Here at TeamKinetic, we’re thrilled to announce a new partnership with Volunteer Centres across the Liverpool City Region (LCR) to revolutionise volunteering accessibility. We’re providing organisations across the LCR our volunteer management tools that can work in collaboration with one another. With each organisation using TeamKinetic, we’re able to establish a unified and dynamic platform that boosts Liverpool City Region volunteering efforts.
The Liverpool City Region Volunteering Orbit is a central place to showcase voluntary opportunities across the LCR, managed by the Volunteer Centres across Halton & St Helens, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton and Wirral.
The roots of this project can be traced back to 2016 when TeamKinetic first introduced its digital volunteer management tools to Halton & St Helens Voluntary and Community Action. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the award-winning ‘I Can Help’ community task app was developed. Building on these successes, a comprehensive report was commissioned to explore the integration of TeamKinetic’s platform with other digital volunteer services in the LCR, ultimately enhancing the sector’s response to future challenges.
Through TeamKinetic, organisations across the LCR can collaborate, share volunteers, and promote various volunteering opportunities, significantly amplifying the region’s community impact. Currently encompassing six volunteer boroughs and five volunteer centres, the model aims to expand by involving additional voluntary organisations and major events within the region.
Local organisations within the LCR can now sign up for free and utilise a single account to showcase their volunteering opportunities across the entire region.
On the other hand, volunteers benefit from a seamless experience by easily accessing and joining opportunities, logging their hours, and tracking their volunteering journey across the LCR from a single login.
A volunteer’s dashboard on TeamKinetic
The Liverpool City Region Volunteering Portal secured funding from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority after the successful deployment of a TeamKinetic approach to community-based volunteering programmes through the Covid-19 pandemic. Bringing volunteering opportunities and a one-stop space for volunteers to find them is part of a City Wide Solution to better partnership working and responding to events; activities and emergencies across the patch.
Claire Redford-Kerr Volunteering Lead, Halton & St Helens VCA
At TeamKinetic, our ambition has always been to make volunteering easier. This project is a testament to that commitment for the people of the Liverpool City Region, made possible by the fantastic and forward-thinking teams at each of the local infrastructure organisations.
Chris Martin director, TeamKinetic
The partnership is live now at https://volunteeringlcr.org/ marking a significant milestone in enhancing access to volunteering opportunities throughout the Liverpool City Region.
TeamKinetic is a leading provider of volunteer management solutions, dedicated to streamlining and enhancing the volunteering experience for organisations and individuals. With innovative technology and a passion for community engagement, TeamKinetic aims to transform the way volunteering is managed and accessed, making it easier for people to contribute to their communities and create a positive impact.
The Volunteering LCR partnership consists of Halton & St Helens VCA, Liverpool CVS, One Knowsley and Sefton CVS working with the 8,600 voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) groups operating across the Liverpool City Region.
You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to our podcast:
Charity work and volunteering are usually largely associated with the festive period, people want to donate their time to give back to help those less fortunate during Christmas.
Before Christmas, we posted a blog discussing the many available opportunities and ideas of where to volunteer at Christmas time. The reality is these organisations need help and support from volunteers all year round and not just during the festive period and volunteer managers may also find a large decrease in volunteers after this time. People in need aren’t just homeless or lonely during the festive period, similar to the well knowing saying from the Dogs Trust organisation, “A dog is for life, not just for Christmas”.
Support for people in need will need volunteers and donations more than ever especially due to the cost of living crisis. There are plenty of opportunities where organisations need help from volunteers all year round below and some ways volunteer managers can retain these volunteers throughout the year.
Volunteering At Crisis
Crisis is a charity for people experiencing homelessness, each year they support thousands of people to help find safe and stable accommodation. Over the festive period, Crisis had thousands of volunteers across the UK providing companionship and serving and delivering hot meals. These volunteers are still needed throughout the year as homelessness is an ongoing issue, Crisis estimated that around 227,000 people were experiencing the worst forms of homelessness across England, Scotland and Wales in 2021. The charity is consistently creating new opportunities so you can find the one that suits you best.
You can find available volunteering opportunities near you on the Crisis website.
Volunteering At Age UK
Age UK is a charity that helps older people that don’t have care or support from others or anyone to turn to, leading to 1.2 million older people in the UK experiencing loneliness each year. You can become a part of the Age UK community and provide support and raise money so people can get the help they deserve. Although older people may be particularly lonely during the festive period, they will also experience this all year round. A simple way you can make a difference is the telephone friendship service, just as little as 30 minutes of your time a week to talk to an elderly person over the phone can largely impact an older person’s life.
Volunteering At Charity Shops
Volunteers for charity shops are needed now more than ever, since the pandemic thousands of volunteers in retail have been lost. The number of volunteers at charity shops in the UK has fallen by 24% since 2019.
There are plenty of organisations including Barnardo’s UK, British Heart Foundation and more that have hundreds of charity shops across the UK. Roles could include working the tills, decorating window displays or managing donations. Barnardo’s UK currently has 10,000 shop volunteers keeping their 700 shops up and running, but without the help of volunteers, these organisations could struggle.
Tips For Volunteer Managers
As a volunteer manager, it may be difficult to retain these volunteers to carry on volunteering throughout the year and not just at Christmas time. Promoting that volunteering is a rewarding New Years’ resolution idea on your organisation’s website or social media, could encourage people to continue volunteering.
Another way to retain your volunteers throughout the year is to offer flexible scheduling options for roles. People may be drawn to volunteering over Christmas because it means they only have to volunteer for a day or two. By making future opportunities flexible, people won’t have to commit to volunteering full-time.
You can read more about how to engage and retain your volunteers in 2023 here!
You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to our podcast:
Research completed by vHelp on volunteer expenses shows that 88% of respondents from volunteer leadership roles and organisations were aware of volunteers choosing not to claim expenses. However, this figure of volunteers claiming expenses is expected to increase. The rising cost of fuel prices could also affect charities and organisations that now have to reimburse a larger amount than before which could leave them struggling.
Expenses
8% of charities still don’t reimburse volunteer expenses. This could put off people from wanting to volunteer for these organisations due to higher travel expenses and the volunteers refusing to pay for these costs themselves. This is why it is extremely important to reimburse volunteers’ expenses otherwise it can lead to a loss of volunteers for your organisation.
Organisations with a complicated expense claiming process, where reimbursement takes a long time can also put volunteers off. 44% of respondents from vHelps research show that ensuring volunteers get paid was a concern of theirs.
Here at TeamKinetic, we provide a quick way for volunteers to claim expenses on our system so they get paid back straight away. We also have a masterclass session for TeamKinetic customers on the ‘Expenses Module’ which will be taking place on the 4th of October so make sure you sign up now to secure a place.
The effect the cost of living will have on charities
The increase in expenses may also be worrying to charities. But volunteers bring much more value to your organisation than the cost of expenses. According to vHelp, the increase in fuel price mostly impacts volunteers who support charities in rural areas due to the only mode of transport to get there for their shifts is by car, which can cost more for the charity to reimburse compared to a bus ticket or no cost for travel at all.
Not only will charities and organisations be affected by the cost of living crisis due to struggling to afford to reimburse volunteers, but charities will also be affected by the decrease in donations by the public. The cost of living crisis means that people’s disposable income will be greatly affected so they might not have the funds to donate as much to charities as they did previously.
Charities need to start planning now to tackle the cost of living crisis which could massively affect their organisation and their volunteers. Support from funders and the government may be needed in order to help the charity sector during this crisis.
More support on how charities should adapt to the cost of living crisis can be found here.
You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to our podcast:
Claire Troup has been Project Manager at Manchester City Council’s Volunteer Inspire Programme (MCRVIP) for just a short period of time; but that time has been used to inspire a whole city to get up and volunteer. In this week’s podcast, we’re joined by our first and longest client, Manchester City Council…
The Manchester Volunteer Inspire Programme focuses on helping volunteers find the opportunities that best fit them. It’s simple to get involved – register, create your own volunteer profile, and access a range of opportunities available to you – anyone can take part! If you’re in the Manchester area, and you’re interested in learning more, email: MCRVIP@manchester.gov.uk.
TeamTalk! The TeamKinetic Podcast…
Our podcast this week covers a range of topics. It opened our eyes to how those working with volunteers are revitalising the volunteer movement after the pandemic.
Claire noted that in her previous roles at Manchester City Council, she never noticed just how much volunteers do. If you’re not fully immersed in the volunteering world, it may go unnoticed. Volunteers do a massive amount of work and make a big impact in every organisation. For those like us, we see day to day the amount of hours volunteers put in; it never ceases to amaze us just what volunteers can do together- and the same goes for those managing them!
It’s those volunteer managers (or for Claire, project managers) that are starting to see an uptake in the amount of opportunities popping up for those willing to volunteer. The pandemic saw volunteering in areas halt, and thrive in others. It’s only over the past few months Claire has found opportunities are on the rise.
Our podcast takeaways
It’s great to hear (and see!) that volunteering is getting back to where it should be. Those millions who volunteered for the first time during the pandemic have stuck around, we hope, and are continuing to see results from their time and effort. It’s been a tough number of years, but it seems we’re on the up!
Claire dished out some great advice on this podcast episode. But we’d like to highlight one that we think will be crucial for volunteering moving forward: developing a network of Volunteer Managers. For a number of months, Claire has been developing a network of volunteer managers across Manchester and it’s been really helpful. Being able to learn from others in the same boat as you, hear new ideas, and share stories on what you’ve been doing to motivate and reward your volunteers is something we’ve always strived for at TeamKinetic. It’s one of the many reasons why we partnered with the Association of Volunteer Managers.
Thanks to Claire for joining us!
It was great to catch up with Claire and hear how she’s been adapting into her new (or not so new) role at Manchester VIP. We can’t wait to see the progression the Volunteer Inspire Programme can make to the city we reside in! You can find TeamTalk, and our latest episode with Claire on all your usual podcast sites.
Local authorities undeniably manage many volunteers, am I right?
Well, statistics show that approximately 71% of people volunteered at least once in 2019 and many of these people volunteer through their local government or organisations closely linked.
To make it even harder for those who manage and track volunteers in the public sector, these volunteers fall into many different roles in very separate parts of your organisation. Volunteers pop up in libraries, galleries, museums, parks, neighbourhoods, adult social care, sports development, environment, public health, community engagement and more. To say it’s a complicated picture is to massively understate the difficulties we know you face.
Some of the questions we know you get asked:
Is it even possible to safely support and govern volunteers across the whole organisation?
How do you report on volunteering as a council?
What’s it worth to us as an organisation, what’s the business case?
Those in charge of managing services for the council and those managing volunteers in those services undoubtedly have a lot on their hands. But if the pandemic has highlighted anything over the past 18 months, it’s the essential role volunteers can play. We have seen massive public support to volunteer during these unprecedented times. In fact, the volumes of people who wanted to volunteer were overwhelming for many organisations as they did not have the infrastructure in place to cope with such an influx of new volunteers.
On top of all these complications, Local Government needs to work hand in hand with local voluntary sector partners to ensure a coherent approach to volunteering across their communities. This is a dynamic and complicated problem and we think our volunteer management software would certainly help.
What We Can Offer You…
1. Your Own Customisable Application
Yes, you read that right, with us you get to create a fully customisable, and accessible application to suit your organisation’s needs, check out the example below. You can develop an identifiable brand around your amazing volunteers and the work they do. You can set standards and rules as to what opportunities are seen via your site. You can track activity by volunteer, group, venue, by the department or service area. You can use some of our advanced mapping tools to track where volunteers are making a difference and what impact they are making at a ward-by-ward level. We provide you with the tools to empower your communities to thrive.
2. Easily Create New Opportunities
Our software enables you to create your volunteer opportunities in minutes. Not only can you create singular opportunities, but you can also calendar schedule your opportunities on a weekly or monthly basis.
It is also easier for volunteers to sign up for opportunities. With TeamKinetic available as both a native app and as a responsive design, it allows volunteers to easily access all opportunities from whichever device they choose. They can also easily filter their opportunities based upon what they are interested in i.e. museum volunteering.
We also provide ‘how-to’ videos to make it even easier for you!
That is why our software also provides you with customisable Key Performance Indicators on your volunteers. This reporting enables you to tell the story of your volunteers achievements and impact, and it lets you make informed decisions about where and who to invest in and what type of return you will get on that investment.
These reports include all the vital information you need, including:
Pie charts on ethnicity, employment status, gender, and age of volunteers.
The geographical spread of volunteers and opportunities.
Web usage.
Number of hours logged.
Volunteer registrations (on a day to day basis.)
The number of opportunities available.
From this, you can understand more about who volunteers most under different areas (i.e. museums, parks, libraries etc). This allows you to understand which area of volunteering is more popular to certain ages, genders and more…
4. Efficiently Communicate With Your Volunteers
With us, communication with volunteers has never been easier. No longer do you have to spend your time fumbling through spreadsheets and documents to find your volunteer contact information. You can now email or text all (or just one) of your volunteers with one click. And, to make it even better, you can send text messages scheduled for a certain time, potentially to remind volunteers about their opportunities and improve attendance.
5. Offer Rewards And Incentives
You can encourage and engage your volunteers like never before, all from using TeamKinetic. You have to option to reward volunteers with achievement badges, hour trades, and award badges; all of which are fully customisable. You can also create your very own achievement badges for your volunteers too. You can then provide volunteers with feedback, and the volunteers can give feedback on the opportunities.
So, What Are You Waiting For?
For as little as £19 a month you can have all of this and more. Perfect for managing all your volunteers in libraries, galleries, museums, parks, and everywhere else!
Book your demo tour today by emailing chris@teamkinetic.co.uk or start your free trial here.
Much of the work we will refer to in this paper is based on figures collected from May 2020 until present as this reflects the period where the MCR VIP project went live to the public. We will be explicit if we are referring to data from beyond that time.
It
is also worth noting that much of the activity on the MCR VIP system
was either stopped or severely limited during the COVID 19 response.
This was in part due to the difficulties associated with face to face
volunteering.
The
City Council did not use TeamKinetic initially in it COVID response
and as such the figures do not fairly represent the time as for a
large period there was little traditional volunteer activity being
undertaken which was being tracked or recorded in TeamKinetic
Implementation
The
project got underway in late 2018 with a plan to identify and train
service leads from Libraries, Galleries and Culture, Parks and Green
Spaces, Sports, Neighbourhoods.
The
initial implementation saw the formation of a project board. The
initial Project Manager was Adam Neill but he left shortly after the
formation of the project board. Other members of the board included
Programme Manager Trevor Roberts.
Strategic Lead – Neighbourhoods Mark Rainey, Project
Manager – MCRVIP Elaine Mills, Physical Activity Officer and
previous leads officer for MCR VIP Craig Abel and ICT Business
Analyst Liz Avison. Other people who had input during the initial
planning phase included corporate communications.
The
initial rollout of the project saw a training plan developed that
would train and support the “admin” users of the site. Volunteer
leads were identified in each service area and a combination of
onsite and virtual training days delivered. 22 MCC staff were
trained as potential admin users of TeamKinetic.
In addition, it became apparent that to our support of the Admin users there was also a need to provide additional training to what was referred to as Providers. We ran training workshops for Provider level users across the services who engage volunteers. Over 70 officers were trained to act as Opportunity provider within the system, as well as undergoing additional training on how to work with and engaged volunteers both using the system and in the real world.
This
work was delivered through a combination of speakers and events and
was devised to raise the profile of volunteering amongst the various
services and to provide basic “how-to” information for officers
who may not have had much experience in managing and working with
volunteers.
It
also provided opportunities for system users to provide feedback on
their experiences directly to TeamKinetic to support the ongoing
development of the product.
Our
soft launch target date with international volunteer’s week
20th-26th May 2019 though some activity had
started before that date as the system was still being used across
Sport and Events.
COVID-19
COVID-19
had a significant impact on traditional volunteering across
Manchester as such activity on the system dropped to almost zero in
April to June and has stayed way below the previous level since then.
It
is also worth noting that much of the activity on the MCR VIP system
was either stopped or severely limited during the COVID 19 response.
This was in part due to the difficulties associated with face to face
volunteering. TeamKinetic was used extensively across the UK in
response to COVID-19 and continues to be used to support communities
across the UK and TeamKinetic were recipients of an award from NHSx
and NHS England concerning their community support features for at
risk communities called TechForce-19.
The
City Council did not use TeamKinetic initially in it COVID response
and as such the figures do not fairly represent the time as for a
large period there was little volunteer activity being undertaken
which was being tracked or recorded in TeamKinetic.
It
has been discussed with Elaine as to how the TeamKinetic COVID
Community Task features could be explored for use across other civil
contingency and resilience planning situations and as part of the
ongoing COVID-19 and in specific response to mass testing and
vaccinations when rolled out.
Data
Usage
A total of 1732 people signed up to the MCR VIP system since the 20th May of which 417 have gone is to become active, which is a rate of 24% for the year. If we only look at the year from May 2019 until March 2020 we see that rate is actually much closer to 44% so we can again assume COVID has had a significant impact on the activation of volunteers.
We normally expect to see in a TeamKinetic system for Local Government a rate of about 40-55% of volunteers who register become active within 12 months of registration.
Active means they have signed up and completed a volunteering opportunity and have had hours logged against that opportunity in the system. There has been a reduction in conversion rates this year again as a result of COVID-19.
Location and Economic Breakdown of MCR VIP Volunteers
The heat map below shows your volunteer density across the city and the surrounding boroughs. The bulk of the volunteers since May 2019 are Manchester residents but you can see pockets of activity across the all the neighbouring areas.
Heat map showing the volunteer density in Manchester city and surrounding boroughs.
Volunteering by Index of Multiple Deprivation Rank (IMDR) for all volunteers registered since 20th May 2019.
This chart includes all volunteers including those who reside outside Manchester.
The Graph shows the number of volunteers by decile. That is the number of volunteers with a home postcode that is ranked using IMDR.
1 = bottom-ranked postcode area in bottom 10% ranked area of England
10 = top-ranked postcode area in the top 10% ranked area of England
This data is interesting as volunteering is perceived to be a traditionally middle-class activity and this is generally supported by research from NCVO and Community Life Survey Data undertaken by DCMS.
What can be seen quite clearly from the MCR VIP data is that across Manchester and its surrounding areas Volunteering is very well represented in the areas of highest deprivation. This is of course impacted by the fact Greater Manchester has more areas that fall into the bottom 50% according to the IMDR rank, but I think it is also compelling that the people of Manchester demonstrate that poverty is not a defining factor in their willingness to volunteer.
This finding is even more important when you consider the following question.
‘Does volunteering in the UK contribute to increased personal wellbeing and health?’
Yes, it does. This question was the central topic of the Happy Days Report, published by State of Life in 2019. The report provides “the most robust quasi-causal estimates to date of the impact that volunteering has on an individual’s life satisfaction and self-perceived health.”
The paper finds that having volunteered in the last 12 months is associated with an increase in life satisfaction of 0.034 on a 1-7 scale in the first differences model. This corresponds to 0.057 on the ONS endorsed 0-10 scale if we apply a linear transformation. This effect is roughly comparable to living in a less deprived neighbourhood and also roughly equal in size to one-sixth of the increase in life satisfaction associated with full-time employment vs. being unemployed.
The Happy Days report shows that alongside life satisfaction, robust quasi-causal positive associations were also found between volunteering and self-reported general health, mental health measured by the GHQ index. There is also a positive association with the other ONS-endorsed measure of ‘feeling that things in life are worthwhile,’.
Volunteering is shown to have a positive impact on trust in all demographics and particularly those who start with a trust deficit (in the UK this is lower socioeconomic groups – ‘A Bit Rich’ 2019).
Mixing with people from different backgrounds is important and the 2019 ‘A Bit Rich’ study found that volunteering has a positive role to play on trust and social diversity/mixing:
• Volunteers have around two-thirds higher odds of reporting trust in people living in the neighbourhood, compared to non-volunteers.
• 44 per cent of all volunteers reported having mixed with people from different ethnic backgrounds or religions in the past 12 months, compared to only 31 per cent of the general population
The key finding of the research quoted above is that the evidence from the 2019 work on the diversity of income and ethnicity in volunteering (A Bit Rich and ABC of BAME) shows that the wellbeing and health benefits of volunteering are considerably higher for marginalized groups compared to other groups.
Age
The age profile of the MCR VIP volunteers is interesting as again it does not reflect national trends or patterns. Volunteering is often found to be a pursuit of older individuals, this often as a result of them having the time. The employment of a digital system such a TeamKinetic reduces barriers to entry especially for younger volunteers who are digitally engaged. It speeds up the process of volunteer recruitment, a significant factor in younger people volunteering.
Another significant consideration is that the MCR VIP system works seamlessly with Manchester University Sport and Manchester Metropolitan University Student Union system which are also powered by TeamKinetic. This ensures MCR VIP always has its opportunities available to young, motivated student volunteers.
Ethnicity
Volunteering on the MCR VIP system is as multi-cultural and diverse as the city the volunteers represent. Volunteering across the UK tends to be thought of as a predominantly white activity but it’s clear that this is not the case in Manchester with over half of the registered volunteers described themselves as non-British White.
It is widely acknowledged that volunteering, under non-pandemic circumstances, is more widespread in the upper socioeconomic groups L1 to L10 and in the white ethnicity groups. It would appear that this is not necessarily the case during the pandemic. It does seem clear that the use of technology to recruit volunteers lowers barriers to entry for BAME individuals.
To volunteer traditionally would be heavily influenced by issues of social network and social capital. Many BAME individuals and communities do not have the same access to opportunities, as they are not often linked into the established networks to enable them to take advantage of the opportunities available.
As discussed earlier, there is strong research to suggest that volunteering can play an essential role in developing Social Trust and building better social cohesion. Volunteers tend to have more interactions with individuals who have a different ethnic background to theirs than non-volunteers.
Gender
Data from across the voluntary sector would normally suggest a 60%/40% gender split in favour of women to men.
Sports Volunteering is often the reverse of this with a 60%/40% split in favour of men to women. So the results of the MCR VIP gender spilt are quite surprising.
There is some quite compelling research that suggests that volunteering has a stronger impact for UK women than for men, thus being a potentially useful instrument in fighting gender inequality. As reported in the Happy Days study in 2019.
The report also highlights higher wellbeing increases associated with volunteering at the extremes of the income distribution, but particularly for the lowest income category – suggesting that ‘volunteering can be promoted as part of a policy intervention aimed at improving the quality of life of vulnerable groups in society.
Opportunity data
Volunteers recorded 2256 hours of volunteering in the system from 20th May 2019. These hours took place over 277 opportunities.
The top 10 most popular opportunities regarding the number of hours undertaken by volunteers are:
1
Festival Of Manchester 2019
2
The Manchester Trophy 2019 – General Volunteers
3
The Manchester Trophy 2020 – General Volunteers
4
Nature and Chill a.k.a let’s grow fruit, veg and mushrooms or DIY
5
Manchester International Swim Meet
6
Family workshop Summer Volunteers 2019
7
The HSBC UK | National Track Championships 2020
8
Manchester Digital Champions
9
Packing food bags for families in Greater Manchester – Help us feed families
10
Help Teach English in an Informal atmosphere,
The variety of opportunities in the top 10 says something to the variety of Manchester’s volunteers and the diversity of the offer MCR VIP has developed since its relaunch. Events, as you can see, are always popular due to their short-term nature and volunteers tend to find them exciting. We can also see opportunities that are ongoing and have more challenging criteria for entry such as Manchester Digital Champions in the top 10. To see these types of ongoing opportunities in the top 10, especially taking into account lockdown shows how volunteers can provide ongoing, regular services. This type of volunteering could be argued has the highest impact for the residents of Manchester.
Safeguarding
It appears that no volunteers have had a DBS recorded in the system during the period from May 20th. We did see the Identification Verification system used 18 times as part of a project to support members of the public during COVID-19.
MCR VIP has not used the more advanced safeguarding features and this may be an area that could be explored further in the future. These tools can be used alongside Volunteer photographs and Volunteer ID badges that are produced in TeamKinetic with embedded QR code technology. This allows TeamKinetic to be used when managing opportunities with a higher risk profile such as Adult Social Care.
Application Analytics
MCR VIP has seen the following web traffic since 20th May 2019.
1,251,940 site visits
These visits have been across all devices and have used most browser technology. We have seen a significant increase in mobile access to the site, and this now accounts for 62% of volunteer site traffic. This is why TeamKinetic is proactively developing with mobile responsive design and continue to develop our iOS and Android native offer which should see new apps available in late Q1 of 2021.
Economic Impact of MCR VIP volunteers
Volunteering is a rare, universal, and valuable good that unites us all. It is the glue that holds our societies together in everyday life and at times of crisis. Volunteering is helping each other out of free will. It is arguably why we have survived and succeeded as a species – our ability to collaborate and support one another. Volunteering is millennia old and all religions have at their core a message about volunteering – helping those less fortunate than yourself is a key philosophical teaching we try to impart on our children. As a result, we think volunteering is a sleeping giant in our economy.
Andy Haldane, the Chief Economist at the Bank of England, estimated volunteering to be worth between £50 and 200bn , approximately 2.5% and 10% of UK GDP. This calculation also included several extra layers or concentric circles of value. Haldane described the circles of value as layers of an onion. The figure below depicts the ‘Halo’ of value that stretches out from the volunteer. This model represents a step by step approach to valuing volunteering and it halo effect that we have adopted for the reporting of impact for this project. We are still lacking some of the data we need to undertake this level of evaluation, but I want to take this opportunity to outline what is possible using TeamKinetic.
To calculate the value of the volunteer’s hours, which in the diagram above is represented by the central circle, we have opted to use a cost replacement approach. For simplicity we have applied a single wage replacement rate based on a domiciliary healthcare assistant, midpoint, band 2 agenda for change :
£9.89 per hour + 25% (NI / tax employer £2.47) = £12.36 per hour
These are lower hourly rates as normally a staff provider would need to add on their ‘oncosts’ in addition which range from 10-33%. I would then remind you to apply a potential (+) variance of up to 33% on the final figures. Based on these numbers we can demonstrate the following.
2256 hours X £12.36 = £27,884
I think we could make a pretty strong case that had COVID-19 not occurred we would image this figure to be considerably higher and maybe even 3 times higher if the bulk of the volunteering had not stopped.
Using the Concentric Circle model, my next suggestion is that to further this work we would need to undertake some additional data collection to understand the direct wellbeing effects on the volunteers themselves. This work can be done using a simple survey that would allow us to capture some data on how volunteering makes your volunteers feel. We can use this data alongside data sets such as the British Household Survey and the Census to evaluate our volunteer population against the general population. Where this work had been undertaken before we have seen a consistent effect that volunteers tend to be healthier and happier, this type of work would enable you to say to what extent they are happier and healthier and what value does that have.
The next circle of the evaluation would focus on the recipients of the volunteers time. We would look to develop an economic model that allows you to calculate beyond cost replacement what the value and impact the volunteer have on those they support. An example might be a Digital Champion Volunteer may actually help 12 other people; it would be really useful to understand what that help is worth to those people who are beneficiaries of that volunteering. This way we can estimate which type of volunteering generates the greatest social impact and use this information to invest in the volunteering that makes the largest impact on Manchester residents.
The final stage of the evaluation would be to explore the less tangible benefits such as social trust, social capital and community cohesion. The impact on and reduction of social isolation and loneliness. These concepts are often quite difficult to measure at an individual level but very useful at a population level.
March 23rd 2020, Boris Johnson addressed the nation to declare the first Lockdown in the UK. At this moment many people, myself included, believed this lockdown would only last a few weeks and we would be back to normal before we know it. Little did we know, 10 months later we would be 3 weeks into our 3rd Lockdown.
The Evolution of Lockdowns
Let’s start from the beginning. Lockdown 1 begins on the 23rd March. People are told not to go to work and others are told to start shielding. Here begins the volunteering boom! The vulnerable are having to shield to protect themselves from the virus but are unable to go shopping, collect prescriptions or get any other essentials. This is where the efforts of locals began to show, people took charge creating mutual aid groups to protect and help the shielding. Irene Cree from Glasgow Life agreed that ”Mutual aid groups reacted really quickly, in many respects much quicker than the public sector did.” They reacted so quick in fact that according to the report Communities Vs Coronavirus: The Rise of Mutual Aid, in July it was recorded 4,000 of these groups were formed since the beginning of the pandemic, with as many as three million participants.
The solidarity of our country showed the support we had for one another, but when another lockdown hit us in the midst of winter, there were the initial signs of burnout to be seen!
Lockdown 2 was hard, a month of rain and cold in the lead up to the busiest time of the year. This lockdown I know for myself was a struggle and like many, the urge to volunteer was decreasing. Mutual aid groups were still doing their thing, but with limited support from stake holders like local authorities, their efforts were struggling. It cetrianly felt harder to protect those they had up to this point.
Technology has played a signifcant role and for some mutual said groups has been a main ingredient to their success in the pandemic, however many mutual aid groups were trapped in a non-digital hell hole trying to manage all of their volunteers and tasks from spreadsheets and whats app.
Fast forward to today and we are 3 weeks into lockdown 3. Fatigue is very real and obvious and we can only image how hard it must be for mutual aid groups this time round.
Technology still offers real opportunity for many mutual aid groups. Many have survived through the strength of will and chacter of their main participants but to keep on going they will need to use technology to ensure the organisational resliance and data security are in place to enable them to carry on. They also need lots of support from their local stakeholders in health, local government and the community if they are to keep this community solidarity going.
Can you Help Mutual Aid Groups?
So, how can you help? Back in August 2020 we spoke with Nivvi Morales, a member of COVID-19 Kenilworth Support, about their time using TeamKinetic to manage their volunteers. Their need for “a volunteer management system where we could communicate efficiently, assign tasks, track tasks, and keep our data safe.” was met, as we were able to provide the support and security they required.
“Mutual aid groups are based on volunteers acting on their own free will. Local authorities must encourage and promote mutual aid groups for what they are – the social capital of a neighbourhood. A strategy that promotes mutual aid should be light touch, work with existing community partners, and focus on facilitating rather than directing activity. Mutual aid groups should always retain the ability to decide what they do and how they work.”
Being able to support these groups is crucial and a way to do this is through technical guidance. Helping them find a secure and manageable system will keep them in control of their volunteers and opportunityies and tasks whilst ensuring individuals feel safe, valued and enaged.
TeamKinetic
Improves communication, creates easy reports automatically, keeps sensitive data secure, options for DBS checks and provides more opportunities to recognise volunteers’ efforts. Sound like the ideal features these groups need? Well, we have you covered. TeamKinetic allows for all of these and can provide impeccable support as seen with COVID-19 Kenilworth support “the ability to raise a ticket if they had an issue with the system, which would then be supported straight away.”
Our community task function was specifically designed with mutual aid groups in mind. These allow for volunteers to pick up tasks such as, picking up shopping, collecting prescriptions and delivering these to the shielding person. Claire Redford-Kerr from St Helens and Halton VCA has spoke about how they have used the the community tasks dashboard and how “our volunteers [can] very quickly pick up tasks on there [and] they can chat to one another on there. So being able to text them or email them as a group or a specific cohort of volunteers, it’s really important for us and helps us to manage the way, when and who gets involved.”
If you would like more information about our system please visit our website or call on 0161 914 5757. You can also set up a 30 day free trial to test out all of our features!
Most local authorities are now under significant pressure to realise savings with reduced funding in most areas, especially sports and leisure. The question is how do you increase productivity at the same time as reducing workload? How can local authorities effectively manage their volunteers?
As you are probably aware the solution in regards to volunteering is relatively straightforward, the organisation needs to employ a service which matches volunteers and volunteer opportunities with minimal interaction by the administrator, but at the same time can collect all the relevant KPI information (including number of volunteer hours) to allow you analyse the success of your volunteer service.
Manchester City Council using TeamKinetic
Five years ago, Manchester City Council were looking for a system which could achieve all of the above objectives. However, they realised that all the current systems on the market were heavily reliant on an administrator entering large amounts of information into the system. Reporting and communications were limited, with no links to social media networks (Facebook, Twitter etc.). This is how a large portion of the general public communicates nowadays. In short, the systems available were not fit for purpose.
With this in mind, they approached ‘TeamKinetic’ and developed a volunteer service which could meet their requirements. Since then, the system has grown from strength to strength.
Volunteering numbers in Manchester have increased from 30 to over 3000 in the last 18 months. Due to the efficiency of the service, the administrator only spends 2.5 days per week dealing with these volunteers, enabling them to focus their attention on promoting volunteering rather than getting caught up in phone calls and data entry.
If you are interested in viewing a demonstration of the volunteer management service that is currently in use by Manchester (MCRVIP). The service is called ‘TeamKinetic’ and it has had a big impact within Manchester and other local authorities across the UK with considerable financial savings and a considerable drop in cost per volunteer hour.
You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to our podcast:
Manchester City Council’s Sports Development team were the first to utilise the power of TeamKinetic with the introduction of Manchester VSB. Since their rollout in 2010, their volunteer numbers have increased dramatically from 30 to over 4600, with volunteers now logging over 35,000 hours.
The VolunteerKinetic system is managed by Craig Abel who spends less than one day per week administering the system, allowing him to spend the majority of his time promoting their volunteer Programme.
Here are some hints on how you can do the same:
Let VolunteerKinetic do the work, don’t get bogged down with entering information for volunteers or opportunity providers.
Get yourself to where potential volunteers gather, whether that’s University Freshers Fairs, national competitions or any related major event.
Always make sure there are more than enough opportunities for volunteers to look at.
Make sure the opportunity titles are catchy and interesting.
Always include any perks in your description no matter how small you think they are.
You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to our podcast:
