I've quit

No, I haven't quit my job. I've resigned from the charity; the homeless charity whose committee I was on.

I really enjoyed being involved, and I'm sorry to have to resign but I felt that there was no alternative.

When I joined I quickly realised that things were a little slapdash and unorganised, but over Christmas this became even more apparent. Although the chair of the committee is a lovely guy, I really don't feel that he has a grasp of what is needed, and like other members of the committee I don't think he has the time or inclination to learn.

Committee meetings are rambling affairs without structure, no one takes minutes, and decisions rarely get made. Then afterward splinter groups or individuals make unilateral decisions without reference to the committee.

The whole thing is extremely amateur, and the excuse I kept hearing 'well, we are all volunteers' is not acceptable.

At the last meeting I realised that things were unlikely to change, for the forth meeting in a row the treasurer was unable to supply an accurate account of the charities bank balance, and didn't seemed to think that was a problem! He took over the phone for the charity and then lost messages, controlled the email address but never got back to people - in sort he was either incompetent or useless (I'm undecided which!).

The project manager we'd had for three years resigned out of frustration (she was hard to work with, but bloody good at her job), and many of the committee were continuing to say they hadn't got time for anything other than committee meetings.

When I joined the charity it was because I wanted to help, not just go to meetings and make (or try to make) decisions. I organised the clothing store, storage space, clothing collections, donations, and set up a new website and twitter stream - all in my own time.

With the odd exception all the rest of the committee seemed to do was complain - even when I emailed them to make a decision or give me information I was met with a wall of silence.

When I realised that as a trustee of the charity I could be held personally responsible, I knew that I couldn't take that on - if the treasurer didn't report how finances were, and as a committee nothing happened I felt unable to put myself and my finances at risk.

So, I've left. I did write an email to the committee calmly telling them my reasoning and explaining that I'd happily continue doing the website and probably volunteer again next year ........ But as usual i've had no reply or acknowledgement!