Evaluating What Matters: Exploring how to capture and showcase social value beyond the pound
As the people, charities and organisations from the third and public sectors in the UK fighting for equality and social inclusion, we are increasingly feeling the pressure to speak the language of funders and government: return on investment, value for money and percentage contributions to GDP. That’s because we depend on getting the funding we need to be able to do what we do best: help people.
However, even if we are putting the emphasis on economic capital and measuring our success in GBP, who will be left to tell the human stories? This is important as when we humans talk about money, it makes us less pro-social. This means that the policy-makers who decide how and where to spend money are less likely to be focusing on social needs when discussing how much it’s going to cost. What if we could see past the pound and stop measuring what is easy and start better understanding and valuing our well-being and all the amazing work that goes into supporting it?
This session will explore how participatory design and leaning into values like joy, connection, and confidence can help evaluate and capture a richer and more holistic social value of projects and services that promote well-being and social inclusion. It will do so using learning from research carried out by Joanne Irvine on the social impact of a Glasgow Life volunteer programme. The session will be participatory and invite participants to reflect on the role of the third and public sectors in promoting more qualitative approaches to measuring social impact.
We are very pleased to extend our Midweek Masterclass programme by welcoming some great guests on to give you some of their insight and expertise. This time around, we have Joanne Irvine, a social designer, facilitator, evaluator, migration and sustainable development expert, and, to top it all off, chair of Volunteer Glasgow!
Wednesday, May 7th 2025, Online
Evaluating What Matters: Exploring how to capture and showcase social value beyond the pound
As the people, charities and organisations from the third and public sectors in the UK fighting for equality and social inclusion, we are increasingly feeling the pressure to speak the language of funders and government: return on investment, value for money and percentage contributions to GDP. That’s because we depend on getting the funding we need to be able to do what we do best: help people.
However, even if we are putting the emphasis on economic capital and measuring our success in GBP, who will be left to tell the human stories? This is important as when we humans talk about money, it makes us less pro-social. This means that the policy-makers who decide how and where to spend money are less likely to be focusing on social needs when discussing how much it’s going to cost. What if we could see past the pound and stop measuring what is easy and start better understanding and valuing our well-being and all the amazing work that goes into supporting it?
This session will explore how participatory design and leaning into values like joy, connection, and confidence can help evaluate and capture a richer and more holistic social value of projects and services that promote well-being and social inclusion. It will do so using learning from research carried out by Joanne Irvine on the social impact of a Glasgow Life volunteer programme. The session will be participatory and invite participants to reflect on the role of the third and public sectors in promoting more qualitative approaches to measuring social impact.
Evaluating what matters: exploring how to capture and showcase social value beyond the pound
Last year, I was researching volunteers and volunteering in Scotland. My research uncovered some really interesting insights. One was that the promotion and communication around volunteering tends to be more focused on the opportunities, challenges and benefits for the volunteer individually and much less on the benefit or impact on communities. The latter is harder to measure yet understood as crucial for volunteer satisfaction and recruitment because volunteers sign up to make a difference and they want to be able to see that difference. It is also necessary to attract funding and support. This led me to start thinking about creative ways to better capture the social value and impact of volunteering on communities and I embarked on a partnership with Glasgow Life to carry out a social impact evaluation on their volunteering programmes.
From my initial desk research, it became clear that our market society demands that we evaluate everything in exact quantities. Most of the social impact reports and efforts I was seeing were measuring people in numbers, volunteering in hours given and results in activities. Even measuring social value tends to be captured by very quantitative elements such as the number of volunteer hours, per cent of profit donated and number of people supported. This is useful at a macro level and has been a great way to get public procurement and private sector to think about how to contribute to social good but it doesn’t tell us much about what is working and the impact it’s having.
What is our role as the third and public sectors?
As the people, charities and organisations from the third and public sectors in the UK fighting for equality and social inclusion, we are increasingly feeling the pressure to speak the language of funders and government: return on investment, value for money and percentage contributions to GDP. That’s because we depend on getting the funding we need to be able to do what we do best: help people and close the inequalities gap. For example, Volunteer Scotland has just released the results of a study it has commission on the social value of volunteering in Scotland which has calculated a whopping contribution of £2.3 billion in terms of economic and social value (not including the costs of volunteering).
When I tried to find the total value of Scotland’s economy, the earliest estimate I could find was for 2023 and it was £218 billion. Comparatively, this means the volunteering sector in Scotland contributes about 1% to Scotland’s GDP. When government officials are looking at sectors and deciding where to make cuts or invest, I am not entirely sure that 1% will sound very important to them unless they know what the impact of that 1% is actually achieving for society. I am sure that the support and care provided to the millions that need it go way beyond quantitative measures.
Moreover, when I asked some volunteers how framing this as a contribution to GDP made them feel, it was a mixed bag. Some thought it was great and couldn’t believe it was so much, some were offended at how their work could be quantified in this way and some felt that their work was being commodified. In fact some volunteers were suffering from a cognitive dissonance between the sense of purpose, feeling part of a community and other benefits they get from volunteering and the feeling of being taken advantage of, trapped in a consumer society they disagree with and feeling pressured into volunteering to help right the wrongs of capitalism gone awry.
Are we perpetuating the ‘economy’ bias?
So even if we are putting the emphasis on economic capital and measuring our success in GBP, who will be left to tell the human stories? This is important as when we humans talk about money, it makes us less pro-social (read David Dylan Thomas’ book ‘Design for Cognitive Bias’ for more).
Let me say this in another way: the policy-makers who decide how and where to spend money are less likely to be focusing on social needs when discussing how much it’s going to cost. Moreover, some studies have also shown that increased wealth inequality can decrease empathy and make individuals more self-focused, potentially reducing pro-social actions.
This is crucial in the context of a difficult fiscal environment in the UK where funding is increasingly limited and public and third sector actors are struggling to maintain their services, show the importance of their work, raise funds and attract and retain staff and volunteers. Yet this work is more urgent than ever: we find ourselves facing unprecedented inequalities whereby the gap between the rich and the poor is only getting bigger at home and globally. We are suffering from a mental health crisis. Loneliness and isolation are on the rise and hyper-individualism and mistrust of government institutions and charities means people are disengaging from civic life and we are seeing a worrying decline in volunteering.
So my question is, should we be speaking their language or should we be fighting for the non-economic value and impact of our work to be duly recognised and measured differently? Perhaps we need a combination.
Some interesting research by Sue Carter Kahl at the University of San Diego for the Initiative for Strategic Volunteer Engagement is also showing that at least some funders want more than just the numbers. I certainly don’t have the perfect solution here (sorry!), but I have a point of view and an example to share and I would welcome people’s views and feedback.
Looking past the pound: a values-based approach
In the research I carried out, I asked how participatory design might help qualitatively evaluate and show the social impact of Glasgow Life’s volunteering programmes. I used a combination of participatory design and design ethnography methodologies to measure the social impact and design a new values-based evaluation framework and a social impact report.
I achieved this by rolling out a collaborative process that got the people benefiting from the programme and the volunteers to define the social impact and value of the programme according to their own lived experience. The data I collected was qualitative and based on semi-structured and unstructured interviews, workshops using engagement tools, a survey with open-ended questions and observation. I analysed the data and experimented by coding it against relevant human values, and then reviewed the results to understand what values were coming out strongest. I then tested and validated the results with the volunteers, staff and participants of the target volunteer programme, which was a weekly Health Walk.
The results?
What emerged was evidence that the health walk is so much more than just a one-hour walk a week with three walk leaders and over 20 community members achieving an average of around 6,000 steps per walk. Multiply that by 22 walks across Glasgow every week with 76 volunteers, which means a total average of 86,944 volunteer hours. Multiply these hours by the minimum wage, and that’s over £1 million value per year to our economy… (See what I did there?)
Rather, it became clear that much more social impact could be measured and showcased than what was being captured. The evaluation showed just how much their Health Walk programme enhances social connection, social inclusion, physical health, mental health, confidence and joy. I combined this with the quantitative data usually collected every year through an annual survey. I was then able to connect this to broader strategies such as Scotland’s National Performance Framework and Scotland’s Mental Health Strategy 2017-2027.
From these results, I developed a simple evaluation framework based on the top five values that emerged from the data and connected these to clear outcomes and results based on the evidence. The idea was to ensure that this could serve as a new way to capture and showcase the social value and impact of the Health Walks every year.
Celebrating volunteers and all the benefits of volunteering
When it comes to evaluation and capturing data, it’s always a good idea to know why you want it, what you need and who it is for. In this case, Glasgow Life wanted to focus on showing volunteers their impact. As I mentioned above, one of the difficulties volunteer-involving organisations have is attracting and retaining volunteers. This is recognised in Scotland’s Volunteering Framework as a key outcome: “There is an environment and culture which celebrates volunteers and volunteering and all of its benefits”. So I used the new evaluation framework and data I had collected to design a simple, lively social impact report that served as a thank you to the walk leader volunteers.
The report turned into what I can only describe as a cross between a photo book and a zine with quotes, case studies and data points to help get the message across. You can find it here.
It’s not fancy or complicated, it’s just different and focuses on showing the qualitative aspects. When I shared the report out over a lovely thank you lunch, the effect it had was palpable. The walk leaders couldn’t quite believe it and even the walkers were reminded how much the volunteers did for them. It was a beautiful moment of shared meaning for everyone and I was very glad I was able to help create it.
Quotes
“It’s great fun being a walk leader and heartwarming to know that it means so much to the walkers – very special indeed!”
Volunteer
“I have to say, I filled up when I read the report. It’s very uplifting to read about the impact that the role we do has on people”
Volunteer
“It just goes to show you that we don’t thank them enough for what they do for us”
Walker
Some reflections
Unlike calculating social value in GBP, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all all solution to capturing and showcasing social impact qualitatively. This makes it hard then for the third and public sectors to be able to collectively show value.
However, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it. Barriers to this include the time and effort needed of course as well as a general preference for ‘exact’ data, ‘certainty’ and clearly measurable data that makes qualitative data not as trusted or valued. I think we have a duty to change that. The thing is, we are talking about measuring the social impact of efforts to deal with complex social issues and there is nothing certain or easy about that.
One thing we can be certain of is that social issues are messy, interconnected and difficult to solve. Social issues need social solutions first, then both the human and financial resources to resolve it. So why can’t we frame our work and the impact it has in a social way? It’s just too important not to.
More about Joanne
As a social designer with a background in international development cooperation, Joanne advocates for the social inclusion, human rights and the empowerment of marginalised people and communities to achieve equality for all. She is passionate about participatory design and putting people at the centre of strategy, social design, learning, innovation and evaluation. She has longstanding experience with the United Nations Development Programme and the UN Migration Agency providing technical assistance, capacity development, strategic planning and policy advice to help governments embrace diversity, reduce inequalities and support communities become more inclusive and prosperous.
She has been fortunate to have lived in Spain, Tunisia, Egypt, Belgium and Switzerland and has travelled and worked extensively with many countries’ local and national authorities, charities and UN partners worldwide. After returning to Scotland in 2023 and pursuing further education with the Glasgow School of Art, she is enjoying combining her experience in the third and public sectors with her passion for participatory design and innovation. She is now Chair of the Board of Trustees of Volunteer Glasgow and a consultant leveraging design-led research and participatory design to enhance strategic planning, fundraising, evaluation and research for charities and the UN.
Joanne holds a BA and MA in Hispanic Studies and French from Glasgow University, an MA in International Development Cooperation and European Policy from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, a Diploma in Forced Migration and Human Rights from the UN University of Peace and an MDes Design Innovation and Citizenship from the Glasgow School of Art. As a life-long learner, she is also working towards a BA in Visual Communications with the Open University.
Now, we’re going to do something we don’t usually do, and that thing is opening this Masterclass to everyone – not just TeamKinetic users! So please do join us (for free!) to hear Joanne speak about her research and the complex topic of social value.
We are pleased to announce that the next major update of our native TeamKinetic mobile apps is ready for launch. We’ve brought the parity between the desktop and mobile versions closer and fixed bugs and made usability improvements.
HourTrades
You can now view and process HourTrades on the mobile app, all the same functionality that is available on the desktop app is now here as well.
Resource Area
Volunteers can now access the same resources as when using the desktop app right from their dashboard in the mobile app.
Supports all the various types of resource options; links, text, downloads etc.
Opportunity Badges
We now display the opportunity badges as tags in the search results page. When viewing the opportunity, you can see the icons and names of the badges associated with the opportunity.
HTML Opportunity Descriptions and Event Description
The mobile app will now correctly display the new HTML content that we have added to your opportunity description text. You can now add links and styling to your descriptions and see them all on the mobile app.
Additionally, we have added support for HTML in the event page, which has been available in the desktop version for a while now.
Session Descriptions
The new session info descriptions that you can add to individual sessions are also supported in this new mobile release. You can add unique text and links to each individual session.
Paged Search Results
When you perform an opportunity search, you’ll get the first 25 results immediately, and then as you scroll down, we’ll present the next set to you.
This greatly improves the speed at which we can return the first set of results and provides a super easy way to get to the next set; just pull down on the screen to reveal the next 25 results.
Opportunity Chat Room Visibility
When the opportunity chat room functionality was switched off, the icon for the chat room was still shown, although the chat room was not functional. This obviously caused confusion and has now been fixed.
There are over 35 smaller updates and changes, from fixing typos to making the ordering of sessions make more sense. Update and give it a whirl.
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This upcoming TeamKinetic 2.6.0 release contains a lot of under-the-bonnet stuff that you won’t really see but will help us support our new and existing customers better. But of course, we’ve added some lovely goodness for everyone as well. We will be working hard to bring these new features to the mobile app but as always they appear first on the web version.
So, let’s take a look at what to expect in this upcoming release…
ToDo Tasks for Administrators
As well as being able to add notes and files to a volunteer’s profile, you can now add ToDo tasks. These can be assigned to any administrator and given a due date.
Administrator dashboards show their assigned tasks with all the information needed to complete them.
We’re interested in your feedback on this new feature, how you envisage using it and what might improve it.
Check In/Out Volunteers
Ideal for our event-driven organisations but also for anyone that wants to know which volunteers have attended and also use the check-in facility to log hours.
Volunteers can present their opportunity QR code or their general ID QR code and admins can check them in when they arrive at a venue and then check them out when they leave.
When checking in, if there is more than one valid session for that day, admins can check them in for one or all of those sessions.
When checking out, admins can choose the sessions to check them out of and also opt to log the hours recorded between the check-in and check-out on that session or in the flexible opportunity.
Improved Bulk Volunteer Adding/Removal Tool
If you ever need to add lots of volunteers to lots of sessions, then the bulk add tool is perfect for this. If you haven’t seen it yet, check the SESSIONS section of your opportunity management page and hit the blue BULK ADD/REMOVE VOLUNTEERS button.
It has now been improved greatly by the addition of day and time filters for the session selector. Want to add a bunch of volunteers to every session on a Monday that is between 9 and 10 o’clock? We’ve got it covered!
Session No-Show Counters
In the log hours section when managing an opportunity, you can record a no-show for a volunteer.
Recording a no-show for a volunteer will now be exposed on the volunteer profile page.
You can filter/search volunteers by the number of no-shows recorded and find those volunteers who might need a little help.
Extended Session Description
Once you’ve added your opportunities, you can now edit individual sessions and add longer extended descriptions to each session to help your volunteers choose the correct session.
The volunteer will be able to see the session description on both the initial opportunity advert page and in their opportunity management area.
HTML Styles and Links in Opportunity Descriptions
This a long sought-after feature you’ll be glad to hear is now available for admins and providers. Using the familiar editor you can now spice up your opportunity descriptions with extra styles, colours and features.
Folders for Organising Resources
This has been on the wish list for a while, and now it’s here. You can organise your resources into folders to make it easier for volunteers to find what they need.
You can create folders and edit your existing resources to place them into your new folders. You can still order your resources within each folder by dragging the resource using the handle in the top right of the resource image.
Improved and Extended Managed Expenses
We’ve overhauled the managed expenses feature and added some important new functions.
Administrators can now set a per-mile rate for travel claims. When a volunteer creates a claim for travel the approximate travel distance is calculated and displayed. This same distance is shown to the administrator when managing the expense.
Additionally, we’ve added vehicle types and set expense reasons that you can use to report and organise your expense claims.
The administrator view for expenses has been updated to include the distance calculation, what the claim is for and to indicate if the claim is more than expected for the journey.
AI Assistant for Creating Opportunity Descriptions
Do you get stuck for ideas or need some inspiration when creating your opportunity descriptions? We have a new AI assistant which, with a few keywords, can create your opportunity description for you.
It’s super easy to use, and you can play with the keywords to get the right tone and content. Once you hit the use button, the description will be put in the regular opportunity description box (now with those extra styles and hyperlink functionality) for you to edit and polish.
Include Volunteer Names in Bulk Emails
Create bulk emails and insert the volunteer’s name to personalise them. Just click the *|NAME|* replacement and it will appear in your bulk email text. This will be replaced by each volunteer’s name when the email is sent.
Flexible Opportunity Availability
We know that volunteers would like some indication of when a flexible opportunity is available, so we have added a days-of-the-week matrix.
Opportunity creators can indicate which days of the week the opportunity is generally available by checking the boxes. This matrix is included in the opportunity advert for volunteers.
Session Reminder Emails
Administrators can enable an option to send volunteers a reminder email containing their sessions for the next day.
The option is in the super admin > options > email notification section. Previously, only those opportunities with custom emails were included. Now, all volunteers on all sessions will be reminded. The email goes out at 08:30 the day before their session.
Custom Field Improvements
Administrators can add ToolTips to custom fields that have extra information about the question to help it get completed correctly.
When searching/filtering on custom date fields, you will now see the familiar date interface with from, after, between, etc options. Previously, it was a simple text entry where you could only match exact dates.
We have added a new NOT ANSWERED entry for custom yes/no questions, so you can also quickly pull up volunteers or providers who have not yet completed this custom field.
Provider Email Improvements
You can now see, edit and resend your provider bulk emails in the same way you can for volunteer emails.
Ad-hoc emails that providers send now always have the provider’s name and contact details clearly in the email. We hope that this enables more direct communication between the provider and volunteer, saving you time and effort.
Improved Layout for Volunteer Profile
There were a few optional portions of a volunteer profile that were separated out, like emergency contact details. In some cases, these were also not editable. They have all been combined into the main volunteer personal details panel now, and can all be editable.
ID and background checks have now been combined into one section, whether you are using digital ID and background checks or manual, everything is in one place now.
The summary details strip has been tidied up, and the last login information is now available across both desktop and mobile.
When adding a custom award badge, you can now adjust the award date so you can retrospectively award badges.
The email delivery checking has been improved to handle more of the special characters that might appear in the subject that was preventing us from being able to match the sent email.
Finally…
There are, of course, many smaller updates and changes, bug fixes and improvements, the most important ones I’ll list below.
All the Other Stuff
Accessibility improvements that help assistive tech users skip repetitive sections
Adjust location area on self-managed opps
Display the friendly custom email name to make it easier to find emails
Added a panel to the provider’s dashboard showing outstanding applications
Delete and filter roles
Reinstated the location details box for opportunities with no specific location
Added custom email for expiring background checks sent to volunteers
Added an option to make provider feedback on volunteers optional
Fixed bug where only the first selected opportunity badge was added when creating opportunities
Trusted provider option to use managed expenses
Prevented a batch/bulk email send from failing if a single email was bad
Added a bulk email log that can be used to recover failed bulk emails
Provider search filter for those with empty profiles
Higher contrast map pointers on all maps
News items are shown on the provider’s dashboard
Download the day schedule as a list
Improved font sizing on smaller screens
Sends an email to the volunteer when a meeting booking is altered
New filters on volunteer and opportunity search pages
We encourage you to take a look around the custom email and options area as there are often new emails and options added that you might be interested in. Please get in touch if you have any questions or feedback about this version and remember you can try all this stuff out immediately using your regular admin login at https://beta.teamkinetic.co.uk.
Thank you for supporting TeamKinetic.
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We have now completed our integration of the First Advantage suite of digital ID and background checks. You can now initiate an entirely digital ID and subsequent background check with a single button press! The results and updates are fed directly back into your TeamKinetic dashboard.
How does it work?
There is some necessary paperwork to set up your First Advantage account and create the required roles you will be using. This is where you decide if you need to check the adult or child lists and what level of checks you’ll be using. We will guide you through this process and get your account set up quickly and easily.
After that it is just a case of pre-paying for bundles of checks, switching on the option and selecting the volunteers you want to check.
Once initiated the volunteer will receive an email and a text message with the instructions and help they need.
You will be alerted as the checks progress and once complete, the background check details, dates and numbers will be recorded in the volunteer profile.
What does it cost
We sell pre-paid bundles of credits for digital ID and enhanced-level background checks. The digital ID check costs one credit and the background check a further credit. If the digital ID check fails you will only be charged a single credit, you are only charged the further credit if the check progresses to the background check stage.
Credits are available in bundles of 10 for £80.00 or 50 for £230.00 (plus VAT) and you can purchase credits directly from the app via card or bank transfer.
Where can I find out more?
We have a few videos and documents where you can discover the process and how it works.
You can also find this information in the Super Admin > Setup menu under the API and Integrations section.
Interested in taking the next steps towards fully digital and integrated ID and background checks? Open a support ticket or hit the button in the Super Admin > Setup menu under the API and Integrations section.
It’s a great way to streamline and speed up your onboarding process.
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Hi all and welcome to another stuffed full of goodness, TeamKinetic update.
We’ve got some big changes in the pipeline regarding customising workflows. These are going to take some time to realise properly, so we wanted to get some of the smaller things done and dusted so you don’t have to wait.
Catch the full summary of changes made in this TeamKinetic update via this video, or tuck into all the details in full below.
Data Retention Options and Rules
In this TeamKinetic update, there are two new options that work well with the auto-delete options to handle your data retention needs.
You can now select the level of data you wish to retain when any volunteer is removed, by an admin, by themselves or via the auto-deletion of inactive volunteers.
The first level only saves the volunteer’s hours, anonymously in the deleted hours total that you see in reports. This has been the only available level of data retention to this point.
The second level adds the volunteer’s essential profile information; name, email address etc. to the data that is retained.
Level three adds the volunteer’s opportunity and session history, so you can trace what sessions they were on and where.
Level four adds their email log.
All this information is searchable and viewable in your dashboard and you’ll have the option to expunge data or to extend the retention period, anytime you wish.
The second option sets a data retention period. Once any retained data is older than this it will be automatically expunged.
File Upload Custom Registration Question
A super useful new field type that you can add to the volunteer registration page. Great if there are documents you need from the volunteer as part of their registration.
The uploaded files are stored in the volunteer’s ID section of their document storage. The files are given the label short name you define when creating the custom question and locked to prevent deletion by the volunteer.
File upload questions only appear on the registration page and are not editable from the volunteer’s dashboard.
Text Only Custom Registration Question
If you want to provide more information about any step in the registration process you can now add a text-only section.
The text displayed will be the label you define when setting up the question.
Just like the registration questions these only appear on the actual registration page.
Character Limits on Single and Multiline Text Entry Custom Questions
Add a maximum number of characters that volunteers and providers can enter in these fields.
The limit will prevent users from entering any characters beyond the limit. On average an English word has 4.7 characters, so divide the character count by 5 to get a rough estimate of word count.
The limit defaults to 2500 or 500 words.
User Controllable Cookie Consent
Remember all those annoying cookie consent pop-ups; they’re back!
We were hopeful that these might disappear with our exit from the EU but they haven’t gone anywhere yet.
It is now a requirement to allow users to opt out of various sorts of cookies, like the Google Analytics cookies, as well as the required non-tracking ones for logins etc.
We’ll be adding our pop-up to all our customer sites throughout this release. Your users should only see this annoyance once and then their preferences are set on that machine.
It’s a necessary evil I’m afraid 😞
Easier to Complete Address Lookup
We’ve had persistent issues with users entering their UK postcode but not hitting the search button to select their full address. This stops them from being able to complete the registration but it was not clear to the user why.
Now the search box is triggered immediately that the postcode box is left, so even if they miss this entirely, when they come to hit the registration button it will be clear which fields need to be completed.
Weekly Email Changes
If you have opps that have longer than seven days between being added and being authorised, there is a chance that they will never appear in the weekly email as we used the creation date to choose which opps to show but they still had to be authorised.
If an opp was created on 01/01/2024 but was not authorised till 10/01/2024 it would not be valid for the weekly email till it was authorised on the 10th, but by then its created date was already more than seven days past so it wouldn’t appear.
We now ignore the creation date when selecting the opps for the weekly email which avoids this issue.
Thanks for reading, we hope you enjoy this latest TeamKinetic update.
As always, remember you can shape our future updates by submitting feature requests. Just go to Help & Support → Support Tickets → Open New Ticket → Ticket Type: New Feature Request
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The TeamKinetic 2.5.1 Minor Release is complete and some of you will have already spotted the new stuff!
Reporting Page Speed Improvements
The reporting page is grabbing ever more data for more reports over longer periods. We’d already noticed some slowdowns and some customers had opened support tickets to report load time of 10 plus seconds. We needed to fix that!
We have rewritten some of the queries that fetch the data to make them snappier
Delayed the fetching of some data until you open the relevant section
Fetched the all time and date limited stats after the page has loaded so it won’t block you looking at other reports
It looks like this when you first load the page and the stats will drop in shortly.
The page will load in less than 4 seconds now for even our largest data customers.
New Help and Info for the Custom App
For our admins that have got their own branded app in the Play and iOS stores, we have added a few areas to help them manage the new app.
In the Super Admin > Setup > Custom App section you’ll find all the information you need to explore and communicate to your users about your new all. It contains QR codes, links to the app and a large version of your app icon.
If you want to find out how many people are using the app, registering via the app and joining sessions via the app we’ve got you covered with a new section in the reporting page.
The little tooltips will let you know how each stat is calculated and what it means and the figures are limited to the dates you choose on the reporting page.
Mobile App Download Prompts
We’ve now reinstigated the screen overlay prompts for volunteers who access their dashboard on a small screen to download the mobile app.
If you have switched up to the custom branded app, then the links and QR Codes adjust accordingly.
There is also a permanent notification in the footer, reminding users they can use the native mobile app.
Improved Volunteer Password Reset
After working through the process with the Wildlife Trust (thanks Jake) that had lot of volunteers to import and on-board, we spotted a few places where the process wasn’t as clear and simple as it could be, so we’ve made these changes
A clear message if the reset token (from an old email) a volunteer is trying to use is expired or bad. This appears before they try to reset their password; it used to appear afterwards and so some volunteers missed it and thought they had reset their password successfully.
Suppose a volunteer resets multiple times in a short period and the existing token is still valid. In that case, the token is not reset and a new email is sent with the same token as included in previous emails. This stops that reset loop of doom where a volunteer uses the reset link and an email is sent, but they don’t receive the email quickly enough, or hit the reset link again by accident. This would result in multiple emails with different reset tokens only the latest of which would work.
If a reset token is not valid the volunteer has only the option of sending the reset email again, so if they miss the fail message they can’t try to login, which would be frustrating as it wouldn’t work yet
Changed the wording of some of the messaging to make it clearer
All the changes together lead to a more intuitive process and we’ve been logging the outcomes for a while and we are getting far fewer issues.
Email Notification of Deleted Volunteer
Volunteers can remove themselves from your database, an important ability to fulfil your GDPR responsibilities. Previously, although the hours were anonymised and retained, the admins would have no idea that a volunteer had removed themselves.
We’ve added an email notification to the main admin which will tell them which volunteer and email address has been removed.
This clears the path to a future update that will allow admins to pick the level of detail they wish to retain when a volunteer is removed. Keep an eye out for that update.
Volunteer Registration Form Improvements
We’ve added some new messaging and prompts to aid volunteers in completing the location section, which has been an issue for some.
Volunteers cannot proceed when entering a UK postcode until they have hit the search button and selected an address from those available.
This will help those volunteers who find they cannot proceed but don’t know why.
Session Number Filter
Added a session number filter to the volunteer search so you can filter your volunteers by the number of sessions they have joined in addition to the existing filters for number of opportunities and hours logged.
Length of Service Added to Volunteer Search
Just a little something that might help, next to the registration date for volunteers is a year and months since registration figure so you can quickly see how long they have been volunteering.
New Volunteer Search Filters
You can now filter by;
volunteers that have never logged in (imported but not logged in)
volunteers awaiting parental consent (remember you can resend the parental consent email and update the parental email from the volunteer management page)
Expiry date of qualifications
Date a volunteer last applied for an opportunity
We add filters to this area regularly so it is always worth a quick scan down the filter list occassionally.
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At TeamKinetic, we are committed to ensuring our software platform is accessible to all users, regardless of their abilities or disabilities. We strive to follow best practices and standards to provide an inclusive user experience that caters to diverse needs.
Accessibility Features
We have implemented several features on our website to enhance accessibility, including but not limited to:
Keyboard Navigation: Users can navigate through the website using a keyboard, without the need for a mouse.
Screen Reader Compatibility: Our content is designed to be compatible with screen reading software, enabling visually impaired users to access information.
Text Alternatives: We provide text alternatives for non-text content to ensure that all users can understand the information presented.
Consistent Layout: Our website follows a consistent layout and design to facilitate ease of use and navigation.
Limitations and Areas for Improvement
Despite our best efforts, there may be instances where certain aspects of the website are not fully accessible. This may occur due to:
Third-Party Integrations: Some sections of our website may include third-party tools or plugins that we do not have full control over. These may not meet our accessibility standards.
Technological Constraints: Rapid technological changes may sometimes present challenges that affect our ability to provide fully accessible experiences.
Design Trade-offs: Balancing aesthetic design and functionality can occasionally impact the accessibility of certain elements.
Feedback and Assistance
We value feedback from our users and continually seek to improve the accessibility of our website. If you encounter any accessibility barriers or have suggestions for improvement, contact us at info@teamkinetic.co.uk.
Contact Us
For any assistance or to report an accessibility issue, please reach out to our support team:
Email: info@teamkinetic.co.uk
We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to improve the accessibility of our platform. Thank you for helping us create a more inclusive environment for all users.
You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to our podcast:
We are very excited (and exhausted) to bring you the new TeamKinetic integration for The Big Help Out with DoIt, the platform supporting the 2024 campaign.
It starts from your super admin menu; find the SETUP page and then the API & Integrations section. You’ll find a section titled DoIt (The Big Help Out).
Here you will find the registration link. This link will allow you to register with DoIt and also join the Big Help Out application. If you already have a DoIt account you should still follow this link as it will check to make sure you already have the Big Help Out app and if not ask you for permission to add it.
Once you have completed the registration process you’ll end up at your DoIt dashboard. On the left hand side hit the Org Settings menu and then look for the Integrations section. In that section you’ll find the API key bit you need.
Hit the generate new key and a new key will be created and displayed on the screen. There is a COPY KEY button you can use to copy the key to your clipboard. Once you have it copied return to your TeamKinetic app and paste the API key into the box ‘Your API Key’ and hit SAVE.
TeamKinetic will scurry off and check that we can connect to your DoIt account and confirm this by displaying your current list of DoIt apps as above. If you see an error message check your key and try again.
That’s it for the setup, from now on when you create an opportunity, on the Promoting and Sharing tab, you ‘ll be asked if you want to share to DoIt and to select the app you want to share to (The Big Help Out in this case).
When managing the opportunity you’ll see in the sharing tab that the oop is shared along with a link to view the opportunity on DoIt and also a button to remove the opportunity from DoIt.
When potential volunteers find your opportunities on The Big Help Out, there is an external apply link that they follow which leads them back to your TeamKinetic website where they can register and join your opportunity. Even if they have a DoIt account they will still get returned to your website.
Providers can also link their own DoIt account in the same way, and share their opportunities to their own DoIt account. This is preferable if you can encourage your providers to do this as it keeps everything nice and tidy and aligned without the potential for duplicating opportunities between one of your partners and yourself. Providers can enter their API key from the Account > Details & Setup page on the integrations tab.
It doesn’t matter whether the opportunity has been uploaded to your DoIt account, or directly to a provider’s DoIt account, the resulting opportunity on DoIt will be the same and the potential volunteer will end up back at your website.
Once you’ve managed to create your account and paste in your DoIt API key it’s super simple from that point on and you’ll soon be sharing your opps to The Big Help Out 2024!
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For those customers that required higher security for their administrators, providers or volunteers, or that required the control of their user generation to be maintained centrally, TeamKinetic supports login and account generation via SSO (single sign on).
We support any SSO provider that is compatible with OpenAuth 2; this includes Azure, Okta, AWS and many others.
You must be an enterprise customer to enable SSO and there is a one-off fee for setup and implementation. To enable SSO we will require a few pieces of information;
The client id
The client secret id
The tenant id
With these we can create the necessary links for the login pages that look a little like this for Azure;
The user (admin in this case) will be presented with an SSO only button to login, like this;
They will get redirected to the SSO provider to login using their existing username and password and then if successful will be redirected back to your application. If the email matches an email in your administrator list they will be logged in, or if it does not exist a new minimum administrator account will be created and then they will be logged. Alternatively, if you wish, any emails for successful logins must match pre-existing accounts or the login will fail.
If you are interested in enabling SSO please get in touch or open a support ticket.
