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Volunteer management software UK, Volunteering, Retention, Incentives, Volunteer system

Volunteer management software can better impact your volunteer retention rates.

By

On 19th March 2019

In News & Views, TeamKinetic Features

The economic value of volunteering is at least worth £50 Billion to the British economy and has the scope to grow but that’s impossible if retention rates are low.

Volunteer retention rates are on a halt and that calls for strategic changes within organisations. Investment in technology is necessary if you want the same investment back from your volunteers. According to the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) data shows that rates of volunteering have not changed. 38% of people reported they had formally volunteered at least once a year in 2017-18 a 1% increase from 2016-17.

The figures may seem minuscule, but how can we measure volunteer activity if things stay fixed and static across the country. However, you’ll be happy to know that technology is allowing nonprofits the ability to maximise efforts in volunteer retention solutions.

Volunteer management software UK, Volunteering, Retention, Incentives, Volunteer system
Volunteer Retention

Volunteer Management Software

Volunteer Management Software can provide the right tools for organisations to manage, recruit and retain valued volunteers. Nonprofits that devote time and money to a volunteer system are often astonished by the impact technology can have on their volunteer program.

Here are 4 ways that volunteer management software can aid organisations in volunteer retention.

Respond to Volunteers Quickly

Organisations that inform and respond volunteers quickly have a much a higher percentage of retaining them. It is key for volunteer managers to have regular communication in order to have a successful programme.

The issue volunteer managers face is the lack of time they have to give speedy responses. Having a volunteer management software means that your communication process becomes a lot more simplified by reducing the time spent on communication. We have the case studies to prove how a volunteer system can really make a better impact on your programme!

TeamKinetic make communication fast and simple through our feedback function that allows volunteers and opportunity providers to send each other feedback as well as opportunity chat rooms for that instant response! Our volunteer software also allows you to send out automated and customised notifications (Text, Email, Social) at a click of a button.

Utilise a Volunteer Database

Having a volunteer database can inform and guide you to make better organisational decisions that benefit everyone involved. The information can allow you to understand past and present volunteers making sure volunteers are placed into roles that suit them best.

Data can increase retention rates and allows you to understand the facts and figures not just what you think is right. Organisations that still manually input data into spreadsheets are at risk of losing historical data and also risk miss understanding key data due to the lack of visualisation.

A volunteer system makes interpreting data easy. It can allow you to group volunteers based on skill sets and demographics, highlights popular opportunities, and assists volunteers that need support. These are all contributing factors to understanding your volunteers better and making retention rates higher.

Volunteer Appreciation and Recognition

All humans need to be recognised in a meaningful way for their efforts. Volunteers give up their time to help organisations they are passionate and care about. So that same intention should be displayed by the volunteer manager.

A lack of incentive and appreciation for your volunteers is sure to make them lose motivation and belief in what you do. Organisations should be developing time and effort towards the happiness of their volunteers. How hard is it to say thank you? We have found that the most effective way to show appreciation towards volunteers is by incorporating a rewards and recognition system into your program.

TeamKinetic’s volunteer management software allows organisations to create a rewards and recognition scheme that will create a better impact on achieving goals and mission accomplishments. Administrators can track and edit recognition directly from TeamKinetic’s user interface.

Build Personal Relationships

Getting to know your volunteers on a personal level is a great way of making them part of your organisation’s community. Volunteers want to know who they are volunteering for. Building meaningful relationships isn’t easy when you have time constraints and project deadlines to meet, but it is one of the most important factors to consider when evaluating volunteer retention rates.

However, Volunteer Management Software can provide you with that much needed free time. A volunteer system allows administrators to communicate with registered volunteers through a number of functions such as opportunity chatroom, opportunity feedback, social media linking. Organisations we work with have saved hours by changing from manual procedures to a digital platform that allows them to carry out their daily tasks all in one place.

So if you’re having trouble with volunteer retention and feel like theres never enough time to get your long list of tasks complete, then maybe a volunteer management software is for you?

TeamKinetic helps to build better volunteer communities by providing great tools for volunteer managers that save time, make a better 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 our Volunteer Management Software visit our website or contact one of our team members on – 01619145747

One Thing Every Volunteer Manager Needs

By

On 13th March 2019

In Volunteer Management

The Question That Has Got You All Thinking!

What’s The Secret?

Mastering volunteer management can be a colossal task but it’s not impossible! A lot of people in the third sector encounter similar problems with each other.

Organising and communicating with volunteers, logging volunteer hours and consistently producing high-quality volunteer opportunities are all issues that volunteer teams face every day. We believe that this does not have to be the case.

A volunteer management system could be the key to unlocking your true potential as a volunteer manager and taking your programme to the next level.

TeamKinetic is an online platform that helps you recruit, manage and retain your volunteers. Making it easy for individuals to find the opportunities they want. Organisations can safely and effectively use volunteers across their business.

Our system allows your volunteers freedom and flexibility, using the very latest technology to give their time to the causes and activities that they love.

Volunteer Communication

In order to have an organised volunteer programme being in constant communication with your volunteers is a must. With TeamKinetic you will be able to give your volunteers reminders of events before so that they never forget and questions they have can be answered promptly. This can be done through email or if the volunteer provides you with a phone number you can also text them so that you can get hold of them whilst they’re on the go.

The system also offers you the ability to post on the news section. This is where you can keep your volunteers up to date with and important announcements.

Spreading The Word

TeamKinetic presents your organisation with the opportunity to share your opportunities with other systems to give you the maximum amount of people for your opportunities. Our system also speaks to Do-it.org which gives you access to 1000’s of volunteers all over the country.

How To Start Using TeamKinetic

If you are at all interested in making your volunteer programme the best it can possibly be with your own volunteer management software system please do not hesitate to get into contact with TeamKinetic. We are available weekdays from 9am – 5pm for any phone support or inquiries you may have on 0161 914 5757. Alternatively, you can email us: sales@teamkinetic.co.uk

GB Taekwondo recruiting volunteers ahead the world championships 2019

By

On 12th March 2019

In Case Study, Sport

GB Taekwondo, Volunteering, Volunteer Management Software, Volunteer managers, Free volunteer management system
GB Taekwondo logo http://kickingforglory.com/volunteers/

We recently spoke with GB Taekwondo volunteer manager, James Johnson on his experience as a volunteer provider on the TeamKinetic volunteer management system.

The following case study is regarding how TeamKinetic’s volunteer management system has improved the volunteer management process for GB Taekwondo and how it is assiting with volunteer recruitment ahead of the World Taekwondo Championships 2019.

GB Taekwondo

GB Taekwondo is responsible for the preparation, management and performance of British Taekwondo Athletes. Based in Manchester, we manage the full time ‘World Class Performance’ programme and with the support of UK Sport and National Lottery funding.

With the further support of Sport England, we manage the national Talent Pathway programme, responsible for the development of cadet and junior athletes and their progression as members of the national squads. GB Taekwondo delivers an annual programme of major events which this year includes the World Taekwondo Championships 2019 at the Manchester Arena.

Tell us a little bit around your role at GB Taekwondo?

“I’m currently working as GB Taekwondo’s Volunteer Manager & Events Intern. This means that my primary role is to oversee the volunteer programme for the Manchester Taekwondo Grand Prix 2018 & World Taekwondo Championships 2019. All the recruitment and management of the volunteers for these events is my responsibility. To have a role like this during a university placement year is a fantastic opportunity and I’m really enjoying it.”

How have you found using TeamKinetic?

“We use the TeamKinetic system as an opportunity provider which means we register our volunteering opportunities on various TeamKinetic sites. The main one that we use is MCRVIP which is the main Manchester volunteer site.

Registering our opportunities on these systems is highly useful as it allows us to connect with volunteers from around Manchester. Manchester has a great volunteer network and using this system is a great way to advertise our opportunities to these volunteers.

During the Taekwondo Grand Prix, we had 107 volunteers in total across the week performing 15 different roles. The total number of hours that was completed by volunteers was 664, this was just over a course of a couple of days!”

Can you give a scope into the kind of opportunities and events created by GB Taekwondo?

“In addition to GB Taekwondo’s World Class Performance programme, GB Taekwondo delivers an annual programme of World Class Events. The next event GB Taekwondo will host is the Manchester 2019 World Taekwondo Championships. This is the first time that the World Championships will be held in the UK and provides a fantastic opportunity to get involved.”

GB Taekwondo are looking for volunteers to make up the Dan Clan – Find out more on why their volunteers are called the Dan Clan and also how to apply from their website

“The Dan Clan will be an integral part of the World Championships as they will be the face of the competition. GB Taekwondo will be recruiting 250 – 280 volunteers to make up the Dan Clan. They will be seen across Manchester from the airport, to hotels to transport hubs and of course in Manchester Arena. This is your chance to get involved!”

GB Taekwondo, World Taekwondo Championships,volunteering, volunteer management software, Volunteer manager, Free volunteer management system
2019 World Taekwondo Championships

What measurable benefits have you seen since recruiting through the TeamKinetic system?

“GB Taekwondo has been using TeamKinetic as a provider since 2011, the benefits provided by the TeamKinetic system is that it gives a base of volunteers that are easily connected with. Having volunteers able to see your opportunities with ease is a great promotion for any organisation that requires volunteers.

The system is easy to use, it doesn’t take long to post the opportunities and once they’re uploaded it is easy to see the volunteers and which sessions they’re signed up to.”

Thank you for time and answers James!

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

Volunteer Software – That You Can Afford!

By

On 28th February 2019

In Volunteer Management

So…What Is Volunteer Management Software?

TeamKinetic is an online platform that helps you recruit, onboard, manage, deploy, audit, recognise, reward and retain your volunteers.

Making it easy for individuals to find the opportunities they want and love. Organisations can safely and effectively use volunteers across their business.

TeamKinetic allows your volunteers freedom and flexibility, using the very latest technology to give their time to the causes and activities they love.

Why Do You Need Volunteer Management Software?

The days of using spreadsheets or that old access database to store volunteering information are well and truly numbered! Never has there been an easier more efficient way to manage your volunteers and track their progress.

Going for over 10 years, TeamKinetic has a host of clients who have left glowing testimonials about our service.

TeamKinetic software makes organising and searching for your opportunities, childs play, rich in data and insight about what exactly your volunteers are wanting to do and what they actually do!

We have made our system ‘Volunteer-centric’. What we mean by this is that we always put the volunteer at the heart of all our decisions. We never want a good volunteer to be sent to a bad opportunity or vice-versa. With built-in volunteer feedback and a range of features that offer insight to the volunteer experience we want you to be informed as volunteer managers.

We make it simple to identify your superstar volunteers and with a range of built-in reward and recognition fetaures, you can be confident those volunteers will feel appreciated.

Pricing!

We want every organisation, no matter what their size to benefit from TeamKinetic.

Start with our FREE to use TryVolunteering product. All the core features of TeamKinetic for small charities and clubs, For FREE.

TeamKinetic ADVANCED is designed for organisations that want more control of their volunteers, branding and support. Starting at £39 p/m for an advanced system.

TeamKinetic ENTERPRISE provides unparalleled levels of customisation, telephone support and access to our training and support team. Starting from £149 p/m.

If you would like to have a chat about how we can help you please call 0161 914 5757 or visit our web site https://teamkinetic.co.uk/

Who Can Benefit From Volunteer Management Software?

We work with a host of clients in numerous sectors and this is something that we are proud of. Here are examples of some of the sectors we operate in:

  • Universities/Education
  • NHS
  • National Governing Bodies and other Sporting Organisation
  • Major Events
  • Charities / Clubs
  • Parks/Museums
  • Local Authorities
  • Volunteer Centres
  • Hospice

Plus So Many More!

Request A Demo With Us

No matter what sector you are working in we would love to have a conversation with you. You can request a demo through our website or call us on the number below.

Call the office directly on 0161 914 5757

Understanding volunteer demographics to fill empty roles!

By

On 12th February 2019

In News & Views, TeamKinetic Features, Volunteer Management

Many roles go unfilled… why is that? Do volunteer managers need to have a deeper understanding of volunteer demographics? Can we continue to assume that empty roles will fill up because they’re helping a good cause?

Unfilled volunteering roles

Having a good understanding of your volunteers and the roles you offer is key. Unfilled roles can have a negative impact on your volunteer management and make it difficult for tasks to be carried out.

Volunteers want to volunteer! Don’t make it difficult for them.

In many cases, unfilled roles occur when the role is just not appealing to the volunteer. This issue usually begins with how you describe the role and the commitment levels that come with it.

Roles need to be attractive to the volunteer; with a detailed description of what is required of them and positive outcomes of the role. Many organisations we work with do this well and provide quality volunteer experiences that lead to higher retention levels! 

Example of an opportunity within TeamKinetic

All volunteer managers need to prioritise roles that are crucial to the organisation because they involve tasks that drive long-term goals to be met. By prioritizing the most important roles it allows you to focus the energy and time on the areas that are most likely to have a greater impact on the organisation and its development.

Knowing your volunteer capacity and demographic

The one-size-fits-all is approach has long past its expiration date. Knowing who volunteers for you is crucial for developing relationships, providing opportunities and understanding who to target when recruiting volunteers. Volunteer trends are always changing and adapting, with volunteers being much more diverse. Here are some demographics to consider :

Age

The idea that only older people volunteer is diminishing. Today students in higher education regularly volunteer and are part of the most likely groups to volunteer. Different age groups will have a variety of skills they can utilise in their volunteer work.

Gender

The gender gap has become almost even with more men getting involved in volunteering than ever before. Women consistently volunteer in all areas, whereas men are typically more likely to volunteer in sport. It’s important to consider how your operations could be improved to create a more gender-inclusive environment for your volunteers.

Location

There are countless organisations offering ways to volunteer. This has created a great spread of opportunities contributing to better communities across the country. Within your organisation, you might consider mapping your volunteers to understand your key areas. Then you can ensure your opportunities are easily accessed by these areas.

Socio-Economic Background

However, those from lower socio-economic groups are more likely to say they have never been involved in volunteering. And those who have volunteered in the past are less likely to be in leadership or representative roles.

Studies show higher levels of austerity among communities in the north of England and the local authority spending has fallen nationally by half since 2010. The lack of resources and inequalities mean many people are excluded from taking part in certain opportunities

Research conducted by our good friends at Jump highlight that a lower proportion of volunteers come from lower SEG (42%) compared to the representation of that group in the national population (50%).

Some of the barriers faced by lower SEG to volunteer include health barriers (illness or disability), caring responsibilities, and age constraints.

More information on Jump’s work and their report on “Why is volunteering biased towards higher socio-economic groups?” can be downloaded on their website.

So how can we help you fix these problems?

TeamKinetic is centralised around providing volunteer managers with resources to create accessible, easy-to-find opportunities for their volunteers.

Our volunteer management software works to eliminate issues such as filling roles and allows for a greater understanding of your volunteer base.

Advanced Search Functionality

Volunteers can search for opportunities with our search functionality which includes searching by location, opportunity name, and categories. This allows volunteers to find the nearest opportunities available to them without searching the whole internet.

Map Volunteers & Opportunities

Volunteer managers can view the number of opportunities and volunteers through a map format. This is useful in decision-making and creating opportunities according to your volunteer demographics.

Reports and Analysis

You can gain insight into the success of your volunteer programme by evaluating your volunteer sign-ups (including those who are active and repeating), the number of opportunities you have created and other demographic information.

These functions can help with providing suitable roles and ensure opportunities are filled.

Data is only recorded if your volunteers agree to provide you with the information. GDPR frequently asked questions for TeamKinetic’s volunteer management system can also be found here.

For more information on the Volunteer Management Software visit our website or contact one of our team members on 0161 914 5747

You could also start a free 30-day trial of our system to take a look around. If it’s not for you, no problem.

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

Twitter       Facebook       LinkedIn       YouTube       Instagram       Podcast

 

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

DOs and DON’Ts Of Volunteering

By

On 8th February 2019

In Community

Every year people all over the world set them selves new year’s resolutions. Many of which do not get fulfilled, in fact, 66% of resolutions don’t even last a month. What can you do that really makes a difference?

Volunteering is something that you can do all year round. This is a resolution that not only helps yourself but others as well.

DO – HELP SOMEONE ELSE

“We can’t help everyone but everyone can help someone”.

Former US President Ronald Reagan may not be everyone’s cup of tea but he certainly got this one right. Why not make your changes for 2019 ones that can help others. There are plenty of opportunities to volunteer all over the UK and worldwide, this year your help really could change a life. TeamKinetic is lucky enough to work with organisations who offer these amazing opportunities and we’d love to help you get started.

DON’T – BE A HASHTAG HALFWIT

Social media gives us an audience never before imagined in human history. It’s so easy to get caught up in what’s trending and follow the crowd. The cringy popular ones every year are ‘#NewYearNewMe’ and ‘#WatchOut2019’. As we’ve seen, less than half of new years resolutions stick, so now we are in February, revisit your new year’s hopes and aspirations. It is great to let people know what you’re planning on doing over the of course of the year. Just do not let it  become embarrassing when come the end of the year you have not acted on your goals. Hashtags are easy, real change needs a little more effort!

DO – USE VOLUNTEERING TO YOUR ADVANTAGE 

Helping out can make you so much more employable. Volunteering does not have to be at a charity or something ‘uncool’. There will likely be opportunities for you to get a voluntary role in your future profession. This will help you stand out from the crowd as people will see you have a genuine passion for your career. Almost every University will have a department that will be able to help, or your town will have a volunteer centre that will have be able to signpost you with volunteering opportunities.  These life experiences can be worth it’s weight in gold in the long term.

DON’T – GIVE UP!

February is coming to an end and I’m sure that many of you have already given up, with most challenging tasks the easiest thing to do is to jack it in!

This is our biggest DON’T.  It’s ok to give up, but don’t give up on trying again, you only need to succeed once to make that difference. If you don’t give up on your volunteering resolution, you will be making a difference to someone else and yourself. Volunteering can genuinely change lives – both yours and those your work supports.

Last year TeamKinetic joined Liverpool Football club to help with a disability football session. We got the chance to speak to volunteers first hand and see what volunteering meant to them and hopefully you can see the difference being involved with something you are passionate about can make to your life and others. Check out how Liverpool FC use TeamKinetic here.

TeamKinetic provides volunteer management software that can work for every organisation. We work with groups of all sizes who have had success with us in recruiting, retaining and realising the potential of their volunteer workforce.

Please visit our website to find out more about our work and how we can help you. Feel free to request a demo so we can show you around and tell you about how we can help you specifically. Alternatively, you can give us a call on 0161 914 5757.

2018 User Survey Results

By

On 31st January 2019

In News & Views, TeamKinetic Features

TeamKinetic 2018 User Survey Results

We achieved a very reasonable 65% response rate, so thank you to everyone who took the time to complete our satisfaction survey last November, it is very much appreciated. Without your feedback we are unable to gauge our progress in making your TeamKinetic experience even better.

The take home message for us was that we need to do better in informing and providing help and context for new features as they become available.

TeamKinetic has been growing quickly over the last 18 months and we have definitely fallen behind in our goals to write tutorial and guide content for all the new stuff that has been going on in that 18 months. We now have renewed focus on this issue and will have some news soon about how we plan to present contextual information and help within TeamKinetic. We are also ramping up our online master classes and live sessions, so join our Facebook group to get early access to those resources.

We asked five questions concerning some of the most useful functions and terminology that we suspected were being under used or misunderstood;

  1. I am aware of sharing opportunities outside of my website
  2. I am aware that you can add volunteers to existing opportunities
  3. I am aware that i can limit opportunities to groups and linked volunteers
  4. I am aware of activity tags and how they are used in search
  5. I am aware of flexible, repeating, non-repeating opportunities

I am aware of sharing opportunities outside of my website

Some 57% of respondents were not aware that there is potential to share opportunities outside of their application in order to extend the reach of their opportunities and gain more volunteer interest.

We can share your opportunities to Do-It, the largest volunteer opportunity signposting app in the UK, our own, more modest, national TryVolunteering site and via the API to SalesForce or other external systems such as Volunteer Scotland and Volunteer-wales.net.

This is a great feature that is clearly not being utilised enough. We will be dedicating one of our masterclasses and video tutorials to this topic soon.

I am aware that you can add volunteers to existing opportunities

Nearly 50% of respondents were not aware that administrators and providers can add volunteers directly to sessions, and the volunteer will receive an email notification so they can check their availability.

TeamKinetic is a self service application for volunteers, we do not demand that administrators and providers micro manage all aspects of the recruitment process. This saves valuable time for the managers and allows the volunteers to pick and choose the sessions that suit them without the sometimes long exchanges between managers and volunteers as they try to allocate volunteers to sessions.

However we fully understand that it maybe necessary to manage a particular opportunity that carefully and you want full control, or partial control over what volunteers join what sessions.

This is a useful and important set of features and we will definitely be adding some tutorials about this to the help guide and the masterclass sessions.

I am aware that I can limit opportunities to groups and linked volunteers

A third of our respondents did not know about the various restrictions you can place on opportunities, either when creating the opportunities or editing them at a later date.

Volunteer grouping is a very powerful feature that allows you to segment your volunteers. Groups are fully customisable and providers can have separate groups to administrators. Volunteers can be members of no, one or multiple groups and can be moved around at anytime.

As well as being able to restrict opportunities you can message particular groups, quickly update volunteer information and statuses for group members and create registration links so that people are automatically placed in the correct group when registering without any admin input required.

I am aware of activity tags and how they are used in search

We had a pretty even 50/50 split about this question. Its a little esoteric but important even so.

Most importantly tags are used during search as a way for volunteers to narrow down their search. Any text entered in a search is compared to tags and all opportunity tags for the matching opportunities are offered to the volunteer as filters so they can further refine their search.

Its super important to understand how they are used so you can get the best out of tag based searching so please take a look at our video tutorial on tags and super charge your opportunity tags.

I am aware of flexible, repeating, non-repeating opportunities

At TeamKinetic we discuss, alot, about what we should call these opportunity types and how they should be presented when creating opportunities. I’ll let you into a little secret, there is NO difference between repeating and non-repeating opportunities, you just get a different layout when adding your sessions.

The difference between flexible opportunities and the others is important and does have ramifications for the joining and logging process.

Fortunately we had a very positive 75% of respondents who were aware of the three types (unfortunately we didn’t think to add a follow up question asking if they were also aware of the reasons for choosing different types).

We are still discussing how we can adapt the opportunity creation page to make it clearer why you would choose one over the other and once we have that dialled in we will release a video explaining it all.

Thanks again to everyone that took time out to respond, it is invaluable. Please reach out with any questions or feedback and don’t forget, join our Facebook user group to get the latest help and to share your knowledge and expertise with other users.

Volunteer management – Understanding your volunteers

By

On 30th January 2019

In Community, News & Views

Volunteer management isn’t easy, it takes a passion for people, commitment to your cause and bags and bags of organisational skill.

To have an effective and engaging volunteer programme, it is key to know your volunteers and understand what drives them to volunteer.

So can your volunteers be categorised and can that help you understand them better?

NCVO definition

“We define volunteering as any activity that involves spending time, unpaid, doing something that aims to benefit the environment or someone (individuals or groups) other than, or in addition to, close relatives. Central to this definition is the fact that volunteering must be a choice freely made by each individual.”

Oxford dictionary definition

“A person who freely offers to take part in an enterprise or undertake a task.”

Those definitions are pretty broad and all volunteer managers understand the danger of pigeonholing your volunteers,  definitions can be problematic! The term Volunteer holds very different meanings to each individual.

Every volunteer has their own reason, motivation or story to volunteer, and no volunteer is the same. What the data we have collected here at TeamKinetic has demonstrated is that there are some general volunteer categories and themes that we can use to gain a deeper understanding of the types of volunteers you may have within your organisation:

One-time volunteer and Event Volunteers 

One-time volunteers are individuals who volunteer as a one-off and move on to the next opportunity/event or are never seen again! These types of individuals can still be regular volunteers, but will only volunteer when they have the time to do so or do so at events or roles that excite them specifically.

They are often quite self-contained roles that are well-defined and associated with a high-profile and exciting event. That in itself generates excitement for the volunteer to say ‘I was there.’ These are often one-time positions that require minimal training and experience but are fun days out for the individual.

Some of you reading this might think; why would I want to invest in a volunteer that isn’t committed to helping me regularly? 

Research from Glasgow 2014 and London 2012 suggests many of the volunteers who applied were new to volunteering, and sadly many who did volunteer did not go on to do more volunteering after the event, even though the levels of satisfaction from being involved were high.

The sense of community, enjoyment and empowerment of being part of the event can quite quickly fade post-event, but on occasion, it can prove the catalyst some people need to start them on a journey to much greater community involvement.

Micro-volunteer

Research conducted by the NCVO suggests that micro-volunteering is on the rise and has the power to make a difference to organisations. In order to be impactful organisations must engage and appeal to these types of volunteers by providing quality volunteering opportunities that suit their aspirations and lifestyles.  These types of opportunities are often possible via technology, such as phones, tablets or computers. Others have referred to them as ‘Armchair Activism.’

These opportunities are attractive to individuals who often have limited time, but still, want to have the feeling that they are making a difference. Opportunities vary from, the ice-bucket challenge to tweeting your MP. This type of volunteering can also act as a gateway to individuals, and if their experience is positive and they feel they are making an impact, you can look to engage them in further work.

Skills-Based Volunteers

Skills-based volunteers are individuals who often assist with tasks that require additional and specialist knowledge, or they develop this type of knowledge through their volunteer experience. Skills can be varied, examples include updating website data, running the social media accounts, taking phone calls, and providing accountancy or legal advice.

Volunteers often have the desired set of skills that many organisations need. These individuals who possess these professional skills and offer them pro bono may have many reasons for their desire to be involved.  There is always a high demand for these types of Volunteers. As an organisation, it’s important to know why these volunteers want to be involved.  It’s also important to make them aware of the impact they have on the organisation. This can make the volunteer feel appreciated and that their skills are bringing value to the organisation.

Lifelong / Regular volunteers 

Lifelong or regular volunteers are often people who volunteer for an organisation that they feel a significant emotional connection to.  Regular volunteers are happy to help meet an organisation’s expectations and the individual’s commitment to the role can be significant. Roles can vary but include positions such as a charity shop assistant or a coach within a sports club.

Organisations depend on these volunteers as they are core members of the organisation’s community. Regular volunteers usually take on positions that require a higher level of responsibility and therefore need regular training and appropriate support to ensure that they can fulfil what is expected of them.

These types of volunteers are so important to the long-term survival of many organisations, they feel especially close to the cause and their work. They are often overworked and if not managed correctly they can make others nervous to get involved, as the levels of commitment they show are superhuman and this scares off other volunteers from getting involved.

Does Age Matter?

Research has shown that both the 16-24 and 65+-year-olds are the most likely groups to volunteer. This makes sense as many universities provide students with opportunities to develop skills and experience for the world of work, whilst helping great causes. Likewise, many older volunteers provide support to organisations due to being retired but still wanting to stay active and part of the community.

Age will certainly play a role in how you incentivise and communicate with volunteers. As well as the length/type of role, and level of commitment required from them!

An appreciation of your volunteer audience will impact your roles on offer. So it is important to be aware of how you advertise, the language you use and the types of rewards and recognition you may wish to offer. 

Good volunteer management!

The best and most effective way to understand your volunteer is the initial first part of their volunteer experience. By having a well-thought-out recruitment process, volunteer managers can make sure that volunteers are well selected and given roles they can excel at but also enjoy. This also ensures that volunteers are aware of the variety of opportunities available to them.

TeamKinetic’s volunteer management system allows all volunteers to create their own profile. This allows them to search and find opportunities that providers are advertising. Volunteers can also upload supporting documents to showcase experiences they have had in the past making the volunteer management process that much easier.

Volunteer managers are able to review volunteer profiles, run inductions, record data and get an insight into the individual and which roles they would benefit from. This is a key feature in allowing volunteer managers to distinguish between a one-off volunteer for an event, a volunteer with the desired skill set or someone that is able to commit to a regular role and who will form a long-term commitment with the organisation.

Additionally, the system allows volunteer managers to receive and provide feedback to volunteers. A perfect way to evaluate the effectiveness of roles and making sure volunteers are content with the tasks they undertake. TeamKinetic is centralised around helping voluntary organisations achieve their goals, which is why also offer a FREE version of our volunteer management system. 

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

Twitter       Facebook       LinkedIn       YouTube       Instagram       Podcast

 

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

How can you make a difference this Christmas

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On 17th December 2018

In Christmas

Every Christmas it is easy to get wrapped up in the commercial side of things. Presents, parties and Xmas markets, etc. It is really a time for giving. A time where we should be thinking about the people who are less fortunate than us and how we can help them.

Every year lots of fantastic work is done up and down the country to help people in need. The amount of work that is done and the opportunities available rises during the festive period and this year is no different, which is great to see. Manchester in particular has some great ways of making sure people are helped this Christmas.

MANCHESTER

Since 2015, official Christmas carols have been a tradition at the Manchester Cathedral to raise money for the Royal Children’s Hospital. They do fantastic work all year round and funding is vital to allow them to keep doing this.

Tickets are now on sale for the Christmas Carols in the City concert. It’s a chance to experience an authentic festive choir, and part of the ticket fee goes to those who need it most. It takes place on Thursday 20th December and festive refreshments will be available. Tickets are £6 for children and concessions, £12 for adults.

The North West city is doing far more than just this over December. An estimated 8.4 million people across the country go without adequate food in the winter. You can do your bit to help fight hunger and ensure that some of the most vulnerable people in our society have enough to eat this Christmas by joining Team FareShare and spending a morning or afternoon in December collecting food donations from your local Tesco store.

LONDON

The capital is also well known for the charitable work over the winter months. There are many elderly people who spend Christmas alone every year. The Rotary Club holds a Christmas day party, for over-65s living in Wandsworth. The wild shindig takes place in Battersea Park. Last year, 450 elderly people who otherwise would have been alone went along.

Volunteers are needed for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, and applications for 2018 are now open. You can do just one, two, or all three days. Jobs include preparing the venue, helping with transport for the guests, serving food, and clearing up afterwards.

As you can imagine London is packed with great volunteering opportunities. Our friends at Team London are the ultimate search tool for volunteering opportunities, ideal when Google lets you down. Type the keyword ‘Christmas’ into the search engine, if you need your volunteering to be festive.

A few things that caught our eye: Christmas bucket collections, volunteering at a Christmas concert, or helping out in pop-up Christmas shops.

If you are on the search for a reliable trustworthy volunteer management software, look no further than TeamKinetic. We offer a service suitable for any sized company, we can tailor your system to you. To find out more, give us a call on 0161 914 5757 or or send us an email at info@teamkinetic.co.uk.

Masters of Scale and Nancy Lublin – must listen podcast for the socially aware

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On 12th December 2018

In News & Views

If you’ve not yet joined the rebirth of the podcast then you are definitely missing out!  ‘Podcasts’ I can hear many of you shout with a mix of confusion and derision, ‘what have Podcasts got to do with volunteer management?’

This form of media is exploding right now. Its unique in its ability to democratise content creation, as it is so cheap and simple to create. It offers a unique space for long-form interview and spoke word.  These longer interviews and deeper examinations of issues at the heart of our sector are really insightful and give you access to thinkers from a much wider section of academia and public life than you may otherwise access.  So over the next few weeks, I’m going to be sharing a few of my favourites with you, and hopefully, open your eyes to some amazing people and their ideas.

I’m starting with the Pod that inspired me to write this page.

Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman the founder of LinkedIn with his guest, social entrepreneur Nancy Lublin.  The Founder and CEO of Crisis Text Line.

In each episode, Reid shows how companies grow from zero to a gazillion, testing his theories with legendary leaders. Masters of Scale is the first American media program to commit to a 50-50 gender balance for guests. It won the 2018 People’s Voice Webby for Best Business Podcast.

Nancy Lublin, for those that want to know a little bit more before they commit their ears to this Pod, is an American social entrepreneur who launched Dress For Success, a charity to empower women across the globe.  Lublins next challenge was to turn around the youth volunteer service dosomething.org, before finally launching her current project crisis text line. I won’t give the story away here, you need to listen, but it’s a story that I think anybody who leads in the voluntary sector will be able to relate to  What is interesting is Nancy’s particular method of dealing with problems.

Hoffman uses the interview with Lublin to demonstrate the importance of ‘grit’ for any would-be entrepreneur. I enjoyed this Pod as Lublin explains how to effectively ‘pivot’ a charity as you would hear a more traditional CEO talk about change management in their business.  She explains brilliantly how to take advantage of technology and the insight that technology can provide if used well.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this podcast in the comments section below.  If you have a story of technological success or failure in the voluntary sector I’d love to hear your story.

So if you’re interested in how as a voluntary sector leader, you combine technology and service delivery in the most effective way, give this 30 minutes of your time.  You can download the pod from any of the podcast apps, I’ve put some links below for those who want them.

Click me to listen on itunes   Click on me to listen on Stitcher

 

 

 

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