If you read my goodbye blog last year, you’ll have to pretend you didn’t. I just can’t stay away!
I’m back again and excited to get (re)started – this time as TeamKinetic’s Marketing Manager. It’s a role that I’m excited to get stuck into and continue to grow in.
My Journey
Back in 2017 I started university with no idea where it would take me. My biggest concerns were making friends, exploring Manchester (aka finding the best cheapest pubs), playing football, and whether I’d enjoy my course or not.
In my second year it was time to start looking for a work placement – as someone who lacked confidence, this was a daunting task! One day the Social Media and Marketing intern role at TeamKinetic popped up and the rest is history.
My placement year was full of personal and professional development. It gave me good quality real-world experience of marketing and helped me build confidence amongst other important life skills.
I went into my final year of university ready to finish those assignments and get back into the world of work. What I didn’t expect was to be offered a full-time position at TeamKinetic. But what I was certain of was that I had to grab the opportunity with both hands.
From passing my responsibilities over to Sammy and Chloe in 2020 to taking over from them in 2021 – the circle of Marketing!
So who am I?
In short:
Hi, I’m Alex, I’m 22 and I’m from Sheffield!
But if you want something deeper I could tell you that Taylor Swift has been my Spotify top artist for three years in a row. Or that I’ve been a Sheffield United season ticket holder for as long as I can remember. But if that isn’t enough, you can read my original introductory blog here.
All you really need to know is that I’m incredibly happy to work for TeamKinetic, a team full of good people doing great work. It’s time to put all the things I learned at university into practice and help this company grow!
New Faces and Farewells
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Chloe and Sammy for all their hard work over the past year. They’ve done some great stuff and have been a real asset to the team.
However, now it’s time to welcome the newest member of the TeamKinetic family – Katie. She’ll be completing her placement year with us and I hope she gets as much out of it as I did. You join us in welcoming her by reading her introductory blog here.
You Can Join The Family Too
If your organisation is in need of a quick, easy, and reliable way to manage your volunteers look no further! No matter how big or small, we can help you. We’ll work around your budget to get you building better volunteer communities with our volunteer management software.
Best of all, you can go to our website to set up your very own demo site free of cost to see how our system can work for you!
My marketing journey started in a life-sized cardboard smart car. 11 year old me presented a hover board advert at school, and between the transport creations and the chariots of fire theme tune, I think I sold the hoverboard 6000 rather well. I fell in love with marketing before I even knew what it was.
Fast forward 6 years and I’m completing a creative media degree at my local college when the history of adverts is assigned to me. A 12,000 word document later, I decided that my passion lay in some form of marketing – photography and film now were hobbies. As a pledged university student studying Public Relations and Marketing, I’ve never felt more determined to set myself going on a career path, and succeed.
A Helping Hand:
When I think back to when I was younger, I realise just how much volunteering my family took part in. During school summer fairs, my mum manned the sweets stall and my dad fired up the BBQ, all because they wanted to help. It’s members of my family who taught me the importance of volunteering and started me on my journey.
For the past couple of years I have been part of ‘Save The Streets’, a university charity focused on helping end homelessness in Manchester. Through volunteering, fundraising and spreading awareness we try and do our bit where we can: last Christmas we raised £1,235 for A Bed Every Night. I’m honoured to have been their Social Media Secretary over the past 12 months and I’m looking forward to working with them closely in the future.
In The Mean Time:
As mentioned above, what I studied in college, I now like to do in my free time. I’m passionate in capturing moments from angles others might not see – from holidays to birthdays I’ve taken over the mantle as resident cameraman from my Grandad. When I’m not capturing my Nan’s famous birthday cakes, I am an avid true crime fan – having watched nearly every documentary and docuseries on Netflix. I’m not quite sure what intrigues me about it, but somehow every time a new one pops onto the platform I’m ready and waiting to click play.
One Final Note:
Looking at the next 12 months, I’m excited to put what theory I’ve learnt over the past 2 years into practice and see how my skills develop. My Dad always told me that if you find a job you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. I try to live by my Dad’s nuggets of wisdom, so I’m grateful that TeamKinetic have given me a chance to put my knowledge and skills together in a motivated, practical environment for the next year.
Katie Brindle
katie@teamkinetic.co.uk
For more information on volunteer management software visit our website or call 01619145747
The 2021 Q2 major release for TeamKinetic is now approaching our beta test phase where we invite and encourage all our users to have a poke around!
It’s a full jump to Version 2 as we have totally updated the volunteer application with the latest .NET platform (admin and provider to come), have introduced some new features and done some major work to align the design and feel across the whole application. We’ve also got some brand new native apps for android and iOS that will be out a few weeks after the desktop release.
Here are some of the highlights for this major release milestone.
Volunteer Roles
Many of our larger customers, and those with greater governance requirements will get alot from this new feature. It’s a bit like super charged APPLY FIRST feature!
A role is a set of steps that must be completed before a volunteer is approved on an opportunity. Super admins define the role, which is organised around four steps, each with as many (or no) tasks as you require. Each role has its own name, description, and a spot to add some information that is emailed to the volunteer when they first apply for a role.
Roles are applied to one or more opportunities, and once a volunteer has completed all steps on a role they can join any opportunity which requires that matching role, once they have satisfied any other pre-requisites to joining.
For example; if a volunteer joins a litter picking opportunity which has a role called ‘basic role’ then they will be required to jump through a number of onboarding steps as defined by the ROLE. But once they have done this they can go onto join any other opportunity which is also linked to the ‘basic role steps’ and it will not require them to go through the steps again (as they have already completed those role steps).
Each task can be flagged as actionable by the volunteer or administrator, they can complete that task from their dashboard when they have satisfied the requirements.
Administrators are alerted when a volunteer joins an opportunity requiring a ROLE, they are alerted via the actions tab on their main landing page.
The administrator can then monitor and record the volunteers progress through each of the steps within the ROLE, through to completion.
Each role task can be started by an admin, then completed and a full history log is maintained and visible at all times.
An application can be approved once all the tasks have been completed, but there is no enforced order to task completion.
When a volunteer is approved on the ROLE they are emailed (custom emails available of course) and shown a list of corresponding opportunities that they are now eligible to join.
Additionally, if a opportunity has its own APPLY FIRST status and a role requirement, then once the volunteer is approved for the role they are automatically placed in the applicants queue for that opportunity, they wont have to do anything else.
New Scheduling Features
We’ve added a brand new feature for adding volunteers to sessions. You can now select any number of volunteers and add or remove them from any number of sessions in one hit!
You can select from the current joined volunteer list, or search for new volunteers.
It’s super simple but much quicker than moving them individually (still available).
We’ve also re-designed our day schedule report so it’s much easier to see what is going on day by day.
You can still view any period and restrict it to certain opportunities or events, but now you’ll see every day in that period in a calendar like display.
You get the day, all the opps that have sessions on that day, how full the session is (full sessions are highlighted) and can click through to view a list of volunteers on that session.
You’ll be able to see empty days and poorly subscribed sessions really easily, then click through and start adding volunteers using the new multi-add feature we just introduced!
Re-Designed Applicants Dashboard
Applicants are now clearly divided into new, successful, and denied. You can instantly approve or deny a new applicant and then revert that decision and mark them as newly approved. This was something that proved popular in the roadmap voting.
The on-screen messaging and alerts have been improved and standardised so you’ll always know what’s happening.
Modern Front Page
Although our existing front page allows for a lot of customisation, many of our customers have been asking for a simpler cleaner look to their front page.
So we’ve have added a new modern layout that will be the default for all new customers. It’s got much simpler settings, just a single image and a message box, to worry about, looks great on all screen sizes, and gets right to the point so volunteers can login and register quickly.
Multiple Provider Accounts
This is a useful little feature for when there are multiple individuals at an organisation that all need to login as providers as manage their opportunities, but dont want to share login details.
Providers can now create and manage their own user list without any intervention required from the admins or super admins. Just add a name, email address and password and they can go ahead and login.
Multiple Meetings and New Meeting Features
Previously a volunteer could only have one active meeting at a time, now you can book and manage as many meetings as you like for volunteers.
Additionally we have added the ability to specify if the meeting is to be virtual, and if so, to add the link to the virtual meeting, or if not the location of a face to face meeting. You can also add a custom message which gets sent along with the normal custom email for new meetings, so you can let them know any extra information they need.
We’ve also tidied up the induction section of a volunteer manage dashboard and added the meeting details there. From here you get a link back to manage meetings and can also add a new meeting for the volunteer right from their dashboard.
Opportunity Badges
These are linked to opportunities showing that the opportunity is linked to a specific award scheme.
Example: If logged hours on the opportunity can go towards a volunteers Duke of Edinburgh Award, then they might attach it to the ‘DofE Opportunity Badge’.
Just add a name, description, and a badge image to create your opportunity badges. These can then be added to your opportunities, filtered on in the search and are displayed to the volunteers.
Great for quickly indicating to your volunteers what sort of opportunity its likely to be.
Gender List Editable in Alt Language
For those of you that take advantage of our alt language feature and translations (and if you don’t..why not?!) you can now view and edit your gender lists in your chosen alt language.
These are instantly reflected on the registration pages..which brings us to…
New Volunteer Registration
Volunteers begin their registration either by providing an email address, or by registering with Google or Facebook.
If they use and email address they will receive an email with a special link to confirm their email address and continue with their registration.
This will cut down drastically the number of bogus registrations and also reduces the initial inertia for registration. This first step of registration is recorded and we’ll be able to get some great insight into what is preventing volunteers from completing their registration.
We have also worked on the registration page itself; made it shorter, improved the location section, and added more on-screen help.
We think it’s a definite improvement and will hopefully lead to a higher rate of successful registrations.
New Search Page
The public search page is now more compact and the events have been moved to the right so they don’t obscure the results.
When viewed on smaller screens the layout adjusts accordingly so events are still visible.
Opportunity Images
You might have noticed in the screenshot for the search page that we now support adding images to opportunities!
We know from our experience that this has to be quick and painless or providers just don’t bother. So we’ve put in place a number of features to try to make this easy for providers.
Images are mandatory for opportunities, you cant add your first opportunity without uploading at least one image
You can select from your previous images, so once you have one you don’t have to keep uploading
When creating an opp, it will default to your last used image
ABOVE: Admin/Providers view when creating opportunityABOVE: Volunteer view of opportunity with image
It really couldn’t be easier! These images are responsive and will adjust in height and width to cope with any sized screen.
Everything Else
Multiple groups are selectable from the bulk email screens
Can add files to the private notes section
Course management improved
More admin options available
More opportunity sharing data available along with suggestions of other organisations you might want to join forces with
Volunteers can see how many slots are available in each session before they join
Induction questions are now sortable
New report showing the ethnicity breakdown of active volunteers
Welcome to the family! Its great that you are about to join hundreds of other organisations that use TeamKinetic to manage their volunteers. We have put together this short blog that tells you what happens next and how to get ready to launch your site.
Once we have your contract signed we can have you up and running in no time, this blog outlines the steps to get your site ready and the pit falls to avoid.
Trial Site
If you already have a trial site up and running, you can get started playing around and getting to know the TeamKinetic service right away. We have a simple to follow “Getting Started” lesson program for you to follow. Just click here and follow the 10 quick and easy lessons. If you get stuck just drop us a support ticket or a chat message direct from your help menu.
If you don’t have a trial or demo site set up yet, just let your TeamKinetic contact know and they will have that sorted out for you in no time. This will help you get acclimatised to the product and give you a good idea of how you might like to use the service.
We’d love your feedback on our Getting Started lessons, so if there is something we can do to make it easier for you please let us know.
Getting set up on our implementation management system.
To help make your implementation go super smooth we use a service that ensures you know what you have to do and what we have to do. This system provides you with detailed information on how you undertake each task and lets you record what you have done, when you are ready to pass things back to us and if yo have any questions you can ask them really easily.
As soon as the contract is signed we will invite the key members of your project team to join us on the task list and you can get going right away with your tasks, getting your site ready to go live.
Choosing A URL
As an enterprise customer, you get to choose where your TeamKinetic powered website will live or what URL you want to use. There are a few options available to you. It has a tendancy to get a little technical here so my apologies in advance. The options are:
You can set up your TeamKinetic powered site as a “Sub-Domain” of your existing website. That means you can have something like https://volunteer.YourOrgNamehere.org
You can have a new domain that no one else has yet. To choose a new domain use a service such as NameCheap.com and see what’s available.
What ever you choose, your TeamKinetic implementation advisor will help you with the technical aspects of getting your trail site moved onto your new URL. You wont lose anything you have done up to this point if you don’t want to, or we can always delete the data and let you start again, its completely up to you.
Setting up the ‘Look and Feel’ of your TeamKinetic site
You can start this process as soon as you have your trail or demo site set up, it is actually part of the 10 steps mentioned above in the ‘trial site’ section of this blog.
All settings and changes to the look and feel of your site will be copied over when your site is moved to its final website address.
To make changes to the look and feel of your site, first click on the cog in the top right of your screen which will display the super admin menu.
(NB. If you can’t see it, you may not be a Super Admin, don’t worry drop us a quick message and we will get you sorted!)
This menu is where you find all the settings for your site and its where you go if you want to change the colours, fonts, messages and images on your site.
From here you can change all aspects of the site as you require. Some of the more advanced options can require a little technical ability, but we are here to support you through the process. There is lots of detailed help to support you and we are always at the end of the phone or available on live chat if you get stuck.
You can read the help documents for customising your website at the top right of the screen as shown below.
All this is covered in your training and implementation support but if you want to get started there is nothing stopping you.
Getting your site working the way you want it!
TeamKinetic offers so many options and choices to make sure you can manage your volunteers in the way that works for you and them. Many of these options you only really need to think about once.
Again, in the Super Admin menu you have choices that cover Profile, Set Up and Options. If you want to start to have a play around with these then feel free.
We have this (really long, sorry!) video that walks you through each option and what impact they might have on how you choose to use TeamKinetic. Break it into manageable chunks and start to make your way through the menus until you have the setting you think will work for you. Again, we will go through all this with you in your training, but there is nothing to stop you having a play around as you get to know what TeamKinetic can do.
The default settings are fine for a lot of our customers so don’t worry too much about investigating them all straight away.
Training
As soon as your contract is signed we will be looking to get your training booked. This is normally delivered online over two half day sessions, though there is lots of flexibility and all this can be adjusted to meet your needs.
We want you to get the most out of these sessions, so if you have followed the instruction in this blog and had a play around you will come to that first session with lots of questions that we can help you with.
If you are a little nervous, please don’t worry. No matter what your technical ability we will have you up and running in no time.
Go Live!
Once you have got your site set up as you want, and you have started the process of adding your opportunities to the site, you are almost ready to tell the world about your new system.
Our implementation team will work with you on a plan to make all this happen and will provide advice on how to link up your TeamKinetic powered portal with your existing web site.
We are often asked how long this takes, and its a tricky one to answer, as it really depends upon how quickly you are able to get through the set up tasks and how many providers and opportunities you need to add. We have had customers up and running in less than a week and others who have taken 3 or 4 months. The key consideration is that you are comfortable with the system and how it works and that it has lot of interesting opportunities for your volunteers to look at.
Remember, we are with you every step of the way, its really difficult to break TeamKinetic so don’t be worried or sacred about having a play around and good luck on your first step in taking your volunteer management to the next level. We look forward to working with you.
Before we go
Keep up to date with everything TeamKinetic by following us on the following social media channels where you will find useful content, support and access to offers and discounts you will not want to miss.
Urgh spam. No, not the canned meat. The inconvenient annoyance that seems to find its way to my email every day! It’s a human thing to receive spam/junk but why do we get it and how can we spot spam? These are the questions that come to mind when I’m staring at an email asking me to click a link to pay for something I swear I never bought! Well, here at TeamKinetic we are going to explain how we protect you against spam, why we get spam and how to spot it…
Protecting against spam
At TeamKinetic, we don’t want our customers being bombarded with spam emails. So, to help with this we first used Google Captcha, a method which tries to distinguish between robots and humans. But, the robots got smarter! There were signs that the system was getting easily defeated by the bots… Don’t worry it isn’t an i, Robot situation!
Now, we have found a better way to detect and remove as much spam as possible, we use a multifaceted approach which includes:
A non human visible honeypot which forms elements that bots love to fill in.
Testing to see if JavaScript had been run.
Timing how long it takes to complete and submit a form (robots are much faster than humans)!
Why do we get spam?
Its practically impossible to stop all spam. If you are too strict you lose valid emails but if you are not strict enough, too much spam will get through the cracks. It is difficult to find the perfect balance but we feel we have have hit the nail on the head. I can tell you that we get 98% less spam using the combination methods above than when the contact us form is left without protections. Sounds great, but what about that 2% that gets through, how can you spot those types of emails? Keep reading to find out…
How to spot spam emails
Most of the phishing and spam messages we get contain dire messages about your domain name and or the search engine optimisation (SEO) for your website. Your domain, if its is managed by us, is automatically renewed, there is no danger of it being de-registered and neither do you need to pay to keep it registered. The same goes for SSL certificates. Others talk about errors on the website and offer to fix them if you download a program; DONT! As a general rule don’t follow any links in any unsolicited email or message. There are some useful tips for how to spot phishing messages on the IT governance website.
What we advise…
If you get any emails which seem suspicious or you seem to be receiving many at once, never click on a link or send personal information. Open a support ticket or head to our website to start a live chat and we will gladly look into this for you.
If you are reading this, you might not be using SMS text messages to manage your volunteers. And you will have your reasons as to why you feel that SMS text messages would not benefit you, your organisation, or your volunteers. This is where we come in. We’re here to debunk some of the common reasons why organisations think they don’t need text messages to manage their volunteers.
1) You don’t know how to use them
If you have never bought them before, then of course you’re not going to know how to use them. But, it is very easy to pick up. In fact, we have created a video that shows you exactly how to turn text messages on, how to set up automatic messages, how to send texts to specific volunteers, and how to send texts to the volunteers on a specific opportunity. Sending text messages to volunteers has never been so easy!
2) You don’t know the Impact
So, you think your organisation doesn’t need SMS text messages. But, do you know about the impact?
It will make you wonder why you didn’t use them earlier. Here are just a few ways it can ompact your volunteers:
You can automatically alert your volunteers by text when they have a session coming up, if their criminal check is due for renewal, or even when one of the providers they follow adds a new opportunity. Not only does this help engagement and encourage volunteers to attend sessions, it also makes your life a lot easier.
Our SMS text messages function has been proved to be a more effective way to reach people and ensure they read your message over email. No longer will you have to worry about people not receiving your email because it either got lost in their inbox, they rarely check their emails, or it just went to spam; sending texts gives a higher chance of volunteers seeing your message.
You can easily text groups of volunteers, individual volunteers, or all volunteers on a particular opportunity, and give them the information they need. Alternatively, if you enter a valid mobile number as the reply-to number, volunteers will be able to text you back and continue the conversation. Or you can provide a short name that will let volunteers know where the message has come from, but they will not be able to reply directly. This makes communication a lot easier for both the volunteer and the volunteer manager.
Let’s look at some scenarios for example:
3) It costs too much money
You may worry that using text messages is just another ongoing expense for your organisation, and it is, but, it’s all the brilliant benefits, like the ones mentioned above, that makes it worth the expense.
We also have an offer available for a short time, which may help your organisation if one of your reasons for not buying SMS messages is money. Currently, for every 2 messages you buy, we give you one for free. So when you buy 500 texts, you get 750 and when you buy 1000 texts, you get 1,500. Meaning, the more you buy the more money you save! Perfect for communicating with volunteers, both when in a lockdown and when out of a lockdown.
So, should I use them?
After reading all through the reasons why you thought you didn’t need SMS text messages, you might be thinking there could be benefits after all. So why not check out our SMS text offer? After all, it is saving you money in the long term. Take a look at our video below which explains how to do this:
Yes, yes and yes. That is the first thing you see when you Google ‘Should I be using SMS text messages when managing volunteers?’. And the research isn’t wrong, using texts as a form of communication to your volunteers is incredibly beneficial. Not only does it improve communication, but it can also increase engagement and volunteer return rates. And let’s not forget the speedy responses that come from sending text messages, perfect for those time-sensitive situations. However, the one thing you don’t really see when you Google this question is how beneficial SMS texts are from someone who is currently using them.
This is where we come in. If you are considering using SMS text messages but are still a bit unsure, hear from Claire at Halton and St Helens Volunteer Centre about her personal experiences using them.
Halton and St Helen’s Volunteer Centre
First, a little bit of background. Halton and St Helens is an organisation that provides advice, information and development support to voluntary, community, non-for-profit, faith organisations and volunteers in the Boroughs of St Helens and Halton. Here, Claire spoke to us about her experiences using SMS text messages in her TeamKinetic system.
1) When did you start using the SMS text message feature?
So, we started to use the text message feature fairly early on into the first lockdown of the pandemic. It was also around the same time that we first launched our TeamKinetic portal.
In addition to this, it was around March/April that we had quite a substantial funding grant come through, which allowed us to buy a great big text bundle. And I already knew of the texts and how they worked from the work we have done with TeamKinetic before.
2) How do you use your text messages?
Initially, we used text messages for our volunteers who were supporting local residents during the pandemic with the community tasks. We would use the function to send a text to show they are a verified volunteer for us, this was pre the ID cards. It was a quick and easy way for us to give them something that was mobile that they could show the person they were working for that they were a verified volunteer.
When the ID cards came into play on the community task dashboard, we started to use the texts to message our ‘Street Champions’ about ongoing tasks that hadn’t been picked up that needed to be done. I’d say that is the main way we used them now.
3) Do you find the SMS text messaging feature helpful in communicating to and engaging volunteers?
Yes, definitely. Between that and emails, we can have more of an impact in terms of communicating straight away with volunteers. And it’s that instant impact that is important for us particularly when there is an urgency in terms of volunteer support.
Recently we have also used them with our vaccination volunteers. For example, when volunteers have dropped shifts and we have then asked other volunteers to quickly log in and see if they can pick up a shift. So, that’s been really helpful as we’ve now had full commitment and maximum volunteers throughout our vaccination programme which is great.
4) How have you benefited from the SMS text message feature compared to a time when you didn’t use them?
For me, it’s just an added bonus in terms of being able to communicate quite directly with that we’re not always in connection with and we don’t see physically. It wouldn’t even matter that much when we’re back into the ‘new normal’ after COVID-19 and we do see people on a regular basis. This is because the text messages would still be a massive benefit in terms of that quick turn around and communication with volunteer around shift patterns etc.
For example, we have worked with the TeamKinetic portal for years at Warrington Hospital, and we have never used the text message feature with them. This is mainly because we have never had the funding to be able to do that. But, again with some added funds, we have been able to out a little bit of a bundle on there too. So, we have now used it for when we have needed to contact our away finders, when there’s been an urgent need for people to support the vaccination centre, or when we’ve needed a quick turnaround on support. I think we could probably do that again going forwards, even when we start to bring our volunteers back, it will be a great tool.
We also use them differently in the Hospital in terms of the communication that we do in Halton and St Helens through the Volunteer Centre. So, with the Hospital it’s linked directly to a phone number which helps that two-way communication. With the Volunteer Centre, we actually just link it to a name so they understand it’s just from us and there’s no response from that.
5) What would you say to another organisation that is considering using the SMS text message feature but is still unsure?
For me, it’s a great way of quickly communicating and getting action from volunteers very quickly too. Particularly if you have got an event on for example or you are providing urgent response support; it’s a great way of supporting that quick action of volunteers to get engaged, get involved, and get moving.
Thinking About Buying SMS Texts
If after reading this, you realise SMS texts would benefit your organisation and your volunteers, then check out this video explaining how to take up the offer!
An exciting in-depth look at how to use TeamKinetic on a day-to-day basis to run your volunteer programme. Partly hands-on, your tutor will talk you through setting up opportunities and allow you to see the system from different users perspectives. At the end of this training session, you will have a good understanding of how each user interacts with the system and how to communicate and manage your volunteers and service providers.
Who Should Attend?
Either new employees who have taken over the role of administrator OR existing administrators who would like a refresher of all the main functionality.
What Does It Cover?
A practical session where attendees will experience the system from each users perspective covering the following:
Registering as a provider
[As a provider/admin] Creating an opportunity
Registering as a volunteer
[As a volunteer] Joining the opportunity
[As a provider/admin] Managing and communicating with volunteers on the opportunity
Searching for volunteer/s
Search filters explained
Sending volunteers an email/sms text
Volunteer/Provider bulk emails
Adding volunteers without an email address
Inviting volunteers onto the system
Achievement badges
Criminal checks
Volunteer groups
Meetings
References
HourTrades
Events
Standardising activity tags
Accreditation badges
Shared opportunities
Adding Courses
Reporting library explained
Exporting information
Notifications
Volunteer news
System support
How Do I Sign Up?
You can access this training from your HELP > EXTRA TRAINING menu. Purchase the number of credits you need and then click on the BOOK button and select your dates.
You can check the latest training dates from within your system. Just go to ‘Help & Support’ → ‘Extra Training’
Yes, that’s right! We got nominated for 2 iNetwork awards, The Partner Excellence Award and the Covid-19 Response Recognition Award for our work with Halton and St Helens. And as of the 5th February, we have been shortlisted as a finalist. Here is how we got there…
About the initiative with St Helens
St Helens Together is the name of the collaborative community response programme of residents, businesses, public services and voluntary and community groups across the Borough. One of the key foundations was the Volunteer Portal which was implemented through a partnership which included us!
The aims of the development of the Volunteer Portal were to increase engagement with volunteering, to support organisations more efficiently with the recruitment and management of volunteers, to provide greater flexibility, support, reward and recognition to volunteers, and to have a system that would offer business intelligence and greater insight to volunteers across the Borough.
The volunteer portal was able to create identification cards, which helped with the safety and security of residents as the card had a photo of the individual and confirmed if their identity had been verified and if they had been DBS checked. A Community Task Dashboard was implemented, allowing an overview of all tasks and their status. We then implemented the I Can Help App which is a new innovative and effective way that volunteers could pick up tasks in their area.
What were the key achievements of the initiative?
1,744 volunteers have been registered and together they offered 8,688 volunteering hours.
The economic value of the volunteer support offered £80,796 during the first six months of the programme.
Twenty different voluntary and community sector groups have used the portal.
32,993 people have been supported.
The volunteers managed 37,339 food related tasks.
16,161 telephone calls have been made to support those feeling lonely or isolated.
3,675 tasks have been completed in relation to support around employment and the impact of unemployment.
In relation to the I Can Help App, here is just some of the feedback collected from the volunteers:
“I find it easy to pick up tasks that are suitable to me. The app is great.”
“Great way of linking volunteers with the community.”
“Using the I Can Help App is easy and efficient. Really happy to be helping others and making use of my spare time.”
The Awards
The St Helens Together Volunteer portal has provided a focus and foundation to the wider community response to the coronavirus pandemic. It has provided an infrastructure and efficient organisation which has helped us channel help and support to where it is most needed.
The portal and the App, have shown how volunteers and community tasks can be managed more efficiently through a collaborative, digital approach. This has made it much quicker to recruit volunteers, to raise awareness of tasks that people need supporting with and to gain intelligence. It has also supported volunteers that had not previously used Apps the opportunity to increase their digital skills. The programme has broken down organisational and sector boundaries as it has brought everyone together with a common purpose. Volunteers have come from very different backgrounds and have very different demographics. They have reported that they have greater levels of empathy with others and feel a sense of belonging to their communities. Therefore a greater level of community cohesion, tolerance and kindness has been achieved.
Thank You!
We want to say a big thank you to Halton and St Helens and to everyone who has voted for us so far. It is a huge achievement and milestone for TeamKinetic to have been nominated for 2 iNetwork awards, especially one that recognises our efforts throughout COVID-19. Next step, the awards ceremony!
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.
As mentioned above, what I studied in college, I now like to do in my free time. I’m passionate in capturing moments from angles others might not see – from holidays to birthdays I’ve taken over the mantle as resident cameraman from my Grandad. When I’m not capturing my Nan’s famous birthday cakes, I am an avid true crime fan – having watched nearly every documentary and docuseries on Netflix. I’m not quite sure what intrigues me about it, but somehow every time a new one pops onto the platform I’m ready and waiting to click play. 
