Category: News & Views Page 24 of 42

Volunteering in National Parks and Green Spaces

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On 4th November 2019

In Heritage & Culture, News & Views

Fresh air and endless miles of thick grass green carpets cover the many hills and mountains across the English countryside. Doesn’t sound like the worst place to volunteer. Volunteering for any National park or green space across the UK is an excellent way to be active outdoors. England is fortunate enough to have ten national parks spread across the country. So why not get involved? Volunteering in green areas can include a whole range of excellent opportunities. 

Peak District National Park volunteers

Osian Wilson

Osian, who is autistic, started as a Youth Ranger and now volunteers almost every day. During his time as a volunteer Osian has built drystone walls, repaired paths, pulled ragwort, cut bracken, planted trees, felled trees, litter picked and carried out ecological surveys. Osian spends at least 9 hours a week volunteering.

MTB Volunteers

The Peak District MTB volunteers participate in a number of activities to protect, promote and preserve mountain biking in the national park. Members work voluntarily with The Peak District National Park Authority and Derbyshire County Council, carrying out sensitive repairs to many of the most popular trails in the Peak District

Which opportunities are best suited for you?

Volunteer Rangers

You could be like John Wayne
Or at least pretend to be…

Volunteer Rangers commit themselves to help maintain the National Parks. Rangers can expect a whole variety of tasks, from being up to their waists in waders, to helping park tourists. The excitement of being a Ranger is that every day can bring new challenges with the opportunities to work alongside new people. This may seem like something just for the older adults however, young rangers can start from the age of 14.

How do you fancy?

Red Squirrel transects to monitor squirrel behaviors and populations.

Interacting with visitors is an essential part of being a Ranger. Especially in the busy summer Holidays.

Building otter holts to encourage otters to re-colonise and breed along waterways.

Cotswold Wardens

You could also be like Ned Stark (warden of the North).
But we all know how that ended…

Anyone can become a Cotswold warden (Not everyone can be John Wayne though). All that is required is a commitment, willingness and a positive attitude. In exchange for your hard work wardens are provided with full training, all the equipment they need and travel expenses.

Activities can include

Working Parties take part in a range of projects from drystone walling, hedge laying, and tree planting to installing kissing gates and pond restoration.

Parish wardens work closely with parish councils, farmers and residents to help keep footpaths open and identify local features in need of restoration.

Guided Walks, the Cotswold Way is one of the very famous walking paths among many which attracts thousands of tourists each year.

Maybe you could help with school assemblies and days out exploring the Cotswolds.

Organisations you could be apart of

National Trust

The National Trust received over 61,000 volunteers between 2017 and 2018 giving more than 4.6 million hours of their free time to chip in and help the National Trust. Could this be you in the upcoming year?

TCV

TVC aims to make happier healthier communities. Many urban communities lack green space TVC aims to unite communities and green spaces together to deliver lasting outcomes for both.

The Wildlife Trusts 

Wildlife Trusts are located across the UK totalling to 35,000 regular and casual volunteers. There are many ways volunteers can devote their free time to help wildlife from, species surveying, community gardening, plant identification and the many more opportunities for you to explore.

People don’t get access to as much green space as they should to stay healthy, this can be because of many reasons. Nature of your job role, city living and limited green areas. So why not try to get out there? Think volunteering and think green!

TeamKinetic 1.4 – Release week ZERO. It’s release week!

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On 31st October 2019

In Application Features and Tutorials, News & Views, TeamKinetic Features

This is it… the release date is upon us and on November 5th the next version of TeamKinetic will be appearing on your desktops.

This Facebook Live session will cover the excellent filtering and searching options that we have added to the volunteer, opportunity and provider search. We will also be talking a little about the release schedule and what we will be doing to try to ensure a smooth transition.

The new filtering selection allows you to add multiple filters easily without having to scroll up and down, we’ve also included custom fields where applicable.

You can add or remove filters automatically and the results will update each time.

The navigation bar allows you to scroll through the results, change the displayed number of rows, and tells you how many results in total we have found.

You can also download all the results to a CSV, this will create a file with a copy of every row, not just the ones you are viewing at the time.

If you select any of the results using the checkboxes in the first column the bulk task options will appear at the bottom of your screen.

The available options will alter depending on which search you are performing, but in each case, a window will pop up where you can confirm your action and provide any further details.

If there is only one action available for a row it will just be a simple text link at the end, this is also the case when searching for opportunities.

If there are multiple actions you’ll see the triple dot icon that you can click to bring up the actions, these are things like impersonate, email, manage etc.

You’ll start to see this table search and filtering pattern turning up throughout TeamKinetic, we think its a vast improvement and we hope you’ll think so too.

Join our Facebook live session on Tuesday 5th November to find out more about getting the most out of the application process.

TeamKinetic 1.4 – Pre-release week five

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On 26th October 2019

In Application Features and Tutorials, News & Views, TeamKinetic Features

In our final pre-release Facebook Live session we are going to be looking at the opportunity application process and how to get the most out of applying opportunities.

Many of our customers have specific on-boarding processes for specific opportunities or types of opportunities. These checks take place before a volunteer can join a session on an opportunity.

Unlike requirements like inductions and criminal checks, the application process is specific to the opportunity and so all volunteers are required to complete the on-boarding before being allowed to join an opportunity.

When creating an opportunity look out for the selection options and from there you can choose to create an applying opportunity and also specify some of the other pre-requisites like references.

When a volunteer finds this opportunity they will be presented with an option to apply and will be asked to complete all the pre-requisites.

They provider and volunteer will each receive an email letting them know the application has been received.

The provider or administrator can manage the applicants from the regular opportunity management page. From the applicants tab they can view all the current applicants, approve or deny applicants and download the applicant list.

Once approved the volunteer is sent an email confirmation with a link to the opportunity and can then go ahead and join sessions in the normal way.

If the opportunity is a flexible opportunity the volunteer is automatically joined to the single session that represents the length of the flexible opportunity.

It’s important to remember that when an application is received, the volunteer is not yet on the opportunity, their application must be approved AND they must choose their sessions (if the opportunity is session based).

In summary the application process looks like this;

  1. Create an APPLICATION opportunity
  2. Wait for volunteers to apply
  3. Process your applicants on the opportunity management page applicant tab
  4. Continue to manage the volunteers that have joined your opportunity after having their application approved

Join our Facebook live session on Tuesday 29th October to find out more about getting the most out of the application process.

TeamKinetic 1.4 – Pre-release week four

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On 20th October 2019

In Application Features and Tutorials, News & Views, TeamKinetic Features

This week we will be discussing a much requested new feature, that will give you far more control than ever over the communications TeamKinetic sends to volunteers and providers; customising automated emails.

TeamKinetic keeps your volunteers and providers up to date, with notifications about opportunity activity, chat room messages, applications, registrations and many other actions and events.

We have default content for all these messages but now you can edit and customise over 30 messages.

Its dead simple to edit a message, just click the edit button to bring up a window like below.

Each message has its own set of replacements you can use which will be replaced when sent, like opportunity title, opportunity link or the volunteer name. Just click on any of the blue replacement buttons in the right column and they will appear at the current position in your custom message.

You can also now attach files to these messages!

Join our Facebook live session on Tuesday 22nd October to find out more about customising your own messages.

5 Ways To Encourage Repeat Volunteering

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On 15th October 2019

In Community, News & Views, Volunteer Management

You may have witnessed driving past a rescue team late at night in gruelling weather conditions, with deafening sirens and eye-capturing flashing lights. Or alternatively, you may know someone personally who may have ended their night by dialling the emergency services. Many UK rescue teams work voluntarily like Mountain Rescue and British Red Cross. But why would anyone want to keep volunteering for a cause which is considered physically and mentally tiring?

Here are 5 ways how your organisation can help retain your hardworking volunteers and keep them smiling.

1. Be Realistic

The Earth isn’t flat.

Let us skip back to basics if you want to engage your volunteers. Opportunities should have actionable goals in which will enable your volunteers to be successful when volunteering. If your volunteers have no clear set of directions, then how will he or she find their way? Volunteers also need to be clear on what your organisation stands for. Volunteers should be made clear of your mission and vision statements. This will then allow them to understand the type of organisation they are working for. Retaining volunteers to work coherently to achieving what your business wants will help aid success.

2. Show Results

It’s all very well getting volunteers to join opportunities, however where are the results? Showing results is highly important to positively motivate your volunteers. Volunteers want to hear feedback from an opportunity they have participated in. This can easily be communicated in a polite informal email or text, this would make the volunteer then feel valued. It’s key that your volunteers feel valued for their efforts. Because this generates a sense of belonging, which is a key psychological need which will help retain volunteers. Volunteers who feel like they belong will not need to leave.

3. Communicate And Recognize

The best way to establish trust between an organisation and its volunteers is to talk to them. This is a really simple way of further developing relationships. Which can be done over a vast amount of platforms, emails, text messages, phone calls, and social media. It’s important to know where your audience is so you can communicate with them in the most appropriate form.

Everybody likes to be recognized for their achievements, even your non-profit volunteers. This recognition will stimulate a sense of gratitude between the volunteers and yourselves, making them want to volunteer again. A key part of retaining volunteers is recognising any type of achievement because this affects the self-esteem of anybody. Think about yourself for a moment, would you like an achievement you’ve done to be praised? I know personally that any form of praise or congratulations lifts my mood and motivates me to keep on the right path. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a huge gesture, it could be verbal or written. Volunteers who are recognized for their achievements are more likely to have higher self-esteem, a more positive outlook on life, and better mental health.

4. Involve the community

Try to be inclusive to everyone to retain volunteers, by encouraging volunteers to get neighbours, friends, and family members from the community to join opportunities with them. This will only make the experience more enjoyable for the volunteer. We all need to feel emotionally and physically safe, and we all need close supportive relationships. A sense of community provides this, by giving local people a voice to connect with one another and meet new people.

5. Volunteer Management

Does your organisation offer opportunities which are concise, clear and easy to connect to online. If not, then it will be vitally important that you consider using volunteering management software. If your services are easy to use then you are ten times more likely to retain existing volunteers. Making your volunteering management system easier will help your organisations productivity, plus will help the volunteers connect to your opportunities. Statistically, adults over the age of 65 are more likely to volunteer; this age group of people do not consider themselves to be most confident online and are hesitant to use a computer. Meaning the simpler your online portal, the more likely you will be to retain existing volunteers.

A final note from Teamkinetic

Although these five tips for retaining volunteer are important to follow, it’s equally important to note. People consistently volunteer because volunteering is aligned and persistent with their own personal characteristics and self-image. People value what they are doing and are able to extract benefits from the volunteering experience, which helps with their own self-growth. Like anything in life people either want to do something or they don’t, you won’t be able to retain everyone. Although we hope you can.

World Mental Health Day

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On 8th October 2019

In Community, News & Views, Volunteer Management

World Mental Health Day is a day of global mental health awareness and education, which aims to eliminate the stigma behind mental health. Life, as we all know, can be difficult and these problems can arise and affect many of us in a whole range of ways. How our bodies cope with this can have different effects on our mind and soul. Before we judge one another be mindful of what that person may have gone through, what wars they may have battled and what obstacles they may have overcome or maybe overcoming. It’s time to leave our judgmental thoughts and started looking after each other. The world we live in today faces too much animosity and hostility. We must all learn to love and get along with one another, we all live in one world – it’s time we became one and start working together.

Mental Health in the UK

Around one in four people in the UK will suffer from mental health issues each year, while only one in eight people are receiving treatment for mental health. One in six people in England each week suffer from a common mental health issue such as depression and anxiety.

A total of 70.9 million prescriptions for anti-depressants were given out in England in 2018 by the NHS. This is an increase of 3.4 million from 2017 to 2018. From 2015 to 2018 the number of prescriptions for anti-depressants for young people increased by almost 1 million! From these figures, it is clear to say mental health is an issue which is rising in the UK.

Causes of mental health issues

Mental health issues can affect people for a wide range of reasons. Trauma, loss, isolation, abuse, unemployment and the list keeps going. For many individuals, it’s a various combination of factors/experiences which have lead to negative outcomes. Yet everyone is different, one person’s mental stability will have different variances to what they are more tolerant of than others.

Social media


Over the last decade, social media has grown dramatically making each and every one of us more connected than we ever have been. Developing relationships which are halfway around the world is now a reality. On average a person in the UK checks their phone 28 times per day! It often makes me think what has the world come to, is this right? or is this wrong? or is this just the world we live in today and this is merely just evolution?

Implications of social media

The bottom line is that social media can have a detrimental effect on our mental health. Especially on the younger generation. Who are almost dependable on their mobile device, almost feeling lost without it. I know myself only being 20 that I do find it hard to break away from my device, I’m not proud of this and I do wish I could separate away more easily. Essentially social media is minimizing the human connections we make with one another. Limiting our social and communication skills in the real world because our heads are buried way beneath endless tweets and trending hashtags. Taking us away from the real world and keeping us trapped in virtual reality. Where we only care about our virtual selves and how others view us on various social platforms.

Low self-esteem is something young people suffer with when scrawling down photoshop perfect Instagram profiles. Where the immaculate and perfect image is captured – after hours upon hours of makeup editing and light adjustments! A study found people suffer from envy and self-doubt, as a result of comparing their own lives to those which are deemed to have the perfect lavish lifestyles we apparently all crave.

This leads me to say that it’s no wonder that social media is leading to unhappiness in people if used without caution. Causing anxiety and depression. We’re in a constant battle with ourselves to be better than everyone else, to look and dress the best, when really we should be happy and comfortable in our own skins. However many of generation Z have realised their infatuation with their smartphones and social media and have begun to quit various platforms. In an attempt to restore their mental health.

Volunteering and Mental Health

Volunteering can significantly boost your mental health and well-being. Mental and emotional well-being was found to be better in those who volunteer frequently, and worse in those who didn’t offer their help in any form. Recently universities in Birmingham and Southampton conducted a survey of 5,000 households across the UK. Those that volunteered regularly scored six per cent higher on the health and wellbeing.

Older generations

Voluntary work done by those over the age of 65 is set to be worth £5bn more in 2020 than it was in 2010. Volunteering provides a purpose and meaning, especially to older people who may find themselves more isolated than they used to be. Allowing them to build a social network of friends in which they can meet up with on a regular basis improving the well-being of the volunteer. The association is simple, the higher your well-being the more inclined you will feel to help others. Vice versa, the more you help others the higher your state of well-being.

Unemployed

Those in unemployment tend to have lower self-esteem and mental health. Without employment, people find it hard to motivate themselves for the day ahead. They have no structure, paid income, and feel they have less of an identity. Voluntary work will be able to benefit someone who is unemployed, helping them regain structure in life. Although the work is unpaid and will not be able to replace that aspect, it still gives people meaning and purpose.

Employers are more likely to employ someone has done voluntary work, over someone who has not. Volunteering allows you to acquire skills and knowledge which can be put to good use in employment, demonstrating higher levels of productivity as a potential employee. Also, it’s not just about what you know, it’s who you know to get you in the front door! Volunteering allows people to network giving them the opportunity to meet people they may never have met before, which could lead to great employment opportunities further on.

On a final note

As many of you already know TeamKinetic is a strong believer in volunteering and all the good in which can come from volunteering. But today the most important message of all is to be aware of mental health issues globally. If you suffer from mental health issues seek help and seek advice, don’t be afraid to talk to.

See below specialist mental health services.


The Samaritans offer emotional support 24 hours a day, in full confidence. Call 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org.


Mind provides information on a range of mental health topics to support people in their own area from 9.00 am to 6.00 pm, Monday to Friday. Call 0300 123 3393 or email info@mind.org.uk.

Anxiety UK runs a helpline staffed by volunteers with personal experience of anxiety from 9:30-5:30, Monday to Friday. Call 08444 775 774.

MindEd is a free educational resource on children and young people’s mental health for all adults.

Is volunteering worth more than we think?

By

On 7th October 2019

In News & Views

There are many alarming issues highlighted in today’s society. Unemployment, lack of funding in the NHS, the destruction of our environment, and of course Brexit – just to name a few! However, not all stories are so negative. There are thousands of volunteering stories that are challenging some of these issues.

Unemployment

Currently, 3.7% of the UK are not in work – that’s around 2.5 million people! Now, some of you may be thinking “what’s that got to do with volunteering?”. Many studies & statistics show that volunteering can help boost employment for individuals. Sports clubs, in particular, have done a lot to boost employment opportunities through volunteering.

Newcastle United FC transformed the life of one of their staff who came to England from Syria as a refugee. Hikmat didn’t know much English or have many qualifications, but his attitude and desire to learn were unmatched. Despite his lack of experience, Newcastle took on Hikmat in a volunteering role, giving him a chance to prove himself. Since starting in 2013, he has been directly involved in many Premier League projects including helping out at children’s hospitals over the busy Christmas period.

Helping the elderly

volunteering, volunteers, volunteer management, volunteer management software, volunteer management software uk, volunteer management system

Numerous elderly people in the United Kingdom have no living children or close relatives to help them in their daily care. Many relocate to areas which are far from their hometown, making it nearly impossible to provide the assistance required. As a result, many seniors spend much of their time living in isolation and loneliness. They often rely on the services of volunteers to provide services and opportunities for socialisation and entertainment.

The work of volunteers can help to drastically improve how easy it is to complete everyday tasks. Engaging in volunteering activity has also been found to significantly improve mental health which is an ever-growing problem worldwide.

Can volunteering even reduce crime rates?

The power of volunteering is so great that it can even reduce crime rates! Research shows that the more a person volunteers, the less likely they are to commit a crime. A specific societal experiment was constructed by Add Health in order to test this hypothesis, here’s a summary of what they found:

  • Those who self-volunteered had less involvement in crime than those who did not volunteer:
  • People aged 18 – 28 recorded 11% fewer illegal behaviours, 31% fewer arrests, and 39% fewer convictions.
  • People aged 24 – 34 showed 28% fewer illegal behaviours, 53% fewer arrests, 36% fewer convictions.

These findings imply that adolescent volunteering may increase resilience over time and that school-based volunteering programs may help prevent criminal involvement over the course of a person’s life.

It would also suggest that volunteering from an early age is likely to mean that you are less prone to getting into trouble with the law. This will be beneficial to today’s society and it lays down a foundation for future generations.

Inspire the adults of tomorrow, today!

Building on the point of reducing crime rates, giving the youth of today a positive role model is important. Young people aspire to be who they look up to and who that person is can change the course of their life. Because of this, by pushing young people to volunteer the chances are they are less likely to look up to people who may be a bad influence, and more likely to want to be someone who brings something positive to society.

In 2018, only 39% of people aged 16-24 volunteered and even some of those people only said that they did it once a year. A lot needs to be done to drastically increase this number if we want to improve society and produce a higher amount of upstanding adults. Highlighting the charitable work that celebrities do would be a good way to inspire the youth to volunteer.

People such as Angelina Jolie, David Beckham, and Miley Cyrus have all been heavily involved with charitable work in the past (stay tuned for a blog on celeb charity work!). These role models can help give a positive stigma around the way charity work/volunteering is viewed.

Volunteers make great events

It’s not only the deprived that can use volunteering to change their lives. Many major events use volunteers and without them, the events simply wouldn’t be possible. In the 2012 Olympics over 70,000 “games makers” made the games what they were. Many international fans and athletes described the volunteers as “world-class”, see the video below for more.

A further event that was made successful by volunteering was the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The tournament had a total of around 2,500 volunteers with roles that varied from; welcoming fans to organising matches and helping out the media. The volunteers were given their own space: The Volunteer Centre. This was described as a friendly, hospitable space, where volunteers could get together, chat about their experiences and have some fun when they are off duty. Hear more about the World Cup volunteers in this video.

Volunteers at both these events had to pay for their travel to and from some paying huge amounts to get to do their particular roles. However, many said that it was the best experience of their lives and it was all totally worth it.

Read more about how volunteering has helped sporting events here.

How can TeamKinetic help?

Managing volunteers can often be a big struggle for people in the third sector. This is where TeamKinetic can help you. We offer a volunteer management system that can help you recruit, manage and retain your volunteers. If you would like to find out more please do not hesitate to visit our website and book a free demo today!

Alternatively, you can contact us on our social media pages:

Or by phone: 0161 914 5757

TeamKinetic 1.4 Release Notes

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On 1st October 2019

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

TeamKinetic v1.4 will be released on November 5th, there will be fireworks and parties all across the UK!

1.4 is a big release where we have brought together many requests for new features and also importantly we have made big steps towards unifying the interface to create a consistent experience everywhere.

1.4 will probably be our last new feature focus release for a good while. The next few releases will be focused on continuing the unifying process, improving the foundations, continuing our accessibility improvements and tidying all those loose ends up.

So head over to our Beta site and login with your regular administrator details to take our next version for a spin.

New Feature Highlights

Customising Automated Emails

We have added a brand new email editor so that you can customise over 30 of the TeamKinetic automated emails.

New Searching for Volunteers, Providers and Opportunities

Completely rewritten search pages for volunteers, providers and opportunities. Much clearer and cleaner layout with row and bulk actions, paging, and filters.

Search for Volunteers by Custom Field

Custom fields are included in the filters, so you can filter and search for volunteers by all the profile and registration fields you have added.

Ability to Customise Your Genders & Ethnicities

Add, remove,re-order and re-map your gender and ethnicity results. These custom lists will also be reflected in the reports and downloads.

Collect ‘other’ Ethnicity and Gender

If registering volunteers select OTHER from the gender or ethnicity list they will be presented with a text box where they can enter their self identified gender or ethnicity.

You can use the new custom gender and ethnicity management shown above, to view, add and map these other entries.

Trusted Providers

Providers can now be marked as TRUSTED, this means that they will have additional privileges including: 

  • Ability to add ANY volunteer to their opportunities (not just the providers limited cohort of volunteers).
  • Only allow trusted providers to create opportunities which require CRIMINAL RECORD checks.
  • Trusted provider opportunities can be auto-authorised.

Set Maximum Volunteers PER SESSION

When creating or editing opportunities you are now able to set a maximum volunteer limit on each session independently. When creating repeating opportunities each session will default to the same maximum but you can then adjust these session by session if required.

Define Time Gaps Between Sessions

Need to define a minimum gap between session that a volunteer can join? Now you can!

If you are hosting an event you may want to enforce a time limit gap to prevent a volunteer joining two opportunity sessions with not enough time to get from one to the other. You can now define the allowable time gap between these sessions. For example, if you define 30 minutes then a volunteer will not be able to join a session that ends at 1:00 pm AND a session that starts at 1:15 pm.

Improve Page Layouts

  • Courses page
  • Find Volunteers Page
  • Find Providers Page
  • Find Opportunities Listing Page

Parental Consent Phone Number

When a volunteer registers who requires parental consent, it asks for their parents email and in addition for their parents contact number. This information is held against the volunteers profile so the parents can be contacted by telephone if required.

Inviting Volunteers

Administrators and providers can now invite volunteers to your system from their main menu. Volunteers are invited by entering their email address OR uploading a list of email addresses.

Administrators can see the list of all invited volunteers and we have also improved the messaging you receive when duplicates are added.

Volunteer & Provider Downloads Include Custom Fields

When you export your volunteer or provider data it now includes any custom fields.

Volunteer Note Improvements

Providers can now record private notes on their volunteers.  These can be used for recording conversations or additional information related to the volunteers personal needs.

Both administrators and providers can now add and remove discrete dated notes creating a history and audit trail for notes.

Improved Interface For Uploading Images

There is now the ability to move and crop images when uploading them to either the front page, providers profile page or the events page.

Registration Captcha Updated To Simpler System

The Google Captcha v2 (the image picking one) has now been thoroughly defeated, which means we are making it harder for people to register but not any harder for robots, so we have removed it.

We now protect your applications from bogus registrations with a number of discreet features that will not get in the way of your volunteers registering.

Improved Interface For Applicants

We have added some notification reminders and visual clues if an opportunity has unprocessed applicants.

If there are any applicants that have not yet received a decision your home page will list them and if you manage the opportunity, the applicant tab will be highlighted and a notification appears in the summary area.

In addition we have improved the default email that is sent to providers when a new application is received to help clarify that difference between an application and a joining event.

Creating Quick Opportunities

The new opportunity screen can be daunting for new users and for those providers that have little or no training. It also assumes that providers wish to manage the entire volunteering life-cycle within TeamKinetic, which is not always the case.

We have added the option when creating a new opportunity to choose a quick opp. This gives a much reduced option list to the provider and allows them to quickly create an open ended flexible opportunity that starts as soon as it is authorised.

Combined Linked Volunteers and Volunteers Searching

Providers can now search for both their active volunteers and linked volunteers from the same search page. They can unlink volunteers directly from the search results and no longer need the separate linked volunteers page.

Pause Emails means PAUSE EMAILS, but not Brexit!

We have changed the pause emails button to pause all emails including when a volunteer is removed from the opportunity or session. When completely removing a volunteer you are given the option of sending the removal email.

Simpler Interface for OWED HOURS

If you have a volunteer who has done some volunteering outside of your system it is now easier than ever to record those hours within you system.

Always Accessible Super Admin Menu

The Super Admin menu is now located on the top right of your screen making it faster for the user to access.

Providers See More About Their Volunteers

We have increased the amount of information that a provider can see on volunteers who join their opportunities, this should help them in identifying who is best suited to particular roles. (NOTE: This also includes external volunteers).

Improved Interface When Copying Opportunities

We have changed the way you copy opportunities, you are now asked ‘what the new start date is?’ and the system will move all associated sessions accordingly.

Adjust The Size Of Your Logo

You can now adjust the displayed height of your logo when uploading.

Volunteering can increase the length of your…

By

On 30th September 2019

In News & Views

That’s right, life expectancy.

No, I’m not joking and no I haven’t got the secret for that either…but anyway, often volunteering is recommended for older adults to keep them active and busy. People aged 65 and over are the age group most likely to have volunteered recently. As we get older many people naturally slow down however we should only gear up!

I can rest when I’m dead, I’m too busy living.

My beloved Great nan

Volunteering can cover a wide spectrum, from volunteering locally or abroad through various organisations. The nature of how you volunteer is irrelevant really, it’s the spirit of volunteering which really counts.

Evolutionary Psychology

Evolutionary psychology suggests that volunteering can have clear benefits which improve the psychological and physical well-being of the volunteer, not just the recipient.

Research by psychologist Stephanie Brown indicates volunteering helps manage stress, provides greater relationship satisfaction, reduces depression, and the biggie – increase your life expectancy. Taking into consideration medical history, age, social activity and other uninteresting factors. But volunteering appears to reduce the risk of death by 25% – which is a good enough reason for me!

Stress-less volunteer more

Don’t stress, it’s more likely to cause death! Stress plays a large factor in our bodies immune system and volunteering reduces that stress. The act of helping elicits feelings of usefulness. This produces the hormones oxytocin and progesterone which bring feelings of happiness and combats the symptoms of stress.

Working too hard!

Overworked volunteers can become stressed which doesn’t allow them to receive all the health benefits from volunteering. Your volunteering like anything should be managed and controlled. Volunteer management is very important and should be done to prevent burnout and increasing, instead of decreasing, stress.

What to take from this

Those who devote time, about 100 hours per year (just 10 days), are most likely to exhibit positive health outcomes from volunteering. The secret to a happy and healthy life is to remain mentally and physically active right up until the very end, especially after retirement, and volunteering is an excellent way to achieve that. That’s what my Great Nan did!

Nightstop: The Service Hoping To Prevent Homelessness

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On 23rd September 2019

In Case Study, Charity, News & Views

Across Greater Manchester, 5,564 people are homeless. Homelessness in Manchester City Centre has dramatically increased over the past 5 years.

What is Nightstop?

Nightstop is a service run by Depaul UK. It provides young homeless people with emergency overnight accommodation. Saving them from facing a night on the streets or an unsafe place. The services are run by communities and charities in more than 31 locations around the UK, including Manchester, Birmingham, and Glasgow.

Nightstop is a unique project which relies on volunteer hosts to provide a safe, welcoming place for young people in crisis. These hosts are ordinary members of the community who volunteer to open their homes to young people aged 16 to 25. In 2018, they had 603 registered volunteer homes which helped provide a safe place for 1,224 young people to stay the night.

Why it’s needed

The service they provide is admirable, opening your home to a stranger can’t be easy but these volunteers are helping to tackle what has, unfortunately, become quite a big problem in Manchester. Recent research shows that Manchester has one of the highest rough sleeping rates in the country, as well as the highest number of deaths of homeless people. This is an issue that needs to be addressed and Depaul are doing that through all their work – including this service.

We recently visited the Nightstop Greater Manchester offices to meet with the team and learn more about what they do. We got some great stories from some amazing volunteers as well as their service manager. The work they do for homeless young people is inspiring.

Nightstop, volunteers, volunteer management software, volunteer management system, volunteer management, TeamKinetic,
From left to right: Rosemary (Volunteer), Dave (Nightstop Service Manager), Beth (Community Partnership Coordinator at Depaul UK), Milo (TeamKinetic).

We’ll be uploading a new video from our visit to Nightstop every day this week, either on YouTube, social media, or both – so keep your eyes peeled!

Watch all the videos on YouTube via this playlist. Also, follow us on Twitter and Facebook to see content exclusive to socials. Also, follow Depaul UK and Nightstop/Nightstop Greater Manchester to keep up to date with their great work.

Update: all interviews with the individual volunteers and the service manager are now available via this playlist below:

Think you could be a Nightstop host?

If these stories have inspired you and want to volunteer for yourself, you can do so by visiting the Nightstop website.

You can also contact Nightstop Greater Manchester by:
Email: nightstop.gm@depaulcharity.org.uk
or Telephone: 0161 507 3414

Not from Manchester? You can find contact details for your local Nightstop here.

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

Twitter       Facebook       LinkedIn       YouTube       Instagram       Podcast

 

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

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