News & Views Archives - Page 38 of 42

Category: News & Views Page 38 of 42

More than £42m has been axed from councils’ sports and leisure budgets since 2010, a BBC survey has revealed.

Among the regions which saw the biggest losses were London and north-west England, which saw cuts of more than £12.3m.

Sports stars and charities said they were concerned cutting facilities was “short-termism” that could impact on communities’ health and fitness levels.

The government said it was investing in grassroots sport.

Some of the biggest cuts occurred in the North West, where Liverpool City Council closed Woolton Swimming Pool, saving more than £3m.

In the West Midlands, which saw £9.6m of cuts, the region’s only 50m pool – in Coventry – was among the facilities to face the axe.

And in London, where budgets were cut by £8.8m, Mornington Crescent Sports Centre in Camden was among the facilities to close.

In other regions, Sheffield lost the Don Valley Stadium, where Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill had trained, while Newcastle-upon-Tyne saw the closure of its City Pool in 2013.

David Moorcroft, the Commonwealth Games gold medallist and former chief executive of UK Athletics, said: “In times of cutbacks to public services, rightly or wrongly, sport and leisure is one of the first things to get cut.

“It’s really unfortunate because the health and happiness of the nation and communities is based around being able to access facilities that encourage people to take physical activity.

“Ultimately, if we are trying to reduce obesity among young people, you can’t really have clubs and volunteers doing all that work. Once a facility is lost, it’s gone forever. When you come out of recession, it’s very difficult to rebuild it.”

Emma Boggis, chief executive of the Sport and Recreation Alliance which represents sports governing bodies in the UK, said she had “some sympathy” with local authorities “and the extreme financial pressures they are under”

“But reducing investment in sport and in leisure facilities is storing up problems for the longer-term,” she said.

“Limiting access to leisure facilities will result in greater inactivity and bigger costs to the NHS in terms of tackling conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular disease and depression.”

Sports and leisure spending since 2010
North West	-£12,372,959
West Midlands	-£9,638,972
London	-£8,891,367
North East	-£7,147,948
East	-£5,114,871
East Midlands	-£5,038,980
South West	-£3,347,463
Yorkshire	-£3,209,581
South East	£12,340,287
Total	£42,421,854

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said £1bn of public money had been invested into grassroots sport through Sport England.

David Sparks, who chairs the Local Government Association, said councils had had “little choice” but to squeeze budgets.

“The reality is that, within a few years, well over half of the council tax everyone pays will have to be spent on social care,” he said.

“With demand on these life and death services continuing to rise and funding from central government continuing to fall, councils will have little choice.”

Lib Dem and UKIP Manifestos – what do they mean for volunteering

By Chris Martin

On 17th April 2015

In News & Views

If you saw our post about the Labour Manifesto, you might be wondering what the other parties are bringing to the table! This is a very brief summary of the main policy points in the Lib Dem and UKIP manifestos we think you in the voluntary sector will want to know about.

Liberal Democrats

The Liberals have a strong theme of support for social action and community rights throughout the manifesto. Ruth Driscoll, Head of Policy and Public Services at the NCVO welcomes “their focus on early intervention” “which would better support vulnerable people and would lead to long-term cost-saving”

Improved incentives for work programme providers, many of which are voluntary organisations. To update the Lobbying Act to draw on Lord Hodgson’s work is also seen are very positive.

The manifesto recognises the value of the public having a voice in decision-making. The voluntary sector’s role in providing and enabling this must be protected though it is not clear how this will be done.

UKIP

UKIP have said they would like to energise the voluntary sector in the build-up to this manifesto, but what does that mean? They are committed to scrapping the National Citizen Service, repealing International Aid, reducing the cabinet office spending on ‘big society projects’ and scrapping the Defra Waste resource action project. They believe this will save £250 million in the first year.

They would replace these projects with the funding of 800 food banks and local advice centres, a veterans administration that would coordinate the work of existing charities and most interesting is the funding of “community agents and the voluntary sector” although specific details are very thin on the ground.

They also claim that by leaving the EU they would be able to offer more VAT relief to charitable organisations on some services and products.

In summary

What is clear, is that all parties recognise the importance of the voluntary sector, especially in a time of economic difficulty and for the poorest in society. There do seem to be some real differences in how they think the sector should be funded and governed, and the role of government in that process. Whoever wins, I think the sector is going to see even greater change over the next parliament and will need to be ready to adapt.

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Tom Armitage discusses the importance of computer coding literacy to shape our future society

By Chris Martin

On 16th April 2015

In News & Views

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05qgcgs

Look closely and you’ll see that computer code is written all over our offices, our homes and now in our classrooms too.

The recent Lords’ Digital Skills report says the UK’s digital potential is at a make or break point, with a skills gap to be plugged and a generation gap to be bridged.

As technologist Tom Armitage argues, there’s also a leap of the imagination to be made, to conceive of the wider benefits of reading, writing, and even thinking in code.

In Future Speak, Tom sets out to decode digital literacy for the so-called ‘second machine age’. He considers why and how we should become fluent in the language of computing and, once we’ve mastered it, what we might do with it. With perspectives from education, industry, academia, the media, science and the arts, he explores a world where, increasingly, code is what you make of it.

Baroness Morgan explains why digital skills are high on the House of Lords’ agenda; Ian Livingstone CBE, role-playing game creator, tells us why he campaigned for coding in schools; and Professor John Naughton considers what the rest of us should learn to engage democratically in the digital age.

Tom visits Benton Park in Newcastle, claiming to be the first primary school in the country to boast a Raspberry Pi Orchestra and speaks to Clare Sutcliffe who founded Code Club before computer science made it onto the curriculum.

Outside of the classroom, Tom finds out how the STEMettes are using coding to increase the presence of women in science, technology, engineering and maths – and he discovers why Imogen Heap now prefers to make music with wearable technology.

Producer: Kirsty Mcquire
A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4.

The Labour Manifesto – what does it mean for volunteering

By Chris Martin

On 15th April 2015

In News & Views

Ed+Miliband+Speech+Scottish+Labour+Party+Conference+XyWH-NPlU5il

With the dust starting to settle and people having time to digest all the promises we look at some of the key areas of the Labour manifesto and what it might mean for Volunteers.

A Labour plan to bring back guaranteed childcare from 8am to 6pm in all primary schools has made it into the party’s manifesto. First mooted in September 2013 the policy had since been sidelined as the party focused on criticising unqualified teachers and opposing the government’s free schools programme. But “wraparound childcare” is back on the agenda. A single sentence in Labour’s education manifesto, released last week, has become an entire paragraph in the party’s main manifesto, launched today in Manchester.

“We will help families by expanding free childcare from 15 to 25 hours per week for working parents of three and four-year-olds, paid for with an increase in the bank levy. We will also introduce a legal guarantee for parents of primary school children to access wraparound childcare from 8am to 6pm through their local primary school. As well as helping parents, this will provide children with before and after-school clubs and activities, helping to raise their aspirations and attainment. This will be underpinned by a new National Primary Childcare Service, a not-for-profit organisation to promote the voluntary and charitable delivery of quality extracurricular activities.”

Most interesting is the final point which refers to this provision being provided by the voluntary and charitable sector, although detail is thin on the ground right now it would appear that Labour are keen to see the existing 3rd sector providers meet this demand but it does not explain how this will be funded. With many schools already offering extensive activities and providing some type of service it is unclear how the National Primary Childcare Service will actually operate.

Asheem Singh, Director of Public Policy at the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, the UK’s largest trade body for charity and social enterprise leaders said:

“Charities and social enterprises will be most excited by the Labour promise to repeal the Lobbying Act. When politicians voted to restrict the amount grassroots campaign groups could spend on campaigns in this election year while voting at the same time to raise the amount that politicians could spend on their own campaigns, a basic principle of decency and democracy was violated. At ACEVO we are pleased that our sector’s persistence and the argument of our manifesto ‘Free Society’ has been accepted. We look forward to this injustice being rectified, ideally in the first hundred days of the new parliament, whoever wins the election.”

The Lobbying Act reduces the amount grassroots campaigners can spend in an election year by 60%. Earlier this year politicians voted themselves a 23% rise in the amount they could spend during the campaign.

Labour’s commitment to early intervention and preventative, community care is welcome and it is only through proper partnership with state and community providers that we can make a difference on a community basis. Labour have committed to pooled budgets that bring health and care together, but more detail is needed to see how this might be delivered on a community-by-community basis and what this might mean for the voluntary sector providers.

Labour’s proposals to localise public services and get funding to organisations that deliver social value through regional banks are welcome news to the sector but will require more detail. Localism has three dimensions – economic, constitutional and public service based evidence suggests that detailed policy is needed on all three if excellent services with a plurality of providers can be delivered.

What is really becoming clear is that both parties see a growing role for the voluntary sector in the next parliament which is sure to see a continuation of budget cuts and austerity whichever party wins. Both main parties have recognised the importance of an active voluntary sector to protect some of those public services. Volunteers and volunteer organisations must wake up to the new politics of the 21st century where they play an ever more important role.

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TeamKinetic and the Sport and Recreation Alliance announce corporate partnership

By Chris Martin

On 13th April 2015

In News & Views, Press Releases, Sport

It is a great pleasure to announce that TeamKinetic and the Sport and Recreation Alliance are working together as corporate partners. TeamKinetic are committed to building the world’s finest sports and leisure volunteer platform and see working with the team at the Sport and Rec Alliance as key to achieving that objective.

The Sport and Recreation Alliance is the umbrella organisation for the governing and representative bodies of sport and recreation in the UK and represents 320 members – organisations like The FA, the Rugby Football Union, UK Athletics, the Ramblers, British Rowing and the Exercise, Movement and Dance Partnership.

Their role as a trade association is to speak up on behalf of its members, representing their views and providing them with services which make their lives easier. Volunteers often play such an important role in this process and we hope that TeamKinetic will support this work.

What does the Sport and Recreation Alliance do?

Its members are the governing bodies of sport and recreation. Their job is to run their sport or activity, promote participation and set the rules and conditions under which it takes place.

The SRA’s job is to make that job as easy as possible, representing their views to people who make decisions; promoting the interests of sport and recreation so that as many people as possible know about their work; they campaign on issues affecting our members.

TeamKinetic shares many of the values and beliefs about the importance of Sport within our society and we hope that this partnership will see a lasting legacy for Volunteers and clubs across the UK for years to come.

As part of the partnership between TeamKinetic and the Sport and Recreation Alliance, see also: Blog post – Here’s to the importance of volunteers.

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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 Quiz: What type of Volunteer are you?

By Chris Martin

On 6th March 2015

In News & Views

Have you ever wanted to volunteer, but weren’t sure how to start? Do you wonder where you would thrive and the kind of work you would enjoy? Finding the volunteer position that fits you, your passions and your personality type can be tricky. That’s where this volunteer quiz comes in!

Discover your inner volunteer with the Volunteer Quiz (VQ), developed by Volunteer Canada and Manulife Financial.

Having volunteered for over 4 years, I came across the VQ – the only test for assessing volunteer types online. Unfamiliar with different VQ personalities, I was curious to learn what kind of volunteer I might be!

The VQ identifies six types of volunteers: Cameo, Groupie, Juggler, Rookie, Roving Consultant and Type A. It also helps you find volunteer opportunities based on your type and location.

There are questions about your dream job, your personal wish list for the world and hypothetical scenarios that require a deeper introspection. The VQ asks you to consider your personal and social qualities, how you deal with others and how you handle conflict, among other questions.

My result: Type A volunteer. I’m “a multi-tasking leader who says yes often and means it.” I’m productive, an influencer and a mentor. Interestingly, it’s a description I have heard from previous colleagues and supervisors.

My favourite part was the advice on things to consider (in light of knowing your type) before volunteering with an organization. As a Type A volunteer, the VQ suggested that I avoid volunteer opportunities that “assist,” and focus on openings with the words “lead” and “develop.” The quiz also identified my passion: International Development. Having volunteered in over five countries, it was spot on!

Finally, it was time to receive my “Volunteer Matches,” customized to my volunteer type and location. I got a list of over 40 different opportunities nearby PLUS 70 other virtual opportunities available from anywhere.

And hey, don’t worry – if you feel that you’ve been incorrectly assessed, you can always hit the Start Over button!

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

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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.

Volunteering Internships

By Chris Martin

On 6th March 2015

In News & Views, Policy and Operations

As always we look to bring you the best practice from across the Voluntary sector. This article from the NCVO gives some fantastic guidance on Volunteering Internships for Volunteer managers.

As more organisations have realised the value of offering young people the opportunity to gain experience, whilst benefiting from their willingness to work hard and learn, it is becoming even more important that organisations do not take advantage of this willingness. The NCVO offer some common sense advice that ensures the Volunteer is valued and that they gain as much from the experience as the organisation does.

If you have examples of how your organisation has benefited from a Volunteer internship or lessons you may have learnt from using Volunteers as interns please feel free to share at info@smarterindesign.com.

See the full article and many more like it at

http://knowhownonprofit.org/people/volunteers-and-your-organisation/volunteering-internships#guidance

NCVO have worked with a range of organisations to review the current situation and produce guidance on volunteer internships to help charities ensure they fully understand any legal obligations they may have and to ensure expectations about the role between both parties are clear.

Internships have been the focus of much debate recently, with some arguing that they are either a form of job substitution or a way of exploiting cheap labour, and others that they are vital to both charities and those who want to work for them.

Much of the confusion comes from the fact that the term ‘intern’ has no basis in UK law. There is no legal definition of an ‘internship’. So people undertaking a role described as an ‘internship will still in legal terms be defined as either a worker or a volunteer.

Some charities describe some volunteer roles as internships as they have found it valuable to offer volunteering opportunities with a stronger skill-development focus and because describing a position as an ‘internship’ has been found to attract more volunteers.

The guidance also identifies key principles to follow to help ensure volunteer internships are managed in line with good practice, give a good quality experience and ensure volunteer interns are treated fairly and within the law.

Key principles

Be clear what the role is and its purpose before recruiting
Ensure that a volunteer internship is a genuine volunteering opportunity
Make sure volunteering opportunities are genuinely inclusive and accessible
Support volunteer interns in accordance with good practice standards in volunteer management
Ensure that volunteer intern positions do not undermine fair recruitment procedures
Provide opportunities for evaluation and regular feedback
Recognise the contribution of volunteer interns

More information on each principle and how to implement them is discussed in the guidance.

http://knowhownonprofit.org/people/volunteers-and-your-organisation/ncvoguidancevolunteerinternshipsvoluntarysector.pdf

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

TeamKinetic Version 6 – More Email Customisation

By Rolf Herbert

On 5th March 2015

In News & Views, TeamKinetic Features, Technical Updates

This is one in a series of posts where I will be discussing the new features and changes built into version 6 of our volunteer management software TeamKinetic.

It’s always important the Volunteers get the right information at the right time. Whilst version 5 enabled administrators to customise some emails, such as the new registration emails, TeamKinetic Version 6 extends this ability to more email types and improves the structure of the emails allowing key information to always be merged into the emails whilst still allowing the administrators to customise the main portion of the email.

We achieve this by splitting the email into fixed prefix and suffix areas with a customisable content section.

For instance, the session signup email that is sent to a volunteer when they initially join an opportunity will contain helpful information regarding the opportunity they have signed up for in the prefix and the session list they are currently signed up for in the suffix, which obviously changes every time the email is sent.

The main content section is then editable by the admin via a WYSIWYG* text editor and can contain any combination of font sizes and colours they wish.

*what you see is what you get – This means how you lay out the text on the screen is how it will look to the end user.

We believe you will find this is a big improvement over the previous system where if you choose to customise the email you would lose the specific tags that were replaced when the email was actually created.

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

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

TeamKinetic Version 6 – Age Restricted Registration

By Rolf Herbert

On 4th March 2015

In News & Views, TeamKinetic Features, Technical Updates

This is one in a series of posts where I will be discussing the new features and changes we have built in to version 6 of our volunteer management software TeamKinetic.

Although we have always provided the ability to block access to opportunities based on age, there was never any restriction on registering; a new volunteer could be any age.

We wanted to maintain easy access to the opportunities for younger volunteers but also give the administrators some control over what happens to younger volunteers and how they are registered.

In TeamKinetic Version 6, administrators can set the age at which registrations must be verified. If a volunteer registers who is equal to or younger than this age then they will be taken to the age verification screen. Here they are asked to provide the email address of their parent or guardian.

The parent or guardian will receive an email asking them to follow a link to confirm that they give permission for the young person to join the site and access all suitable opportunities.

Until the volunteer has been verified they will not be able to join any opportunities, though they will still be able to search and browse the current opportunities and hopefully be enthused enough to ensure their parent or guardian verifies them as soon as possible!

If you have questions or issues around age verification please feel free to get in touch.

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

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

TeamKinetic Version 6 – Applying for Opportunties

By Rolf Herbert

On 2nd March 2015

In News & Views, TeamKinetic Features, Technical Updates

This is one in a series of posts where I will be discussing the new features and changes we have built into TeamKinetic Version 6 – a volunteer management system that will make your life easier.

As the size of the events TeamKinetic is being used for have increased, so have the complexities involved in making sure there are enough volunteers for all roles and that they are suitably qualified.

We have introduced a number of new features to aid administrators and providers in choosing their volunteers, such as:

a new experience field for each opportunity
the recording of a volunteer’s movements in and out of sessions on an opportunity.

we have also introduced an entirely new sort of opportunity.

Previously it was always assumed that when a volunteer joined a session they were accepted on that session unless they were told otherwise. For large events, this led to an over-subscription to certain sessions as volunteers could not indicate which sessions they were able to do but were joining the sessions they wanted to do. Now administrators have the ability to set an opportunity to be an application opportunity.

When a volunteer looks at an opportunity that is set to in “application” mode they are informed that they should indicate all the sessions they are able to do. Once the administrator has organised volunteers into each session they can mark that opportunity as confirmed.

At this point, all the volunteers are informed which sessions they have been allocated to. If a volunteer is unable to attend a session the administrator has the history of that session available and can quickly select a volunteer that indicated they could do that session but was not allocated to that session in the first draft.

This is a major new feature that will aid immensely in improving communication between the administrators and the volunteers and reducing the time it takes to even out the available volunteers across an entire event or opportunity.

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

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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.

Category: News & Views Page 38 of 42

Council sports budgets cut by £42m

Lib Dem and UKIP Manifestos – what do they mean for volunteering

Liberal Democrats

UKIP

In summary

Tom Armitage discusses the importance of computer coding literacy to shape our future society

The Labour Manifesto – what does it mean for volunteering

TeamKinetic and the Sport and Recreation Alliance announce corporate partnership

What does the Sport and Recreation Alliance do?

Volunteer Quiz: What type of Volunteer are you?

Volunteering Internships

Key principles

TeamKinetic Version 6 – More Email Customisation

TeamKinetic Version 6 – Age Restricted Registration

TeamKinetic Version 6 – Applying for Opportunties

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