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
This blog has been inspired by Rob Preston, a senior reporter at Charity Finance Magazine and the author of a recent article highlighting that fewer people are volunteering.
The article (Fewer people volunteering, says DCMS survey), highlights that only 36 per cent of people volunteered at least once in the year to March 2019. The lowest level recorded by the survey, which was run by The Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport. However, here at TeamKinetic we are committed to knocking down those barriers!
Childcare issues
Milo and his son intensely playing with Lego!
I know from being a parent myself looking after your child can be, to say the least, a tiring task. However, it is highly enjoyable, especially if you love playing with Lego as much as they do!
Childcare constraints do not need to stop you from volunteering, many volunteering opportunities can be done with your children.
MCRVIP has many child-friendly opportunities around the city like the cleaner city opportunity and the park maintenance opportunity, these are just two examples of where you and your children could volunteer and bond together. Not only is this something to do instead of being housebound but, it teaches the children the importance of volunteering and giving back to your community.
Having an illness or disability
Never let a disability hold you back, is the advice from Nicola Taylor, who didn’t let her disability get in the way of what she wanted to achieve in volunteering.
“I have cerebral palsy and am a wheelchair user. I felt very isolated as I had no social outlet. Previously I was invited to a presentation evening with Volunteering Matters and started talking to Mandy, from the SAFE project. About doing some volunteering for the project with her as I wanted to do something for myself and help others.
I have a particular interest in working with those with autism spectrum disorder as I have a nephew who is on the spectrum. When Mandy told me she would be starting a group with girls from the integrated autism service, I was very keen but felt there might be a financial impact as I would have to get an accessible taxi from my home. However, Mandy assured me that Volunteering Matters would cover the travel expenses – and that the venue would have disability access.
I am now co-facilitating the group and love it! I am helping others receive important messages and love seeing them gaining confidence week by week. Volunteering has helped me a lot; I feel pretty good about myself and I have also learned a lot from the workshops. I am keen to learn more and help out at further workshops in the future.”
Nicola Taylor
I hope Nicola’s story can inspire people to give volunteering a go. Volunteering has made a life-changing impact on Nicola’s life and It might just be able to do the same to yours.
Study commitments
Being a student myself I know the workload can be high, especially around deadline dates. So I understand finding spare time can be difficult. However, I recently got to chat with the successful student and volunteer El Afzal. El has been volunteering for quite some time now, some would say she’s a bit of a volunteering athlete!
How did you get into volunteering whilst at university?
“Through my tutors on my course (Event Management), and also through the MMU Sports TeamKinetic portal. I had very little experience in Events and really wanted to give myself the best start to my university time and career. My tutor guided me to a matchday volunteering with Manchester Futsal, running the reception and ticketing on matchdays. And I found my own volunteering through TeamKinetic where I volunteered at BUTL (British University Taekwondo League) UK Regional Taekwondo championships.”
How do you manage Studying and Volunteering at the same time?
“Despite most of it being linked to my degree and my career goals, I find the volunteering I’m doing to be my downtime. I have such a variety of volunteering under my belt that now I know what I’ll enjoy, and what will help me relax. So the first week of every month I go to Desert Island Discs with Manchester Cares in Ancoats, and have a brew with older neighbours and laugh and dance to some music. Or having post-match wings and drinks with Manchester Futsal team is a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
I do make sure that with my studying I have at least one evening off working and revision to do something I enjoy and that makes me feel happy, it helps keep a balance and stop me from getting too bogged down.”
Do you feel volunteering whilst being at university has helped you, and if so why?
“Yes, definitely! Volunteering has opened a lot of doors for me. It’s led me onto new roles in organisations I already volunteered at which has led to further job offers.
Volunteering genuinely has helped me develop some vital skills and industry knowledge which I needed. Also, it’s a fantastic way of naturally networking with others; I’ve had fellow volunteers wanting to help and offer introductions and work experience/internships with people they know.”
What would you say to any student who is studying at university but is apprehensive about volunteering?
“I’d say to do some research and find a role you actually want. Don’t volunteer somewhere if it doesn’t interest you because you won’t get as much out of it. Try looking at something that could fit your current skill set, or is with a company/charity you actually want to work with. But volunteering is more rewarding the more you put in, so you have to go in and be willing to get out of your comfort zone. So research, apply, enjoy and get stuck in!”
Never considered it or not aware of groups that need help
Many people don’t really know how they can get involved in volunteering, it can be on your doorstep, or abroad. Many just have never given it a second thought. But I hope I can enlighten a few people to give volunteering a go, all you need is your laptop, mobile or tablet to get started on your first opportunity near you. Here are a handful of sites which could kick start your volunteering opportunities.
Your local city or town council is the perfect place to start. Your council website will additionally assist you in being able to volunteer locally. For first time volunteers, I would highly recommend trying your council’s website as your first call to action.
You may not have realised it yet but local accredited volunteer centres are everywhere. They’re an excellent way for first-time volunteers to get involved, by understanding your interests they can match you with suitable volunteering opportunities.
TryVolunteering.com ran by us here at TeamKinetic, encourages all people from all walks of life to get involved in volunteering. TryVolunteering.com also allows people to set up accounts as opportunity providers, providers can then advertise volunteering opportunities – but don’t worry its all FREE!
Don’t just do it for yourself, do it for someone else. That’s the true motivation behind volunteering. Do-it.org connecting volunteers to volunteering opportunities from all around the country.
Charity Job is the UK’s largest site for charity jobs and volunteering. Thousands of positions can be found up and down the UK, no matter your location there will be something near you.
A final note from TeamKinetic
Life can throw up many barriers, some of which are hard to get over and may challenge us along our paths. But it’s the journey of how we get over these barriers and what we can learn from climbing over them. The secret is passion. Martin Luther King said, “A man who has not found something he is willing to die for, is not fit to live.” Perhaps an extreme sentiment, however, the point is very clear. We all must find a passion in life which we care about more than ourselves; this will give you the motivation, and inspiration to do more in life. Your passion may be volunteering and helping to improve other peoples lives; whatever it maybe it doesn’t matter, as long as your passionate – then you can overcome anything.
Those who stand to benefit the most from volunteering are less likely to be involved.
Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of the NCVO
We previously looked into the demographics of volunteers and why women volunteer more than men. However, there are many factors affecting the ratio of volunteers to non-volunteers. This blog will look into the impact of socioeconomic status and ethnicity on an individual’s likelihood to volunteer. Addressing the question: Is Volunteering Too White and Wealthy?
I want to start this blog by saying I am white. Therefore, I can’t speak for the experiences of BAME volunteers but I can help draw attention to them. It has been said that standing by and letting discrimination happen is as bad as actively discriminating against people yourself.
The Facts and Figures
Socio-economic Analysis
How often people volunteer, based on the deprivation level of the area in which they live.
The graph above shows us that people in deprived areas are volunteering, just not as much as those from the least deprived areas. Interestingly, the level of informal volunteering is much more similar across the levels of deprivation. Perhaps this suggests that those from lower socio-economic backgrounds do volunteer, they just prefer to give help directly, not through mediation by formal organisations. As a result, maybe we need to reach out to these types of people more and show them how useful online volunteer hubs can be to find new and exciting opportunities.
NCVO’s Time Well Spent report highlights that people from higher socio-economic groups were more likely to be recent volunteers than those from lower socio-economic groups (44% vs. 30%). 40% of those from lower socio-economic backgrounds say they have never volunteered in their lives. The instant thought here is that the people from working-class backgrounds must spend their time working to earn money and find they have no time to volunteer. Right?
Well think again; it’s actually people who are unemployed that have the lowest volunteering rates. 42% of people not working note they have never volunteered in their lives. The highest volunteering rates are found in those who have part-time jobs. 53% of those who worked less than 8 hours per week had recently volunteered, and 41% of part-timers who work 8 – 29 hours per week had volunteered recently at the time of the report.
A person’s socio-economic status also appears to affect what type of voluntary work they do. Those who would identify as working-class are less likely to be in leadership/organisational roles than those of higher or middle class. 23% vs. 15% for leadership roles. 42% vs. 33% for organisational roles.
Furthermore, the level of education a person possesses also appears to impact volunteering rates. The higher the education, the more likely a person is to volunteer.
Not Enough Ethnic Diversity
The proportion of recent, frequent, and non-volunteers by ethnicity.
NCVO’s report appears to show that participation isn’t too affected by ethnicity. However, looking at the sample size, we can see that only 464 were from BAME backgrounds while 9,606 were white. As a result, it is heavily suggested that the likelihood of volunteering is affected by an individual’s race.
Unfortunately, BAME volunteers were more likely to report negative volunteering experiences, including feeling unappreciated and excluded. For example, they were less likely to feel they belonged in the organisation they volunteered for than white volunteers (77% vs 85%). Shockingly, research by CharityJob showed that 54% of BAME voluntary workers reported discrimination based on their ethnicity.
I’m Asian and Muslim. I have come across people while working who have shown outright dislike of me from the onset and other more subtle forms of discrimination.
Furthermore, people from BAME backgrounds were less likely to say they planned to volunteer in future (73% vs 81%).
How Can Volunteer Managers Fix This?
So is volunteering too white and wealthy? Well, it’s clear that something is creating this lack of diversity in volunteering numbers. But what can volunteer managers do about it? Perhaps the most fundamental thing would be to check that you offer a wide range of opportunities, suitable for a variety of people.
Let’s look at important factors to consider:
Location – maybe there are people out there who would like to volunteer but don’t have any opportunities near enough to them and can’t afford to travel. Some sites even give people the opportunity to volunteer from home.
Skills Needed/Accessibility – making opportunities that are accessible and require no specific skills are likely to attract a wider and more diverse range of volunteers.
Flexibility – many people may not have the time to commit to regular opportunities. If you can communicate with potential volunteers and arrange a time and date that suits them, you may be more likely to increase the diversity of your volunteers.
It has also been suggested that the demographic gaps would close if more employers let staff take time off to do voluntary work, or organised company-wide volunteering schemes.
This Doesn’t Just Affect The Volunteers
It’s important to note that the lack of diversity isn’t just within the actual volunteers themselves, but also with the volunteer managers and organisation higher-ups.
Here are some quotes from BAME candidates going for volunteer management roles:
I have never seen a black female in senior management in a charity and I have been working in the sector for over ten years. As a result I feel unconscious bias which reduces my promotion opportunities.
Race discrimination may be subjective. However, it’s very real. In my personal experience, I believe that on several occasions I have been passed over for promotion to people with less experience, knowledge and competence for white colleagues.
Visible diversity within organisations matters to candidates:
Overall, we can assume that by listening to your volunteers talk about their volunteering experiences, changes can be made. This could make your volunteering roles more attractive to a wider number of people, and increase diversity.
Britain’s volunteer community is clearly tilted towards people who are white and middle-class, it’s about time that changed to become more inclusive.
How Can TeamKinetic Help?
TeamKinetic’s volunteer management software can help you analyse the demographics of your volunteers, including their ethnicity. This can give you great insight into who your volunteering opportunities are attracting – or not attracting. Our software ensures volunteers and providers both give feedback about every opportunity completed. Therefore, any problems faced (such as discrimination) can be dealt with swiftly.
Strategy and planning is one of the most important parts in being successful regardless of you’re doing. The right software can help ensure that you stay on top of all your volunteering opportunities far more efficiently than a spreadsheet. With TeamKinetic you can have your own customised volunteering portal where you can monitor everything that is going on within your organisation and start to plan.
TeamKinetic has a whole host of features aimed at enabling your volunteer programme; reminder notifications for volunteers via text and email, automated weekly newsletters that include the volunteer’s sessions, new events and opportunities, great searching so volunteers can find the best opportunities for them, and comprehensive reports to guide your strategy.
Although many volunteers do great work without expecting anything back, it would be naive to assume that giving them something in return for their efforts would not be a factor in improving retention. These incentives do not have to be large or valuable, just tokens of your appreciation which go a long way in showing that you care for the people who volunteer for you.
Retention is a running theme in a lot of successful volunteers programmes so this should be a high priority. Teamkinetic volunteer management software uses a badge reward system. There are automated badges awarded for reaching volunteer hour goals and fully customisable OpenBadges that can be awarded for any reason. This is a great way to motivate your volunteers as it will give them a sense of achievement when they reach the next badge and level.
Make Your Time More Productive
If you are solely responsible for managing the volunteers in your organisation this will take up a large chunk of your time. With TeamKinetic we aim to make the managing of volunteers as easy and as quick as possible.
TeamKinetic will give you more time for high priority tasks rather than worrying about where people are and if they’re doing the correct thing at the right time, giving you more time to plan and effect your volunteer strategy.
Video Tutorials
Our YouTube channel is packed with videos that show you the different ways we can help you and your volunteer programme.
How Can TeamKinetic Help You?
For the last 10 years TeamKinetic have been making market leading volunteer management software for hundreds of organisations in numerous industries. If you are in need of recruiting, managing and retaining both new and existing volunteers please do not hesitate to get in contact. Our expert help lines are open 9-5 Monday-Friday (0161 9145757) where any questions you have about to system can get answered. Alternatively you can send any email inquiries to info@teamkinetic.co.uk.
Being in the voluntary sector, we are all too aware of the importance of youth volunteers. Inspiring the millennials will create your next generation of reliable, hardworking volunteers. But how exactly do you go about doing that?
28% of millennials volunteered in the USA last year. They did 1.5 million hours of service in total, which is worth an estimated $36.7 billion. This just shows how valuable the voluntary sector can actually be to a country’s economy.
How Important Is The Next Line Of Volunteers?
HotelManagement.net recognise as much as we do the importance of the next line of volunteers. They spoke to the current ’30 under 30′ members and asked how they help out through volunteering or how they would like to if they had more time on their hands.
Barry D. Allen who is a General Manager at Double Tree Hilton says that if he were to have more time, he would dedicate it to going out into the community and promoting jobs within the hospitality industry. He says that he often meets people and thinks ‘why are they not in the hospitality industry?’. This would also help societal issues such as unemployment.
Volunteering is always top of mind for Bianca Destout, account executive at Marcus Hotels & Resorts “I can always find the time to be involved in my community because it is something that is very important to me,” she said. “I am a Big Sister through Big Brothers Big Sisters and have been for four years. This involves frequent outings with my 13-year-old men-tee in my free time. I am also on the Young Professionals Board for Make-a-Wish Wisconsin and I volunteer at several local events organized by our hotel human resources team and United Way.”
How To Attract Youth Volunteers
Gaining a good collective of young volunteers can be the key to having a successful long-running volunteer programme. Using incentives can initially be good to attract the younger volunteer audience. This does not have to be a paid incentive, many young people are looking for experience to build their CV’s. Meaning a good reference/developing skills can be worth more than monetary/material perks.
Having said this, it would not be unfair to suggest that giving them incentives would make them want to do more/ get involved. The perks in question have to be appropriate for the organisation putting out the opportunities. They cannot put a financial strain on themselves otherwise it will make the whole purpose of volunteering redundant. Getting young volunteers is obviously a fantastic thing however you don’t want to jeopardize the finances/future of the organisation.
Where To Find Youth Volunteers
Often the problem with getting a new line of volunteers is the initial contact with them. A great place to start if you’re looking for young hungry volunteers will be universities, colleges and schools. Educational establishments are usually very keen to speak to anyone that would be able to benefit their students’ futures. The key thing to getting in to talk to students about your opportunities is to get the schools on board with what you want to achieve and how that can also benefit them. Ways you can do this is through doing presentations and building awareness of your volunteer programmes online.
How TeamKinetic Can Help
For the last 10 years, TeamKinetic have been making market-leading volunteer management software for organisations in numerous industries. If you are in need of recruiting, managing and retaining both new and existing volunteers please do not hesitate to get in contact.
Our expert helplines are open 9am – 5pm Monday – Friday (0161 914 5757) where any questions you have about the system can get answered. Alternatively, you can send any email inquiries to info@teamkinetic.co.uk.
You may not know much about Brexit considering it’s not spoken about every single day! There are many rules and regulations that will affect the economy and organisations as a direct result of Brexit. This also applies to civil society organisations or Not-for-profits. So, how exactly can these types of organisations prepare for Brexit?
Do You Have EU Employees Or EU Volunteers?
If you are an EU citizen the government will be fully committed to safeguarding the rights of those who are legally living within the UK. Essentially what this means is that even when we leave the European Union you will not just be left or forgotten about!
You will still to be able to do all your volunteering opportunities the same as you did before, so there is no need to worry about that!!
Will My Organisation Still Receive EU Funding?
The UK will continue to work with organisations that have EU funded programmes that have been running from 2014 up until 2020. In the event of a no-deal Brexit, the government will be making people aware of the projects that have been agreed to be continued before we leave the EU. If you are funded by a country not in the EU, this will not be affected as it will have no relation to Brexit regardless if there is a deal or no deal.
What To Do If You Receive Personal Data From The EU
In the event of no-deal, if your organisation receives personal data from within the European Union this will greatly affect the way your organisation operates. One of the major implications that may possibly affect your organisation is that you must be fully GDPR compliant, this won’t be an issue for many as GDPR has been a requirement for some time now. For full information on data protection guidelines please click here.
What If We Import/Export Goods From With The EU?
There are many resources full of information about what is going to happen if we leave the European Union with no deal in regards to trading. For more information on specific scenarios that will be relevant to your organisation please click here. This will affect you if you import resources for your volunteering opportunities from other countries.
NVCO Research On Further Brexit Implications On Charities
The NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations) has many documents available on their website detailing specific details about volunteering and Brexit. For further information please visit their website here.
Volunteer Management- How TeamKinetic Can Help
If you are at all interested in making your volunteer programme the best it can possibly be with your own volunteer management software system, please do not hesitate to get into contact with TeamKinetic. We are available weekdays from 9am – 5pm for any phone support or inquiries you may have or alternatively you can email us on sales@teamkinetic.co.uk.
Recently we hit a huge milestone in volunteer management. After ten years of being in the sector we have just reached one million hours of volunteering activity logged through the TeamKinetic system. This is something that as a company we are very proud to have achieved but realised it would not have been possible without all the people that both work on and use the system.
We want to take the time to thank everyone that has had any role to play in helping us reach this achievement. All our customers and staff but especially all the volunteers that participate and log every volunteer hour they have contributed.
We’re Not Stopping There!
Although we are very happy with a million hours, there is no way that we are stopping there! We are very keen to reach our next million and we would love YOU to be a part of that! If you are looking for a volunteer management software system or are keen on improving your volunteer management do not hesitate contact us.
We are also very responsive on our social media channels which are available down below:
We have a customer service line that is available Monday-Friday 9-5. When connected to a call you will be speaking to one of our experts who will be able to answer any of the questions you may have (0161 914 5757). If you have any other general inquiries please contact sales@teamkinetic.co.uk for more information. Alternatively you can visit our website and request your FREE demo of TeamKinetic today!
OurYouTube Channel is packed with videos summarising exactly how we can help you as well a load of videos on our many features that we feel set us apart from the rest.
Our ambition was to build the very best online volunteer management application in the world. Part of our definition of the very best means easiest to use, as well as the most useful features. Unfortunately when you build software there is a real danger of “JARGON”! We know volunteer managers want to be great at managing volunteers not specialists in information technology. So I wanted to try to explain in plain English how TeamKinetic works
Software and Application
We sometime use these words interchangeably, but they often share the same meaning, which is to describe the TeamKinetic product. Application does not necessarily refer to mobile specifically, but it can do sometimes. So now I’ve cleared that up!
Cloud-based
The TeamKinetic application uses a group of computers that are connected via the internet to enable the website and mobile apps you see to work. These computers or servers as we call them form our cloud. This cloud contains a combination of our own private servers and third part services from people like Amazon and Google.
All our computers are based in the UK.
Software as a Service
As the internet has become faster, the need to go to the shop to buy your software on disk or CD is now a distant memory. Now your Software does not even need to be on your actual computer but lives on the internet and is provided by someone who’s only responsibility is to make that software great.
Back in the day you would go to a shop and buy a physical disk or CD (depending on how old you are) with your software on there. Once you got home you would install that software onto your computer, those were such innocent times. That software would then remain on your computer until you replaced your computer or bought the next version from the shop and put that on your computer.
The someone in the case of TeamKinetic is us. That’s Steve, Rolf, me and the rest of our team. We have built and continue to improve TeamKinetic for you to use. We take your advice and feedback, mixing that with the user data we collect and we try to look at the best ways to continue to improve the TeamKinetic experience.
Being on the internet means that you can browse the web from anywhere, you can access your TeamKinetic application on the go or comfort of your home. More importantly, this approach means you can concentrate on your volunteer management, whilst we focus on keeping the website working or ‘live’ as we call it. TeamKinetic make sure your data is stored appropriately and in accordance with regulations such as GDPR. We concentrate on making TeamKinetic work on all the different devices, such as iPhones, tablets and laptops. We have even start to look at Alexa. You don’t need to worry about things like servers, security or accessibility standards as we take care of all that.
TeamKinetic’s Software as a Service approach means you can be confident that your volunteer management system will always work and will always be making the most of the latest developments in technology, social media, regulation and user behaviour trends.
Licencing
As we provide TeamKinetic as an ongoing service we have developed a business that requires an ongoing fee or subscription, we call this our licence. To keep the servers working and up to the job, to ensure the developers continue to improve TeamKinetic, our customers to continue to support our work through the licence fee. This fee ensures you continue to get the help and support, software updates and that we can keep the power lights on all those computers here a TeamKinetic.
The team believe strongly in a ‘no-surprises’ approach to pricing. Our customers can be confident that we will not hit them with hidden costs. Our licence covers everything you will ever need to set up and keep your volunteer application running day-to-day. We are transparent about the few things that fall outside the licence fee.
Volunteer Management Software (VMS)
Different companies may each have a slightly different explanation as to what is volunteer management software, but for TeamKinetic we want to offer a place where volunteers can go to manage their volunteering, where organisations can post, recruit, on-board, training, deploy and track volunteer engagements. Where a volunteer reward and recognition is built into the experience. Where data and insight are generated in real time.
This is all delivered in a website that is easy to use and super flexible for your needs and that can integrate with your other digital systems. It is not the same as Customer Relationship Management software and its also not the sames as Human Resource software or scheduling applications that are out there, but it’s a curious mix of all the above built for your volunteers. If you want to know more about the differences and similarities feel free to read more about it here.
Get in Touch
There will no doubt be more jargon to contend with as you look through the product description, so please feel free to get in touch if we have failed to explain it in plain English.
If you want to talk about the more technical aspects of TeamKinetic SaaS then please do not hesitate to email me or call the office on +44 (0)161 914 5757 or contact us via our website
