Author: Rolf Herbert Page 11 of 18

Common problems in volunteer management

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On 11th December 2018

In News & Views

Over the last decade, we have worked with many organisations, helping them improve their volunteer management. We have found some common problems in volunteer management.

As you know being a volunteer manager can often be a lonely job.  TeamKinetic feels that it is important to get volunteer managers talking, sharing good practice and working together, this is important for the growth of the third sector and volunteering as a whole.

Recruitment Issues

Recruiting enough volunteers is one of the most common problems we hear. Our software looks to help resolve this common volunteer management issue. Although this may seem a monumental task to find the help you need, sometimes it can be simpler than you think.

Here are a few of our suggestions:

The rise of social media is a wonderful thing for the voluntary sector. Social media being free is a blessing for many industries and the voluntary sector is no different. Over one billion people are on Facebook and Twitter meaning there is an audience out there, you just have to appeal directly to them. There are many pages offering tips on how to use social media properly – cracking this medium may be the way to grow your volunteer base.

Do you know your volunteers, do you know what social media, if any they use?
Do you have the IT skills to communicate with your volunteers through the most appropriate channels?

Modern marketing isn’t the only way to attract new volunteers, more traditional means of communication should never be ignored. How do you engage with older volunteers, who are not on social media? How can you start a word-of-mouth campaign to build your support. Ideas like refer a friend or linking to existing groups such as rotary or taverners work well. People tend to respond positively to a review from people they know and trust.

Don’t ever discount the power of good posters or interesting newsletters.

Keeping Volunteers Interested

Retaining a volunteer is much cheaper than recruiting a new volunteer! Improving your retention should be a priority for anyone working in volunteer management.

How do you keep your volunteers for longer?

Theories of behaviour change suggest that for people to make a significant and sustainable change to their behaviour, their motivation must be significant or that change of behaviour will not be long-lasting.  If you want to help motivate a volunteer to stay involved, you must call to their primal instincts.

What you are doing as a volunteer makes a difference! We could not do this without you.  We need you!

It’s just good manners to say thank you to the people who help you. Say thank you right and that person will come back time and again.

Recognition is tricky, as no one volunteer is the same and some people feel uncomfortable being made a fuss of.  However, it is important that you recognise people’s efforts. Be it a Christmas party, a summer dance or a cup of tea with the team, getting your volunteers together to say thank you properly and to tell them how important they are, how indispensable they are and what a difference they make.  Appreciate your volunteers and remember to show and share that appreciation.

Timing Opportunities

Knowing your volunteers and understanding them is vital in volunteer management. For you to cater to the needs of your volunteers do you understand the demographics, motivations and barriers to participation? Examples of this might be, are you volunteers 18-24, are they students, unemployed, have children, are they likely to be in work during the day? How do I optimise my session times, recruitment and opportunity description to appeal to my target audience, do I know what motivates them and what prevents them from doing more?

Do I have the data to find out what time is best for my volunteers?  Do I have the tool available to learn through insight?

Volunteers appreciate you fitting opportunities around them. To offer them what they want, when they want to do it.  Boosting volunteer enthusiasm, because they know you’re taking their personal situation into account.

TeamKinetic – The Solution!!

Of course, we think a great way to solve many of these issues and more besides effective volunteer management is software. What’s even more obvious to us is the volunteer management software that you should use should be built using open data principles, work on every device and be super easy to use.

TeamKinetic’s volunteer management software has a system that can suit everyone no matter how large or small. We would be more than happy to have a chat with you regarding your particular volunteer management needs. We work across the sector with Universities, National Sporting Governing Bodies, volunteer centres, charities,  major events, hospices, hospitals, museums, parks, community groups and Sports Clubs.

If you think that your organisation could benefit from having more time to help more people, please feel free to get in touch.

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.

How volunteering improves mental health

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On 7th December 2018

In News & Views

Mental health is a growing problem, approximately 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year, as reported by Mind. Women are most likely to suffer from a mental health issue but males are more likely to take their own lives, at 78% of all suicides. While it can’t be the answer to everything, it has been said that volunteering improves mental health.

Causes Of Poor Mental Health

Many believe that the NHS is underfunded for the treatment of mental health. The King’s Fund reports that 23% of NHS activity is dedicated to treating mental health whilst only 11% of the budget is allocated to the issue.

Demand for help is up, but services are diminishing as a result of austerity. Recent figures show a 30% fall since 2009 in the number of hospital beds for people with acute mental health conditions. This follows the revelation in November 2017 that two-thirds of children referred for specialist mental healthcare are not receiving treatment. The charity Barnardo’s warned that ministers were “sleepwalking” into a deeper crisis in children’s mental health, after the government’s response to a parliamentary select committee report and green paper failed to promise urgent action to plug “gaping holes” in services.

It’s believed that social media plays a massive role in poor mental health. A study of 1,000 young people in the USA found 41% of respondents stated that social media platforms make them feel anxious, sad or depressed. The suggestion is social media makes young people feel anxious. Ben Jacobs, a DJ who has more than 5,000 followers on Twitter, decided to go on a hiatus from the platform in January 2016 and has found the break really beneficial. “Twitter did indeed make me feel anxious from time to time as it slowly dawned on me I was concerning myself with the feelings of the thousands of strangers I followed, while they didn’t necessarily know who I was.”

Volunteering And Mental Health

Studies show that volunteering improves mental health. It allows you to get rid of negative feelings and emotions such as anger, aggression or hostility that have a bad impact on our mind and body. Engaging in random acts of kindness can help decrease these feelings and stabilise your overall health. 94% of people who have volunteered in the last twelve months say that it improves their mood. Statistics such as this suggest that volunteering can improve poor mental health.

Volunteering also improves self-esteem. As the statistic above proves, voluntary work can improve your overall well-being. It makes you feel better about yourself. Research shows that knowing you’re making a difference to someone else makes you more confident and content.

Another reason to volunteer is the amount of life satisfaction that it can bring you. NCVO say that volunteering can boost happiness, therefore reducing symptoms of depression and other mental health issues.

TeamKinetic – Proud Of Our Friends

We make volunteering easier for organisations that help others. They help to recover, improve and prevent poor mental health. In September 2018, members of TeamKinetic went down to the Liverpool FC Foundation. We spoke to a number of volunteers on the ‘Respect For All’ activity day. They all gave great praise for the work the foundation does. Many felt the foundation had a positive impact on them. One person even said ”The foundation means everything to me.”

We also work with several hospitals, such as Warrington Halton Hospital, and many NHS Trusts. They do remarkable work every day to contribute to the positive well-being of others. TeamKinetic are very proud to be associated with these organisations and show full gratitude for the work they do.

For those interested in a volunteer management software that can help you the same way we have helped many others, please visit our website to book a demo and we would be happy to talk with you further.

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.

5 Reasons why YOU should volunteer

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On 23rd November 2018

In News & Views

Want to be happier, feel more fulfilled and live in a nicer world? Here is why you should volunteer.

1. Volunteering is a great career booster

Volunteering is a great CV booster that can set you apart from the rest. If you and another candidate look the same on paper what will you have to differentiate yourself?

Volunteering is a surefire way to get you ahead of the competition and secure your next career move. Lots of companies allow employees to take volunteering days.

Career-boosting volunteers used their experience as a great way to network and meet influential people. Want to work in event management? Volunteer in events. Want to work in Football? Volunteer at a local club. Simple!

2. Helping a good cause 

Do you want a sense of satisfaction and contentment, research tells us volunteers are happier and feel greater levels of trust in their community.

There are many reasons why people all over the world volunteer. Often its because they have been directly affected by a cause or issue. People want to give back to the organisation or cause that helped them in a proactive way, people like to feel that they can make a difference.

Working to make a difference about things you care about will make you feel better!

3. Personal improvement 

Get out of your comfort zone and volunteer. If you have never done it before getting started can be tough! But it is sure to develop you as a person. Volunteers often report higher levels of confidence and self-esteem.

The skills you gain from volunteering can help you improve your everyday life. Volunteering in itself can make you feel both humble and good about yourself.

Who wouldn’t want that?!

4. Health benefits 

Research reports that volunteering can actually make you a healthier and happier person. For instance,

94% of volunteers say that after 12 months of volunteering, they feel physically more healthy and their mood has improved.

96% of people who have been volunteering for at least a year say that volunteering has given them a purpose in life.

Want to read more about the health benefits volunteer offers here.

5. It’s Fun!!

like most scenarios in life, volunteering will be what you make it and if you want it to be fun it will be fun!

Volunteering is a great way of establishing relationships and making a whole new set of friends. It gets you out and is a fantastic cure for loneliness.

Doing something you enjoy, with people who can become your friends, whilst potentially helping others.  It’s a win-win.

So what are you waiting for? Get searching and find something to volunteer for today.

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.

TeamKinetic v1.2.0 Release Notes

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On 22nd November 2018

In Application Features and Tutorials, News & Views, Technical Updates

This December, TeamKinetic has an early Christmas present for our customers. We will be releasing one of our largest ever update with some significant improvements and extra functionality across the board.  Below are the biggest changes.

  • Session Names
  • Use of “Google places” to search and create opportunity locations
  • Complete re-write of the opportunity apply process
  • Custom Open-badge awards
  • Lots more customisation options
  • Our POD system for enterprise clients
  • Day schedule report available for everyone
  • Invite new volunteers via email (for providers and admins)
  • New search and download options for criminal checks
  • All transaction emails sent via Mandrill for improved deliverability

As well as the raft of 150 or so bug fixes, minor improvements and speed gains.

We will be sending a notification to all our customers pointing you to this blog and also to encourage you to login to the beta site (using your normal login details) and give some feedback on the new features.

LOGIN AND TEST THE BETA SITE HERE

Your feedback is essential. We take your feedback seriously and it helps us understand your needs and issues. You also help us spot potential bugs and operational considerations that we may not have considered for this update. We take every care to test the application before we update the code but we don’t always have a test that fully represents your exact usage, so we ask you to login to the beta site and try it out for yourself.  

If you do find any issues or would like to raise some concerns, you can send feedback using any of the following ways.

  1. Complete a support ticket in the HELP menu.
  2. Send us an email and put in the subject line “BETA SITE”
  3. Call us here at the office on 0161 914 5757 and press option 1 and talk to Support Team.
  4. If you have not done it yet, join our Facebook ADMIN group and send us a message.
  5. Send us a Tweet telling us what you think of the new features.

Named Sessions

When creating or editing opportunities you are now able to name sessions. This is great if you have an opportunity that might have sessions on at the same time, say water stations along a marathon route. Using this new feature you could have 5 sessions within the one opportunity, all at the same time but identify them as, Station 1 – at 5Km, Station 2 – at 15 Km and so on.

New and Improved Search

Many of you will have already tried out the new search at various points along its beta testing. We have been able to incorporate much of your suggestions and it should now be much easier for volunteers to find opportunities.

You can now enter a place name in the location field and not just a postcode, this lookup is powered by Google Places which have over 2 million defined areas and places. This is a great improvement as its now possible to perform a search like; show me opps within 2 miles of Liverpool, or Bristol University and so on.

There are extra filters like accessible and expenses paid and the sorting algorithm has been improved. If a search is entered the results are automatically ordered by relevance and those opportunities with the search terms appearing closest together will be at the top.

The new search also prevents empty searches resulting in hundreds of unfiltered opportunities being returned. For those of you lucky enough to have hundreds of available opportunities a user will be asked to enter at least a distance or a search string in order to limit the number of search results.

New Opportunity Applying Process

The applying process for opportunities has now been improved greatly. When an opportunity is marked as APPLYING, volunteers will be able to view the opportunity and its sessions but will not be able to join any sessions. Instead, they are asked to “apply”. At this point, any pre-requisites demanded by the opportunity are completed and then they are passed to an “New Applicant list”.

The applicants for the opportunity are visible on the opportunity management page for the admins/providers. From there you can view their details and pre-requisites and decide whether to approve or deny the application.

Approved volunteers are informed and are then able to join sessions as normal. Denied volunteers are also informed but are not able to join sessions or reapply as they remain in the applicant table as unsuccessful.

Open-badge Awards

You can now create your own badge awards to give to volunteers. These are designed around the OpenBadges system and volunteers will be able to store these badges in their own external badge backpack and use them anywhere where OpenBadges are accepted.

TeamKinetic, Volunteer management software

OpenBadges are a great way to reward volunteers in a way that enables them to build a recognisable portfolio of achievements that they can use to develop their skills everywhere.

Once a badge has been ‘baked’ into their backpack they can choose where and with whom to share that achievement.

In this first iteration, you can only award badges manually using the volunteer profile. We are looking at the possibility of creating automated awards based on a number of criteria; hours, opportunities, length of service etc.  We would love to hear your ideas about the kind of badges you might like to have?

You can get some help designing badges with the great online tool badge.design.

Extend The Customisation Of Your Site

We have opened up more of the system for much greater customisation by the super admins.

Using the super admin menu you are now able to customise all “registration form labels”, “help titles” and “help content” right from the SETTINGS menu.

Fancy a new front page look? Then check out the new LOOK & FEEL menu and enter your own HTML code for the front page and get a quick preview before saving and making live.

For power users, there is a CSS section where you can change the entire site style if you want. You can target home page elements, links, containers and change margins, colours and anything else you want. The custom CSS file is loaded after all defaults so you can override any existing settings.

If you would like your site to be updated but don’t have the skillset to do it, in-house, drop us a line and one of the team will get in touch to talk through your ideas and potential costs.

POD System

Enterprise clients can now choose a new type of application structure that we call PODs. This enables you to split up the administration of providers and opportunities into PODs and assign administrators to those PODs.

POD administrators only have access to the providers in their POD and the opportunities they have created.

Each POD also has an editable mini homepage that the POD admins can create to advertise their own opportunities.

It’s a great way to enable separate departments within a larger organisation some autonomy whilst keeping all your opportunities in one place for your volunteers.  If you think the POD might be something you and your organisation would like to know about then get in touch with our sales team on 0161 914 5757 and they can talk you through the options.

Day Schedule Report

The day schedule report is available from the REPORTS menu and offers a quick insight into the activity on any day across all opportunities and events.

Simply pick your time period and the report will return all sessions that are  happening within that period, including the volunteers on each session and stats about that session. You can also check in volunteers right from this screen which will log their hours for that session.

Its a super easy way to keep track of what’s going on over the days and weeks ahead.

Invite Volunteers via Email

Invite your existing volunteers via their email address. Just paste a list of comma separated emails or upload a CSV to send out an invite email with a link to reigster on your system. Maintains a list of all invited volunteers and lets you know if they have registered yet. Providers can also upload their own separate lists and if volunteers join via the Linking address in the email, they will automatically be linked to the provider sending the invite.

For administrators you can find it in the SETUP section of the settings menu. For providers it is in the VOLUNTEER menu.

Search and Download Expiring Criminal Checklists

Search for volunteers with expiring criminal checks and also for those criminal check applications that are overdue and download the results.

An enforced maximum validity for a criminal check has been added to your application options screen. Whenever a criminal check is added this date represents the maximum allowable time before the check expires. If an expiry date is entered which is beyond this date it will be reduced to the maximum allowable period.

This ensures that all criminal checks on the system have an expiry date and the new search page makes it easy to find expiring checks and get prepared.

All Transaction Emails Sent via Mandrill

All our transaction emails, that is emails that are sent automatically in response to an action like joining an opportunity, are now sent via Mandrill. Mandrill is one of the largest transactional email platforms, sending billions of messages a month.

This move will aid deliverability and reduce false spam alerts.

That’s the big stuff

This update contains a lot of improvements to TeamKinetic, we encourage you to try out the beta site for yourself. We welcome your thoughts and your feedback, so please don’t be a stranger and get in touch.

Facebook Live interactive sessions are coming soon on all these new features and more, join our ADMIN’S Group now and don’t miss out. 

 

5 Reasons why we think volunteers are great people!

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On 6th November 2018

In News & Views

Looking for inspiration? For many of us, it’s a big part of modern life and everyone searches for that feeling in different ways. There’s a special group of people who are often described as inspirational! People that give up their time to do better by the world, to try and make a difference where they can: volunteers.

We call these people “volunteers”. Their motivations are varied, but often selfless or at least for a goal greater than their own satisfaction and here we will discuss the 5 reasons why we think volunteers are great.

“Volunteers don’t get paid not because their acts are worthless but because they are priceless.”

As crazy as this sounds volunteers are not paid! This in itself makes them special, but it’s not because they do it for free it’s what they actually do that sets them apart. They change the lives of people because they want to and not because they are employed to.  Here at TeamKinetic, we have been able to witness hundreds of thousands of logged hours from thousands of volunteers, it’s simply wonderful to see and we hope for many many more wonderful people engaging with fantastic causes.

“One of the greatest gifts you can give is your time.”

How do you value people’s time? Is it a cost replacement?  Or is it more subtle than that, is it their very presence and the joy or comfort they can bring? This is not even considering the value the volunteer places on their own time. Valuing your volunteers is very difficult and fraught with pitfalls, but one thing we can all agree on without those people who give their time many services and people would be worse off.

“Don’t live for what you get, live for what you give.”

It is often quoted that real happiness comes from a sense of fulfilment. We would suggest that aspiring to freely give your time may be a way to achieve that fulfilment, to feel part of something greater than yourself is a particular human trait. Not to focus on what you get, or what you have but on what you can do for others. Volunteers epitomise this way of life, this is the reason many volunteers give so much.  Don’t believe us about this? Read this and see what the research says about volunteers being happier and healthier.

“Wherever there is a human being there is an opportunity for kindness.”

We all have choices when it comes to how we choose to live our lives.  We can choose to be kind, and fulfil the potential every single one of us has. I’m not suggesting every volunteer is a saint – far from it. But those who volunteer are choosing to try and be kind, to try and improve their community or cause. We salute those who make that choice.

“You may not have saved a lot of money in your life, but if you have saved a lot of heartaches for other folks, you are a pretty rich person.”

The value a volunteer provides and also extracts from their experience is difficult to quantify. The idea that saving the hearts of others is worth way more to people that any amount of money sounds crazy.  But if a volunteer can help change a person outlook, improve their quality of life, share their time, wisdom and experience for the good of others, develop friendships, reduce loneliness, create opportunities for those that otherwise might not have them.  These are potentially life-changing events for the person the volunteer might help.

So we say volunteers are special, and we at TeamKinetic take this time to say thank you, volunteers, for your time, your commitment and for believing that you can make a difference.  We think you’re great.

Find out how TeamKinetic can work with you to recruit, manage, and retain your student volunteers.

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.

TeamKinetic’s 4th annual volunteer conference Day 2 – A success!

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On 18th September 2018

In Events and Conferences, News & Views

#TKvol

On the 12th September 2018, TeamKinetic hosted their 4th annual sports volunteering conference at the Manchester metropolitan university. The aim of the second day of the conference was to make people aware of what TeamKinetic offered as a brand and what the world of volunteering has in store for the future, as well as what issues we are facing today. To give an overall better experience for the volunteer.

The attendees on the day were from a wide range of sectors which we feel helped when debating. We had the likes of the Liverpool football club foundation and Sport England from the sports industry as well as MMU and the University of Manchester from the education sector. Finally, we as also had many charities/Volunteer centres in attendance such as the Youth hostel association and The volunteers association Wales.

The day had a clear structure in terms of what was going to be to be involved. This included: Breakout sessions, Panel talks with both volunteers and industry leaders and also a lunch break which gave TeamKinetic a great chance to interview attendees and get some personal feedback on their experiences.

OPENING TALKS

After being welcomed by the TeamKinetic receptionist’s all guests were given an introduction speech and welcomed by our sales director Chris Martin who explained who was talking and what was going to happen over the course of the conference in order for the day to run smoothly.

The first speaker of the day was BBC unsung hero Denise Larrad who gave her talk on what volunteering meant to her and her good and bad volunteering experiences. Denise also very kindly brought along her award which many guests had the privilege of getting their pictures taken with. 

Another ‘Big name’ for the day was Kirsten Stephenson who is head of volunteering at Sport England a national organisation with a good reputation for governing sports all over the country. She gave a very insightful talk about how cross-sector collaboration can unlock the potential of volunteering in sport and physical activity. You could sense within the audience that everything she said was getting high levels of engagement. We saw this through how much interaction we were getting through twitter whilst her session was on.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

We then led all attendees to different breakout sessions in which they got the option of which ones they wanted to attend. The three sessions available were hosted by Chantel Scherer who spoke about using behavioural sciences to retain volunteers more effectively. This particular talk proved to be very successful as it drew the biggest crowds on the day. Claire Jones, Head of volunteering at St.Helens volunteering centre also spoke during this breakout session regarding the benefits of good support to volunteers. Again this was another one of the sessions that made for good social media traffic as many people were interested in what she had to say.

A further speaker was Mike Howlett who touched on the importance of diversifying volunteers in order to engage the wider community. I attended this session myself and all in the room were very impressed with both Mike’s industry knowledge and the points he was raising. People from the industry said after his talk: “I am definitely now more well informed about the voluntary sector than I was before”. This was very promising to hear from a TeamKinetic point of view as it is exactly what we wanted to get out of the conference.

LUNCH AND NETWORKING

Lunch followed the first breakout session of the day. It was provided by the catering staff of MMU and everyone seemed to enjoy it. During this interval, it gave people the chance to network with each other which also proved to be a good part of the day as many people from the different sectors were able to merge their ideas together and discuss the issues they faced every day to see if others could possibly have the solution.

TeamKinetic also used the break to optimise what we got out of the day. Marketing coordinator Ash interviewed many of the guests to get their thoughts on the volunteer management service that we provide and also volunteering in general. This will be good for us from a marketing perspective so we can get a greater understanding of our customers.

Speaker on the day Nick Lowden from Greater Sport said that “One thing I liked was the networking at lunch, it was good to have time to speak to other people in the industry”. Comments such as this are very positive as it also gives us things to build on for the next conference.

Potentially the most insightful part of the day was the Panel session which was led by Chris Martin with panellists; Fiona Liddell, Kristen Stephenson, Nick Lowden and Denise Larrad.

During this particular session, we allowed the floor of industry members to ask about the current pressing issues of the day and what the future holds for the volunteering. Once again the social media engagement for this part of the day was brilliant with many people using the #TKvol. Despite this perhaps the best part of the panel session was the number of questions that were being asked by the floor, it was very promising to see so many people taking a genuine interest in the answers of the panellists.

CLOSING SESSIONS

The day ended with one final breakout session, again split between three speakers; Fiona Liddell, Laura Hamilton and Chris Martin. The attendees got the choice of what session they wanted to go to and it was nice to see a good number spread out evenly across all of the sessions which just highlighted the calibre of speakers on the day. We hope that at least one of the speakers

Overall the 4th annual volunteering conference by TeamKinetic will go down as a success. We would like to thank everyone that contributed to the day as everyone played a role and we look for to seeing more people next year!

If you would like to know more about volunteer management software please do not hesitate to visit the TeamKinetic website https://teamkinetic.co.uk/

 

 

 

 

Why attend TeamKinetic’s volunteering 4th annual volunteering conference?

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On 6th September 2018

In Events and Conferences

On the 12th September 2018, TeamKinetic will be hosting our fourth annual volunteer management conference at the Manchester Metropolitan University.

There will be a host of exciting speakers, from award-winning volunteers to key members of the sector. After three successful previous events we hope to welcome back many of our delegates, but if you have not been before, why should now?

Let us help you make the right choice.

Blue banner displaying advertisement for TeamKinetic 4th Annual Volunteering Conference

1. NETWORKING

There will be people from right across the volunteering community at the event,  meaning this is the perfect opportunity for you to break out the old business cards and get networking.  The knowledge and experience available from the delegates in the room will be second to none and building that network of volunteer managers will only provide you with more help and support.

2. BE INSPIRED

We are lucky to work in a job that is never short of amazing and inspiring stories and anecdotes, and this event will bring some of these stories to life.  Our speakers all have stories to share and insight to impart.  Our opening speaker, Dennise Larrad the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Unsung Hero Volunteer of the year for 2017, is going to open the event sharing some of her experiences as well as what it’s like to share a stage with Tom Daley.

3. LEARN (About TeamKinetic amongst other things)

Whether you have 10, 100 or 1000 volunteers, there will be learning and opportunity to exchange ideas. Our speakers have a wealth of experience and the format of the day leaves lost of opportunity for you to question them and to dig deep into their knowledge.   We also invite you to come and chat with us at TeamKinetics stand, our volunteer management software can cater to your volunteer management needs and is available at a price that might just surprise you.

4. GET A GREAT DAY OUT OF THE OFFICE! 

We will fill your day with interesting people, great knowledge and insight and some thoughts for you to take back to your organisation to think about.  On top of that we will put on a good buffet, so at worst you don’t go home hungry.

It would be fantastic if you could come along to this event and if you are interested you can purchase your tickets here

Jerome Pannell – Marketing Cordinator

3 Reasons why you must have volunteer management software

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On 3rd September 2018

In News & Views

Expensive, confusing and unnecessary. These are all words that can come to mind when thinking about volunteer management software. However, what people don’t think about is the benefits that volunteer management software can bring them. Here are 3 reasons as to why these systems will actually improve your work as opposed to hinder it.

1. It makes opportunities viral

By purchasing volunteer management software it enables you to make your opportunities viral for your volunteers. The reason this is so important is that your opportunities will get far more traffic the more people you share it with. By sharing it with multiple groups of people you are also able to give yourself a wider scope of volunteers. This is one of the major benefits to volunteer management software. The more people you can get to on your opportunities, the better reputation you will have as a provider.

2. Your time will become more productive

If you are using volunteer management software within your job of managing people you will not have to worry about anyone because of the software. This will now give you more time to think about and do the other jobs that are associated with your occupation rather than worrying about what people are where and if they’re doing the correct thing. Good volunteer management software will allow you to see what everyone has done and how long they have done it for, it will also allow both volunteers and providers to leave reviews on opportunities. This will help ensure that you do not send good volunteers to bad places but also that you don’t send bad volunteers to good places as they will no longer want volunteers from you.

3. Build relationships

By using volunteer management software you could essentially turn it into or even replace a CRM system. If you are able to keep track of what opportunities people are interested in then you will be able who is best suited to what opportunities, by doing this you’ll get more enthusiastic employees because they will be passionate about what they’re doing meaning they are more likely to put in maximum effort into the opportunity. This will give you as a volunteer manager/organisation a good reputation as your volunteers will become more desirable than others.

Overall volunteer management software will make your job more efficient and manageable as well as allowing you to gain a good reputation within the industry.

If you are looking to get volunteer management software then look no further than TeamKinetic. We offer volunteer management software that works. Give us a call on 0161 914 5757, or drop us an email at info@teamkinetic.co.uk.

Top 5 Ways to conquer volunteer management

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On 28th August 2018

In News & Views, Volunteer Management

One of the hardest things many people encounter when running events of a large scale is volunteer management. How many people do you need? What time will they have to be there? What will they all be doing? These are all questions that will stress the mind of both event organisers and volunteer managers. By having efficient volunteer management this can mean that other jobs that are involved in everyday work can be focused on rather than worrying about what people will be doing on the day. Whether you’re a volunteer manager, event organiser or even a volunteer there is most certainly something in this blog that could be of interest to you.

BE IMFORMATIVE

It is vitally important that as a volunteer manager you make it your utmost priority to ensure that all volunteers are fully aware of what they are doing and when they have to be doing it. This will minimize the number of times you’re asked questions such as the ones seen above, it will also mean that the volunteers will be more knowledgeable about what they’re doing meaning they will be more likely to do a better job which in turn will make your event better! From a personal perspective of the volunteer managers, they will now be able to focus on other key aspects of their jobs because they will have less to worry about, meaning less stress! Which, of course, is an aim of any job.

MOTIVATE THEM

In most cases, the volunteers are the first thing that people will see. If these people are smiling and happy this will give out positive energy across the day and will lead to those vital positive reviews that will make future events more successful which overall is what you want from in the volunteer management industry. In reference to volunteer motivation, there is a host of ways that this can be achieved, for example, although many volunteers are happy to give up their time for nothing a way to even further motivate them would be to offer some form of incentive e.g: free lunch. Furthermore, in the lead up to an event you could maybe send them messages like “can’t wait to see you” or “hope you’re looking forward to it”.

MAKE THEM FEEL IMPORTANT

Again, from a reputation standpoint, volunteers are the people that can massively help with word of mouth marketing (which is very cost effective because it’s totally free!) The way to make them feel important will heavily vary depending on what type of event you’re running, the amount of volunteers you have and also demographics of the volunteers. The reason for this being is that different people are interested in different things and respond to being spoken to in different ways. For example, if a team of volunteers were to be older people (50+) they are way more likely to feel important about having their name mentioned in a speech rather than a LinkedIn endorsement which would be more appealing to younger adults.

VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

In today’s world, almost everything can be made more simple with the help of technology. Volunteer management is no exception. A volunteer management system can help you work out who is volunteering for you as well as what they did at what time and how long for. By using volunteer management systems you will be better equipt to work out who you can match to particular opportunities with the use of the database as by using this you will be able to see what certain volunteers enjoy. By using volunteer management software this should alleviate stress for you as a volunteer manager because of how much more efficient it will make your work. In relation to where to get a volunteer management system look no further than TeamKinetic who provide a software that WORKS.

MASTER THE ART OF RECRUITMENT

There is one thing that is a simply must have for volunteer managers and this is volunteers! Often what volunteer managers have trouble with is how to get these volunteers to sign up for opportunities, however, this issue is not the volunteer’s willingness to participate but it is reaching out to volunteers and recruiting new ones. The potential way around this is possibly to look for volunteers in areas that the opportunity is centred around. For example, if an event is associated with a charity then you are most likely to find quality volunteers in places such as hospices as they will already have some sort of emotional attachment to the cause.

From this article, we hope that you have been informed about volunteer management and how to be successful in doing so. If you do wish to find an easier way of managing your volunteers by using software, please visit https://teamkinetic.co.uk/

How Volunteering Has Made Great Sporting Events

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On 22nd August 2018

In News & Views, Sport

Over the years there has been a host of the world’s greatest sporting events that have only been made possible by the volunteers who give up their time to make the events what they are. Volunteering at sports events is extra special because, more often than not, events that require volunteers are of a mass scale, this adds atmosphere to the whole volunteering experience.

The first event this blog will go into is the London 2012 Olympics which involved a massive cohort of events which in total required 70,000 volunteers. There was no shortage of thanks from the stars of the games for the volunteers that helped organise the events and you could tell that they were genuinely appreciative of them and the efforts they put in. Not only the Olympians but others also were massive fans of the way the nation had volunteered. For example, the Prime Minister at the time, David Cameron stated: “To see tens of thousands of people giving up their time to support London 2012 has been truly inspiring.” Others such as Tom Daley and Sir Chris Hoy have said the sheer number of people that came to the event made it what it was.

Furthermore, the 2018 World Cup in Russia was also heavily successful not only because of the stars of the show but the number of people who were willing to give up their time to make sure the tournament ran smoothly. There were an estimated 17,000 volunteers at the tournament with roles such as car park marshall and media assistant. “The volunteers’ faces are the first thing the fans see when they arrive,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino, hailing the significance of the Volunteer Programme. “Their smiles are what visitors pick up on”. Statements like this from such powerful people really give significance to volunteering and makes everyone aware of just how important they are.

A further event that was made successful by the volunteers of the sport was the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The tournament had a total of around 6,000 volunteers with roles that varied from meeting and greeting to transport. The Rugby World Cup staff members collectively called their volunteers ‘The Pack’ this was presumably to make them feel as though they were more a part of the games and also important.

As shown by the prestigiousness of the events above volunteers and volunteering are both vital parts of what makes these occasions successful and enjoyable to watch. This is recognised by many which include the stars of the sports to the business minded individuals who run the events.

With the 2019 Rugby world cup fast approaching they’re looking for volunteers to help make that event great once again! If you’re interested please click the link below:

https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/volunteers

Events these days require mass volunteers and a need for precise volunteer management. Here’s how TeamKinetic have helped these events run smoothly in the past with the use of our software.

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