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Setting Volunteering Objectives

On 29th November 2023

As discussed in our previous blog, setting volunteering objectives helps to motivate your volunteers. Clarifying the volunteering purpose and approach can aid your opportunity creation process and eliminate any uncertainties that cause barriers to volunteering. If you want a quick-fire method for pinning down your volunteering objectives, read on!

For your volunteers

Volunteering objectives depend on the volunteering opportunity. Some objectives are more easy to define than others. However, the danger of a seemingly simple volunteering objective is that it is not communicated to the volunteer. Do not assume that simple objectives are obvious to someone who is not directly involved with your organisation.

Outline your volunteering objectives within your opportunity description. Volunteers can then evaluate how well the opportunity aligns with their lifestyle, interests and intentions. Objectives also help give the prospective volunteer a sense of who you are as an organisation.

For your organisation

Setting volunteering objectives is also a useful exercise for clarifying the purpose of an opportunity for you and your organisation. If you implement objective setting in your opportunity creation process, your objectives are more likely to be successful. It is more effective to have fewer attractive, well-organised volunteering opportunities than many undefined, therefore unattractive, opportunities.

The Method

You may be familiar with using the SMART method in professional or academic settings. For the reasons outlined above, it is also beneficial to create specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound volunteering objectives.

Combine the following 5 elements and you will have a SMART objective. For example, ‘To distribute 5000kg of food donations to households in Manchester by 1st January 2025, helping improve the wellbeing of the community’.

Specific – The objective is focused and clearly defined.

Upon applying or joining an opportunity, volunteers will be certain about what the volunteering opportunity entails.

Measurable – Volunteering efforts can be quantified.

This does not have to be numerical but it is useful for there to be a method for determining the success of your volunteering opportunity.

Attainable – The objective may be aspirational, but it is realistic.

An achievable goal is essential for motivating volunteers and clarifying what success means for your organisation.

Relevant – This objective is consistent with the purpose of your organisation.

Volunteers will be able to make the connection between volunteering and making a contribution to the broader goals of your organisation.

Timely – There is a time frame given to achieve the objective.

This can be a rolling or set deadline. It is important for volunteers to be aware of the level and length of commitment that is expected.

Be SMART!

For the benefit of you and your volunteers, set SMART objectives. Help to streamline your volunteering opportunity creation and recruitment process. The opportunity description is the perfect place to inform your volunteers and make sure they understand the opportunity objective or objectives!

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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.

Motivating Busy Volunteers

By Siena Elsby-Smith

On 22nd November 2023

In News & Views

When someone has very little spare time, motivating them to volunteer can be especially difficult. This is not always due to a lack of desire to help, but because of an inability to commit and a long list of other priorities. If you would like to widen your volunteer base and help with motivating busy volunteers, try and incorporate one or more of the following strategies. After all, if you want something done, ask a busy person!

Clear Goals

Establish the purpose of your volunteering opportunity. Whether this is simple or more complicated, volunteers must be aware of the desired outcome. This way, volunteers can decide whether they can volunteer whilst maintaining their other commitments. Be positive yet realistic.

The opportunity description is the first port of call for opportunity information. Ensure this is filled out with detailed yet clear information as to the purpose of the volunteering opportunity; not just what the opportunity involves.

Recognition

Remind volunteers of their impact! If a volunteer is unaware of the difference they are making, they may be quick to lose interest. Follow the achievement of a pre-defined outcome with recognition. Without recognition, volunteers may lose sight of the volunteering opportunity’s purpose and their achievements.

With TeamKinetic, a volunteer’s ‘achievements’ are visible to the volunteer within the system. As an admin, you can see impact reports of whole volunteer groups. It’s worth using this data to help recruit additional volunteers.

Examples

Don’t just tell volunteers what success looks like, show them! If a busy person sees a real-life example of a volunteer that they can relate to, they are more likely to volunteer. Showcasing real volunteers also adds credibility to your organisation because volunteers can trust that their needs will be accounted for. The same goes for attracting volunteers from minority groups.

Utilise images during your opportunity creation process. A visual representation can be compelling. The chat feature can also be used to communicate with other volunteers. Volunteers can identify their similarities and discuss how volunteering fits into their lifestyle.

Know your Volunteers

With TeamKinetic, you can invite volunteers to opportunities. This is a great tool for saving both you and your volunteers time. However, if sent inappropriately, busy volunteers can be discouraged from continuing volunteering with your organisation.

Create a ‘group’ for volunteers who have expressed that they only want to volunteer a certain amount of hours per month, for example. This way, you can avoid spamming busy volunteers with invites to opportunities they are most likely unable to attend.

With our recent poll showing that 18% of volunteer managers want to engage more working professionals, it’s time to start motivating busy volunteers. Steer away from the stereotype of volunteers as elderly people with an abundance of free time. Your organisation can welcome all types of volunteers!

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

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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 the Culture Pass could revive event volunteering

By Alex Evans

On 8th November 2023

In News & Views, Volunteer Management

It’s no secret that volunteering numbers have taken a hit as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Culture Pass has been introduced into European countries to try and revive young people’s interest in the arts, but could it also kickstart a boost in event volunteering?

What is the Culture Pass?

Young people across various European countries are being offered a “culture pass”. In general, the pass is offered to people turning 18 years old.

The pass gives young people the opportunity to experience music, theatre and arts for free.

Italy

Introduced in 2016, giving 18-year-olds €500 to spend. Data shows that the majority (83%) have spent their money on books, followed by music products and concert tickets. The system will be reformed in 2024 so that vouchers are only given under certain conditions. Passes will then be given to 18-year-olds from low-income families (income below €35,000 per year) and those who achieve top grades in school.

France

Launched in 2021 to give 18-year-olds €300 to spend within two years. Their app-based pass encourages spending on art experiences, books, musical instruments, online subscriptions and more from French companies/publishers. Following success with 18-year-olds, the scheme was extended to give those aged 15 – 17 money towards cultural experiences too. Each year, 15-year-olds receive €20, while 16 and 17-year-olds receive €30 through the app.

Spain

Starting from 2022, 18-year-olds were given €400 to spend within a year.

Divided into three sections:

€200 can be spent on live arts.
€100 can be spent on physical cultural products (books, magazines, newspapers, etc.).
The remaining €100 to be spent on digital media/consumptions.

Cinema, video games, shows and books were the biggest areas of interest for people using the vouchers. There are calls for the voucher to offer a bigger % of the total to spend on books.

Germany

Brought in from 2023, giving 18-year-olds €200 to spend across two years. Singular purchases are limited in value to encourage a variety of experiences. The pass can only be used on experiences provided by German suppliers, e.g. online platforms such as Amazon and Spotify are not included. The scheme could be extended to 15 to 17-year-olds if successful, like in France.

How can they help?

These passes were mostly introduced to battle the negative impacts of the COVID pandemic on the sector and young people’s lives. Many people were deprived of cultural experiences as a result of lockdowns and this pass aims to introduce them to a variety of arts – especially those who may not have the financial means themselves.

It has been argued that young people making use of the passes will just stick to what they know and favour experiences such as live concerts and video games. However, it is suggested that a large percentage of purchases using the vouchers are going on books from local booksellers, creating a new generation of readers. Furthermore, this is still a valuable resource to offer, giving young people an opportunity to develop a lifelong appreciation of culture, no matter what they choose to spend it on.

If you’re not in the habit of going to see a play or a film or an exhibition in your late teens and early twenties, then you’re not likely to prise yourself away from the couch to go out to cultural events later in life.
Maureen Kennelly, director of the Arts Council

Aside from this, it is also true that the arts sector has struggled, almost coming to a standstill during the pandemic. In Spain and Germany, the cultural vouchers were specifically implemented as a way to assist the cultural/creative sectors. They experienced substantial setbacks due to reduced customer traffic and revenue during the pandemic, but these vouchers have no doubt injected life back into the sector.

But is their success something that we can replicate in the UK?

The case for a UK Culture Pass

While the UK offers universal free admission to national museums, there is no sign of a widespread ‘culture pass’ being introduced for young people. This doesn’t mean no effort is being made on a local level. In Cornwall, they’ve created a ‘Culture Card’, offered to young people (11 – 25) who have been in care at any stage in their life. This card gives free access to various cultural sites across Cornwall, such as museums, art galleries, and national trust sites.

The success of these schemes is clear across the four countries mentioned throughout this post. We have four different examples to look at, learn from, and adapt to suit the UK – it seems like a no-brainer. Of course, the financial investment from the government will be a large barrier to implementation, but the support it will provide to the sector and general economy, and the improvement to people’s wellbeing will surely balance this investment.

Boosting Event Volunteer Engagement

Giving young people a chance to not only have new cultural experiences, but to build habits around the arts, opens the door to boosting the sector in the long-term. In addition, it would provide a gateway for them to get into volunteering within the arts.

Diverse Volunteer Pool

The pass might also attract a more diverse audience to cultural institutions, which could lead to a more diverse pool of potential volunteers. A broader range of backgrounds and experiences can enrich the volunteer community. These volunteers are also likely to be more diverse as there will be no financial barriers, allowing people to get involved regardless of their socioeconomic background.

Enhanced Volunteer Recruitment

Cultural organizations may find it easier to recruit volunteers when more people are engaged with their activities. The pass can serve as a gateway to introduce potential volunteers to these institutions.

Generally, one of the large barriers to volunteering is a lack of free time. This barrier is likely to be lessened among young people. They also have encouragement through external ventures such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award, which requires a certain amount of time spent volunteering.

Do you think the UK should implement a culture pass? How would you structure it? And what would be included? Even without the implementation of a culture pass, it’s worth thinking about how we can make events more accessible to young people.

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

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P.S. 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.

Third Sector Climate Impact

By Siena Elsby-Smith

On 1st November 2023

In News & Views

In light of recent news concerning the UK’s climate-related government policy, it is fitting to draw attention to the third sector’s climate impact. This blog will also explore the ways that your organisation can reduce their climate impact and the climate benefits of volunteering. Armed with this knowledge, the third sector can push for more sustainable volunteer practices and progress towards Net Zero.

The Third Sector / Climate Connection

The climate crisis is an all-encompassing issue. The climate situation’s impact on global factors including health and inequality means that the climate crisis is extremely relevant to the third sector. Irrespective of governmental decision-making, the third sector can make systemic changes that will impact a number of climate-related issues.

There have been several reports by influential sector voices including Charity Digital. Similarly, Reach Volunteering has taken responsibility for raising awareness of the connection between climate impact and volunteering. Reach Volunteering’s #VolunteerForClimate campaign works to spotlight many environmental and climate organisations that are facilitating volunteering opportunities.

Your Impact Potential

Besides educating yourself and your organisation on the findings of industry and climate reports, or getting involved in third-party initiatives, you are probably wondering what climate-related measures can be directly implemented in your organisation. Charity Digital’s research found that 88% of charities are concerned about climate change, but 52% are unaware of the actions that other organisations are undertaking. Ways to limit your organisation’s climate impact include:

Divesting from Fossil Fuels

Making a commitment that your organisation will not make new investments in fossil fuels in the next 3 to 5 years is powerful. NCVO’s ‘Fuelling Positive Change’ campaign supports education and implementation of fossil fuel divestment. Since 2012, almost 1600 organisations from all sectors have committed to divesting from fossil fuels. Even Amnesty International have pleaded their support to the ‘Fuelling Positive Change’ campaign. Krystal is an example of a tool that helps your organisation to divest entirely from fossil fuels. With Krystal, 100% of your organisation’s web hosting can be powered by renewable energy.

Social Investments

As a volunteer-involved organisation, you are likely already investing in charitable purposes. Consider causes that can positively impact the climate. Community infrastructure that pushes for renewable energy, for example, can help achieve climate goals.

Working Together!

Become a part of the third sector’s collective climate initiatives. For example, ACEVO has a climate crisis working group and NPC has the Everyone’s Environment programme. If a member of your organisation were to get involved, climate-related sector information can be passed on and utilised. Speaking out on your organisation’s platforms under Reach Volunteering’s hashtag #ChangeTheStory, for example, brings awareness to the climate crisis amongst fellow volunteer-involved organisations.

Climate Impact from the Volunteer’s Perspective

Running your own climate-related volunteering opportunities is beneficial for both the environment and your volunteers. Increasingly, people are reporting that they feel ‘climate anxiety’. This anxiety is often due to an awareness of the climate crisis yet feeling powerless to make a substantial difference. Rosemary from Bradford has experience of working within sustainability and chose to volunteer to share her skills and feel connected to her community. Rosemary feels that volunteering has helped to keep her climate anxiety at bay.

There are so many challenges, perspectives and types of action related to climate. If you’re thinking about volunteering, there will definitely be an organisation which will be the right fit for you.
Rosemary

Take Action Now

Foundational to the third sector’s climate impact is sharing information and resources. Join forces with other organisations either as an educational or practical way to positively impact the climate. Involve volunteers where possible; this will boost your climate impact and community well-being. As articulated by NCVO’s Alex Farrow when speaking on the ‘Fuelling Positive Change’ campaign:

“The impacts of climate change will make everything our sector does harder. Our campaign is a rallying cry to take collective action on one of the biggest challenges we face.”
Alex Farrow, NCVO

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

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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.

TeamKinetic 2.4.1 Minor Release

By Rolf Herbert

On 25th October 2023

In News & Views, TeamKinetic Features, Technical Updates

The latest minor release is out in the wild now. Here are the big things to watch out for in the new TeamKinetic update.

Tempo Time Credit Integration

This is super exciting and we will be covering this in some other posts and communications.

If you join the Tempo Time Credit scheme, your volunteers will be able to exchange hours they log in TeamKinetic for real-world rewards in their local area. It’s a fantastic way to reward and recognise your volunteers.

The process is fully integrated and volunteers can register and exchange hours from right within the TeamKinetic app. You can find out more on the Tempo website.

Please fill out this form if you’re interested: https://forms.gle/ryvW7cs3yGJGNnV26

TeamKinetic update: screenshot showing Tempo Time Credits integration

First Advantage Digital Check Integration

Another first for volunteer management software. We have integrated the First Advantage digital and criminal check service right into the TeamKinetic app.

As an admin, all you need to do is select the volunteer whose identity you want to check or perform a criminal check on and hit a single button! The volunteer will be contacted to download an identity check app to their phone, proceed to verify their identity, and then the criminal check will be performed and the results fed straight back into TeamKinetic. We expect most checks to be completed within 48 hours.

It’s also possible to perform in-person identity checks and just use the service to complete the criminal check if you are satisfied with the documents presented.

If you’re interested in integrating your identity and criminal checks directly into your volunteer programme, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/ryvW7cs3yGJGNnV26

TeamKinetic update: image showing the integrated criminal check process

Gender and Birth Sex

We have now successfully decoupled our gender and birth sex questions. Previously we collected the birth sex answer as part of the gender question and you might have noticed that Female/Male was always appended to your own gender list.

We used this answer to define a birth sex of female or male so that if opportunity creators restricted an opportunity by sex we could correctly identify those volunteers that matched.

We’ve been monitoring the usage of the sex-restricted opportunities and it has been going down and down so we decided it was the right time to break this a little so we can get our gender/sex position correct.

You’ll see two new options in the Super Admin Settings > Options menu under the registration section that you can use to switch on/off the Birth Sex and Gender questions. If enabled the questions will be asked at registration and also within the volunteers profile.

If your organisation has no sex-restricted opportunities then the birth sex question will be switched off. We have also retained the female/male responses in your gender lists, but they are now editable, and if you wish you could remove them and use cisgender or whatever your organisation prefers.

Screenshot showing changes to the sex/gender questions in the registration form

Disability and Support Questions

We have also split up this section into two optional registration questions so you can choose to ask if a volunteer considers themselves disabled and/or if they have any extra support issues. We know that for some organisations it is not appropriate to ask or record if a volunteer is disabled but it’s still useful to know about any support issues you can help with.

These options can be found in the REGISTRATION section of the Super Admin Settings > Options menu.

Along with the now optional sex and gender questions you can now have a really minimal registration page which we would always advocate if you don’t need the extra data.

Screenshot showing the volunteer registration form without any gender/sex questions

Auto Deletion of Volunteers

We recognise that storing old data can be an issue, both for GDPR and reporting. It has always been possible to delete volunteers based on a filter like login activity but it was manual. We have added a new feature where you can switch on auto deletion and enter the period of inactivity after which to remove the volunteers.

Matching volunteers will be marked for deletion if they have not logged in within the period you specify, which is 12 months by default. Then after 48 hours, they will be removed and their hours saved in the usual way for deleted volunteers.

Recording No-Shows

For some of our customers, no-shows can be a real issue and while it has been possible to check volunteers in via the day schedule report page, and for volunteers to self-report as a no-show, we’ve not supported an admin method to record the no-show.

You can now do this for single or multiple sessions in the past from the Log Hours section of the opportunity management page. This data is being recorded and once we have some more to work with we will be reporting this data back via the reporting pages and volunteer management page.

Screenshot showing how users can record a no-show volunteer within TeamKinetic now

Volunteer Status

In the past we have had three possible statuses for a volunteer; newly registered with no access, access granted, and access revoked. We have extended this to include a retired status, a revoked due to safeguarding issues, and an under-review status. These status changes have also been added to the webhook actions so your connected applications can be notified when a volunteer’s status changes.

Screenshot showing the different volunteer access options

More Automated Notifications

We’ve added a few more email notifications to try and streamline the pre and post-session operation.

If you utilise the custom opp joining email to let your volunteers know more details about the opportunity once they have joined, then we will resend that email the day before a volunteer’s next session, just to remind them!

We have also added an editable post-opportunity period setting so that you can control how long after a volunteer’s last session on an opportunity they receive the post-opp reminder email (or you can switch it off entirely). If the opportunity has a post-opp survey or document this will be appended to the email.

Screenshot showing the TeamKinetic settings for Email Notifications

The eagle-eyed amongst you will also notice in that screenshot that you can now also choose to include or exclude events in the weekly email newsletter that is sent every Friday.

There is of course, as always, the usual bug fixes and small changes that we hope make your day-to-day interaction with TeamKinetic better and better.

Many thanks to all our customers who open support tickets and new feature requests that helped shape this TeamKinetic update…keep them coming in!

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

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Have you enjoyed using TeamKinetic? If you could leave us a review on G2, we’d really appreciate it!

Halloween Volunteering Opportunities

By Siena Elsby-Smith

On 25th October 2023

In News & Views

For alternative ways to fundraise, attract new volunteers, and excite existing volunteers, add a bit of seasonality to your volunteering opportunities! With Halloween just around the corner, it’s not too late to create volunteering opportunities on your TeamKinetic system. Take inspiration from the following Halloween volunteering opportunities and you’ll have a volunteer-involved event organised in no time!

Spooky Movie Screening

Some fundraising opportunities can be hosted entirely by volunteers! Hosting a screening of a Halloween film is minimal effort but can generate a significant reward. Guests will pay a small fee for an evening of frighteningly good entertainment. Whether this is a family-friendly event or a super scary horror night; consider what will be most appealing to your organisation’s audience and volunteers. Simply provide seating and project your film of choice. As an additional fundraising opportunity, include a Halloween bake sale or tuckshop.

Trick-Or-Treat QR Codes

Encourage your volunteers to take home stickers with a ‘scan to donate’ QR code or QR code linked to your TeamKinetic site. Stickers can be placed on buckets taken out treat-or-treating or placed on a bucket containing your own treats for treat-or-trickers to take from. Volunteering has never been so easy! Besides donations, this is also a great way to raise awareness of your organisation. QR.io is a useful free tool for generating QR codes.

Halloween Sweet Treats

A Halloween bake sale can be a stand-alone event or incorporated into a larger volunteering opportunity like a games night or movie screening. Encourage people to bring along Halloween-themed treats and the hard work will be done for you! Be sure to indicate that all proceeds will go to your organisation’s worthy cause. Task volunteers with running the stall or even making or preparing items for sale. Click here for some fun Halloween baking ideas!

Now it’s your jack-o’-lantern!

Don’t give up the ghost; engage with seasonal events! Halloween is perfect for fundraising events that are also great volunteering opportunities. Remember to signpost your Halloween volunteering opportunities at your organisation location and across your website, social media and TeamKinetic site itself. This is essential to boost volunteer registrations in a short time period!

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

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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.

TeamKinetic Best Practice: Signposting – In-Person

By Siena Elsby-Smith

On 19th October 2023

In TeamKinetic Best Practice

In-person, or place-based, signposting is often the first step in a volunteer’s journey. A visual queue can be very provoking! Just like you might update your current noticeboard with news and events, update it with ongoing and new volunteering opportunities. Signpoisitng volunteering opportunities on-site or across your organisation’s locations is a brilliant way to inspire those who have an existing affinity with your organisation, or, are simply passing by.

TeamKinetic aids the creation of physical volunteering opportunity advertisements with the ‘Print’ tool. Press ‘Print’ on an opportunity to generate a poster. The poster includes the opportunity details you entered and a QR code to the opportunity page. Existing employees can also download a volunteering opportunity list as a CSV or PDF. This is especially useful when looking to fill skill-based opportunities that may be best suited to those with existing knowledge of your organisation.

If you want to get even more creative, Canva and Adobe are useful tools for creating free signage or posters. Design your poster to be visually appealing and informative. Don’t forget to include the opportunity QR code linked to your TeamKinetic site! With the QR code, volunteers can scan, view and join the opportunity via their mobile phone.

Best Practice Inspiration

This is an example of best practice in-person signposting by A.C.E. A.C.E’s inclusion of location and contact details and a thorough ‘Opportunity Description’ make for an informative poster generated using TeamKinetic’s ‘Print’ tool.

More Signposting Best Practice!

For guidance on other best practice signposting methods including website signposting, search engine signposting and social media signposting, click here.

Ensure you follow us on our social media pages to receive regular updates about the voluntary sector and learn more about the TeamKinetic system. You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to our podcast:

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TeamKinetic Best Practice: Signposting – Search Engine Optimisation

By Siena Elsby-Smith

On 19th October 2023

In TeamKinetic Best Practice

The Importance of Signposting for Search Engine Optimisation

You may be surprised by how many people scout out volunteering opportunities online before inquiring or joining an opportunity. Even with all the best in-person signposting, you will not appear in an online search without effectively signposting your volunteering opportunities on your organisation’s website and TeamKinetic site! The aim of search engine optimisation (SEO) is for your organisation’s TeamKinetic site to appear at the top of the search engine, e.g. Google, results page. Therefore, an important element of best practice signposting is search engine optimisation. As outlined below, effective signposting for search engine optimisation includes updated content, location data, detailed opportunity descriptions and links.

How?

When creating an opportunity, be sure to provide a detailed ‘Opportunity Description’, list any ‘Benefits & Perks’, ‘Skills Required’ and ‘Search Tags’. Therefore, when people are searching for volunteering opportunities, either on a search engine or within your TeamKinetic site itself, there is more likelihood that the keywords used will match up. If a volunteering opportunity is long-standing, it is a good idea to update the ‘details’ so that your site’s content is accurate and fresh. Websites that have regularly refreshed content tend to rank higher on the search engine results page.

Besides being a crucial element of a volunteering opportunity, including location data in your volunteering opportunity is a factor in search engine optimisation. When creating an opportunity, select ‘Pick the Location’ and enter the address details. Those browsing online for volunteering opportunities will be doing so via an IP address linked to their location. If your volunteering opportunities contain location data, those who are nearby are more likely to see your TeamKinetic site at the top of their search results page.

Including inbound links to your own website, news feed, or blogs can also boost your chances of ranking highly on the search results page. A good place to include a link to your organisation’s website would be the ‘About Us’ and ‘Home’ pages on your TeamKinetic site. Volunteering opportunities could include a link to your volunteering-related website news feed within the ‘Opportunity Description’. As with signposting on your organisation’s main website and social media, including links to your TeamKinetic site adds continuity across your organisation’s online platforms. High online presence raises SEO.

Best Practice Inspiration

An example of best practice signposting for search engine optimisation is Glasgow Life‘s TeamKinetic ‘Home’ page. Glasgow Life has included various outbound links; linking to their organisation’s main website under the ‘Back to Glasgow Life Volunteering Homepage’ button, to volunteer registration under the ‘Register Now!’ link, a ‘log in’ link, and registration buttons depending on whether a site visitor is ‘Interested in Volunteers?’ or ‘Recruitng Volunteers?’.

More Signposting Best Practice!

For guidance on other best practice signposting methods including in-person signposting, website signposting and social media signposting, click here.

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TeamKinetic Best Practice: Signposting – Website

By Siena Elsby-Smith

On 19th October 2023

In TeamKinetic Best Practice

The Importance of Website Signposting

For most organisations, their website is the go-to destination for information about what they do, where to find them and who to contact. Therefore, signposting your TeamKinetic site on your organisation’s main website is best practice. Showcasing your current volunteering opportunities inspires involvement with your organisation. Continuity between your website and TeamKinetic site helps to create a more rounded picture of your organisation. This way, volunteers can have insight into their impact and how this benefits the purpose of your organisation.

How?

If possible, be sure to update your volunteering website features regularly. This is key for ensuring you come to the top of online search results. If you have an existing ‘news’ feed, recent and current volunteering events will fit in nicely. Entice those browsing your website with past and present volunteering projects, events and initiatives. Also, collect volunteer testimonies and feature them alongside the opportunity details. Hearing from a volunteer helps to assure prospective volunteers that your organisation is welcoming and personable.

Include a call to action button! For example, ‘Volunteer with us’ or ‘Volunteer now!’. This can be in addition to more detailed opportunity descriptions, or as a stand-alone prompt. If you have less time or resources to create a volunteering news-style feed, simply linking to your TeamKinetic website via a call to action button will be effective. You can link to any relevant area of your TeamKinetic system; specific opportunities, your TeamKinetic homepage or volunteer registration.

Using volunteering-related keywords in your website will mean that those looking for volunteering opportunities with your organisation, or similar, are more likely to be directed to your organisation’s website. Signposting volunteering news and opportunities on your website is a simple way to increase your chances of ranking higher in search results. Optimising your TeamKinetic page for Google search is explored in the TeamKinetic Best Practice – Search Engine Optimisation Signposting guide.

Best Practice Inspiration

An example of best practice website signposting would be Wiltshire Wildlife, who have a tab on their main organisation website that links directly to their TeamKinetic site. In addition to this, their ‘Blog’ and ‘News’ tabs feature regular volunteering opportunity-related updates and information.

More Signposting Best Practice!

For guidance on other best practice signposting methods including in-person signposting, search engine optimisation signposting and social media signposting, click here.

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Page 6 of 56

For your volunteers

For your organisation

The Method

Specific – The objective is focused and clearly defined.

Measurable – Volunteering efforts can be quantified.

Attainable – The objective may be aspirational, but it is realistic.

Relevant – This objective is consistent with the purpose of your organisation.

Timely – There is a time frame given to achieve the objective.

Be SMART!

Clear Goals

Recognition

Examples

Know your Volunteers

What is the Culture Pass?

Italy

France

Spain

Germany

How can they help?

The case for a UK Culture Pass

Boosting Event Volunteer Engagement

Diverse Volunteer Pool

Enhanced Volunteer Recruitment

The Third Sector / Climate Connection

Your Impact Potential

Divesting from Fossil Fuels

Social Investments

Working Together!

Climate Impact from the Volunteer’s Perspective

Take Action Now

Tempo Time Credit Integration

First Advantage Digital Check Integration

Gender and Birth Sex

Disability and Support Questions

Auto Deletion of Volunteers

Recording No-Shows

Volunteer Status

More Automated Notifications

Spooky Movie Screening

Trick-Or-Treat QR Codes

Halloween Sweet Treats

Now it’s your jack-o’-lantern!

Best Practice Inspiration

More Signposting Best Practice!

The Importance of Signposting for Search Engine Optimisation

How?

Best Practice Inspiration

More Signposting Best Practice!

The Importance of Website Signposting

How?

Best Practice Inspiration

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