Author: Siena Elsby-Smith

Introducing TeamKinetic: Siena – The Next Step

By

On 21st June 2023

In News & Views

Hi! I’m Siena, TeamKinetic’s new Marketing and Social Media Coordinator…

Why Marketing?

I am soon to complete my Masters in Creative Advertising Strategy at Manchester Metropolitan University. Prior to this, I studied BA English Literature and History at the University of Leeds. As my studies have cemented, communication is really important! My interest in communicating ideas in an effective, informative way has been fundamental to my pursuit of a career in marketing. During my Masters course, I  enjoyed creating and executing campaign ideas and conducting market research in response to a live client brief. Alongside the need for data-driven ideas, I love the creative side of campaign planning and content creation.

Having enjoyed working with a real client both during my degree and in my spare time when managing an ironmongery company’s social media, I knew I wanted to secure a marketing internship with an organisation that I’m passionate about. I’m sure that the wider purpose of a Third Sector organisation like TeamKinetic will be really motivating and rewarding for me. 

Involvement with Volunteering

I have been involved with volunteering in a couple of different ways over the years; most notably with Douglas Macmillan and The Trussell Trust. I was initially drawn to volunteering in a Douglas Macmillan charity shop due to a family connection to the hospice, yet soon realised the role of Douglas Macmillan within the wider community. Originally volunteering during my Duke of Edinburgh Award, this experience opened my eyes to the power of volunteering for customers, the organisation, and volunteers themselves. Working alongside some lovely elderly volunteers was a highlight and exemplified how volunteering really has no age! More recently, I volunteered with the Trussell Trust, collecting for a Manchester Food Bank. Once again it was humbling to witness people’s generosity, especially during the cost of living crisis. 

Given these experiences, I was drawn to TeamKinetic due to their volunteer-centric approach. Making it easier for volunteers to view and access opportunities is something that I’m really happy to be a part of.

Free Time

I love getting stuck into a good book, admittedly the more trashy kind since finishing my English Literature degree! I find painting and embroidery really relaxing when I have the time. Since moving to Manchester I’m also taking the opportunity to eat my way around all the independent cafes and restaurants! 

Looking Ahead

I am looking forward to developing within a supportive company that values not only their team, but the communities and organisations that they are involved with. Over the next year, I hope to expand upon my existing skills and develop new areas of interest with the help and encouragement of TeamKinetic. I am excited to be a part of the team and for all that this internship may bring!

Siena Elsby-Smith

siena@teamkinetic.co.uk

Ensure you follow us on our social media pages to receive regular updates about the voluntary sector and learn more about the TeamKinetic system. You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to our podcast:

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How You Can Measure Volunteer Impact

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On 14th June 2023

In Volunteer Management

It’s important to measure your volunteer impact so you can see the difference your volunteers are making to your organisation. You can also look for any improvements that might need to be made to your volunteer programme. Below we have shared some ways you can measure volunteer impact!

Hours Logged

One of the most straightforward metrics is tracking the number of volunteer hours. This metric provides a baseline understanding of the time invested by volunteers.

With TeamKinetic, volunteers are able to log their hours. They may also be able to use them in exchange for HourTrade vouchers, and they’ll receive a new Achievement Badge for every milestone of hours! By logging hours, volunteers are able to keep a record of their volunteer journey and volunteer coordinators can see the progress each volunteer has made.

Surveys and feedback forms

Collecting feedback from volunteers through surveys or feedback forms allows you to gain insights into the volunteer experience. By using our volunteer management system, volunteers are able to leave feedback on opportunities. This can help you understand what needs to improve within your volunteer programme and make any adjustments to your opportunities.

Case Studies and Success Stories

Share inspiring stories of how your volunteers have made a difference in communities. These stories could be shared on your website, newsletters or social media. By sharing these it provides evidence of the impact created.

Volunteer exit interviews

When volunteers decide to end their engagement with your organisation, you can conduct exit interviews to understand their reasons and gather feedback on their experience. This information can help identify areas for improvement and enhance volunteer retention. This can also help you improve your volunteer programme because you can help avoid these problems in the future.

Volunteer self-assessment

Create surveys specifically designed for volunteers to assess their personal growth, skill development, and satisfaction levels. These surveys can provide valuable feedback on how the volunteer experience contributes to their own lives.

To measure your volunteer’s impact effectively you could opt for using a volunteer management system. With TeamKinetic you can see real-time and detailed analysis of your volunteer programme with easy-to-read graphs and tables, view feedback from your volunteers to help you make improvements and use custom reporting tools to get the specific data you need! 

Sign up here for a free trial today or book a demo!

You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to our podcast:

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Have you enjoyed using TeamKinetic? If you could leave us a review on Capterra, we’d really appreciate it! We’ll even send you a little thank you.

4 Reasons Why Celebrating Your Volunteers Is Important

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On 7th June 2023

In News & Views, Volunteer Management

We hope everyone had a great Volunteers Week 2023! We’d like to remind everyone that celebrating your volunteers is just as important all year round and not just during the annual week of Volunteers Week. In this post, we’ve shared 4 crucial reasons why celebrating and recognising your volunteer’s hard work and contributions is vital to do all year round. 

It inspires others

When the public witness the celebration of volunteers’ hard work it can encourage, inspire and motivate them to also volunteer. Publicly acknowledging volunteers through social media platforms or newsletters, not only highlights their achievements but also acts as a powerful recruitment tool.

Acknowledging their efforts

By recognising their commitment, you validate their contributions and make your volunteers feel valued. This recognition not only boosts their self-esteem but also inspires them to continue their work with even greater enthusiasm.

Increases retainment 

Celebrating volunteers’ hard work is a crucial factor in volunteer retention. When volunteers feel appreciated, they are more likely to be more engaged and continue to volunteer for your organisation. Motivated volunteers are also more likely to help achieve the organisation’s goals. 

Personal development

Celebrating your volunteers can provide an opportunity for personal and professional growth. By praising your volunteer’s efforts they can gain confidence, see how their skills have developed and the contribution they’ve made to their community. These experiences can contribute to their personal growth and supply them with more experience which may be their motive for volunteering.

If you struggle to remember to recognise and celebrate your volunteer’s effort, opting for a volunteer management system may help! Within the TeamKinetic system, there are various tools to reward your volunteers such as customisable Achievement Badges or our unique HourTrade vouchers which allow volunteers to exchange logged hours for rewards. You can start a FREE trial today over on our website or book a demo today!

If you need some ideas for how to celebrate your volunteers we have some ideas here!

Ensure you follow us on our social media pages to receive regular updates about the voluntary sector and learn more about the TeamKinetic system. 

You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to our podcast:

Twitter       Facebook       LinkedIn       YouTube       Instagram       Podcast

 

Helpful Hints For Volunteer Retention

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On 24th May 2023

In Volunteer Management

It can be challenging to retain volunteers, as they may have other commitments or lose interest over time. In this blog post, we will share some top tips for volunteer retainment, which can help you keep your volunteers engaged and committed.

1. Communicate, communicate, communicate 

Be responsive and easy to get hold of if a volunteer needs you. If it’s hard for them to communicate with you online or in person, it won’t keep volunteers engaged and might put them off from volunteering for your organisation in the future. 

If consistent communication with your volunteers is currently something you struggle with then why not opt for a volunteer management system like ours? With our volunteer management system, you can keep in close contact with your volunteers at all times. Within our system, there are a range of customisable automatic emails and you can use system notifications, and SMS texts to remind volunteers about their shifts. 

2. Show your appreciation 

Volunteers want to feel that their work is making a difference. Recognise their contributions publicly, and show appreciation for their efforts. This could be as simple as a thank-you email, a shoutout on social media, or a small party. It’s important to celebrate your volunteers all year round but with Volunteers Week just around the corner, this would be the perfect time to show them some appreciation. We have some ideas for how to celebrate your volunteers here.

3. Always ask for feedback

Seek feedback from volunteers about their experiences and use this feedback to continuously improve your volunteer program. This could include making changes to the volunteer onboarding process, offering new opportunities or roles, or addressing any concerns.

Within our volunteer management system, you can receive volunteer and opportunity feedback. This way you can regularly be informed if there are any problems with your volunteer programme and improve these issues. 

4. Create a community 

Create a community of volunteers. Volunteers are going to be more inclined to continue volunteering for your organisation if they have made new friends. Within our volunteer management system, we have opportunity chat rooms that help volunteers maintain strong relationships.

5. Provide opportunities for growth 

Offering opportunities for growth and development can help retain volunteers in the long run. This could include external training courses or leadership roles within the organisation. Proposing these opportunities to volunteers will mean they will be more likely to continue to volunteer for your organisation as they are gaining new skills and experience which might be their motive for volunteering. 

Interested in speeding up your volunteer registrations and reducing administrative burden? Why not start with a volunteer management system? With TeamKinetic you can start a FREE trial today over on our website or book a demo!

Ensure you follow us on our social media pages to receive regular updates about the voluntary sector and learn more about the TeamKinetic system. 

You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to our podcast:

Twitter       Facebook       LinkedIn       YouTube       Instagram       Podcast

 

How You Can Use ChatGPT To Celebrate Your Volunteers

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On 10th May 2023

In News & Views, Volunteer Management

Volunteers Week 2023 is just around the corner. If you’re struggling for new innovative ways to celebrate your volunteers this year, no need to worry. With the use of ChatGPT we’ve put together some ideas which you can use to recognise your volunteer’s hard work. 

It’s important to recognise your volunteer’s hard work during this week of celebration. However, it’s understandable that not every volunteer manager has time to write each volunteer personalised thank you messages. As these responses are created with a chatbot, they aren’t personalised to individual volunteers. Yet it can be helpful to know that ChatGPT can produce some adequate ideas.

ChatGPT can create a good starting point for recognition messages if you enter accurate details from the work the volunteer did. If you are stuck for ideas on where to start, you can use these responses as a starting point and alter details to make them more specific to your volunteers. If you are very eager to show recognition to all of your volunteers but are struggling to manage your time this could be a potential option for you. 

Create personalised messages 

You can use ChatGPT to create personalised messages to recognise your volunteers for their hard work. Simply provide some basic information about the volunteer, such as their name and what they did for your organisation, and ChatGPT can generate a message that expresses your appreciation. As you can see from the response below, ChatGPT has created an impressive thank-you letter. 

We asked ChatGPT: ‘Can you create a personalised thank you message for a volunteer called Olivia who worked hard to make creative window displays and was very helpful to customers in a charity shop’

Response generated:

“Dear Olivia,

I just wanted to take a moment to express my sincere appreciation for all of the hard work and dedication you’ve shown as a volunteer at our charity shop. Your creativity and attention to detail in designing our window displays have truly made a difference in attracting customers and raising awareness for our cause.

Additionally, your helpfulness and kindness towards customers have not gone unnoticed. You always go above and beyond to ensure that our visitors have a positive experience in the shop, and your warm demeanour has left a lasting impression on many.

Thank you so much for all that you’ve done for our organization. Your contributions have been invaluable, and we are incredibly grateful to have you as a member of our team.

Best regards,

[Your Name]”

Create social media posts 

ChatGPT can help you create engaging social media posts to celebrate your volunteers. You can provide some details about the volunteer and their contribution, and ChatGPT can help you create a post that highlights their efforts and encourages others to get involved. As you can see in the response generated below, ChatGPT has created an adequate social media caption that you could post to social media channels such as Facebook or Instagram with a photo of the volunteer. 

Here’s what I asked ChatGPT: ‘Can you create a social media post thanking a volunteer called Jenny for her hard work volunteering at a food bank’ 

Response generated:

“Today we want to give a big shoutout to one of our amazing volunteers, Jenny! 🎉

Jenny has been working at our food bank to help us serve our community. She has been instrumental in everything from sorting donations to assisting clients and ensuring that our operations run smoothly.

Jenny’s hard work and dedication have not gone unnoticed. She brings a positive attitude and a willingness to help with whatever needs to be done. Her warm and friendly personality makes her a favourite among our clients.

We couldn’t do what we do without the support of volunteers like Jenny. Thank you so much for all that you do for our food bank and our community. You truly make a difference, and we are grateful to have you on our team. 🙏”

Interested in speeding up your volunteer registrations and reducing administrative burden? Get started with our volunteer management software today! With TeamKinetic you can start a FREE trial today over on our website or book a demo!

You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to our podcast:

Twitter       Facebook       LinkedIn       YouTube       Instagram       Podcast

 

Have you enjoyed using TeamKinetic? If you could leave us a review on Capterra, we’d really appreciate it! We’ll even send you a little thank you.

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