Category: News & Views Page 29 of 42

Recruiting – Are volunteer managers doing it right?

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On 5th November 2018

In Volunteer Management

Volunteer numbers are stagnating while the number of opportunities rises each year. It is easy for volunteer managers to want to “recruit”, without assessing and placing volunteers in the most suitable opportunities.

TeamKinetic contend that it’s important for all volunteer managers to understand how to recruit volunteers. Equally, it is important to understand how to effectively manage them. Perhaps more important still – how do you retain them?

Volunteer management, recruiting volunteers, volunteer management software, volunteer managers

Recruiting volunteers

Let’s start with some figures that are important to know from a volunteer managers point of view. As this always helps to understand the context we are working with.

In giving, how much do we receive? The social value of volunteering (Andrew G Haldane, Chief Economist, Bank of England, 2014).

Clearly, there is an appetite by people to help shape their communities and give their time freely to achieve their goals.  How do you and your organisations make the best use of this amazing resource?

Advertising

How technology is redefining volunteer management…

Technology has been a powerful tool in allowing people to achieve things that once were not possible in the past. The developments have allowed billions of people to communicate, share stories and ideas from different locations and times. TeamKinetic uses technology to allow volunteer managers to complete tasks in a simple and quick manner. Technology is a tool that can create a number of benefits to organisations that is focused on providing volunteers with the best possible opportunities.

TeamKinetic work with a number of organisations such as; Do-it.org, volunteering-wales.net and VolunteerScotland to offer volunteers options across the UK. We believe that audience size matters and individuals looking for things they are interested in is made simple.

We believe it is possible to create an audience ecosystem for opportunities. every volunteer manager in the sector plays an important role in providing volunteers with access to a wide range of opportunities that will bring about benefits to the organisation and volunteer. TeamKinetic is assisting volunteer managers to carry out these tasks by providing a platform that allows them to create and advertise opportunities according to the organisation’s audience. The system also inputs all volunteers into one area after registering. This allows the selecting process of volunteers to be effective and time-saving.

Opportunities

Volunteer managers should always strive to create opportunities that are appealing and beneficial to the volunteer. Opportunities should allow the volunteer to gain positive and worthwhile experiences because at the end of the day they’re giving up their time to help you!

When advertising an opportunity it is important to consider the following:

  • Provide the volunteer with all the information regarding the opportunity.
  • Include some of the benefits of the volunteering opportunity
  • Highlight some of the key requirements of your opportunity

Here are some amazing opportunities that have been provided to volunteers by organisations using the TeamKinetic volunteer management software. When opportunities are well thought out and advertised they can have a big impact on the volunteer and their experience.

Liverpool FC Foundation – Respect 4 All 

Respect 4 All is a great example of a simple and easy to sign up volunteer opportunity created by the foundation. The opportunity is a regular ongoing event that is held every week that brings in a variety of volunteers. The Respect 4 All event is well advertised through the website and the mission of the event is clearly outlined. The Respect 4 All event is for girls and boys with complex and additional needs ages 5+.

This opportunity is perfect for an individual that has no experience and wants to get involved, as they are not required to have specific skills or experience. Once signed up the volunteer is provided with a full induction that allows them to get to know the volunteer managers and highlights what is expected of them.

The volunteer is provided with their own LFC Foundation Kit which is a good way of making them feel part of the team. Respect 4 All is a successful event and volunteers always leave happy, which is reflected in some of the reviews that are left.

“Lovely to meet the staff who made me feel very welcome as a newcomer. Really well organised, and would love to help again”

England Hockey – #IndoorHockeyUK

England hockey is another organisation that has used the volunteer management software to its potential by creating some fantastic opportunities. A good example of one of England Hockey’s opportunities is their spectator service role for the #IndoorHockeyUK event that is being held on the 28th of December.

The volunteer role is well defined with a clear outline of what is required (16+ and a criminal check). Additionally, the role expectations are outlined for the volunteer applying so they are fully aware of the tasks at hand.

England hockey has also used the volunteer system features to include what would be provided to the volunteer e.g a volunteer pack (including a t-shirt and water bottle), refreshments and meals. As well as the map feature which gives the volunteer and exact location of the event.

volunteer management software, volunteering, free volunteer management, volunteer managers
A diverse group of volunteers

Selecting

Matching the right volunteer in the role best suited to them is the best way to ensure success for your voluntary programme. Finding volunteers who commit to opportunities over a longer period of time is vital for organisational and volunteer development. All organisations are different and will have different expectations of what they require from the volunteer.

When selecting volunteers it is necessary to consider how difficult you wish to make it for them to have a positive experience. The type of role volunteers apply for will impact their onboarding process. it is important to consider whether they can apply and turn up to their opportunities or if you require a face-to-face meeting with them.

For example, tasters may require little to no onboarding and are ideal for the volunteer to try out opportunities. Supporting the volunteer to see what skills they have and how they may fit into an organisation. Whereas roles with greater responsibility may require references, DBS, and relevant experience.

TeamKinetic allows managers to set these guidelines for each opportunity they provide. Volunteers are never expected to provide more than is asked of them in the application process.

Dawn Georgeson -Volunteer Lead at the Liverpool FC Foundation had this to say about some of the issues volunteer managers face when recruiting volunteers.

“Reliability is one of the key things! Not that volunteers are not reliable but its more about what is a ‘regular’ volunteer for me. For one person every week could be a regular volunteering opportunity that they will continue to do. However, for some people, it could be once a month or even once a year and that regular to them, and it’s managing that. Discussing with volunteers on what their expectations are and what ours are, and making sure they marry up. That is one of the biggest issues in making sure people are fulfilling their opportunities.”

TeamKinetic allows volunteer managers like Dawn to set the type of opportunity on offer. Allowing them to better understand and manage how regular the volunteer will be. On the volunteer management software, TeamKinetic gives 3 opportunity options, which are:

  1. Repeating – (An opportunity that is regularly ongoing e.g coaching football every Tuesday)
  2. Non-repeating – (A one-off opportunity or event e.g Commonwealth parade)
  3. Flexible – (An opportunity that is irregular e.g befriending old people when you have free time)

These options help categories the opportunities and allow managers to have a greater understanding of what they would consider as a regular volunteer for their organisation. The TeamKinetic volunteer software makes selecting volunteers simple and easy for the managers. This allows more time to be spent on organisation goals and developments and less time spent on administrative tasks and micromanaging the whole recruitment process.

Find out how TeamKinetic has helped organisations simplify their management process and reduced time spent on micromanaging 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.

Volunteer management – Making or breaking organisations!

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On 24th October 2018

In News & Views

Before volunteers even start to offer their time and energy, it’s important to understand how the law applies to volunteers. In this piece, we will look at the legal and managerial considerations you will need to think about in order to manage your volunteers effectively. It is vital to have a policy and good practice in place for effective volunteer management. Some examples of this will be discussed throughout the article.

Expenses policy

Good organisations have an expenses policy to cover volunteers for any additional costs or travel. Expecting a volunteer to cover their costs can be difficult for people who have a low income as it hinders their ability to regularly volunteer. Expenses that are reasonable, and within the organisation’s budget, should be reimbursed. Some of these include:

  • Travel costs – whether it be in your own vehicle or public transport
  • Meals and refreshments during volunteering
  • Additional equipment e.g protective clothing

This is just a brief example of some of the most common expenses volunteers claim. All organisations are different and have different policies in place. However, these expenses must be incurred during the time of volunteering and volunteers should avoid additional costs.

There are guidelines and help out there on how organisations should have an expenses policy. The NCVO provide support and guidance to help you understand your legal rights and obligations when managing volunteers.

Induction policy

A good induction can be the make or break of a volunteer programme. Volunteers come with a great amount of enthusiasm and motivation but without a structured induction process, the enthusiasm can soon fade away.

Volunteers need the right training for the jobs that are required of them. Some volunteering opportunities require a great demand for skill and knowledge and volunteers need the right training and induction process in order to understand what is expected of them.

For example, volunteering roles, such as a marketing lead on a big organisation event, involve a great understanding of the organisation’s brand and goals. As qualified as the volunteer may be, without an induction, they will not be as effective in their role. Even if opportunities don’t require a high demand for skill and understanding, it is still important to induct the volunteer. Some things to include in an induction process are…

  • Your organisation’s policies and procedures.
  • Background to the organisation’s ethos and structure
  • Voicing concerns and how to deal with complaints
  • The role and responsibilities of the opportunity

TeamKinetic helps volunteer managers simplify this process by providing them with an organisation specific website. This gives the manager the freedom to provide as much information as they want for the volunteer. Such as a full description of their job roles and background to the organisation and organisation policies. However, it is important to try and always organise a one-to-one with a volunteer so they feel well-inducted and welcomed to the organisation.

Support

Empathy is key when working with volunteers, to manage and retain your helpers, volunteer managers must always ask themselves ‘how would I feel about this if I was the volunteer?’

Many times volunteers are thrown into tasks with little or no support and understanding of their role’s outcomes or objectives. Volunteer managers should aim to :

  • Provide the volunteer with a well-defined induction process.
  • Send out regular newsletters and information that is necessary to the volunteer.
  • Deal with concerns or problems volunteers have early on.
  • Assess training needs and facilitate personal development

TeamKinetic supports this by allowing organisations to have their own bespoke website that provides these features. Volunteer managers are able to communicate with volunteers easily through the site and have regular one-to-one contact with them.

How TeamKinetic can help?

The volunteer management system allows managers to upload documents such as the induction process, so volunteers have a greater understanding of what is expected of them. additionally, the system allows managers to group the volunteers on experience from the application process. This allows the manager to identify opportunities that are ideal for the volunteer when they first start.

Volunteers can receive regular email updates and newsletters on what is going on in the organisation, this could include upcoming events or volunteering opportunities. Managers can also provide additional information to volunteers regarding opportunities that have been changed on the system.

Finally, support can be given to volunteers on the system by giving the volunteer access to voice their concerns through a private opportunity chat room. After opportunity volunteers are able to leave feedback which allows managers to review any concerns the volunteer may have and arrange a phone call or meeting. Volunteer managers can facilitate personal development by notifying volunteers on upcoming training events that can be created as opportunities for the volunteer to book onto.

Volunteer management

Risk management

The voluntary sector is now working at a higher standard and organisations are expected to have regular risk management in place for the benefit of the volunteer and organisation. Evaluating and managing the risks in your organisation ensures that there is a reduced chance of incidents occurring while volunteers are working.
The National Council for Voluntary Organisations has provided a 7 step guide on how to manage the risks of your voluntary organisation.

  1. Identify the risks – evaluate what the risks to your organisation’s strategies and goals.
  2. Analyse risk – once analysing risks it is important to consider the possibility of it happening and the impact it could have on your organisation.
  3. Prioritise – determine which risks bring the biggest threat to your organisation because managing the most serious risks is important.
  4. Determine the appetite for risks – managers should determine the risk they are willing to accept in pursuing their objectives. Each objective will bring about a different risk appetite.
  5. Reduce and control risks – Charities should control risks to a stand and that they are happy with.
  6. Give assurance – Once the key risks have been identified, assessed and are subject to controls, it’s important to make that these controls are being performed as expected.
  7.  Monitor and review risks – Recording risks is important as it allows you to revisit and evaluate at different dates.

These guidelines have been tested and tried and are a great tool for reducing risks for your volunteers. Managing risks can save your organisation time and money and keep everyone safer and overall contribute to good volunteer management.

Supervising

Understanding what goes on within your organisation is key for developing both volunteers and the organisation. That is why it is a key responsibility for volunteer managers to supervise their volunteers and keep a record of their development and the risks that may occur.

TeamKinetic helps organisations keep up-to-date with their volunteers and monitor progression. The system gives the volunteer freedom to create their own profile and join opportunities individually. Permitting the volunteer manager to spend more time developing the organisation’s objectives and less time inputting data manually.

When supervising volunteers, what should you cover?

  • Ensure the volunteer’s relationship with staff, volunteers, and anyone they work with is going well. This can be done through regular communication and providing feedback when possible.
  • Inform the volunteer of any training that would benefit their development, when opportunities arise. TeamKinetics volunteer management software allows you to create upcoming training events as opportunities that volunteers can join.
  •  Allow volunteers the ability to provide personal feedback after they have completed an opportunity. TeamKinetic assists by giving volunteers the privilege to leave feedback on the opportunity they have signed up to on the portal.
  •  Provide volunteers with feedback, this goes a long way into making them feel valued and aiding their development. Similarly, managers can also leave feedback on the opportunity provided.

Meridian Swift author of “Is Making Volunteers Likable Our Objective?” writing in volunteerplaintalk, explores the importance of managing and addressing volunteer behaviour for the benefit of the volunteer, organisation and the volunteer manager. Meridian addresses the need to communicate the mission focus in order to get the best out of everyone.

One important point that Meridian made was “Ditch the idea that volunteers will stay because you’re nice to them”. Volunteers put their time and effort into helping, so they want their work to be meaningful and impactful. Therefore, when managing volunteers it is important to always provide the volunteer with opportunities that will benefit them and the organisation.

How to simply manage volunteers?

TeamKinetic provides volunteer management software for organisations that allow them to carry out these tasks without investing all their time into supervising volunteers and focusing more on their development. The simplicity of the system enables volunteers to get volunteering with little or no intervention required by the managers and coordinators.

Volunteers have the ability to add information, feedback, and check their progress on their own volunteer profiles. This is made visible to the volunteer manager, who can keep track of each volunteers progression. The TeamKinetic volunteer management software is designed to make volunteering simple and easy for everyone.

Find out how TeamKinetic has helped organisations simplify their management process and reduced time spent on micromanaging volunteers.

For more information on the Volunteer Management Software visit our website or contact one of our team members on – 01619145747

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.

Building a volunteer management website that is more inclusive for all volunteers

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On 21st September 2018

In News & Views

TeamKinetic believe that everyone should be provided with equal opportunities when signing up for volunteering roles and that opportunities are made equally accessible to individuals with and without a disability by volunteer managers. 

volunteers in a circle

Why is it important for volunteer managers to provide individuals with a disability the opportunity to have access to a variety of volunteering roles?

  • People with a disability, want role models who understand their issues.  Looking up to significant others, that also have a disability, inspires the next generation to want to get involved.
  • Volunteering with or without a disability offers a real opportunity to enhance skills, build confidence, develop as a leader and gain work experience.
  • Some of the finest friendships are made through volunteering, it provides a fantastic way to build relationships, reduce social isolation and create community.

Here at TeamKinetic, we think people with a disability or long-term illness should have access to as many choices and opportunities as non-disabled people.  The TeamKinetic volunteer system allows volunteers to make informed decisions about the opportunities they wish to take advantage of.

But for individuals with a disability to be able to make these choices, first, we must have a website that they can use.  Here are some of the considerations TeamKinetic has taken into account, to make sure it offers an accessible service that is useful to people with disabilities.

“The power of the Web is in its universality.
Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.”

Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web

Website accessibility is important. The number of people accessing the internet is now over 4 billion, more than half of the world population!

Everyone wants quick and simple navigation around the websites they visit. Therefore volunteer managers that recruit individuals with a disability, should provide the individual with ways they can access the organisation’s website and what opportunities the organisation provides.

TeamKinetic has worked hard to provide a simple to use navigation for volunteers, with fast search and useful filters.  Our Focus design principals ensure we build with consistency and simplicity always in mind.

Across the sector, there is still a lack of awareness from volunteer managers in providing people with a disability full access to organisations websites. The reason we think for this is that many people have a limited understanding of how persons with disabilities use technology and therefore mistakenly consider it difficult and costly, or just don’t consider it at all.

W3C has some standards that all website developers should adhere to, these are…

Alternative text for images

Images should include equivalent alternative text (alt text) in the markup/code.

If alt text isn’t provided for images, the image information is inaccessible. For example, to people who cannot see and use a screen reader that reads aloud the information on a page, including the alt text for the visual image.

When equivalent alt text is provided, the information is available to people who are blind, as well as to people who turn off images. (for example, in areas with expensive or low bandwidth). It’s also available to technologies that cannot see images, such as search engines

Symantec Layout

We use ARIA tagging and symantic elements such as the NAV element to enclose our navigation menus so that text browsers can let the user know, and most importantly, give them the opportunity to skip areas they are not interested in. Can you imagine having to listen to every entry in an entire navigation menu everytime you opened a page!

Keyboard input

Some people cannot use a mouse, including many older users with limited fine motor control. An accessible website does not rely on the mouse; it makes all functionality available from a keyboard. Then people with disabilities can use assistive technologies that mimic the keyboard, such as speech input.

TeamKinetic can be fully navigated without the need for a mouse.

Most of the basics of accessibility are fairly easy to implement. However, if you are new to accessibility, it takes some time and effort to learn the common issues and solutions. Here are places to start:

If you’re interested in finding out more about why volunteer managers should provide more accessibility and how it can be done then follow Neil Milliken Head of Accessibility & Digital Inclusion for Atos a Global IT company on Twitter. Or visit the AXSCHAT website to become part of the AXSCHAT community discussions.

TeamKinetic believe that everyone should be given equal opportunities and access to a variety of volunteering opportunities to choose from. We at TeamKinetic strive to provide volunteer management software that is fully inclusive and easy to use. If you have personal experience of using our sites with assistive technology we would love to hear how we can improve. For more information about us and what we do visit our website. 

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/

 

 

 

 

The importance of providing volunteers with a disability equal opportunities and access to volunteering

By

On 10th September 2018

In Community, News & Views

TeamKinetic got to sit down and interview Steve and Dylan, two amazingly enthusiastic volunteers from Liverpool FC Foundation. We discussed their experiences as volunteers with a disability and the impact volunteering has had on them. It was amazing to see all the work they put into the local community as well as the Foundation.  Both men volunteer regularly, at least three times, throughout the week.

Dylan, Steve, Ash and Jerome at Respect 4 All inclusive session at LFC Academy

Heres what they had to say…

How long have you volunteered for and what do you enjoy the most about volunteering?

Steve: “It was in 2008 in September with Mark. He was the disability officer who invited me to join the Respect 4 All program, which allowed me to get into volunteering. I enjoy getting the disabled children involved in sports, especially football. I am very passionate about getting boys, girls, women, everyone into playing football.”

Dylan: “I have volunteered for 2 months now. I like to get involved with the kids and help them with playing different sports.”

Do you feel that younger children look up to you for help and inspiration?

Steve: “Very much so, it’s hard for disabled people to break into sports. I’ve really enjoyed helping the children become better players and better individuals. Before the LFC Foundation, I volunteered for the Liverpool council and I used to go to a special school in Liverpool, so I have always felt passionate about sport for disabled people.”

What does the LFC Foundation mean to you?

Steve: “It means everything to me! I’ve been a supporter for the Liverpool Football club since I was 3 years old. The work that they do, not just in disability but all kinds of projects through the city. They’re a leading light. They impact so many peoples lives. Out of sports, I am generally a quiet person. The Foundation has developed my confidence in coaching. Being around the more experienced coaches and learning from them really helps with my volunteering.”

Dylan: “Everything! I play for the team and I’ve been there for ten years. I’ve improved my people skills and working with others. I want the foundation to keep growing.”

It was clear to see how much being involved with Liverpool FC Foundation meant to Steve and Dylan, Volunteering in football clearly meant a lot to them and their engagement with the young people in the sessions was fantastic.

One of the sessions regular attendee’s was Reiss, He has been inspired not just to keep coming to the sessions by these two great coaches, but also to go one step further, and to register as a volunteer on the LFC Foundation portal powered by TeamKinetic.

Reiss is a 16-year-old Liverpool FC fan and who’s enthusiastic for his club is limitless.  He regularly attends the Respect 4 All sessions and we to know what had made Reiss so keen to do more?

Reiss playing Football at the Respect 4 All session at Liverpool Academy

Do you enjoy the activities at the LFC Foundation?

Reiss: “Yes, I do! It’s really good to get kids with disabilities together and getting them involved in football and learning new skills.”

What would it mean to you to become a volunteer for the LFC Foundation?

Reiss: “It would mean a lot to me to volunteer. I want to help younger children like I have in the past. I hope to be volunteering for the future with the LFC Foundation. Volunteering will allow me to gain more experience and work with others, to better my CV.”

It was a fantastic day at the Respect 4 All event, and all the young people getting involved. The impact the staff and volunteers had on these young peoples lives can be difficult sometimes to effectively explain, but it should never be underestimated. The Liverpool FC Foundation put in tremendous amounts of effort to create a strong community. TeamKinetic is proud to play its role in supporting this work.

 

 

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.

Understanding the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of the internet for volunteer managers

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On 30th August 2018

In Community, Policy and Operations, Security and GDPR, Volunteer Management

TeamKinetic believes that the internet has the potential for transformation in our world comparable to the Gutenberg’s printing press , but if the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that the internet reflects both the very best and very worst of human nature. What do volunteer managers need to know about the internet to keep their volunteers safe?

I’ll provide some useful resources to give some context and understanding of the darker side of the internet and how we have used this to try and inform our policies and procedures as an organisation and what we think you should consider as an organisation as you become more reliant on digital platforms.

The internet provides almost limitless opportunity for grassroots social action, citizen journalism, voluntary engagement and so many other potentially positive outcomes, but we are naive if we do not recognise and consider the risks.

Jon Ronson, journalist and author recently wrote “So you’ve been publicly shamed” on how the networked effect of the internet can lead to individuals being ostracised.  His entertaining and occasionally dark work examined some of the difficult issues around user-generated content and how people’s mistakes are amplified and stored for eternity in the memory of cyber-space. Ronson’s storytelling introduces the reader to the inherent risk for normal people to get caught up in exceptional events and how little control they have over these events once a post goes viral.

Sarah Jeong, now of the New York Times Editorial Board, Vice and The Verge has written extensively on the internet’s inherent problems and her book, “The Internet of Garbage” gives informed insights on the risks and unintended consequences of poor policy and practice and how that can impact organisations and their users.   Jeong discusses at length some of the nuanced problems the modern internet has created for itself and how copyright law is being misused as a method of content suppression and removal, due in part to lack of other recourse to individuals who find themselves at the centre of a viral internet storm.

I mention these two texts as they are accessible and informed, and for those who are looking to understand the internet, they will help non-technology people appreciate the inherent risks of a highly networked world, the very real risks that can affect everyday users and voluntry organisations alike.

TeamKinetic is aware that our volunteer management platform has the potential to recruit volunteers in almost any situation. It is effective and easy to use and can be administered remotely with high efficiency to deploy individuals or teams of volunteers at short notice.  These characteristics are great if you run a charity, an event or a university internship program, but they are equally great if you are recruiting individuals to partake in less positive endeavours.   The creators of any platform which allows users to create content and communicate with each other must be aware of the risks as well as the benefits.

Recent legislation such as GDPR, goes some way to help individuals protect their privacy and increase their control over websites and platforms they engage with. It also gives businesses and organisations the chance to audit exactly what information they collect, why they collect it, and what they are going to do with it. This was a revealing process for us and was very worthwhile. All legislation, however well intentioned, runs the risk of “unintended consequence“. As responsible curators of TeamKinetic we have to embrace some basic values by which to manage our site.

What are our ideals and values?

As an organisation, we have put honesty at the centre of our company values. This is a type of statement that is easy to say, but much harder to live by. We aspire to offer honesty in our pricing, in our customer service and our product.

Our role in supporting the organisations that use TeamKinetic to manage their volunteers goes beyond the provision of software. We want to build a community of volunteers and volunteer managers that can share practice and policy, develop professional connections and work to strengthen the sector as a whole through the development of consistent standards in the wider information technology infrastructure of volunteering.

We want to be able to share expert knowledge and insight based on our user data and experience to help the sector become better at recruiting, deploying and recognising their volunteer’s hard work. We commit to making our data available to researchers, and the resulting insights and findings will be freely available to all who have a valid interest in the voluntary sector.

Finally, we want to create an amazing experience for all our users, that means the best technology, built in a way that is easy to use and importantly every user is protected by good policies and excellent support. Our volunteer-centric approach to development will remain the centre of our business operation.

We hope you will join us on our continued mission to be part of the ‘good’ internet and we look forward to your thoughts on how we can do this.

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/

Why Liverpool FC Foundation are using TeamKinetic volunteer software

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On 28th August 2018

In Case Study, Sport, Volunteer Management

We get to understand the Liverpool FC Foundation and what they do for the community and how TeamKinetic Volunteer software is allowing them to make a bigger impact around the city, through our interview with Katie Ellis and Dawn Georgeson

LFC Foundation

LFC Foundation

About the Liverpool FC Foundation

Liverpool Football Club has long served its local community and it has been a part of their history to support the people of Liverpool. More recently, in 2010 this commitment was furthered with the launch of the Liverpool FC Foundation, developed as a financially independent organisation.

The Liverpool FC Foundation’s mission!

“is to bring together the LFC family to create life-changing opportunities for children and young people.”

The Foundation is all about providing opportunities for children and young people. They run a number of projects throughout the week for different groups :

  • Girls and Women.
  • People with disabilities.
  • Disadvantaged communities.
  • Children and families.

It is a goal of the Foundation to provide activities that are fully inclusive. The Liverpool FC Foundation is also in partnership with a number of other organisations, like Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and many others.

They work with partners to raise awareness and to tackle issues around the city. Volunteering for the Foundation allowed me to see first hand how inclusive and welcoming they are, as well as the impact they have had on younger people of Liverpool and beyond.

The Foundation has a strong team of community coaches and project leaders that deliver sessions to young people in the community working directly with schools, sports venues and youth organisations. Their six-step plan shows how they achieve these goals.

The impact Liverpool FC Foundation has made to the community

The foundation has made a significant impact on the community, aiming to offer all young people in Liverpool access to sport. Liverpool FC Foundation run over 100 tournaments each year, working with over 5,000 children. The charity also runs a number of projects such as Kicks, Primary stars, and Open Goals. Open goals is a new project which is aimed at engaging young people and families to take part in the regular physical activity.

Liverpool FC Foundation focuses on more than just sport. The organisation also run an employability program which aims at young people aged between 18-25. The project helps young people with CV building and interview skills to prepare them for the future. The impact of the project has helped people with their confidence, interaction skills, and preparation for work.

Fundraising is another way the foundation has made a difference to the community. Liverpool FC Foundation works to help those in need around the community, including their partnership programmes. The Foundation runs a variety of fundraising events such as:

  • VIP Gala Dinner with Jürgen Klopp.
  • LFC Supporters Club Fundraising Challenge.
  • Newly launched LFC Foundation lottery.

The Foundation looks at improving the life of the community and helping each other. The Foundation engages with over 21,000 people a year, which shows their impact as a foundation.

How Liverpool FC Foundation has benefited from using the TeamKinetic volunteer software

Having spoken to Dawn (Volunteer lead) and Katie (Project lead) it was important to get an understanding of what difficulties they previously had in terms of recruiting volunteers. As the Volunteer lead, Dawn has the responsibility of recruiting volunteers for the opportunities on their volunteer software website which is powered by TeamKinetic.

Katie, Dawn and I discussed how they have adjusted to using the TeamKinetic volunteer management software, and the benefits it has provided them and the Liverpool FC Foundation.

This is what they had to say…

Dawn: “We have gone from using a paper trail to now having something that is digitally quite far ahead of the game. It simplifies everything. From the minute someone registers, I get informed via email and they also get notified with immediate contact. Which I think is really important to volunteers as its making them feel valued”

Katie: ” I think the thing that is good, is when we discussed at the start how we were going to place the website, where people were going to find out about how to volunteer. We were able to share the foundation URL so that it was really easy to find. With a button on the Foundation website were volunteers could find it.”

Dawn: ” I think as well, even for someone who isn’t particularly good at IT, the volunteer software is very simple to follow. The forms are really easy to fill out and are pretty self-explanatory”

Katie: “Volunteers like to feel valued, so the incentive program and how we can track that on the TeamKinetic system is something we will be looking to do next. I think that will be very powerful, especially in a football club. To have incentives that link back to the reasons people volunteer and one of them is for the fans to feel closer to the club”

Dawn: “Yeah, also it isn’t just closed off to fans of the club, its people who just want to help the local community. That is quite clear in the opportunities we provide, showing that it’s not just about the club but the community in general”

Volunteer experience of using TeamKinetic’s volunteer software

I wanted to find out what the volunteers thought of the volunteer system as they are also an integral part of the Foundation’s development. I spoke with Rinchen who had gained a paid role as a digital analyst from his volunteering efforts. This is what he had to say about the volunteer software.

” Using the TeamKinetic volunteer system has been pretty easy. I have signed up to a few opportunities already using the website. It’s user-friendly and you’ve got all the options there. You’ve got all the opportunities allowing you to sign up to what you want and has a lovely map of where it is making it very easy to find. ”

Understanding our customers want and needs are at the heart of TeamKinetic. This allows the team to develop innovative ways to make our customers lives easier.  To find out more about TeamKinetic and our work and how we can help you recruit, deploy and retain more volunteers, please get in touch with our team.

Reminder! 

Tickets are still available for our annual volunteer conference. The link for the ticket can be found HERE

 

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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