skills. Working with other volunteers, and being a volunteer, often requires social skills and restraint, regardless of the task.
At the other extreme of this spectrum, you may find a lawyer providing ''pro bono services'' to a client. In such cases, the expertise of the person providing pro bono services is central to the work. Pro bono tax advising would fall close on this end of the spectrum as well.
In between these two extremes, there are many opportunities to contribute that sometimes mix the two modes, including ''skill-based volunteering.''
General volunteering tasks may be very scripted and specific, especially when undertaken with organizations that manage large numbers of volunteers and know how best to leverage their time and energy. Tasks are clearly assigned. You accomplish the task as defined. There may be little room to apply your expertise, even if you believe it is relevant. KM practitioners, in particular, may see every small dysfunction as a KM problem that could be addressed with a KM solution. Apply restraint here unless you have been specifically asked for feedback.
What's your Motivation?
Why are you volunteering or doing pro bono work? Motivations can range from the simple desire to give time and expertise to having a clear objective to use the experience as a stepping stone toward a full-time job or other opportunity. Most situations fall somewhere in between.
It may be helpful to articulate primary and secondary objectives. Perhaps your main objective is to learn about a new industry or gain exposure to a profession related to a career pivot. Perhaps you are just entering the job market and need to acquire a broad range of skills.
For each of these motivations, consider alternative ways to meet your objectives. You could give money instead of time, for example. You could establish discounted rates to serve disadvantaged clients rather than offering purely pro bono services.
Structure and Parameters
There is a significant difference between committing six months to two years as a Peace Corps volunteer, which is a highly structured program that does require the use of relevant expertise; volunteering as an aide in a hospital, transporting patients several days a week for years; and spending a few hours serving food at a soup kitchen once in a while. These represent very different kinds of commitments and fulfill different needs.
Costs, Benefits, and Opportunities
What are the costs of your volunteering or pro bono work to yourself, the organization you are supporting, and the community being served? Consider opportunity costs as well as direct costs. Would the community be better served if you donated money rather than time? From the organization’s perspective, managing volunteers also carries real costs. How are the benefits of your volunteering or pro bono work distributed?
Volunteering and Pro Bono Work Specifically Related to KM
Because KM is not a well-known field across all industries, finding opportunities to volunteer or do pro bono work can be challenging. Organizations with established volunteer programs are unlikely to be seeking KM practitioners and may not recognize the challenges they face as having KM-related solutions, even partial ones.
- KM pro bono work embedded in academic programs. In these cases, the benefits are intended to be clearly educational and experiential for student participants.
- KM pro bono work as a strategy to acquire reputational expertise. This can work for a KM startup in need of testimonials, examples of past work, and potentially sample products that can be shared publicly if planned carefully.
- KM volunteering that emerges from ongoing relationships with organizations, often in the form of “light” KM advice.
- KM volunteering that occurs through engagement in KM communities of practice or other industry-specific communities where KM expertise is shared.
- KM volunteering through mentor–mentee relationships where KM knowledge and experience are passed on.
If you are at a loss and cannot find a satisfying opportunity, and yet you want to acquire KM experience to include on a résumé or LinkedIn profile, consider creating your own personal knowledge management (PKM) project. Identify a KM challenge in your own life.
If your objective is to strengthen your KM credentials, plan to talk about your project publicly, particularly on LinkedIn. Note that discussing KM work exclusively with other KM professionals does not necessarily expand the network of people who need to see your expertise.
Real Example of a Personal KM Project
A 600+ collection of vinyl records. I inherited it. I did not have a clear idea of what was in the collection. I always listened to the same five records, even though I suspected there was much more to discover.
At the same time, I needed a concrete, manageable project to deepen my understanding of taxonomies and ontologies, because reading about them was no longer sufficient.
I developed a digital catalog for the collection, using a formal tagging structure and a tool I was already familiar with.
As a result of this work, which took several months, I gained an ongoing supply of lessons about what I did well, what I learned too late, and a deeper respect for the work of taxonomists and ontologists. I would not be qualified to take on a taxonomist’s or ontologist’s role, but I can confidently say that I could work effectively with one.
As an added bonus, the very real digital catalog and its physical representation have been transformed into almost magical knowledge artifacts in my speculative novel, The Knowledge Cartographer.
In 2025, I provided more than 100 hours of pro bono teaching (mostly related to Personal Knowledge Management and Generative AI) and more than 100 general volunteering hours (mostly supporting older adults through Arlington Neighborhood Village). I also engage in local government activities, which is yet another way to volunteer, often more skill-based.
Subtasks:
- People Care Insights (about the intersection of aging and technology)
- It's All Connected (about creative writing/speculative fiction)
