With annual volunteers week kicking off, we thought it would be a good time to explain just exactly what volunteers week is and just how important it is. The whole week is about celebrating and thanking volunteers for the work they do all year round. This year we are very proud to be one of the 100 official partners of volunteer week 2019 for the first time thanks to @VolScotland.

Volunteer week began to be celebrated in 1984 originally being celebrated just in England. In 2013 they began A merger with the NCVO which led to volunteering week becoming a nation wide campaign. It does not matter how large or small a volunteering contribution is from an individual, everyone deserves to be thanked for their efforts which is what volunteering is all about.

How Important Is Volunteering To Society?

Many people are of the belief that volunteering is free. In ways that statement can be seen as true, volunteers do give up their time for free. However the idea that the third sector and volunteering is not worth a lot of money is incorrect.

Numbers show that volunteering is highly valuable to both organisations and the economy. Statistics show that volunteering is currently worth 22 billion. This is 1.2% of GDP in the UK. Volunteering and the third sector thriving can only be a positive thing for the economy.

The sheer amount of organisations that need volunteers shows just how necessary volunteering week is. In 2016, there were 165,000 voluntary organisations and a number of those are solely dependent on volunteers.

What Are TeamKinetic Doing For Volunteer Week?

I’m sure most of you will be absolutely bursting to know what TeamKinetic are doing for the 2019 volunteer week! So It’s a great shame that you’re going to have to wait! We have a lot of things planned for every day of the working week from the 3rd-7th.

To tide you over until we begin our full week of content we still have a host of industry blogs and YouTube Videos that you can watch on all of our features that can help you with any improvements you need with your volunteer management.

We have been improving volunteer management software for organisations for over a decade now and we have worked with some fantastic people. We are fast approaching 1 million volunteering hours which is something we are very proud of and hope that we can still be improving volunteering communities for many years to come and hopefully get to 10 million one day!

Inspiring Volunteering Stories

Volunteering has had a presence in society for many years now meaning there are hundreds if not thousands of unique and inspiring stories that we could tell you about. Anna Jackson began her journey in sport playing hockey. After several operations on her knee it got to the point where she could no longer run meaning her love of playing and coaching came to an end. Unfortunately mental health issues followed and Anna developed depression. She says that wheelchair basketball changed her life. It allowed her to build her self confidence and identity back which just shows the power of just getting involved.

Anna went on to have a decade long career with the Great British wheelchair basketball team which even included participating in the 2000 Sydney Paralympics. As well as playing, Anna also coaches the sport and this is what she has to say about that: “I always say that, as a coach – whether as a volunteer or on the books – every day is a school day. I am always looking for new things to learn and try with my players and coaching clients.  But the key thing about coaching is to help people to believe in themselves and their abilities.” This is one of the reasons volunteers week is so important. Saying Thank you and appreciating people like Anna for all the important work they do is something that should definitely be celebrated.

How Can You Celebrate Volunteer Week?

No matter if you manage volunteering, you are a volunteer or you have never been involved in anything before there are plenty of ways that you will be able to celebrate volunteers week. If you have in fact never been involved before the best way is to get involved! Both TeamKinetic and Do-it both have 1000’s of volunteering opportunities up and down the country that you can get do and maybe even to start doing it regularly.

For those who manage volunteers, it would be great for you to think of a way you can thank them throughout the week or perhaps put something special on for them to make them aware just how truly appreciated they are.

How Can You Manage Your Volunteers Better?

If you want to supercharge your volunteer management and get better only managing but recruiting and retaining your volunteers We could be just what you’re looking for. We can help your create and build volunteering communities and make your volunteer programmes way more successful going forward. If you are interested in having a volunteer management software system please do not hesitate in getting into contact with us. You can either set up a free demo via our website or give us a call on 0161 914 5757.

We are confident that we will have a system that can cater to everyone. We work with organisations that range from local to global with small and large volunteer numbers. We’re so confident that we are competitive in price will price match anyone in the market.

#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/

TeamKinetic’s James volunteered at the Volvo Ocean Race in Cardiff last week. The major international sports event visited Cardiff for fourteen days and nicely coincided with national Volunteers Week 2018. Take a read of James’ experience and how the event catered for volunteers welfare.

Arriving at the event ready for the start of shift briefing, I was unsure what to expect from my volunteering. I had no past encounters with  Yachts and had only been sailing a couple of times. However, my previous experience volunteering had provided me with the reassurance that management is usually one of the nicest and most welcoming around.  Sport Cardiff was no different. Arriving to the volunteer hub I was welcomed by Gareth Power, Volunteer Coordinator for Sport Cardiff . He welcomed me to the event, thanked me for travelling there and supplied me with a ‘port crew’ polo, poncho, cap and even a reusable plastic bottle. I was then showed  a seat ready for the briefing.

One thing I noticed was how friendly, welcoming and understanding everyone was at the event. Whether it was your first day or tenth, everyone was smiling and eager to help one another out. Following a light-hearted brief, we were given the opportunity to put ourselves forward for the different positions at the various stands available. During the brief we were told about the running order of the day, the time of lunches and shown were we could make hot drinks, and find the toilet. There were also various watering stations and sun cream dispensers across the event, an additional touch which was greatly welcomed in the days heat.

At my station, I was greeted by several volunteers who explained my role and helped me find my feet in the role. Before we knew it, we were welcoming people into the stand and showing them through the various aspects.  At various points in the day, we were checked on by the event staff both from  Sport Cardiff and Volvo Ocean Race, making sure we were okay and all comfortable. Halfway through the shift, we received our tasty lunch and given the opportunity to take a comfort break as other volunteers minded the stand.  Once our shift was completed we were free to spend a little longer socialising and invited to a local pub to enjoy a socialise.

The following day I returned to the volunteer hub and the briefing process was repeated, with a different joke but just as much enthusiasm. This time around I went to a different stand for my shift. The  Grinding Challenge was a competition stand where entrants had to raise of the mast as quickly as possible. As part of a four-person team, we were responsible for encouraging attendees to participate, demonstrating their technique and capturing an action picture using the stations ipads, which could be sent to them via email. The stand brought out everyone’s competitive side and was amusing to watch…of course I had to have a go!

James’ Attempting the Grinding Challenge

During my time at the event, I took the opportunity to speak with several volunteers and ask why they decided to give up their time. The answers varied greatly, from enjoying sports, to be being a yacht enthusiast, gaining work experience, previous experience volunteering with  Sport Cardiff and even just to say ‘I was there’. It was clear that everyone had their own reasons for being there, but in doing so the gained a sense of gratification and provided others with their time and efforts.

A few days after the event, I received an email from Gareth titled: VOR – Thank You / Diolch. The email was a perfect example the simple things you can do to say ‘Thank you’ and really helped to make me feel a valued member of the volunteer team at the event.

Despite only spending a short time at the event, I had a truly great experience and learnt much more than I had expected. Whilst at the event I developed my people skills and adapted to new environments, operating in a team and learning about yachts, volunteering at the Volvo Ocean Race had provided me with an opportunity to do something completely different to my regular day and connected me with so many people whose path I may never have crossed.  Volunteering at the such a large sport event was a truly enjoyable experience and one I would happily repeat in the future.