TeamKinetic

Volunteer Management Software. A scary term which sounds completely crazy to those who have religiously used Excel to manage their volunteer workforce. So, I get it, it can be frightening going from years of working on hundreds of excel sheets to just one piece of tech. But, what if I showed you how easy it can be?

So let’s take a look at some of the most common sayings non-profits have when talking about volunteer management software.

What even is volunteer management software?

Volunteer management software is an online system which allows your organisation to manage all of your volunteers in one simple space. With TeamKinetic, our system allows you to recruit, manage and retain volunteers through various methods. You can create volunteer opportunities, events, rewarding systems and much more.

I’m no good with technology!

With volunteer management software you don’t have to be tech savvy! Most software nowadays is very straight forward and is made to be user friendly, otherwise, no one will use it. So, there is no need to be nervous about using this particular software. TeamKinetic have easy to read tutorials which guide you through your site to help get you started and understand the different areas. We also hold training sessions so you and your staff can gain an advanced knowledge of the software.

We have a limited budget!

We understand this so we offer not only a free trial but also a free version! This allows organisations with limited budgets to use our software and have unlimited active opportunities and unlimited volunteers. Giving your organisation the chance to manage your volunteers FREE of charge!

We don’t want to change!

Change can be hard but sometimes it’s for the best. Today, many young people are becoming more interested in volunteering, especially for non-profits. The youth and technology go hand in hand so in order to attract the younger generation you will need to start heading down the tech route. But don’t fear TeamKinetic is here. Research shows our software is effective at recruiting younger volunteers. This could be down to our digital tools that let you share to social media or the fact the younger generation prefer that digital approach. This is a great way to start building up a variety of volunteers whilst still retaining past volunteers.

Other departments take priority when it comes to new software!

Every non-profit relies heavily on their volunteers, so, having a good system to allow for the proper management of your volunteers must be a big priority. However, we understand that perhaps you feel you don’t have the time to set up the software and that your time could be better spent doing other things. That’s fine! We understand – that’s why we try to make the setting up process as easy as possible! At TeamKinetic we have tutorials which can be followed when setting up a site and even training with our team to help configure that new system to meet your organisations requirements.

We are a small organisation – We won’t need it!

No matter how small, organisations need this type of volunteer management to be able to better manage their volunteers. Having a system which ultimately runs itself means less time creating and maintaining Excel documents and more time promoting your volunteer service and helping volunteers. TeamKinetic is host to many small organisations, so we know our volunteer management software is flexible for all companies.

TeamKinetic for Non-profits

At TeamKinetic we want to ensure that your organisation is reaching their full potential when it comes to volunteer management. You can recruit and retain volunteers, create opportunities and events, give rewards and gain feedback, and many other features. Our software gives you the chance to have all of your volunteer management in one convenient space. And for a limited price.

We hope that your hesitations about trying out volunteer management software have disappeared, but, if they are still lingering call us on 0161 914 5757 we are more than happy to talk you through our software in more detail!

Alternatively, take a look at our website to find out more and start your FREE trial today! Or, read through our social media pages for more tips and tricks – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.

We hope you enjoy our system!

Conquering Ben Nevis

By Chris Martin

On 21st September 2020

In Charity, News & Views

Ben Nevis is one of the UK’s most famous natural landmarks, and is the tallest mountain across the British Isles! It is a long and strenuous climb that takes around 7-9 hours, guaranteed to leave you with stiff legs the next day! But it also leaves you with a big feeling of accomplishment.

This mountain is a lofty 1,345 meters high. To put this into perspective the London Eye stands at 135 meters high and Big Ben at 96 meters high. They don’t call it the tallest mountain for nothing! And our TeamKinetic Software Engineer, Rolf Herbert, is about to climb it in aid of Macmillan.

Rolf’s Ben Nevis Adventure…

On the 27th September our software engineer is taking on the Ben Nevis challenge! Rolf is taking this challenge on with 30 team members, with only a few having real experience for such a challenge!

“Macmillan is a superb charity that helps so many people in a positive way, it helps celebrate and appreciate what you have even when you are at risk of losing so much. Sharing an adventure with friends in a stunning location, whilst raising some money, seems an apt way to help” – Rolf Herbert

About Macmillan…

At Macmillan Cancer Support, they understand the many ways in which a cancer diagnosis can affect your life. But from the moment you’re diagnosed, through your treatment and beyond, Macmillan are right there with you, offering emotional, physical and financial support.

They take the time to understand you as a person, so that they can provide the support, tools and inspiration you need to find your best way through. They do it like this because they understand that everyone’s cancer journey is unique.

Macmillan Cancer Support is a group of millions of supporters, professionals, volunteers and campaigners. And together, they make sure you are treated like a person- not just a patient- and get the support you need to live life as fully as you can.

Read how Macmillan are helping people today…

Sara’s Story

Cathy’s Story

Ria’s Story

Best of Luck Rolf!

Everyone here at TeamKinetic applauds Rolf for taking on this challenging climb to raise money for a brilliant charity! We wish you the best of luck and we can’t wait to hear all about it (and make sure you wear some good shoes)!

If you wish to support Rolf on his endeavour for Macmillan, follow the link below.

GoFundMe

Celebrities Who Do Great Charity Work

By Chris Martin

On 18th September 2020

In Charity, News & Views

Celebrities are some of the richest people in the world, whether they be actors, footballers, or singers. Today, we take look at the celebrities who really care. The ones who donate their money and time to causes they’re truly passionate about.

Here are a few of the celebrities doing great work, and maybe it can inspire you to follow in their footsteps…

Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie has always been associated with being charitable, and today is no exception! Despite becoming one of the biggest names in Hollywood, she still used her time to help others…

Since 2001, she has embarked on field missions around the world and met with refugees in more than 20 countries.

In 2003 she set-up the Maddox Jolie Program that is today known as the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation (MJP). The foundation is dedicated to eradicating extreme rural poverty, protecting natural resources and conserving wildlife. They even donated $1 million to Doctors Without Borders.
2016 saw her set up the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict which aims to ensure that children and young people affected by conflict, internal displacement, and refugee status are not denied their fundamental human right to education.

David Beckham

Has been a UNICEF ambassador since 2005 and travelled across the world to see the work that they do. Beckham has visited Swaziland, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and the Philippines.

In February 2015, to mark his tenth year, UNICEF and David launched ‘7: The David Beckham UNICEF Fund’. The 7 Fund states that they are “tackling bullying, violence, child marriage and missed education, and making sure children – especially girls – get a true chance to realise their potential”.

The 7 Fund has also supplied polio vaccinations, drilled wells and brought clean water to schools and communities. They’ve also provided HIV medicine to pregnant mothers and given life-saving food to malnourished children.

Miley Cyrus

Miley often speaks out on social issues too – here she is at the Women’s March in 2017.

From rising to fame as Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana to creating media frenzies with her provocative live performances, Miley has had quite a journey in the public eye! But through it all, she’s kept her charitable spirit…

In 2009, she started a program for Youth Service America called ‘Get Ur Good On‘. Its purpose was for youth to support each other in their missions to do ‘good’ in their communities. Get Ur Good On Grants awarded 100 $500 grants to support projects that addressed critical community needs such as poverty, education, and environmental sustainability.

In 2014, she founded the Happy Hippie Foundation. The foundation provides homeless youth, LGBTQ youth and other vulnerable groups with consistent support services, education and employment opportunities.

Finally, in 2018 Miley, and her then-husband Liam, donated $500,000 to Malibu Relief after their home burned down due to the California wildfires. They noted that they wanted to give back to the place that “created so many beautiful memories for themselves and others”.

Feel inspired?

Do you now feel inspired to take part in some charity work to help make a difference but don’t know where to start? Check out our website as a starting point to see the clients we work with, and the volunteering opportunities they have on offer.

Product Steering Group: 16/09/2020

By Alex Evans

On 17th September 2020

In TeamKinetic Features

That was our first ever product steering meeting and we would like to thank everyone for their feedback and comments, we think it went pretty well!

This group was a chance for us to relay some ideas and details about possible updates to our system and get a feel for how our users felt about these updates. It was also a chance for us to listen to your ideas on future features which could be added to the system or at least were worth further exploration.

So with that, let’s show you what was discussed at the product steering group 16/09/2020.

Roadmap

The roadmap is what we are using to help with the potential new features being added to upcoming updates. We are developing this through the MoSCoW Project. These are the Must haves, Should haves, Could haves and Wish list. The MoSCoW project will allow a way of ordering potential features based on their feasibility, price, etc… This section is live on your systems and will be under the help menu and under the new entry ‘roadmap’.

The ‘must have’ section will be everything we plan on fixing for the next update. On each potential new feature will be a voting system so you can vote on which you definitely want and which you don’t. This will then bump up certain features which are popular.

If you have any new features you want and we haven’t mentioned, you can open a support ticket and choose ‘new feature’, this will then be added to a certain part on the MoSCoW project.

Rolf will be adding a comments section soon, so let us know what you like, what you hate and everything in between.

Watch the video below to see how to view the Roadmap and how to add a new feature.

Community Tasks – Where next?

Community tasks were set up in response to the COVID-19 crisis. They are small tasks designed to provide community support to people who are unable to leave their homes. To test out the community tasks you need to enable from the super admin settings and you can try out creating tasks without publishing them to your volunteers. Watch the video below to see how to turn on community tasks.

At the moment the way the community tasks work is they are separate from the opportunities volunteer page. We kept these separate at the beginning of this update to ensure volunteers wanting to help with COVID-19 tasks would just go straight to this site. However, we are now interested in knowing how we might integrate the two sites and features more effectively.

We think Community Tasks are useful beyond COVID-19 but we open to where they will ‘live’ with in the application moving forwards. If you have any comments on this please get in touch with us or fill in the questionnaire we have sent our on the subject and let us know what you think.

Native Mobile Development

Our native mobile development unfortunately all but stopped during the height of COVID-19 because our developers have been furloughed and unable to work.

This would have been a new version of our Apps for iOS and Android with all features you would expect added in and some neat new customisation available. We are committed to continuing to develop our apps but coronavirus forced us to make some difficult choices, one of which was to build our Community Task app using Progressive Web App technology.

Using Progressive Web App (PWA) for the community tasks site was fast to build and was easy to roll out and it had almost all the same features of a native app however it just uses the web browser on your phone instead of downloading the app store.

There are pros and cons of both app types of app and we are keen to know what you think about using PWA more in the future!

Native Mobile Development

Pros – Available on both IOS and Andriod, gives the best overall experience and integration with the mobile device.

Cons – Slow and significantly increases the lag for new feature incorporation.

Progressive Web App

Pros – Fast to build and implement.

Cons – Do not have access to all mobile capabilities, especially on iOS.

Focus – UI/UX

UI – User Interface

UX – User Experience

Whilst looking at our set guidelines and rules for our interface we wanted to make sure it enabled a good workflow for our users and let them focus on the tasks they were doing, so we named it ‘focus’.

Over the last 12 months we have been integrating this look across all the pages on the system. The new side bar gives access to extra features on that page and there is no restriction on sizing. Searching is much easier as the universal search bar is now at the top of every page along with the notification settings and help bar. The new alert messages will either be in red or green depending on urgency and the ones in yellow will be for standard messages.

Please let us know once you notice these changes, what works well and what doesn’t. We are heading down the root of changing all pages to look like the one above, so if you see anything that can be changed, set up a support ticket to explain.

Thank You!

We hope all of our clients enjoyed the Product Steering Group, there were some great comments and ideas being said which will enable us to create a clearer path for the future.

So we can get some extra feedback from our Product Steering Group, please fill in the survey we have created.

We can’t wait to hear more from you. And until next time…

Happy International Day of Charity

By Chris Martin

On 4th September 2020

In Charity

Every year, charities all over the world are using their resources to help support and provide hope to people in need. Now, today is the day we show our appreciation to all charities out there for the amazing work they do on a day-to-day basis. That’s why today’s blog post is all about saying THANK YOU and showing our appreciation of our charity clients!

First up…

British Blind Sport

British Blind Sport prides itself on making a visible difference through sport as we know that taking the first step into participating in a sporting or recreational activity can change lives for the better

– Alaina MacGregor, Chief Executive Officer

British Blind Sport is an amazing charity that helps the blind and partially sighted people get active and play sports. They encourage adults and children to participate in activities of all levels, from grassroots to the Paralympic Games. They believe that sporting opportunities should be available to everybody. It has been proven that sport can enhance the lives of people with visual impairments by improving their health and increasing their social interaction.

And you can help today in so many different ways. Have a look today to see how you can make a real difference through British Blind Sport by clicking here.

Dreams Come True

Dreams Come True are the only dreams granting charity that fulfils the dreams of children and young adults with such a wide range of medical conditions, locations and ages.

Dreams Come True exist to make the dreams of children and young adults come true; everyone has a dream, but the unfortunate reality is that some have less time to realise their dream. This is why Dreams Come True believe that having one moment where children can forget about the troubles they are currently facing, is a moment that they and their families get to treasure forever.

However, they can’t make any of this happen without support of others. Find out how you can help Dreams Come True today by clicking here!

Groundwork London

Groundwork London have the vision of a city where all communities are vibrant, healthy and safe. Where londoners feel empowered to come together and overcome the challenges they face, wherever they live, and whatever the circumstances or background. However, London continues to face many serious challenges. When these challenges are combined with reductions in public funding and services, it’s usually those who are most disadvantaged that are affected the most. That is why Groundwork designs projects to support these individuals and communities.

Every year they make an incredible impact on people and places in London. Last year they worked with communities across London to create and improve close to 1.9 million square metres of public parks, playgrounds, housing estates, community gardens, nature reserves, roof gardens and many more of London’s valuable public open spaces.

They offer amazing support and advice, which you can find out about now by clicking here.

Into Games

Into-games is a wonderful charity which supports people finding rewarding careers in the games industry. Their projects connect education and industry while providing guidance for learners from primary school upwards. They do this to ensure that a career in the games sector is more accessible to a wider range of young people.

With Into-games, you can find a career, build a game, go to an event, get a mentor, and find opportunities with just a click of a button! Find out for yourself here.

Pankhurst Trust

The Pankhurst Trust was formed in 2014 as a merger between The Pankhurst Trust, which ran The Pankhurst Museum, and Manchester Women’s Aid.

They aim to promote the equality of women, to help women suffering or at risk from domestic abuse, and to secure The Pankhurst Museum for public benefit.

This incredible charity work to ensure the powerful story of the women who won the vote continues to inspire us all to challenge gender inequality, and to ensure that those suffering domestic violence and abuse get the confidential help they need.

You can get involved today with The Pankhurst Trust by volunteering, fundraising, or donating.

Seashell Trust

The Seashell Trust is a charity dedicated to providing a creative, happy and secure environment for children and young people with complex and severe learning disabilities which include little or no language abilities. they have expert specialist teachers, care staff, onsite therapy team, assistive technologists, swimming teachers and sports coaches. All to allow their students to learn to express themselves, engage with the world, become more independent and live safe, creative and fulfilling lives.

You can start to work or volunteer for The Seashell Trust today by clicking here!

Willowbrook Hospice

Willowbrook Hospice is an independent charity established by local people to build and raise a specialist palliative care unit. Since the hospice opened in 1997, they have cared for over 9000 patients. During this time their services have grown so much that they now receive approximately 1000 patient referrals a year.

The volunteers at Willowbrook Hospice are an essential part of their team. They have event been awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. You can join their award winning team today by clicking here. Or read about upcoming fundraising events or how you can fundraise yourself by clicking here.

So, we wanted to say…

From everyone at TeamKinetic, we thank you for the amazing work you all do every day of the year. We love working with you and providing you with volunteer management software to make running your organisation and volunteers that bit easier!

On another note, some of you reading this may not be using TeamKinetic, and might want to know what the big deal is?

From £19 per month, TeamKinetic can help you to:

Expand your volunteer force with no limit on the number of volunteers you can have.
Create individual volunteer profiles.
Provide instant real-time reports.
Create and manage multiple opportunities.
Expand your volunteer reach through Facebook and Twitter.
Keep your volunteer’s personal data safe

But don’t just take our word for it, start your FREE trial with us today or simple book in for a demo by emailing chris@teamkinetic.co.uk

We are updating our Terms and Conditions

By Chris Martin

On 14th August 2020

In Policy and Operations, Security and GDPR

Periodically we review and update our operating terms and conditions that form the basis of our relationship with our customers. This time around we are proposing two changes that we wanted to clarify with our customers.

Since the introduction of GDPR we have been reviewing our approach to data processing and we need to make changes on how we manage your data. The second change is relating to our licencing and pricing model.

Data processing

Please don’t worry, this change to our data processing policies will result in no changes to your current processes, we are merely bringing responsibilities and definitions in line with the reality of using TeamKinetic. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, we always like to hear from you, so please do get in touch and I would be happy to talk through how these changes might affect you.

A data controller in responsible for what happens to the data they collect. They define and control what they and their agents can do with the data. Agents processing the data on behalf of the data controller are called data processors.

Our original contract stated that TeamKinetic acted as the data controller and our customers acted as the data processors. This was based on advice we had revived from our legal council during our work to become GDPR compliant, but over the last 18 months it is clear that this definition does not serve the needs of our customers, or reflect reality.

We have now recognised that TeamKinetic would better serve you as the data processor. So what does that actually mean for you, your volunteers and your data?

In short, very little will change for your volunteers, or the way you are able to use TeamKinetic, but some of yours and our responsibilities will change and we want to make sure you are fully cognizant of these changes.

As the data controller, you are responsible for your volunteers data in accordance with your owns policies and procedures and your use of TeamKinetic must fall with in those same constraints. This reflects how our customers already operate in most cases. The data controller then instruct us as the data processors in how we can use your data; you are in effect giving us permission to process your data to enable TeamKinetic to provide you with a usable and effective service.

Now please don’t worry, TeamKinetic’s use of data is wholly appropriate and still compliant with even the most stringent interpretation of GDPR and data protection legislation, so there will be no practical changes required.

We have prepared a data processor document that outlines how TeamKinetic will process your data. This policy document will serve as a our data processing agreement between you the customer (data controller) and TeamKinetic (data processor).

This agreement will be reflected in the customer defined terms and conditions that volunteers agree to when registering. You are able to adjust and edit these terms and conditions from your dashboard, we have created a short tutorial video if you are unfamiliar with where to find this feature.

Licensing and Pricing Model Changes

Don’t worry, we are not about to drop a big bill on you! In fact we are making these changes to make sure you are never surprised by a big bill.

TeamKinetic do not limit the number of volunteers, providers or opportunities, unlike many of our competitors. This means you don’t need to worry if your volunteer numbers suddenly jump up or change. This all forms part of our promise of no surprises in our pricing. However over the years we have made changes to how we price our product and this has resulted in customers being billed in different ways, which is now proving hard to justify and manage.

From this quarter we will be charging for each extra admin you wish to add beyond that set in your contract. For our existing customers their contract will reflect their current admin usage so no current customer will be paying more after this change; guaranteed!

You will be able to purchase additional admin capacity as a monthly subscription, paid in advance, right in your dashboard. Subscriptions can be altered and cancelled at anytime so there is no long term commitment. We are putting the final touches to this admin interface to release shortly.

We will be offering a buffer of extra admin capacity for our existing customers based on their length of custom.

If you have any concerns or questions, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch chris@teamkinetic.co.uk.

Press Release: 13/08/2020 Rugby Football League

By Alex Evans

On 13th August 2020

In Press Releases, Sport

Rugby Football League Chooses TeamKinetic As Their Official Accreditation System

TeamKinetic creates an accreditation system to allow for access badges at every Rugby League match.

Since October 2019, TeamKinetic has been the supplier of the accreditation software for the Rugby Super league Grand Final. In 2020 TeamKinetic have now become the accreditation supplier for the whole of the Rugby Football League, providing an accreditation software for all matches.

The Rugby League was put on hold in March 2020 due to the pandemic. For this to return safely the sport needed an accreditation system to allow matches to run again.

Robbie Stott, Events Coordinator for the Rugby Football League said “We knew the pressure would be on when bringing the Super League games back and trying to safely manage everyone coming through the stadium doors. TeamKinetic have provided excellent support in a short-time frame, by creating a digital solution to allow for Rugby League to go ahead.”

The accreditation system allows for the safe management of personnel on game days, by recording identity and health checks of each person.

Each person on the premises will have zones they can and cannot enter depending on the health checks they have had. These zones can be printed onto badges for any specific person for ease when going into their zones.

Chris Martin, Managing Director of TeamKinetic said “We are proud to be providing a working accreditation system which will allow for the Rugby League to resume safely. Myself and everyone at TeamKinetic are excited to be working with the Rugby Football League and continuing to support them in the future.”

If you are interested in an accreditation system for your organisation, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at TeamKinetic on the contact details below.

Ends

Contact Details:

For more information, please contact TeamKinetic on 0161 914 5757.

Or email chris@teamkinetic.co.uk

International Youth Day 2020

By Alex Evans

On 12th August 2020

In Events and Conferences, News & Views

International Youth Day (IYD) is a time to celebrate young people and their contributions to the world. In 1999, the UN General Assembly marked August 12th as International Youth Day. It serves as an ‘opportunity to celebrate and mainstream young people’s voices, actions and initiatives.’

Each year, the United Nation of Youth create a theme for IYD. This year is: Youth Engagement for Global Action. This theme seeks to highlight how young people are engaging at local, national and global levels enrich themselves, institutions and processes.

Youth Engagement to You

So, Youth Engagement for Global Action… what does this mean to you?

As a young person myself, this statement is important. Allowing young voices and opinions to be heard is crucial to making changes at all levels.

Whilst the world is stuck in a limbo-like situation, local, national and global action is needed to find new ways we can overcome this period. Change is needed now more than ever – having young voices at the forefront allows for fresh input into processes being made. Therefore ultimately paving the way for themselves and future generations.

However, youth engagement to you may mean youth volunteering. This kind of engagement will be important to you and your organisation as it allows for fresh, new input. Giving your youth volunteers the chance to voice their opinions may help improve your future volunteering opportunities.

Youth Statistics in Volunteering

Let’s take a look at some youth stats…

35% of 16-25 year olds volunteer once a year with young women more likely to volunteer than young men.

Education plays a vital part in getting young people to engage. 69% of 10 – 20 year olds get involved with volunteering through their school, college or university. With this, a survey found almost all of youth volunteers reported these opportunities had benefited them in some way.

1.6 million people volunteer abroad yearly, with an astonishing 84% of millennials also saying they would travel abroad to participate in volunteering activities.

NfpSynergy recently posted a blog explaining how youths may be replacing the older generation as the key volunteering group. This interesting read explains how during the pandemic, volunteering roles relied on youth volunteering as the older generation fell into the ‘at risk’ category.

Time to Engage

With the pandemic clearly showing an increase in youth volunteering, I’m sure you are wondering how you can start to engage this generation and use their ideas to help your organisation.

How Can You Really Engage The Youth Of Today? This blog is a must read to help you and your organisation encourage young people join your volunteering opportunities.

TeamKinetic is here to help as our research shows our software is extremely effective at recruiting younger volunteers. This could be down to our digital tools that let you share to social media or the fact the younger generation prefer that digital approach.

You can trial our software for FREE to see how TeamKinetic can help you. Just head over to our website to learn more or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube for more tips and information about volunteers.

International Youth Day allows us to celebrate all young people and their hard work, whether it be on a local, national or global level. Join us today in saying thank you to all of the young people in our lives!

THANK YOU!

Reducing The Scare For Social Care

By Alex Evans

On 7th August 2020

In Charity, COVID-19, News & Views

How is COVID-19 affecting social care charities and what they can do to manage volunteers during and after the pandemic.

COVID-19 has impacted us all in different ways. For charities, this impact has resulted in a significant loss of income with ‘only 60% of the public [saying] they’ve given to charity in the last 3 months, down from 69% in January this year’. Social care charities have been particularly hard hit. As not only have they seen a reduction in income but people are more reliant on their services during this pandemic.

Pandemic to TeamKinetic

As lockdown has started to ease many organisations are starting to explore how their volunteers can return to their roles. For social care organisations this comes with some specific risks that need to be carefully assessed and managed before volunteers can return fully. Here at TeamKinetic we have been looking at how our technology might be useful in managing and mitigating some of these risks.

PPE

Many roles involve close personal contact for your volunteers so appropriate PPE is necessary. It is essential for volunteers to wear their PPE if their is a potential of working in close proximity or going to people’s houses. Although we cannot provide this, we can make it easier for you to make your volunteers aware of when to wear and how to wear. This can be done through training which can be made mandatory before a volunteer joins an opportunity. The training can include information on where volunteers would need to wear PPE and also demonstrations on how to wear them correctly.

House visits may be a possibility for some of your volunteers, so risk assessments can also be uploaded on to each opportunity.

Recruiting New Volunteers

64 – 75 year olds are the age group most likely to volunteer but since the pandemic started there has been a huge decrease in this number, with this age group more at risk if they catch the virus. Volunteers will be less likely to return to their volunteering roles because of this, meaning there will be less people available to undertake the essential work your organisation needs to do.

You may be worried about recruiting new volunteers but with our software the on boarding process is simplified. Once a volunteer registers there profile will be available to view and they can begin to complete any training for join opportunities. This then allows you to track their training or provide additional online support, all of this done through the web.

Our research also demonstrates TeamKinetic is more effecting at recruiting younger volunteers. This could be down to our digital tools that let you share to social media or the fact young volunteers like a digital approach.

Spending Money More Effectively

At a time when there may be a shortage of cash, it’s important to invest it in technology that can offer significant return on investment. Volunteers have never been more important. So, investing in a good volunteer management software will increase your volunteer retention and should lead to significant efficiencies in how you deploy and manage your volunteers workforce. “This sounds expensive though” you say, but what if I told you there is a more affordable software?

TeamKinetic Can Help

TeamKinetic volunteer management software is free for 30 days. Starting a free trial is easy, just go to our website to get started! Our system can help you create volunteering opportunities, recruit volunteers, and unite you with your community.

For example, the introduction of our community task dashboard makes it even easier to create COVID-related volunteering opportunities to help the vulnerable people in your community.

Don’t hesitate to reach out on social media! You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. You’ll see examples of the features we have to offer and some of the people we already work with.

If you have any questions call us on 0161 914 5757 or visit our website to chat to us online.

Communities and Coronavirus

By Chris Martin

On 5th August 2020

In Case Study, Community, COVID-19

If COVID-19 has proven one thing it is that adversity can really bring communities together. This is what has happened during the pandemic in Kenilworth. Members of the community came together and created ‘COVID-19 Kenilworth Support’, a mutual aid group, to provide support to the most vulnerable. The Kenilworth Support Group was formed right at the start of the Coronavirus outbreak. They were supported early on by various local politicians, the local police, local organisations, charities, and businesses.

Recently I had the pleasure of speaking to Nivvi Morales, a member of ‘COVID-19 Kenilworth Support’, who talked to me about their group and how they found using the TeamKinetic Volunteer Management System during COVID-19.

Could you tell me about what your group does and how you came about?

We came together due to the outbreak of COVID-19. We recognized that some people were vulnerable during this time and were in desperate need of support. The locals of Kenilworth wanted to provide this assistance to those in their town, who now needed support more than ever before.

With the help of all of our volunteers, we organise shopping collections, the delivery of food parcels, and the collection of prescriptions. As well as offering welfare checks and friendly chats.

Recently, we also also created a leaflet which contained information on what shops were offering home deliveries and what local take-a-ways they could get delivered to their doorstep. We was then was able to drop this leaflet at the houses of those self isolating so if they don’t have access to technology, or don’t necessary understand how to use it, they still have access to all the information they might need.

Why do you feel people wanted to join your group?

The people in Kenilworth have a real sense of community, so doing something for others comes quite naturally to the residents. For myself, I wanted to do something and be part of something, rather than sitting at home and watching the COVID-19 death rate go up on the news. We wanted to take action and do what we could to help other people who were more vulnerable during this time.

Why did you decide to look for a volunteer management system?

Early on into the creation of our mutual-aid group, we began to realise that the data we were handling was very sensitive and we wanted to ensure it was protected. We wanted to ensure that whilst we were helping the vulnerable, we were also ensuring their data was being safeguarded.

With this, we were originally using Google Sheets and WhatsApp to manage our data. This became too much hassle, so we wanted to find a volunteer management system where we could communicate efficiently, assign tasks, track tasks, and keep our data safe.

How did everyone find using the system , was it easy to use?

Initially, there were some teething issues as some of the volunteers were not big into technology so initially struggled to understand it. However, the majority found it easy to use. What I found really helpful was the ability to raise a ticket if they had an issue with the system, which would then be supported straight away. This really developed a sense of trust with TeamKinetic as we were never left feeling stuck and was always supported.

Which feature did you use the most and how did it benefit your group?

We used the community tasks feature, and it was honestly a LIFESAVER! Originally, we had such a big volunteer form which became very complex when it came to assigning tasks. This feature was a lifesaver when it came to assigning tasks to volunteers and following up tasks.

What other benefits have you received from using our software?

It just saves so much time and everything is from one central point of access, making everything so much easier to manage. Using TeamKinetic allowed us to follow up who has done what task, which we originally struggled with. It was if we were missing the final piece of the puzzle; TeamKinetic.

Is there anything you would like to say to any non-profit organisations considering using volunteer management software?

Make sure you are organised first. Using volunteer management software is extremely helpful, but it will not solve your problems if you are not initially organised. You must ensure your organisation is organised and efficient first in order to fit in with volunteer management software before first signing up.

What does the future hold for your group?

Well, since the coronavirus outbreak we have now become a registered charity! We want to continue to support those who are vulnerable, even after COVID-19 to ensure nobody ever feels alone. We want to ensure they never struggle to get support. We also want to start helping our customers connect with their family by introducing them to technology.

If you want to find out more about ‘COVID-19 Support Kenilworth’ you can visit their website, check out their Instagram, or visit their Facebook page.

TeamKinetic

TeamKinetic helps to build better volunteer communities by providing great tools for volunteer managers that save time, increase impact and improve insight. Our goal is to make volunteering easy for everyone no matter what. But don’t take our word for it, why not check out our customer reviews.

For more information on how we can assist with your volunteer management and getting the best out of all your volunteers visit our website or contact us on – 0161 914 5757