One of the hardest things many people encounter when running events of a large scale is volunteer management. How many people do you need? What time will they have to be there? What will they all be doing? These are all questions that will stress the mind of both event organisers and volunteer managers. By having efficient volunteer management this can mean that other jobs that are involved in everyday work can be focused on rather than worrying about what people will be doing on the day. Whether you’re a volunteer manager, event organiser or even a volunteer there is most certainly something in this blog that could be of interest to you.
BE IMFORMATIVE
It is vitally important that as a volunteer manager you make it your utmost priority to ensure that all volunteers are fully aware of what they are doing and when they have to be doing it. This will minimize the number of times you’re asked questions such as the ones seen above, it will also mean that the volunteers will be more knowledgeable about what they’re doing meaning they will be more likely to do a better job which in turn will make your event better! From a personal perspective of the volunteer managers, they will now be able to focus on other key aspects of their jobs because they will have less to worry about, meaning less stress! Which, of course, is an aim of any job.
MOTIVATE THEM
In most cases, the volunteers are the first thing that people will see. If these people are smiling and happy this will give out positive energy across the day and will lead to those vital positive reviews that will make future events more successful which overall is what you want from in the volunteer management industry. In reference to volunteer motivation, there is a host of ways that this can be achieved, for example, although many volunteers are happy to give up their time for nothing a way to even further motivate them would be to offer some form of incentive e.g: free lunch. Furthermore, in the lead up to an event you could maybe send them messages like “can’t wait to see you” or “hope you’re looking forward to it”.
MAKE THEM FEEL IMPORTANT
Again, from a reputation standpoint, volunteers are the people that can massively help with word of mouth marketing (which is very cost effective because it’s totally free!) The way to make them feel important will heavily vary depending on what type of event you’re running, the amount of volunteers you have and also demographics of the volunteers. The reason for this being is that different people are interested in different things and respond to being spoken to in different ways. For example, if a team of volunteers were to be older people (50+) they are way more likely to feel important about having their name mentioned in a speech rather than a LinkedIn endorsement which would be more appealing to younger adults.
VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
In today’s world, almost everything can be made more simple with the help of technology. Volunteer management is no exception. A volunteer management system can help you work out who is volunteering for you as well as what they did at what time and how long for. By using volunteer management systems you will be better equipt to work out who you can match to particular opportunities with the use of the database as by using this you will be able to see what certain volunteers enjoy. By using volunteer management software this should alleviate stress for you as a volunteer manager because of how much more efficient it will make your work. In relation to where to get a volunteer management system look no further than TeamKinetic who provide a software that WORKS.
MASTER THE ART OF RECRUITMENT
There is one thing that is a simply must have for volunteer managers and this is volunteers! Often what volunteer managers have trouble with is how to get these volunteers to sign up for opportunities, however, this issue is not the volunteer’s willingness to participate but it is reaching out to volunteers and recruiting new ones. The potential way around this is possibly to look for volunteers in areas that the opportunity is centred around. For example, if an event is associated with a charity then you are most likely to find quality volunteers in places such as hospices as they will already have some sort of emotional attachment to the cause.
From this article, we hope that you have been informed about volunteer management and how to be successful in doing so. If you do wish to find an easier way of managing your volunteers by using software, please visit https://teamkinetic.co.uk/
We get to understand the Liverpool FC Foundation and what they do for the community and how TeamKinetic Volunteer software is allowing them to make a bigger impact around the city, through our interview with Katie Ellis and Dawn Georgeson
LFC Foundation
About the Liverpool FC Foundation
Liverpool Football Club has long served its local community and it has been a part of their history to support the people of Liverpool. More recently, in 2010 this commitment was furthered with the launch of the Liverpool FC Foundation, developed as a financially independent organisation.
The Liverpool FC Foundation’s mission!
“is to bring together the LFC family to create life-changing opportunities for children and young people.”
The Foundation is all about providing opportunities for children and young people. They run a number of projects throughout the week for different groups :
Girls and Women.
People with disabilities.
Disadvantaged communities.
Children and families.
It is a goal of the Foundation to provide activities that are fully inclusive. The Liverpool FC Foundation is also in partnership with a number of other organisations, like Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and many others.
They work with partners to raise awareness and to tackle issues around the city. Volunteering for the Foundation allowed me to see first hand how inclusive and welcoming they are, as well as the impact they have had on younger people of Liverpool and beyond.
The Foundation has a strong team of community coaches and project leaders that deliver sessions to young people in the community working directly with schools, sports venues and youth organisations. Their six-step plan shows how they achieve these goals.
The impact Liverpool FC Foundation has made to the community
The foundation has made a significant impact on the community, aiming to offer all young people in Liverpool access to sport. Liverpool FC Foundation run over 100 tournaments each year, working with over 5,000 children. The charity also runs a number of projects such as Kicks, Primary stars, and Open Goals. Open goals is a new project which is aimed at engaging young people and families to take part in the regular physical activity.
Liverpool FC Foundation focuses on more than just sport. The organisation also run an employability program which aims at young people aged between 18-25. The project helps young people with CV building and interview skills to prepare them for the future. The impact of the project has helped people with their confidence, interaction skills, and preparation for work.
Fundraising is another way the foundation has made a difference to the community. Liverpool FC Foundation works to help those in need around the community, including their partnership programmes. The Foundation runs a variety of fundraising events such as:
VIP Gala Dinner with Jürgen Klopp.
LFC Supporters Club Fundraising Challenge.
Newly launched LFC Foundation lottery.
The Foundation looks at improving the life of the community and helping each other. The Foundation engages with over 21,000 people a year, which shows their impact as a foundation.
How Liverpool FC Foundation has benefited from using the TeamKinetic volunteer software
Having spoken to Dawn (Volunteer lead) and Katie (Project lead) it was important to get an understanding of what difficulties they previously had in terms of recruiting volunteers. As the Volunteer lead, Dawn has the responsibility of recruiting volunteers for the opportunities on their volunteer software website which is powered by TeamKinetic.
Katie, Dawn and I discussed how they have adjusted to using the TeamKinetic volunteer management software, and the benefits it has provided them and the Liverpool FC Foundation.
This is what they had to say…
Dawn: “We have gone from using a paper trail to now having something that is digitally quite far ahead of the game. It simplifies everything. From the minute someone registers, I get informed via email and they also get notified with immediate contact. Which I think is really important to volunteers as its making them feel valued”
Katie: ” I think the thing that is good, is when we discussed at the start how we were going to place the website, where people were going to find out about how to volunteer. We were able to share the foundation URL so that it was really easy to find. With a button on the Foundation website were volunteers could find it.”
Dawn: ” I think as well, even for someone who isn’t particularly good at IT, the volunteer software is very simple to follow. The forms are really easy to fill out and are pretty self-explanatory”
Katie: “Volunteers like to feel valued, so the incentive program and how we can track that on the TeamKinetic system is something we will be looking to do next. I think that will be very powerful, especially in a football club. To have incentives that link back to the reasons people volunteer and one of them is for the fans to feel closer to the club”
Dawn: “Yeah, also it isn’t just closed off to fans of the club, its people who just want to help the local community. That is quite clear in the opportunities we provide, showing that it’s not just about the club but the community in general”
Volunteer experience of using TeamKinetic’s volunteer software
I wanted to find out what the volunteers thought of the volunteer system as they are also an integral part of the Foundation’s development. I spoke with Rinchen who had gained a paid role as a digital analyst from his volunteering efforts. This is what he had to say about the volunteer software.
” Using the TeamKinetic volunteer system has been pretty easy. I have signed up to a few opportunities already using the website. It’s user-friendly and you’ve got all the options there. You’ve got all the opportunities allowing you to sign up to what you want and has a lovely map of where it is making it very easy to find. ”
Understanding our customers want and needs are at the heart of TeamKinetic. This allows the team to develop innovative ways to make our customers lives easier. To find out more about TeamKinetic and our work and how we can help you recruit, deploy and retain more volunteers, please get in touch with our team.
Reminder!
Tickets are still available for our annual volunteer conference. The link for the ticket can be found HERE
Over the years there has been a host of the world’s greatest sporting events that have only been made possible by the volunteers who give up their time to make the events what they are. Volunteering at sports events is extra special because, more often than not, events that require volunteers are of a mass scale, this adds atmosphere to the whole volunteering experience.
The first event this blog will go into is the London 2012 Olympics which involved a massive cohort of events which in total required 70,000 volunteers. There was no shortage of thanks from the stars of the games for the volunteers that helped organise the events and you could tell that they were genuinely appreciative of them and the efforts they put in. Not only the Olympians but others also were massive fans of the way the nation had volunteered. For example, the Prime Minister at the time, David Cameron stated: “To see tens of thousands of people giving up their time to support London 2012 has been truly inspiring.” Others such as Tom Daley and Sir Chris Hoy have said the sheer number of people that came to the event made it what it was.
Furthermore, the 2018 World Cup in Russia was also heavily successful not only because of the stars of the show but the number of people who were willing to give up their time to make sure the tournament ran smoothly. There were an estimated 17,000 volunteers at the tournament with roles such as car park marshall and media assistant. “The volunteers’ faces are the first thing the fans see when they arrive,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino, hailing the significance of the Volunteer Programme. “Their smiles are what visitors pick up on”. Statements like this from such powerful people really give significance to volunteering and makes everyone aware of just how important they are.
A further event that was made successful by the volunteers of the sport was the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The tournament had a total of around 6,000 volunteers with roles that varied from meeting and greeting to transport. The Rugby World Cup staff members collectively called their volunteers ‘The Pack’ this was presumably to make them feel as though they were more a part of the games and also important.
As shown by the prestigiousness of the events above volunteers and volunteering are both vital parts of what makes these occasions successful and enjoyable to watch. This is recognised by many which include the stars of the sports to the business minded individuals who run the events.
With the 2019 Rugby world cup fast approaching they’re looking for volunteers to help make that event great once again! If you’re interested please click the link below:
I thought it was time to codify our release protocol, it has changed a bit over the years but is now pretty consistent so I thought I would share it.
We have a target of two major releases a year and two more interim releases between those. We aim to have a major release point in Q1 and then a further major release point in Q3 with an interim release point in Q2 and Q4.
Interim Releases
Interim releases usually consist of non-urgent bug fixes, small interface upgrades and corrections and not new functionality. Major release points will potentially have new functionality and new UI/UX layouts, and perhaps entirely new sections and methodology.
Interim releases will have a cut-off date for new tasks approximately 4 weeks before release date. This gives us four weeks to complete all the outstanding tasks then enter the testing phase and the subsequent iterations. A week before release we will produce some communications if we think there are changes that will impact our users or alter their workflows. We will offer all our users a chance to try out the release via our beta application. We will attempt to incorporate any minor feedback before the release date, or push back the release date by a maximum of 14 days in order to address the feedback correctly. If any major issues or feedback is received we may decide to draw back from the release, work on the new changes and rollup the interim release into the next major release.
Interim Release Schedule
Weeks 0-8
During this period we will collect and collate all bug reports and new feature requests and decide which are to be included in the interim release.
Work will begin immediately on making the required changes and updates to the beta version.
Week 8
No more new bug fixes or changes are accepted for this release (emergency bugs are handled differently and fall outside the scope of planned upgrades).
Weeks 8-10
Work continues on completing tasks and testing
Week 10
Comms are sent and customers are invited to use the beta site and feedback with their experience and questions.
Week 11
Any feedback is incorporated and tested it possible
Week 12
Any tasks that have not been possible to complete are moved to the next release
Final comms are produced if necessary and the release is scheduled for the end of the 12th week.
Major Releases
Major releases are similar but the cut off date for new functionality is quicker as it will take longer to design, build and test fully. The cut off date is increased from 4 weeks before release to 8 weeks before release. This to allow for a longer period of testing by ourselves and the customers in order to enable us to capture and act on more feedback on potentially large changes.
Major Release Schedule
Weeks 0-8
During this period we will collect and collate all bug reports and new feature requests and decide which are to be included in this release. This will usually entail at least one major change.
Week 8
No more new bug fixes or changes are accepted for this release (emergency bugs are handled differently and fall outside the scope of planned upgrades).
Weeks 8-16
Work continues on completing tasks and testing
Week 16
Comms are sent and customers are invited to use the beta site and feedback with their experience and questions.
Weeks 16-20
Any feedback is incorporated and tested it possible
Weeks 20-24
Any tasks that have not been possible to complete are moved to the next release
Final comms and support material is completed and distributed and the release is scheduled for the end of the 24th week.
Normally we would expect to add a higher volume of small changes to the interim releases and less, but more impactful changes to the major release.
This schedule can not always be followed and it may be necessary to only have one major release in a year and on occassion there are only interim releases as no major new functionality has been added.
Releases are numbered using the regular convention;
1.2.3
^ ^ ^
| | |————— Minor revisions, spelling corrections etc
| |—————– Minor function changes or additions etc
|——————- Major function changes, UX/UI changes etc
An interim release would increment the last or second digit, a major release would increment the second or first digit. At the time of writing we were on TK v1.0.1 (after a major change from our old releases it was decided to reset the version numbers to 1.0.0). Our next release is scheduled for August and will be v1.1.0.
Using volunteer management software can simplify the management process and allow volunteers and providers to focus on the bigger picture.
For years volunteers have dedicated their time to help organisations in all areas; youth work, teaching, befriending, sport, you get it, the list goes on!
Volunteers put in tremendous amounts of effort and passion into what they do for the community. Volunteers give up their time for a multitude of reasons like;
Change and impact the lives of others in a positive way.
Become part of a community with a shared goal.
Help those less fortunate than they are.
Provide help to a charity that once helped them.
We occasionally forget the generosity of volunteers. The number of hours they dedicate to helping others can sometimes go unnoticed. It is important for us as a community to be aware of peoples achievements. From the world-class events to small community get-togethers. all the inspiring stories can remind us of the real reasons we volunteer, and why it is so rewarding.
Why Do I Need Volunteer Management Software?
Before delving into the perks of volunteer management software, here are some quick facts and figures to consider:
Volunteer supported events across the UK are held at over 10,000 venues.
Whilst it is fantastic to see the sectors advancements, the resulting demands on volunteer managers become greater and require them to find new ways of recruiting, managing, and retaining volunteers.
Operating a modern volunteer programme manually or using spreadsheets and in-house tools often leads to time being monopolised by administrative work, rather than developing the programme. A manual system cannot support an increase in volunteer sign-ups for opportunities as the process and response become prolonged.
Volunteer managers face the challenge of creating and maintaining a digital volunteer platform and embracing the possibilities that 21 million volunteers offer. This is where a volunteer management system excels, allowing volunteer managers space and time to grow their programme and communities instead of micro-managing the process.
Volunteers want to be connected with what is happening in their community, know what their commitments are, and keep track of their achievements. Volunteers value text and email reminders of their sessions and regular updates about new opportunities. They enjoy connecting with other volunteers and want to be empowered to find and choose their own opportunities.
Volunteer managers want to be able to advertise and promote their programmes. They want to get up to date figures and KPI reports to support their programme and grant applications, communicate effectively with ever increasing numbers of volunteers. As well as, gaining real insight into the effectiveness and impact of their programme.
This is simply not possible with a manual approach. Good volunteer management software should allow the volunteer managers and volunteers access to all of the above at a reasonable cost whilst freeing up the managers to grow and improve their programme.
Why TeamKinetic Volunteer Management Software?
If you decide you do need a volunteer management system there are plenty to choose from so why choose TeamKinetic?
In a nutshell; it’s FREE, it’s powerful, it’s user-friendly, it’s trusted and it works!
The simplicity of the system enables volunteers from 9 to 90 to get on and get volunteering with little or no intervention required by the managers and coordinators. TeamKinetic comes with a variety of user-centric features including;
Logging hours and achievements in a downloadable volunteer profile.
Searching for opportunities, events and roles in their area or further afield.
Direct communication channels to the opportunity providers and other volunteers on the opportunity using Chatter.
Following favourite opportunity types and providers to get notified first when new opportunities are added.
Daily text and weekly email reminders for sessions.
Calendar views.
CPD and qualification uploads.
TeamKinetic empowers the volunteers to choose their own opportunities and commitment level. It keeps the volunteers engaged with regular updates, HourTrade rewards and our Badge levelling system.
We have extensive administration tools for creating and managing opportunities and volunteers. Daily activity summary, TeamLeader functions, profile image and identity badge creation, KPI and custom reports, text messaging, custom registration and profile questions, GDPR compliant and so much more. There is no more need for micro-managing and you can get on with the important development of your programme instead of worrying if you have enough volunteers.
Lastly, did we mention it’s free? Or choose a low monthly cost option so you can see if a volunteer management system is for you with zero or very little financial commitment.
For further information please don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of our team on 0161 914 5757 or visit our website for more information.
Admins can now register volunteers directly from their admin menu by going to VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT > CREATE VOLUNTEER.
Create a volunteer without an email address
The admins ‘Create Volunteer’ registration page differs from the standard registration page as it allows you to create a volunteer without an email address or password. The volunteer cannot log in, so the administrator would be responsible for joining and logging hours for the volunteers account, but this negates the need to make up dummy email addresses and passwords.
If a volunteer does not have an email address, then this is shown on all pages where you can send an email to the volunteer, so you know which volunteers you will need to telephone, rather than email.
Special Requirements Status
Admins and providers can now see very easily if a volunteer requires additional support on an opportunity by the new Special Requirements icons. This helps notify the provider that they need to look at the volunteer’s details and make sure they can accommodate their individual needs.
Custom Volunteer Profile Fields
Are you fed up of using the admin notes section to record information on volunteers? Well, admins can now add custom fields to volunteers that DO NOT appear in the registration page.
This means that you can capture any information on a volunteer including:
If they have attended an internal course
Any additional information you capture during an induction
If they have completed a particular process
If they have attended an induction meeting
These custom fields are displayed in the volunteer’s profile, and you can stipulate who can see the information (volunteer, provider or just administrators)
Volunteer photos on Find Volunteers page
You can now see the volunteers photo next to their names by going to VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT > FIND VOLUNTEERS and clicking the SEARCH button.
TeamLeaders
There is often a trusty volunteer who is on the ground and is in a much better position than the provider to help volunteers and to know which volunteers have turned up. These users can now be marked as “TeamLeaders” giving them the ability to mark whether other volunteers have attended the opportunity, which also logs the provider hours on the opportunity. You can specify the number of TeamLeaders you want per session which is independent of the number you set for volunteers.
TeamLeaders have no effect on Flexible opportunities as the checking in process is not relevant.
TeamLeaders are not currently supported on the iOS and Android apps, if you have TeamLeaders enabled users will not be prompted to try the app till TeamLeaeder functionality is included.
Following and Favourites
We have added the ability for volunteers to follow providers and opportunity categories that they like or are particularly interested in.
Once followed, whenever a new opportunity is added by their favourite providers or in their favourite categories they will receive an email with the details so they can jump in quick.
Weekly Email
The weekly email volunteers receive that summarises what’s going on in the following week has been radically overhauled. It is now far nicer to look at and includes details of any events that are going on that week, any new opportunities that have been added since the last email, and any opportunities that have sessions in the coming week. Additionally, any sessions the volunteer has joined for the upcoming week are listed.
This email goes out every Friday evening at 6:30 pm(GMT) to all those volunteers that have opted in to receiving emails and also to all those volunteers that have sessions in the coming week.
Below is an example from Queen Elizabeth Park, each email will carry the colours and branding of your site and contain your most relevant content.
You can switch the weekly email off from your super admin settings page at SETTINGS > APPLICATION OPTIONS > EVERYTHING ELSE
As always we love your feedback on these types of changes, so let us know what you think by emailing us here
Session Calendar
The session calendar now excludes sessions where the maximum number of volunteers has already been reached. In addition, any sessions in the past, that have not already been joined, do not have an active link.
This gives us a faster calendar and we prioritise sessions that are still available to join leading to a less frustrating experience for the user.
Volunteer Session Display
We’ve added a handy session view to the volunteer details page. Previously you could see the opportunities a volunteer was on and then drill down to the sessions, which was fine for most of our users.
Some users are however much more focused on sessions rather than opportunities and it was a drag having to find the opp and then the sessions. This new view available from the sessions tab on the volunteer info page lists all sessions from 6 months ago (we will be adding new searching and filtering in future releases). Any that are in the past can be quickly checked in and the hours logged. Its a great way to spot sessions where the provider has yet to log the volunteers hours.
Mobile App Prompt
We will now be giving users the chance to download our mobile companion apps from the login screen. If a volunteer accesses the login screen using an iOS or Android device they will be prompted to open the app store and download the app.
Please note that TeamLeaders are not yet supported in the mobile app.
Custom Provider Profile Questions
As for volunteers, you can now also add your own custom questions to a provider profile to store specific information you might require against each provider.
You can add these from the same place as registration custom questions in SETTINGS > CUSTOM QUESTIONS from the super admin menu.
These questions are private and not viewable or editable by the providers.
Email History
Providers can now view their email history from ACCOUNT DETAILS > EMAIL LOG. This includes emails they have sent and those they have received from the system, like opportunity joining notifications.
Admins can also see any providers email log via the providers profile page. The volunteer email log has been available since the last update.
Opportunities
More Opportunity Location Types
When creating opportunities you can now specify if the opportunity ‘covers an area’ (e.g. posting leaflets or visiting the elderly). This shows as a large circle on the map and also allows you to describe the area (e.g. North San Francisco)
You can also mark an opportunity location as ‘volunteer from home’.
Both types of new opportunity locations are available as filters, which brings us to…
New Search Filter
Volunteers can instantly filter their search results in a more user-friendly way with the addition of filters along the left side of the search results. Here you can limit the search to a particular category, opportunity type or tag etc.
Better Search Matching
We have included the ability to search for names and words with apostrophes that will match whether the apostrophe is there or not, so St David’s will match St David’s and St Davids.
Conflict Checking
Volunteers will no longer be able to join sessions that overlap in time. If they try, they will receive an alert letting them know they can’t join the session because it conflicts with an existing one.
Route Calculation
Volunteers can now calculate a route from their home location to the opportunity by car, public transport or cycle. This is accessible from the opportunity details page before they join an opportunity and from the opportunity management page location tab, if they have already joined.
Session Confirmation
Previously we only sent the session confirmation email, which consists of a summary of the sessions joined for the opportunity, the first time a user joins an opportunity per user session. This method was used to reduce the number of emails a volunteer receives immediately after joining multiple sessions. This however proved to confuse the users who were suspicious of what the screen was showing them if they did not receive a confirmation email.
The confirmation email is now sent every time they join a session regardless. We would be interested to hear your thoughts on how you think this may impact the volunteer and if you have any feedback we would love to hear it.
Reports
Day Schedule report
Have you ever come in on a Monday morning and wondered what volunteering activity is happening that week. The latest update includes a report which shows you exactly what opportunity sessions are happening that day, week, or on an opportunity or event.
The new ‘Day Schedule’report allows you to view a list of all sessions that are taking place on a particular day (or range of days) by going to REPORTING > REPORTS & ANALYSIS then click on the OPPORTUNITIES tab and scroll to the bottom of the page.
These also contain the list of TeamLeaders currently on the session and it also allows you to flip a volunteer from a regular to TeamLeader roles.
Opportunity Tags report
You can now see how many opportunities are tagged with a specific word, and how many hours have been logged against it. To access this report go to: Reporting > Reports & Analysis > Opportunities from side menu then scroll down the page.
Orbit Summary Reports
For those of you in an Orbit network, you can now search across the entire Orbit for volunteers, providers and opportunities. You can quickly find out what Orbit member a resource belongs to, and some useful information about each resource.
This is available from its own menu entry ORBIT SUMMARY. This will only be visible for administrators of Orbit systems.
References
Complete references yourself
If you like all your volunteers to have a reference before they join any opportunities, then this update will certainly be of interest.
Admins can now complete references themselves, or they can manually send a reference form to a referee. This allows you to hold references against volunteers before they have even joined an opportunity.
We have also added the ability to re-submit a reference to the original referee.
We welcome your thoughts and your feedback on these changes if you wish to share them with us just drop me a quick email.
We would love to see you all at our conference this year, where we can talk about the future developments in TeamKinetic in much greater detail. If you have not claimed your free ticket yet, then head to your application or call us in the office on 0161 914 5757 and we will get you booked on.
I was a dedicated track and field athlete plagued with injury whilst pushing myself to my limits. University was fast approaching and I needed a career plan for the future.
One day I was watching an Ad campaign by New Balance and the impact it had on me was something I wanted to share with others. I wanted a career in which I could capture an audience’s attention and retain it, by creating and developing relationships that they would value within the business world.
EUREKA!
That is when I knew marketing was the route I wanted to take. So now we have a passionate sports marketing student with little experience, but a vast amount of enthusiasm and the willingness to learn.
Since starting university, my perception of volunteering got flipped upside down, and I was forced to change my stereotypical views. My first real volunteering experience was at the Manchester City V Monaco match. I say “real” because all my previous volunteering experiences felt like a chore and my heart was not in it for the right reasons. So I thought I’d give it all another chance, and since that day I have never looked back…
Volunteering has given me the opportunity to work alongside some of the biggest charities in the UK and appreciate the hard work that goes on to help those people less fortunate and in all kinds of challenging circumstances.
It has made me value volunteers in a different way, as sometimes we forget that many of the biggest events around the world are fueled by the labour and endowing nature of these people.
I have also developed skills, that have aided in my development at University and work. these skills allow me to apply my experiences to academic work and really understand what I am doing. The connections and relationships I have created have improved my professional interpersonal skills and opened up new opportunities.
My volunteering has allowed me to gain sponsors and raise money for charity events that I have helped to run and organise. These experiences have led to my involvement with StreetGames, a fundraiser to help disadvantaged children receive meals throughout the summer holidays and, Street2Feet a football tournament for people who are currently homeless or come from a disadvantaged background. I also set up and run a jogging club at Manchester Metropolitan University, for which I organise runs, events and manage the club’s social media activity. Additionally, volunteering has provided me with the opportunity to work alongside industry professionals that have inspired me to pursue my life goals.
It was during my volunteering that I had unknowingly started using TeamKinetic’s volunteer management software, as it powers MCRVIP to keep track of my volunteering hours and to apply for new opportunities. The volunteer management system made it simple for me to keep track of all my work, and meet my volunteering hour targets which are well over a 100 hours now. So when the opportunity of a placement with TeamKinetic arose, I had no hesitation in applying for the job role of a marketing coordinator.
I had confidence that all the hard work I had invested in my academic and voluntary pursuits would put me in good stead in the application process. I was delighted to have been invited to interview and despite all the nerves I had, I left the interview unsure of the whether I had done enough…
Thankfully, it would appear I did. As here I am writing my introduction blog surrounded by a driven team, with shared values and aspirations.
I look forward to beginning my journey at TeamKinetic and sharing my experience through our blog. Thank you for your time. Feel free to reach out to me if you have anything you would like to share.
Over the past few years, I have found myself volunteering for a number of things for lots of different reasons. Whether it be for my own professional development in my future career, for my passions outside of my academic life or even just for a new challenge I am always prepared to embark on new experiences.
The first time I volunteered was in 2013 for my local golf club as a youth golf coach. With golf being my main passion and playing to county level myself I always felt that I would never have got to the standard I did without my own youth golf coach. Over the years I saw youth participation in golf go downhill with only a fraction of juniors wanting to play due to the game being ‘boring’. From this, I decided to more than just coach the game but also give talks and tours around my local golf club to people of all ages in order show them that there’s much more to golf than just the sport itself.
Two years later I took on another voluntary role, becoming junior captain of South beds golf club. In this role, I regularly took part in committee meetings where discussions took place as to how it was best to create awareness for the club. I came up with a host of ideas such as; presenting at assembly’s, regular deals for new members and traditional word of mouth marketing.
Moreover, in 2015, I joined the organisation original volunteers. From this I went out to Morocco to help underprivileged children in orphanages across the capital or Marrakech, this was a very fulfilling experience that I would recommend to anyone who is looking to do something good for the world in a less conventional way.
In relation to my professional career over the last two years have consisted of two main voluntary projects/jobs that I have been working on. For instance, in the summer of 2017, I took on an unpaid role in a television production company where I was a TV researcher. I worked alongside the paid TV researchers and operations manager to help find new leads for the business which would have the aim of making them into a profit after successful meetings. I came along way personally from this experience as I was able to develop my telephone skills as well as my e-mail literacy which I view to be vital for a role in marketing and in many other professions.
Lastly, I realised very quickly from learning on my degree that marketing never stands still and trends are always changing. One form of marketing that I saw to be growing rapidly was that of social media. Therefore, I decided to set up my own Instagram page (@witb_golf) which is now closing in on 1,000 followers. I was able to learn about the tools of Instagram and what is vital in order to attract engagement.
In order to take my professional skills to the next level I decided to undertake a work placement in my penultimate year of university to enhance my employability. The opportunity arose to join TeamKinetic after a successful interview with Chris, Steve and James. I believe that from joining TeamKinetic my skills can only be enhanced as I strive to do the best possible job I can for the business which will, in turn, allow them to continue in growth. I am very eagar and excited to get started as a member of TeamKinetic as I work with their large catalogue of clients to provide them with a service that will benefit myself as much as them.
For those managing volunteers, community engagement or sports development, there was good news to be found this week. A £7 million fund to support building more integrated communities was announced by the Secretary of State for Communities Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP. TeamKinetic has identified a shared interest between the sectors we serve, ICIF’s purpose, and the potential role of our volunteer management software could have.
What is the ICIF?
The Integrated Communities Strategy Fund (ICIF) green paper, was launched in early 2018 and invited views on the government’s vision for building strong integrated communities. The new fund was announced on the 9th July, and aims to stimulate new thinking, build new partnerships and test innovative approaches to bringing integrating communities. A press release, available on Gov.uk, summarises the ICIF:
“We are inviting applications to support approaches which help build integrated communities. This includes projects that use sport and physical activity to encourage integration. The government will be working in partnership with Sport England, which is contributing to the new Integrated Communities Innovation Fund, to support projects of this type.”
The fund aims to support projects which meet the following criteria:
Offer sound reasoning as to why they will be likely to achieve positive integration outcomes and, where available, have a clear evidence base to support this.
Have a clear understanding of how outcomes will be measured and how the success of the project can be evaluated.
Demonstrate how they have, or will secure, buy-in to the proposal from delivery partners and from the local communities in which they will be tested.
Show potential for growth, both in terms of the number of people reached and effectiveness in different local contexts.
Demonstrate clear deliverability, good value for money and are financially sustainable
Are led by organisations that are willing to share their experiences and learning, both honestly and widely.
How could this funding be used to support your voluntary organisation?
From our research, we believe voluntary organisations could successfully apply to the fund to support the costs of a volunteer management system. TeamKinetic believes our experience and market-leading volunteer management software would help to position the application with the support, integration and potential to scale, desired by ICIF.
r volunteer management software could be a perfect fit for such funding.
With ten years of experience supporting the development of volunteer programmes, TeamKinetic’s software is designed specifically to encourage frequent and meaningful interactions resulting in volunteering
Working alongside hundreds of organisations in the UK and around the world we can provide evidence for the positive impact our software has had on communities
Our software enables organisations or project leaders to track and measure the impact of their work. The reporting features capture the level of engagement, which can be analysed based upon ethnicity, age, sexes, location, socioeconomics, and more.
As a delivery partner to the project, we can offer our full support and experience through our advice and suggestions to help you to use the funding in an efficient way
We can also use our extensive network to introduce new delivery partners who can support your cause
We have an extensive portfolio of clients who have seen an incremental change to the size and scalability of their operations due to our software
We already work in partnership with a selection of sector groups, including the Join-in Consortium and the Sport Volunteer Research Network
Each year we invite hundreds of organisation to join us at our annual volunteering conference, held in Manchester, to discuss the latest trends and topics of volunteer and community development
If you would like to read a case study on how TeamKinetic has helped to build a community for Seashell Trust please take a moment to read this:
TeamKinetic are proud to announce we are now mobile! With the release of an iOS and Android App, volunteering has never been more accessible and easier.
Following our last annual volunteering conference, the demand to create a mobile app for volunteers has been high and at the forefront of our road map for development. Following some careful consideration TeamKinetic have developed the App and we are pleased to announce it is now available in the iTunes Store and Google Play.
To use the app, volunteers need to have previously registered online with an organisation’s volunteer website portal before being able to sign on. Registered volunteers are then able to search for opportunities from all providers that advertise on or use a TeamKinetic System via the app.
In a simple four step process volunteers can search for opportunities, log hours, leave feedback and edit personal details and much more:
Register online via provider website (i.e MCRVIP)
Download TeamKinetic App
Sign In using login credentials
Search and join volunteer opportunities
For those of you interested, we continue to explain the process and factors considered for designing the app below.
Why is the app not specific to an organisation?
It is technically very difficult to brand an application. It is not possible for us to upload a variant of the native application for every organisation. We have settled for a system wide app that will include branding details of the volunteers home organisation once they have logged in.
What is the best feature/s on the app?
Both the Android and iOS apps contain super convenient notification systems that alert a volunteer to any upcoming sessions right in their phones notification panel. These work whether the device as internet connectivity or not.
Why do volunteers need to have previously registered online before using the system?
Our existing customers were nervous that users that find the app before registering with their local volunteering organisation would never realise the full potential of their local volunteer network, only being exposed to shared opportunities. For this reason, we decided that the application would be a companion app for existing users.
Any additional questions and answers you think may be relevant?
The app will be advertised to all users logging in through their home organisation when using a mobile device. In addition, we will be using regular notifications to let users know there is a mobile app available and adding a footnote to the weekly emails with download links.
We think that volunteers will find more opportunities and log more hours when they can search for opportunities whenever and wherever they are.
If you have any further questions or would like to find our more on TeamKinetic’s app or volunteer management software, please get in touch with one of our team.
You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to our podcast:
There were an estimated 17,000 volunteers at the tournament with roles such as car park marshall and media assistant. “The volunteers’ faces are the first thing the fans see when they arrive,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino, hailing the significance of the Volunteer Programme. “Their smiles are what visitors pick up on”. Statements like this from such powerful people really give significance to volunteering and makes everyone aware of just how important they are.
