Fresh air and endless miles of thick grass green carpets cover the many hills and mountains across the English countryside. Doesn’t sound like the worst place to volunteer. Volunteering for any National park or green space across the UK is an excellent way to be active outdoors. England is fortunate enough to have ten national parks spread across the country. So why not get involved? Volunteering in green areas can include a whole range of excellent opportunities.
Peak District National Park volunteers
Osian Wilson
Osian, who is autistic, started as a Youth Ranger and now volunteers almost every day. During his time as a volunteer Osian has built drystone walls, repaired paths, pulled ragwort, cut bracken, planted trees, felled trees, litter picked and carried out ecological surveys. Osian spends at least 9 hours a week volunteering.
MTB Volunteers
The Peak District MTB volunteers participate in a number of activities to protect, promote and preserve mountain biking in the national park. Members work voluntarily with The Peak District National Park Authority and Derbyshire County Council, carrying out sensitive repairs to many of the most popular trails in the Peak District
Which opportunities are best suited for you?
Volunteer Rangers
You could be like John Wayne Or at least pretend to be…
Volunteer Rangers commit themselves to help maintain the National Parks. Rangers can expect a whole variety of tasks, from being up to their waists in waders, to helping park tourists. The excitement of being a Ranger is that every day can bring new challenges with the opportunities to work alongside new people. This may seem like something just for the older adults however, young rangers can start from the age of 14.
How do you fancy?
Red Squirrel transects to monitor squirrel behaviors and populations.
Interacting with visitors is an essential part of being a Ranger. Especially in the busy summer Holidays.
Building otter holts to encourage otters to re-colonise and breed along waterways.
Cotswold Wardens
You could also be like Ned Stark (warden of the North). But we all know how that ended…
Anyone can become a Cotswold warden (Not everyone can be John Wayne though). All that is required is a commitment, willingness and a positive attitude. In exchange for your hard work wardens are provided with full training, all the equipment they need and travel expenses.
Activities can include
Working Parties take part in a range of projects from drystone walling, hedge laying, and tree planting to installing kissing gates and pond restoration.
Parish wardens work closely with parish councils, farmers and residents to help keep footpaths open and identify local features in need of restoration.
Guided Walks, the Cotswold Way is one of the very famous walking paths among many which attracts thousands of tourists each year.
Maybe you could help with school assemblies and days out exploring the Cotswolds.
The National Trust received over 61,000 volunteers between 2017 and 2018 giving more than 4.6 million hours of their free time to chip in and help the National Trust. Could this be you in the upcoming year?
TVC aims to make happier healthier communities. Many urban communities lack green space TVC aims to unite communities and green spaces together to deliver lasting outcomes for both.
Wildlife Trusts are located across the UK totalling to 35,000 regular and casual volunteers. There are many ways volunteers can devote their free time to help wildlife from, species surveying, community gardening, plant identification and the many more opportunities for you to explore.
People don’t get access to as much green space as they should to stay healthy, this can be because of many reasons. Nature of your job role, city living and limited green areas. So why not try to get out there? Think volunteering and think green!
You may have witnessed driving past a rescue team late at night in gruelling weather conditions, with deafening sirens and eye-capturing flashing lights. Or alternatively, you may know someone personally who may have ended their night by dialling the emergency services. Many UK rescue teams work voluntarily like Mountain Rescue and British Red Cross. But why would anyone want to keep volunteering for a cause which is considered physically and mentally tiring?
Here are 5 ways how your organisation can help retain your hardworking volunteers and keep them smiling.
1. Be Realistic
The Earth isn’t flat.
Let us skip back to basics if you want to engage your volunteers. Opportunities should have actionable goals in which will enable your volunteers to be successful when volunteering. If your volunteers have no clear set of directions, then how will he or she find their way? Volunteers also need to be clear on what your organisation stands for. Volunteers should be made clear of your mission and vision statements. This will then allow them to understand the type of organisation they are working for. Retaining volunteers to work coherently to achieving what your business wants will help aid success.
2. Show Results
It’s all very well getting volunteers to join opportunities, however where are the results? Showing results is highly important to positively motivate your volunteers. Volunteers want to hear feedback from an opportunity they have participated in. This can easily be communicated in a polite informal email or text, this would make the volunteer then feel valued. It’s key that your volunteers feel valued for their efforts. Because this generates a sense of belonging, which is a key psychological need which will help retain volunteers. Volunteers who feel like they belong will not need to leave.
3. Communicate And Recognize
The best way to establish trust between an organisation and its volunteers is to talk to them. This is a really simple way of further developing relationships. Which can be done over a vast amount of platforms, emails, text messages, phone calls, and social media. It’s important to know where your audience is so you can communicate with them in the most appropriate form.
Everybody likes to be recognized for their achievements, even your non-profit volunteers. This recognition will stimulate a sense of gratitude between the volunteers and yourselves, making them want to volunteer again. A key part of retaining volunteers is recognising any type of achievement because this affects the self-esteem of anybody. Think about yourself for a moment, would you like an achievement you’ve done to be praised? I know personally that any form of praise or congratulations lifts my mood and motivates me to keep on the right path. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a huge gesture, it could be verbal or written. Volunteers who are recognized for their achievements are more likely to have higher self-esteem, a more positive outlook on life, and better mental health.
4. Involve the community
Try to be inclusive to everyone to retain volunteers, by encouraging volunteers to get neighbours, friends, and family members from the community to join opportunities with them. This will only make the experience more enjoyable for the volunteer. We all need to feel emotionally and physically safe, and we all need close supportive relationships. A sense of community provides this, by giving local people a voice to connect with one another and meet new people.
5. Volunteer Management
Does your organisation offer opportunities which are concise, clear and easy to connect to online. If not, then it will be vitally important that you consider using volunteering management software. If your services are easy to use then you are ten times more likely to retain existing volunteers. Making your volunteering management system easier will help your organisations productivity, plus will help the volunteers connect to your opportunities. Statistically, adults over the age of 65 are more likely to volunteer; this age group of people do not consider themselves to be most confident online and are hesitant to use a computer. Meaning the simpler your online portal, the more likely you will be to retain existing volunteers.
A final note from Teamkinetic
Although these five tips for retaining volunteer are important to follow, it’s equally important to note. People consistently volunteer because volunteering is aligned and persistent with their own personal characteristics and self-image. People value what they are doing and are able to extract benefits from the volunteering experience, which helps with their own self-growth. Like anything in life people either want to do something or they don’t, you won’t be able to retain everyone. Although we hope you can.
World Mental Health Day is a day of global mental health awareness and education, which aims to eliminate the stigma behind mental health. Life, as we all know, can be difficult and these problems can arise and affect many of us in a whole range of ways. How our bodies cope with this can have different effects on our mind and soul. Before we judge one another be mindful of what that person may have gone through, what wars they may have battled and what obstacles they may have overcome or maybe overcoming. It’s time to leave our judgmental thoughts and started looking after each other. The world we live in today faces too much animosity and hostility. We must all learn to love and get along with one another, we all live in one world – it’s time we became one and start working together.
Mental Health in the UK
Around one in four people in the UK will suffer from mental health issues each year, while only one in eight people are receiving treatment for mental health. One in six people in England each week suffer from a common mental health issue such as depression and anxiety.
A total of 70.9 million prescriptions for anti-depressants were given out in England in 2018 by the NHS. This is an increase of 3.4 million from 2017 to 2018. From 2015 to 2018 the number of prescriptions for anti-depressants for young people increased by almost 1 million! From these figures, it is clear to say mental health is an issue which is rising in the UK.
Causes of mental health issues
Mental health issues can affect people for a wide range of reasons. Trauma, loss, isolation, abuse, unemployment and the list keeps going. For many individuals, it’s a various combination of factors/experiences which have lead to negative outcomes. Yet everyone is different, one person’s mental stability will have different variances to what they are more tolerant of than others.
Social media
Over the last decade, social media has grown dramatically making each and every one of us more connected than we ever have been. Developing relationships which are halfway around the world is now a reality. On average a person in the UK checks their phone 28 times per day! It often makes me think what has the world come to, is this right? or is this wrong? or is this just the world we live in today and this is merely just evolution?
Implications of social media
The bottom line is that social media can have a detrimental effect on our mental health. Especially on the younger generation. Who are almost dependable on their mobile device, almost feeling lost without it. I know myself only being 20 that I do find it hard to break away from my device, I’m not proud of this and I do wish I could separate away more easily. Essentially social media is minimizing the human connections we make with one another. Limiting our social and communication skills in the real world because our heads are buried way beneath endless tweets and trending hashtags. Taking us away from the real world and keeping us trapped in virtual reality. Where we only care about our virtual selves and how others view us on various social platforms.
Low self-esteem is something young people suffer with when scrawling down photoshop perfect Instagram profiles. Where the immaculate and perfect image is captured – after hours upon hours of makeup editing and light adjustments! A study found people suffer from envy and self-doubt, as a result of comparing their own lives to those which are deemed to have the perfect lavish lifestyles we apparently all crave.
This leads me to say that it’s no wonder that social media is leading to unhappiness in people if used without caution. Causing anxiety and depression. We’re in a constant battle with ourselves to be better than everyone else, to look and dress the best, when really we should be happy and comfortable in our own skins. However many of generation Z have realised their infatuation with their smartphones and social media and have begun to quit various platforms. In an attempt to restore their mental health.
Volunteering and Mental Health
Volunteering can significantly boost your mental health and well-being. Mental and emotional well-being was found to be better in those who volunteer frequently, and worse in those who didn’t offer their help in any form. Recently universities in Birmingham and Southampton conducted a survey of 5,000 households across the UK. Those that volunteered regularly scored six per cent higher on the health and wellbeing.
Older generations
Voluntary work done by those over the age of 65 is set to be worth £5bn more in 2020 than it was in 2010. Volunteering provides a purpose and meaning, especially to older people who may find themselves more isolated than they used to be. Allowing them to build a social network of friends in which they can meet up with on a regular basis improving the well-being of the volunteer. The association is simple, the higher your well-being the more inclined you will feel to help others. Vice versa, the more you help others the higher your state of well-being.
Unemployed
Those in unemployment tend to have lower self-esteem and mental health. Without employment, people find it hard to motivate themselves for the day ahead. They have no structure, paid income, and feel they have less of an identity. Voluntary work will be able to benefit someone who is unemployed, helping them regain structure in life. Although the work is unpaid and will not be able to replace that aspect, it still gives people meaning and purpose.
Employers are more likely to employ someone has done voluntary work, over someone who has not. Volunteering allows you to acquire skills and knowledge which can be put to good use in employment, demonstrating higher levels of productivity as a potential employee. Also, it’s not just about what you know, it’s who you know to get you in the front door! Volunteering allows people to network giving them the opportunity to meet people they may never have met before, which could lead to great employment opportunities further on.
On a final note
As many of you already know TeamKinetic is a strong believer in volunteering and all the good in which can come from volunteering. But today the most important message of all is to be aware of mental health issues globally. If you suffer from mental health issues seek help and seek advice, don’t be afraid to talk to.
See below specialist mental health services.
The Samaritans offer emotional support 24 hours a day, in full confidence. Call 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org.
Mind provides information on a range of mental health topics to support people in their own area from 9.00 am to 6.00 pm, Monday to Friday. Call 0300 123 3393 or email info@mind.org.uk.
Anxiety UK runs a helpline staffed by volunteers with personal experience of anxiety from 9:30-5:30, Monday to Friday. Call 08444 775 774.
MindEd is a free educational resource on children and young people’s mental health for all adults.
There are many alarming issues highlighted in today’s society. Unemployment, lack of funding in the NHS, the destruction of our environment, and of course Brexit – just to name a few! However, not all stories are so negative. There are thousands of volunteering stories that are challenging some of these issues.
Unemployment
Currently, 3.7% of the UK are not in work – that’s around 2.5 million people! Now, some of you may be thinking “what’s that got to do with volunteering?”. Many studies & statistics show that volunteering can help boost employment for individuals. Sports clubs, in particular, have done a lot to boost employment opportunities through volunteering.
Newcastle United FC transformed the life of one of their staff who came to England from Syria as a refugee. Hikmat didn’t know much English or have many qualifications, but his attitude and desire to learn were unmatched. Despite his lack of experience, Newcastle took on Hikmat in a volunteering role, giving him a chance to prove himself. Since starting in 2013, he has been directly involved in many Premier League projects including helping out at children’s hospitals over the busy Christmas period.
Helping the elderly
Numerous elderly people
in the United Kingdom have no living children or close relatives to help them
in their daily care. Many relocate to areas which are far from their hometown,
making it nearly impossible to provide the assistance required. As a result,
many seniors spend much of their time living in isolation and loneliness. They
often rely on the services of volunteers to provide services and opportunities
for socialisation and entertainment.
These findings imply
that adolescent volunteering may increase resilience over time and that
school-based volunteering programs may help prevent criminal involvement over
the course of a person’s life.
It would also suggest that volunteering from an early age is likely to mean that you are less prone to getting into trouble with the law. This will be beneficial to today’s society and it lays down a foundation for future generations.
Inspire the adults of tomorrow, today!
Building on the point of
reducing crime rates, giving the youth of today a positive role model is
important. Young people aspire to be who they look up to and who that person is
can change the course of their life. Because of this, by pushing young people
to volunteer the chances are they are less likely to look up to people who may
be a bad influence, and more likely to want to be someone who brings something
positive to society.
In 2018, only 39% of people aged 16-24 volunteered and even some of those people only said that they did it once a year. A lot needs to be done to drastically increase this number if we want to improve society and produce a higher amount of upstanding adults. Highlighting the charitable work that celebrities do would be a good way to inspire the youth to volunteer.
People such as Angelina Jolie, David Beckham, and Miley Cyrus have all been heavily involved with charitable work in the past (stay tuned for a blog on celeb charity work!). These role models can help give a positive stigma around the way charity work/volunteering is viewed.
Volunteers make great events
It’s not only the deprived that can use volunteering to change their lives. Many major events use volunteers and without them, the events simply wouldn’t be possible. In the 2012 Olympics over 70,000 “games makers” made the games what they were. Many international fans and athletes described the volunteers as “world-class”, see the video below for more.
A further event that was made successful by volunteering was the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The tournament had a total of around 2,500 volunteers with roles that varied from; welcoming fans to organising matches and helping out the media. The volunteers were given their own space: The Volunteer Centre. This was described as a friendly, hospitable space, where volunteers could get together, chat about their experiences and have some fun when they are off duty. Hear more about the World Cup volunteers in this video.
Volunteers at both these events had to pay for their travel to and from some paying huge amounts to get to do their particular roles. However, many said that it was the best experience of their lives and it was all totally worth it.
Read more about how volunteering has helped sporting events here.
How can TeamKinetic help?
Managing volunteers can often be a big struggle for people in the third sector. This is where TeamKinetic can help you. We offer a volunteer management system that can help you recruit, manage and retain your volunteers. If you would like to find out more please do not hesitate to visit our website and book a free demo today!
Alternatively, you can contact us on our social media pages:
No, I’m not joking and no I haven’t got the secret for that either…but anyway, often volunteering is recommended for older adults to keep them active and busy. People aged 65 and over are the age group most likely to have volunteered recently. As we get older many people naturally slow down however we should only gear up!
I can rest when I’m dead, I’m too busy living.
My beloved Great nan
Volunteering can cover a wide spectrum, from volunteering locally or abroad through various organisations. The nature of how you volunteer is irrelevant really, it’s the spirit of volunteering which really counts.
Evolutionary Psychology
Evolutionary psychology suggests that volunteering can have clear benefits which improve the psychological and physical well-being of the volunteer, not just the recipient.
Research by psychologist Stephanie Brown indicates volunteering helps manage stress, provides greater relationship satisfaction, reduces depression, and the biggie – increase your life expectancy. Taking into consideration medical history, age, social activity and other uninteresting factors. But volunteering appears to reduce the risk of death by 25% – which is a good enough reason for me!
Stress-less volunteer more
Don’t stress, it’s more likely to cause death! Stress plays a large factor in our bodies immune system and volunteering reduces that stress. The act of helping elicits feelings of usefulness. This produces the hormones oxytocin and progesterone which bring feelings of happiness and combats the symptoms of stress.
Working too hard!
Overworked volunteers can become stressed which doesn’t allow them to receive all the health benefits from volunteering. Your volunteering like anything should be managed and controlled. Volunteer management is very important and should be done to prevent burnout and increasing, instead of decreasing, stress.
What to take from this
Those who devote time, about 100 hours per year (just 10 days), are most likely to exhibit positive health outcomes from volunteering. The secret to a happy and healthy life is to remain mentally and physically active right up until the very end, especially after retirement, and volunteering is an excellent way to achieve that. That’s what my Great Nan did!
Across Greater Manchester, 5,564 people are homeless. Homelessness in Manchester City Centre has dramatically increased over the past 5 years.
What is Nightstop?
Nightstop is a service run by Depaul UK. It provides young homeless people with emergency overnight accommodation. Saving them from facing a night on the streets or an unsafe place. The services are run by communities and charities in more than 31 locations around the UK, including Manchester, Birmingham, and Glasgow.
Nightstop is a unique project which relies on volunteer hosts to provide a safe, welcoming place for young people in crisis. These hosts are ordinary members of the community who volunteer to open their homes to young people aged 16 to 25. In 2018, they had 603 registered volunteer homes which helped provide a safe place for 1,224 young people to stay the night.
Why it’s needed
The service they provide is admirable, opening your home to a stranger can’t be easy but these volunteers are helping to tackle what has, unfortunately, become quite a big problem in Manchester. Recent research shows that Manchester has one of the highest rough sleeping rates in the country, as well as the highest number of deaths of homeless people. This is an issue that needs to be addressed and Depaul are doing that through all their work – including this service.
We recently visited the Nightstop Greater Manchester offices to meet with the team and learn more about what they do. We got some great stories from some amazing volunteers as well as their service manager. The work they do for homeless young people is inspiring.
From left to right:Rosemary (Volunteer), Dave (Nightstop Service Manager), Beth (Community Partnership Coordinator at Depaul UK), Milo (TeamKinetic).
We’ll be uploading a new video from our visit to Nightstop every day this week, either on YouTube, social media, or both – so keep your eyes peeled!
As a purveyor of volunteer management software, you would not be surprised to hear me evangelise about the importance of technology in volunteer management and the potential opportunities for efficiency, scale and reduced operating costs. In this article, I want to explore what technologies we think are important now and will be important in the future, but more importantly than the technology itself. I want to look at how the technology works with the human experience to build stronger more coherent communities.
I don’t need to tell the readers of this blog, that volunteers and volunteer management do not easily fit into any single box. Unlike employees, the relationship between volunteers and the organisations they give their time to is unique and comes with its own set of unique risks and considerations. So what technologies can you leverage to make your volunteer management more effective?
HR Software
Let’s start with the dry and boring, but essential and important stuff. Did you know that only 5% of charities currently have and use HR software? That means 95% of charities are not safeguarding their volunteers. That is a massive number who may be leaving themselves exposed to GDPR and data-breach fines.
Organisations, big and small, must ensure they fulfil their duty of care to their volunteers. They need to keep them safe and ensure they are appropriately trained and inducted. They also need to make sure only people with the appropriate skills and training are allowed to access certain higher-risk roles. Some voluntary opportunities carry significant risks for the volunteer, the service users and the organisation itself, and these risks need to be mitigated.
To ensure an organisation is compliant with employment law, health and safety law and GDPR, HR software provides a methodology to track and report on an ever-changing workforce. From general trends on the demographics of your volunteers, how many men, women etc, to which of my volunteer’s criminal records check is coming up for renewal.
Having all your volunteer records available, searchable and customisable means you can quickly identify training needs, skills gaps and individuals who may pose a potential risk to the organisation or have the ability to do more for the organisation.
Volunteers are not employees! So the data you hold on them is different to that you might have on your paid staff. Under GDPR you must have a valid reason for holding data that might be considered personal or sensitive. Volunteers can be deployed across various business areas and as such certain information will be required to be shared with managers, employees and partners about that volunteer so that they can be deployed safely and appropriately.
Your HR software needs to be flexible enough to deal with the unique nature of volunteers whilst being robust enough to protect the individuals and the organisation.
The question we ask organisations to consider: is your HR system the right place for your volunteer’s data? If not what are your options?
Brokerage
Great! you have a list of potential volunteers, you know a little about them; their demographic information, maybe a little history on their experiences. What do you do next?
Getting the right people into the right roles is the difference between a successful volunteer programme and a failed volunteer programme. How effective your brokerage is, determines how well volunteers are matched. We think the key elements of effective digital brokerage are:
High-quality information so volunteers and organisations can make informed judgements on what suits them and what they want to do.
Effective search and filter tools, that enable users to quickly find what is important to them presented in a way that lets them scan large volumes of information quickly. Time, location, keyword, accessibility are all the types of key data points users want to be able to refine their search criteria by.
Opportunity brokerage that gives the volunteer ownership of their experience but that also allows organisations to check and limit opportunities based on experience, skills, qualifications and available references.
Matching people to opportunities means you need to have what people are looking for. This involves doing two things, having enough opportunities that your volunteers have lots of choices and having real insight into what your volunteers are searching for.
Having enough opportunities to create real choice is a challenge, especially when you first get going, so a system that can pull opportunity data from other sources would be useful.
Being able to share your opportunities across other national brokerage sites via API‘s
Understanding your volunteers and what they are looking for, means you can inform your opportunity providers on what they should be offering, and what keywords they should be used to describe their offer so people can find them.
Do you need brokerage..? Is your brokerage resource-intensive and require your staff to spend too much time data inputting?
I appreciate volunteers are not customers! And they are not Employees! But they do occupy a space in between these two entities. They do have a choice over how they spend their time, they need to be looked after like you would regular customers. So how do you do this?
An effective CRM provides a set of tools that allows you to communicate and measure the effectiveness of those communications with your customers.
Being able to create lists of volunteers based on experience, demographic information or skill and qualification means you can target emails, newsletters or SMS text messages. Tracking the impact of these communications in regards to the performance of your opportunities enables you to understand which of your communications are most effective and perhaps why.
A CRM will provide you with a method for tracking interactions, identifying volunteers who are suited to certain opportunities and will make it easy to use the digital communication tools to reach out to these people.
36% of potential volunteers experienced barriers to volunteering due to potential communication issues, e.g. a lack of response to their application, or lack of clarity and understanding about the role. Could your customer relationship management be limiting the number of volunteers your organisation receives?
Should your volunteers be in your customer relationship software, or is there somewhere else they might be better placed..?
Social
Whatever your view on social media, you can’t ignore it if you are looking to engage an audience.
Social media provides a range of potential benefits for organisations and provides a powerful method of growing your audience via volunteer’s social groups and followers. Sharing opportunities and experiences that you are passionate about with your social media audience will improve your opportunity engagement.
Looking at how you integrate social features into your volunteer’s experience will enhance retention and make your programme more sustainable, help build a feeling of community and allow you to share incentives and future opportunities. Can you use technology that allows you to create groups and communities?
Existing applications such as Facebook, What’s App, Twitter and Linked In all provide tools, but you must also consider that these services have some hidden costs in their use. How exposed are your uses to their data being used by these large organisations, do you as an organisation have the control you need over these external applications to protect your users and your organisation’s reputation, do you want to share all your user’s data with these 3rd party social networks?
It’s important to know your volunteer demographics well enough to be able to target them effectively on social media. The top social media platform used differs by generation – Gen Z (19 and under) use YouTube, Twitter, and Snapchat the most, while the older generations (20 – 70+) spend most of their time on Facebook. (Mintel 2019)
You want to take advantage of the benefits of social media and the potential for your work to become a viral sensation without the inherent risks these platforms pose. You must invest time in developing your organisation’s online persona, growing an engaged audience on the platforms that you identify as appropriate for your volunteers and managing that profile to ensure you stay relevant. To do this requires considerable staff resource and knowledge of the platform to use it effectively.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could find a way to generate social content and link to your accounts.? Would it also be great if your volunteers and providers can share and engage socially as well.?
TeamKinetic
Our ambition at TeamKinetic was to develop a platform that allowed a volunteer manager to take advantage of all the above technology in one place. A platform that was specially designed for working with the unique considerations that arise with volunteers.
TeamKinetic is volunteer-centric – built to make the life of the volunteer as easy as possible. Built to allow volunteers to take ownership of their experiences, to take advantage of their social media and allow them to easily communicate with opportunity providers and other volunteers.
Designed for the entire volunteer life-cycle: from recruitment, through onboarding to deployment, and then with tools that would lead to better volunteer retention. TeamKinetic provides a framework of checks and balances to ensure the volunteers are safe, the wider service users are safe, and the organisation can meet its legal responsibilities and deliver high-quality, insight-driven experiences for its volunteers.
TeamKinetic is built on the principals of open data, with tools that allow the linking and sharing of certain data. This approach means organisations can use TeamKinetic in isolation or as a ‘best in category’ tool or they can link it to other software they use to create a more complete picture of their business. Simple to use features allow data and reporting exports as well as built-in data sharing functions. This allows quick and simple sharing with other brokers and applications.
For most organisations, having multiple applications, software and systems can be too complicated and expensive. TeamKinetic’s ambition is to provide all these services, and the ability to link to more as required, in a specialised volunteer management product. Our hope is that it is both cost-effective and feature-rich. This approach means you can have an ‘available any time’, web-based service that has a free mobile application, powerful data tools, customisable design features, and is built for the express job of managing volunteers. A service that is updated and improved every year at a cost that will not break the bank.
Finally, as a specialist in this sector, TeamKinetic has vast experience in how to use the available technology to get the very best from your volunteers. Our extensive support means volunteer managers can get good advice from both TeamKinetic and other volunteer managers who use the TeamKinetic system, sharing good practice and learning from each other. TeamKinetic’s value does not end with its software. Its true value is in shared best practice and the use of high-quality data that allows all our customers to look at ways in which they can improve their volunteers’ experiences.
If you want to see how TeamKinetic can help you, please feel free to get in touch here. We would love to give you the tour and show you how TeamKinetic could change your world. Just get in touch and we can arrange a 30-minute demo and 30-day free trial, so you can see for yourself how much more you might be able to do.
The LFC foundation has 315 volunteers and 22 volunteering opportunities. According to our system, volunteers at LFC have recorded more than 1,200 hours of volunteering. The LFC foundation aims to create life-changing opportunities for children and young people. Currently, LFC works with up to 3,000 children and young people a week improving their health, education and overall chances in life.
Recently I was lucky enough to volunteer as part of the Respect 4 All project at LFC. Originally this project began in 2009 and helps approximately 400 participants every year. LFC works with local and national organisations in developing sport and physical activity opportunities for young children with complex needs.
I have to say that this was a spectacular day! During my time at LFC, I was able to witness the work LFC Foundation does. I can tell you now that LFC truly makes a difference to every young person’s life. LFC provides a space and an opportunity for these children to learn, get active and most importantly have fun! I would like to commend all the volunteers who were there as well, giving their own free time up to help benefit and make a change to someone else’s life for one day. Luckily for me, I had the chance to speak to some of the volunteers and get there say on why they volunteer.
I previously volunteered for ‘Everton In The Community’ for 15 years maybe more (said under his breath quietly). I started at Everton because my grandad was an Everton fan and he first introduced me to the club. But it is my first time volunteering at Liverpool today and hopefully one of many. I like helping out where ever I can, volunteering makes me feel happy and useful it’s something I don’t plan on stopping, I love doing what I do. Alongside volunteering, I play for the LFC Foundation disability football team who I train with every Monday. As much as I love volunteering in football – I also love playing it too.
Paul aged 39 (LFC Volunteer and football player)
Milo and Micheal
I’ve been volunteering for the last year at LFC because of my educational pathways. At college, I am currently studying in sports and my future career goals are to be a football coach. So to pursue my career goals I have been helping out at LFC Foundation to gain some experience. But as well as seeking a job in coaching, I enjoy meeting new people and most of all it can be a really good laugh. Also, I am quite an active person and I don’t like sitting around the house. LFC provides a chance for me to get out and do something physical. The secret for me is enjoying what I do, then it doesn’t seem like work.
Micheal Murray Aged 17 (Student)
Milo and Anas
Today is my first day volunteering at The LFC Foundation but I am enjoying it thoroughly. Previously I have volunteered at the Netball World Cup in Liverpool. But I am volunteering here today because I am a Liverpool football fan who just wanted to help out in my local community. I feel it is something everyone should try to get involved with at least once in their lives. Originally I am from India but I am spending my time in Liverpool to pursue my master’s degree in cardiovascular health. During the time I have left before my degree is over I want to get involved in as many volunteering opportunities as possible.
I was able to find the Respect 4 All opportunity through using The LFC Foundations webpage. Which uses TeamKinetic volunteering management system. The system was very easy to manoeuvre around and made finding and signing up to opportunities easy, I had no issues at all.
Anas usman aged 28 (physiotherapist)
Be happy and love what you do
What was great about listening to the volunteers was that I could tell that each volunteer I spoke to was passionate and happy to be volunteering at LFC. All the volunteers that I spoke to were happy and smiling, be it there first time or one of many. This reflects so positively on LFC and also the volunteering community.
Volunteering attracts a wide spectrum of people who volunteer for many different reasons. Education, helping the community, the love of helping others or being associated with local clubs. Each volunteer has a purpose of why they want to volunteer and what they want to get out of it.
The question is: What’s your purpose and what do you want to achieve from volunteering? Only you can know that.
You might remember our blog from last year when TeamKinetic’s Ash went down to the LFC Foundation to volunteer for the day. Well, this year it was Alex (me!) and Milo’s turn to have a day out. It’s fair to say we had a good time!
The journey
Our first business of the day was coffee. After a quick stop to Caffè Nero, armed with caffeine, we made our way to Manchester Piccadilly.
We arrived around 8:30 am with a comfortable amount of time to find our platform and get on the train. We then settled down to enjoy the hour-long trip to Liverpool Lime Street. Once in Liverpool, we had a bit of taxi trouble caused by my lack of geographical knowledge about the city! Eventually arriving at around 10 am, we were ready to get stuck in.
Finally arrived!
We were greeted by Dawn (the foundation’s volunteer manager) who filled us in on our duties for the day and gave us a lovely LFC Foundation t-shirt. Once kitted out, we threw ourselves in straight away with the warm-up game led by one of the LFC Foundation coaches. After embarrassing myself with a terrible dance move (it was part of the game I swear!), I was introduced to Rosie. She had attended the event the year before but seemed a bit shy – something I can relate to sometimes! I happily stuck with Rosie through the day’s activities.
The activities… aka 30-minute examples of how unfit I am!
The first activity on our schedule for the day was a mini-game of Boccia. I thought this would be a good, chilled start to the day… Well, I was wrong, the game is surprisingly competitive! I started out on the blue team, ready to ride or die for my teammates. Along the way, however, I was tossed between teams so much that my loyalties faded and I just wanted to win, regardless of the colour! After a highly enjoyable game, the team I was on won 7 – 6 in the end – which just so happened to be blue!
After this, we moved on to the big stuff – actual physical activity. One of the activities at this station was to dribble through cones with a football a few times each. As someone who hasn’t played football since the end of the uni year (April), I think my effort was respectable. Although, I have to admit it wasn’t my best work!
Now, don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the activity. It made me seriously consider joining the gym, but then again, a session at the gym wouldn’t be as fun as this was. While I was having a good time, when I heard the word “lunch” being thrown around I was more excited than I should have been (I did miss breakfast to be fair).
Time to chill…
Sitting down for lunch, my new buddy Rosie and I got a chance to chat. She seemed to get a lot out of these events that the LFC Foundation host. By this time I think she was coming out of her shell a little bit more and it was great to see the positive impact of the day on her mood. She was there with her brother and mother who was also a volunteer with the foundation. This was just one example of how the event was inclusive for all the family.
Thank you to everyone for attending our Inclusive Sports Day at the LFC Academy and to all our staff, volunteers and Academy players for helping at the event ! A brilliant day for over 80 families with plenty of sport and fun on offer! Well done all! 🤩🔴🎉⚽️ #Inclusionpic.twitter.com/tFT8Hh7exY
As we finished for lunch I was really looking forward to the next activities – I didn’t want the day to end! Our next activity was a few mini-games involving footballs and a goal, one of which was a penalty shootout. Something about giving my full effort and booting a ball, potentially at a child’s face, felt wrong to me so I took it easy. That was until the LFC Coach stepped in the goal and we all got a go against him. Now this, I was taking seriously! Thankfully my years of playing football didn’t let me down and I scored. I think this was my favourite station – after Boccia, of course!
Note: they brought out the Champions League trophy towards the end of this session and I fangirled a bit. At the end of the day it’s just a piece of metal, but what a beautiful, shiny, hunk of metal it is. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s anything I’ll be seeing my beloved Sheffield United win anytime soon!
All volunteers got a photo with the trophy!
Nearing the end…
With two stations to go, I was starting to realise the day was almost over. The first of our last two activities was an exercise involving lots of high/low fives. Afterwards, a few players from the Liverpool FC academy came over for a chat. The attendees got to ask the players a few questions. My favourite one was a bit of a cheeky one about money that they weren’t allowed to answer!
We then arrived at our last station of the day – a challenge where we had to throw beanbags to land on a target and a blind penalty shootout with what I can only describe as jingly balls. After realising I was no good at throwing beanbags, I turned my attention to the penalty shootout. The players were blindfolded as they tried to defend the goal from the non-blindfolded player rolling the ball into the net. The balls jingled as they rolled, giving an audible cue as to where they were and allowing the keepers to at least try and save them. This game just proved how accessible football can be.
Celebrations and goodbyes
The day ended with every attendee receiving a certificate and picture with Liverpool player Harvey Elliott.
All of us at TeamKinetic would like to thank everyone at the LFC Foundation for their hospitality. All staff and volunteers made us feel welcomed instantly – I would recommend volunteering with them to anyone who’s interested! To find LFC Foundation volunteering opportunities near you, click here.
We are honoured that a great organisation such as the LFC Foundation has found our software so useful for their volunteer management. To find out how our system can help you or your organisation, visit our website to book a free demo or call us on 0161 914 5757.
It’s been over two months since the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 captured the nation’s attention with some thrilling games; the tournament didn’t fall short of goals with 146 in total, and England’s semi-final v USA had us on the edge of our seats.
In the early 20th century, women’s football was very popular and grew in popularity as men went to war. The famous Dick Kerr Ladies played St Helen’s Ladies on Boxing Day in 1920, attracting over 53,000 spectators to Everton’s Goodison Park with thousands of fans watching from outside. Higher attendance figures than most football clubs today!
However, in 1921 the FA decided it would implement a ban on female participation in the sport. Football was considered to be unsuitable for women and they believed it should not be encouraged. Luckily, views began to change in the 1960s, with the Women’s Football Association (WFA) being formed in 1969. The ban on women’s football was officially rescinded in 1971 by the FA after persuasion from the WFA. We have to wonder what would have happened if women’s football was never banned… Would it be more popular than the men’s game today? Would we see more equality – or even total equality – in the sport?
England wasn’t the only country to ban the sport either, with bans in Norway (1931), France (1932), Brazil (1941), and West Germany (1955). In contrast, in 1972 the USA added legislation (named Title IX) that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex in any educational program or activity that received federal funding. In other words, when it came to football (or soccer) in school, men and women were awarded equal rights. This is probably why the USA are such powerhouses of women’s football today! However, they still can’t get equal pay from the US Soccer Federation.
On the rise again…
Since the first FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991, football has seen steady growth amongst women across the world. With an average of 150,000 female players competing in the affiliated league and cup competitions in England alone. Nevertheless, there is still room for improvement and growth.
Referee Stephanie Frappart also took charge of the 2019 UEFA Super Cup, making her the first woman to take charge of a major men’s UEFA cup final.
The game has come on a long way in many ways, in terms of the Womens’ World Cup which we all watched this summer and showed how much respect the women’s game is getting. We’re trying to make strides and there’s a long way to go but [the cup final] will be a huge moment because it’s one more step in the right direction.
Stephanie Frappart
Furthermore, the FA Women’s Championship started last weekend and the FA WSL returns this weekend with a massive game. Manchester City and newly-promoted Manchester United will battle it out for their first three points of the season at the Etihad Stadium. Tickets for all WSL and Championship games can be found here.
So how do we get more young females involved in football?
Maybe we should start by giving them the opportunity that was once taken away from them? Or maybe we could just make all women’s football more accessible to watch.
Well, The FA may have done just that! They recently announced that all 132 WSL games and select Championship games would be streamed live via their app. This is a massive step which will hopefully increase the viewership of women’s football. However, some don’t agree with the move, stating that it will lower stadium attendances.
Female involvement doesn’t have to stop at the participation level. Roles in football go beyond playing; coaches, referees, administrators, pundits, volunteers all contribute to the success of the sport too.
Organisations we work with that are making a difference:
We work with a number of organisations that sit at the forefront of football and are making a real impact when it comes to female participation. Some of these organisations include the Liverpool FC Foundation and the Manchester Football Association.
TeamKinetic caught up with Katherine Jones from the Manchester FA to talk about some of the work they do around the city to impact women’s football.
This is what she had to say…
What is being done at your organisation to ensure women’s football continues to grow, and what things could be done to improve this?
Katherine gave me a long list of great things the Manchester FA is doing to ensure the growth of the women’s game! The full list is as follows:
Work with leagues to ensure that suitable playing pathways exist, promoting the transition from youth to adult football.
Work with clubs to support them to develop a full pathway (U7-Open age) for female players to access football.
Run celebration events to enhance and celebrate the female game.
Raise the profile of the game through focussed promotion (Women’s World Cup, Women’s Euros, Olympic games).
Support clubs and organisations to run the FA Wildcats programme as the main engagement programme for 5-11-year-old girls.
Work with the local school sports organisers to facilitate and support girls football programmes across Oldham, Tameside, Trafford, Manchester and Salford.
Deliver a monthly further education football and futsal offer.
Drive and develop a monthly futsal offer for girls in the U8-U16 age group.
Deliver a recreational female football opportunity on a weekly basis.
Create a full pathway from casual entry-level participation, to our highest placed amateur teams within the regional league structure.
Support players performing well within grassroots football to access the Regional Talent Club pathway (Manchester City & Manchester United Girls RTC’s).
Support female referees and coaches along with officials working within the female game.
Have you seen higher success rates in any particular approaches so far?
“We’ve seen a lot of success across the board, to be honest, Wildcats is our flagship entry-level programme to engage new girls within football, and this has seen lots of success in bolstering mini soccer (5-11) participation. The programme has been rolled out across clubs and providers and we have 33 centres currently running across Manchester, which provides an opportunity for girls to access football, within a short travelling distance regardless of where they live within Manchester.”
Have you experienced any pushback from clubs/leagues around Manchester?
“We haven’t seen any pushback really, because the vast majority of people now understand the emphasis and importance of facilitating football opportunities for female players, and people are much more engaged with female football at the top level, so they appreciate the technical ability level that female players can reach.”
Why is it important to get more women involved in football/football volunteering?
“The importance of these opportunities and the role models involved in the game is significant to inspire the next generation of female football, and to ensure that the game continually grows as the first choice sport for women in England.”
I would like to thank Katherine for her time, answering my questions gave great insight into all the amazing work the Manchester FA do!
The importance of female volunteers in women’s football
Britain’s first female Muslim football referee
Football is the most popular sport in the world! Played by millions of people each day, but it simply wouldn’t be possible without volunteers.
There isn’t a football game or competition that doesn’t involve at least one volunteer. It goes without saying, volunteers are an integral part of sports success. This plays an even bigger role in women’s football!
The increase of female participation in football calls for more volunteers to ensure the game continues to expand and grow. By having more regular female volunteers, young girls getting involved in football/football-related activities can receive the support they deserve.
How volunteers can help football
There are a number of roles and activities volunteers can get involved in to help:
Volunteer with your local club
Most local clubs are always in need of volunteers to help out with a variety of roles on offer; from running social media accounts to being a fixture secretary.
Become a first aider
Every week teams play and every week someone gets injured, so there is always a desire for first aiders. St John Ambulance and British Red Cross run first aid training courses.
Become a coach
What better way to inspire the next generation of talented female footballers than to be the one coaching them? There are a number of ways of getting started and its a great way to challenge yourself.
For more information on how TeamKinetic 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
