Tag: Volunteer management system Page 8 of 34

Let’s Help To #ChangeTheStory

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On 18th January 2023

In Charity, News & Views

Reach Volunteering have created a campaign to celebrate the humanity that exists in the world. Reach Volunteering is the leading skills-based volunteering charity and the UK’s single biggest source of trustees for the voluntary sector. Their vision is to create a world where people come together to create a thriving, fair and sustainable society.

Reach Volunteering are encouraging people to #ChangeTheStory. Millions of people in the UK volunteer their time to help others, creating a better society. As a volunteer you can change the story and create change and inspire others to do the same.

The Common Cause Foundation Human Values 

Values help determine what is important to us and shape how we interact with other people and the more-than-human world. Values are important influences in many aspects of our lives. They also influence how we act on issues that affect the world around us. Research from The Common Cause Foundation found that 74% of us hold compassionate values as the most important. Yet 77% believe that everyone else holds selfish values as the most important. The misperception of other people’s values holds us back from tackling society’s challenges.

How You Can Help To #ChangeTheStory

Every day in the UK, people are acting on their compassionate values through volunteering. People need to see this and celebrate and encourage it. Both volunteers and organisations that involve volunteers can take part in helping to spread the message. 

  • Talk about the #ChangeTheStory campaign with other volunteers, your friends and people around you to encourage them to participate.
  • Volunteers can share their reasons for volunteering, this can inspire and motivate others to volunteer. Reach Volunteering have suggested posting a video to social media explaining your volunteer story. 
  • Whether you are a volunteer, or an organisation that involves volunteers, you can spread the message and post promotional content on social media using #ChangeTheStory until the end of January 2023.
  • If you are already a volunteer, keep doing what you are doing. You could also find new places to volunteer and encourage your friends and people around you to do the same.
  • As a volunteer, you can share your expertise with a charity that aligns with your values. You can find new opportunities here.
  • Get inspiration for how you can share your compassion and be kind to others with this article of 52 ways to spread love through acts of kindness.
  • As an organisation that involves volunteers, you can become a campaign partner which involves promoting the campaign and seeking quotes from your volunteers to share. You can email Reach Volunteering here to get involved: changethestory@reachvolunteering.org.uk

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Volunteering Is For Life, Not Just For Christmas

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On 11th January 2023

In Charity, Community, Education, Hospice, Local Authority, NHS, Sport

Charity work and volunteering are usually largely associated with the festive period, people want to donate their time to give back to help those less fortunate during Christmas.

Before Christmas, we posted a blog discussing the many available opportunities and ideas of where to volunteer at Christmas time. The reality is these organisations need help and support from volunteers all year round and not just during the festive period and volunteer managers may also find a large decrease in volunteers after this time. People in need aren’t just homeless or lonely during the festive period, similar to the well knowing saying from the Dogs Trust organisation, “A dog is for life, not just for Christmas”.

Support for people in need will need volunteers and donations more than ever especially due to the cost of living crisis. There are plenty of opportunities where organisations need help from volunteers all year round below and some ways volunteer managers can retain these volunteers throughout the year. 

Volunteering At Crisis

Crisis is a charity for people experiencing homelessness, each year they support thousands of people to help find safe and stable accommodation. Over the festive period, Crisis had thousands of volunteers across the UK providing companionship and serving and delivering hot meals. These volunteers are still needed throughout the year as homelessness is an ongoing issue, Crisis estimated that around 227,000 people were experiencing the worst forms of homelessness across England, Scotland and Wales in 2021. The charity is consistently creating new opportunities so you can find the one that suits you best.

You can find available volunteering opportunities near you on the Crisis website. 

Volunteering At Age UK

Age UK is a charity that helps older people that don’t have care or support from others or anyone to turn to, leading to 1.2 million older people in the UK experiencing loneliness each year. You can become a part of the Age UK community and provide support and raise money so people can get the help they deserve. Although older people may be particularly lonely during the festive period, they will also experience this all year round. A simple way you can make a difference is the telephone friendship service, just as little as 30 minutes of your time a week to talk to an elderly person over the phone can largely impact an older person’s life.

Volunteering At Charity Shops 

Volunteers for charity shops are needed now more than ever, since the pandemic thousands of volunteers in retail have been lost. The number of volunteers at charity shops in the UK has fallen by 24% since 2019.

There are plenty of organisations including Barnardo’s UK, British Heart Foundation and more that have hundreds of charity shops across the UK. Roles could include working the tills, decorating window displays or managing donations. Barnardo’s UK currently has 10,000 shop volunteers keeping their 700 shops up and running, but without the help of volunteers, these organisations could struggle. 

Tips For Volunteer Managers

As a volunteer manager, it may be difficult to retain these volunteers to carry on volunteering throughout the year and not just at Christmas time. Promoting that volunteering is a rewarding New Years’ resolution idea on your organisation’s website or social media, could encourage people to continue volunteering. 

Another way to retain your volunteers throughout the year is to offer flexible scheduling options for roles. People may be drawn to volunteering over Christmas because it means they only have to volunteer for a day or two. By making future opportunities flexible, people won’t have to commit to volunteering full-time.

You can read more about how to engage and retain your volunteers in 2023 here!

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

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Re-Engaging Volunteers After a Break

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On 5th January 2023

In News & Views, Volunteer Management

After the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it’s not uncommon for volunteers to lose their enthusiasm and drive. As a result, it’s important to find ways to re-engage your volunteers and get them excited about volunteering again. So how can you start re-engaging volunteers after a break?

re-engaging volunteers

First of all, you should define the problem. Volunteer engagement isn’t always easy, especially if your organisation has had volunteers take breaks from their terms of service. But if you identify exactly what the problem is, it’s easier to come up with solutions tailored to you and your volunteers.

Secondly, you should set goals before you start. If your goal is to have more effective volunteers who stay longer than [x] months at a time, then that should be reflected in all aspects of their experience with your organisation. Starting with their onboarding process, through to training sessions and regular check-ins or evaluations.

Remind them of their impact

One way to reengage your volunteers is to focus on the impact that their work has on the organisation and the community. Remind them of the difference that they are making and the reasons why their contributions are so valuable. You can also highlight any recent successes or achievements that the organisation has made, and how your volunteers played a key role in making those achievements possible.

Feedback for a volunteer left via TeamKinetic’s volunteer management system.

Through TeamKinetic, you can reward volunteers through HourTrades, custom reward badges, or simple ‘Thank you’ communications.

Offer exciting new opportunities

Another way to reengage your volunteers is to offer them new and exciting opportunities to get involved. This could include working on a special project or event, taking on a leadership role, or learning a new skill. By providing your volunteers with fresh challenges and experiences, you can help them stay engaged and motivated.

You can also try to make the volunteering experience more enjoyable and rewarding for your volunteers. This could include providing regular recognition and appreciation for their hard work, offering flexible scheduling options, and creating a supportive and inclusive volunteer community. By creating a positive and engaging volunteer culture, you can help your volunteers feel valued and connected to the organisation.

With TeamKinetic, you can utilise our many opportunity creation options to create something that stands out to your volunteers and will help them feel excited about getting back into volunteering with you.

Reach out individually

Finally, consider reaching out to your volunteers individually to check in with them and see how they’re feeling. If you can put together a list of disengaged volunteers, you may want to consider asking them if there’s anything specific you could do in order for them to return. Perhaps they need more support than other volunteers with similar roles, or maybe they just need some time away from volunteering altogether.

This can be a great opportunity to listen to their feedback and address any concerns they may have. You can also offer support and guidance to help them overcome any challenges they may be facing. By showing that you care about your volunteers and their well-being, you can help them feel more engaged and motivated to continue volunteering.

TeamKinetic’s search filters allow you to find those volunteers who seem to be disengaged. Reaching out to them directly can help them feel valued and like their work for you makes a real difference.

In conclusion, re-engaging your volunteers after the holiday season is crucial for the success of your organisation. By focusing on the impact of their work, offering new opportunities, creating a positive volunteer culture, and providing individual support, you can help your volunteers regain their enthusiasm and continue making a difference.

See also: How To Retain And Engage Your Volunteers for tips on how to keep your volunteers engaged all year round!

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

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

How To Retain And Engage Your Volunteers In 2023

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On 21st December 2022

In News & Views, Volunteer Management

2023 could be a challenging year to engage and retain volunteers due to the cost of living crisis; people may not have as much time to volunteer as they did previously because now people may replace volunteering with paid work. Ensure you start the year off by providing a high level of support to your volunteers, when volunteers don’t feel supported it can lead them to feel unmotivated and unengaged in the organisation. Below are some ways you can help retain and engage volunteers in 2023. 

Recognition And Rewards 

Show your volunteers how they make a difference. In the previous blog post, we spoke about how to reward your volunteers at Christmas, but volunteers shouldn’t just be rewarded at Christmas time, they should be rewarded all year round too. Highlight your volunteers’ successes to show them how their hard work has helped your organisation. You could note down the things they have done to help make a difference and then let the volunteer know, this will make them feel seen within the organisation. Volunteers want to feel needed, appreciated, and that they’re making a difference.

Stay Connected

Keep in touch with your volunteers and communicate on a regular basis. Whether this is through emails, phone calls or text messages it would be a good idea to see how people are getting on and if they are enjoying volunteering for the organisation. Also, due to the cost of living crisis and the new year, people may be struggling with their mental health and could be facing money issues, you can support your volunteers by regularly contacting them so you are the first to know if they are feeling unmotivated or burnt out. It’s also important to be in contact with your volunteers so you can let them know if there are any last-minute changes to shifts. 

Ensure that how you are communicating with the volunteers is personalised, by acknowledging the volunteers’ names and what they do you are able to connect with them on a much deeper level and they will feel noticed. Listen to what feedback your volunteers have to say, they can give you valuable information and important questions and concerns that you need to address.

Develop A Community

Build a sense of community among your volunteers. This way they can feel connected to each other and become better connected to you which can help with volunteer retention. If the volunteers build friendships and get to know others in the organisation then it will encourage them to stay and continue volunteering for the organisation as they are surrounded by a friendly and welcoming environment. 

Online catch-ups with all of your volunteers or in-person social events can help them to feel comfortable around one another and develop relationships. Having fun catch-ups or socials with volunteers can also allow them to feel engaged and supported through their volunteering experience.

Training And Upskilling 

Understand the motivations of your volunteers, this way you can help them to accomplish what they want to achieve. You can talk to your volunteers to understand what they would like to learn from their volunteer experience. This can help you provide value to your volunteers which can keep them engaged. Motivations could be people wanting to gain different skills or improve current ones. By training volunteers they can feel supported and volunteers can feel valued. Improving their skills can also benefit the organisation too as fully trained staff can help make an effective difference to the organisation. If volunteers are fully trained they can complete the volunteering to the best standards and feel satisfied with the hard work and the support they have been given.

Key Takeaways

Overall 2023 could be a very challenging year to engage and retain your volunteers, a combination of strategies may work best to keep people volunteering for your organisation. Flexible opportunities may be more suitable as people might not have the time to volunteer as they are picking up extra paid work elsewhere to help them through the current cost of living crisis.

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

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Have you enjoyed using TeamKinetic? If you could leave us a review on G2, we’d really appreciate it! We’ll even send you a little thank you.

TeamKinetic 2022 Round-Up

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On 20th December 2022

In News & Views

The end of 2022 is fast approaching – what better time than now to look back at the past year with a TeamKinetic 2022 round-up?

It’s been another challenging year for everyone, but the amazing work done by volunteer-involving organisations continues.

We have had a year full of development, with regular updates and one major release. We also had a few staff highlights, like Rolf’s volunteering-filled trip to Borneo and Alex seeing England take home the Women’s EURO 2022 trophy.

January – March

In January we started our own podcast! Chris had been wanting to start one for a while, but at the start of the year we finally took the plunge and TeamTalk with TeamKinetic was born.

We kicked things off with Season 1, featuring Willowbrook Hospice, The Pankhurst Trust, Manchester City Council and the Association of Volunteer Managers.

Find and listen to all our current episodes below.


We also brought out a 2.1.1 Interim Release that included new features like email failure reports, more sortable tables, and a refresh to the news feature.

April & May

In April, the Kindocoin SBRI project officially launched Phase 2. TeamKinetic is one of two companies developing and evaluating our prototype solution in a real-world setting. You can read more about what we’ve been working on here, along with more information from Health Innovation South East Scotland.

In May, we attended Volunteer Expo – a fantastic event that connects communities and brings together many sectors under one roof to celebrate what it is that unites us. There were a range of interesting talks held at the event, but one that really caught our eye was the launch of the Vision for Volunteering.

There are five threads of the launch:
1. Awareness and Appreciation,
2. Equity and Inclusion,
3. Experimentation,
4. Collaboration
5. Power

For each of these themes, the Vision for Volunteering highlights their ambitions and what volunteering should be like 10 years from now.

June

In June we said hello to our new Marketing Coordinator, Isabella! You can read her introductory blog here.

However, that meant we had to say goodbye to Katie as she returned to her final year at university to finish her degree. We wish Katie the best of luck and hope to continue seeing her at occasional TeamKinetic socials!

As is always the case with new arrivals and staff members leaving, we had to go on a little work social. We made our way over to Roxy Ball Room to have a few games of shuffleboard and crazy pool – along with a few drinks of course!

@teamkineticuk

did we know the rules of shuffleboard before this? no. do we now? …still no.

♬ FEEL THE GROOVE – Queens Road, Fabian Graetz

July and August

In July, we restarted the TeamKinetic Masterclasses! These seem to have been well received and hopefully, we can continue them into the new year.

If you have any suggestions for topics you might like to see covered in the future, please let us know. Either reach out via email or through our website’s live chat.

You can see most of our Masterclasses over on our YouTube channel by clicking here.

In August, we announced our next major update, the TeamKinetic 2.20 Major Release. We invited our users to start beta testing to iron out any remaining bugs and received lots of helpful feedback.

September

September saw the return of the TeamKinetic annual conference! This year we brought a range of exciting speakers from across the third sector together, all tying into our main conference theme:

‘Volunteering to 2030: What might the future look like?’

Day One took a deeper look at the TeamKinetic system as it stands today and how it could change in the future. Day Two focused on the third sector as a whole. Our speakers shared their views on best volunteer management practices and how managers may need to adapt for the future.

If you couldn’t attend the conference, don’t worry, you can catch up on some of the sessions in this playlist.

 October

After the warm reception for Season 1, we decided to refresh the format of our TeamTalk Podcast. Season 2 saw the introduction of a co-host: Imogen Greatbatch! Chris and Imogen delved into the world of sport volunteering together, talking to a range of people from organisations such as Sport England, British Blind Sport, and Formula E.

Who knows what’s in store for season 3… If you have any suggestions or would like to be in an episode please do let us know by contacting either Chris or Alex.

November

In early November, after meticulous testing and taking in all user feedback, we rolled out the update across all sites. The new update included:
– A new system for creating opportunities.
– Better sharing options via LinkWide & the national Scottish system MILO.
– Bulk email scheduling.
– Reporting improvements
and much more!

We also headed out on a work social. We got some drinks, ate some pizza and headed over to the lovely Albert Hall to play some Bongo’s Bingo. I think it’s safe to say some of us played more bingo than others…

December

And here we are now, in December. We just rolled out two exciting new features: Admin Chat and Bulk Actions on Sessions.

The Admin Chat gives all our admin users a space to interact with each other. Whether it be a general chat or sharing your volunteer management hints and tips. The new Bulk Actions on Sessions allows you greater control over editing multiple opportunity sessions in one go.

It’s been an eventful year, one we can really build on in the future. We hope to continue to grow as a company and make the TeamKinetic system the best it can be.

Thank you for coming on this journey with us.

All that’s left to say is Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to those that celebrate. And, finally, have a Happy New Year – we’ll see you in 2022! 

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

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Have you enjoyed using TeamKinetic? If you could leave us a review on G2, we’d really appreciate it! We’ll even send you a little thank you.

How To Reward Your Volunteers This Christmas

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On 14th December 2022

In Christmas, Community, Holidays, Volunteer Management

It’s important to reward your volunteers all year round and not just at Christmas time, but if your volunteers celebrate Christmas, then it would be nice to say thanks for all the help and support they’ve given to your organisation this year. Due to the cost of living crisis, it may be a struggle this year for charities to fork out gifts for all their volunteers however, most of the ideas listed below are affordable.

Personal Cards

Writing a letter or Christmas card that is personalised to each volunteer with a unique message shows that you have recognised the work of each individual volunteer and are thanking them for the difference they have made to the organisation.

An inexpensive way of doing this is sending personalised emails to your volunteers instead this way you can save on printing costs. Ensure you keep track of the types of things each volunteer does throughout the year to keep your organisation going, this shows you have appreciated their hard work and have noticed the small things they do. 

Certificates And Awards

Reward your volunteers with certificates to celebrate their hard work, you can be flexible to match the certificate to the volunteer. On the certificate, you can include things like how many hours have been completed by the volunteer this year to show how much they’ve helped the organisation and the difference they’ve made. These certificates could also be sent out via email to save printing costs. 

Handing out physical awards could be a more expensive way to reward your volunteers however, you could handmake the awards to make them more affordable for your organisation. An easy alternative instead of buying awards is printing out what you want the award to say and framing it. Award ideas could include “Most Enthusiastic Volunteer”, “Most Motivating Volunteer” or “Volunteer Of The Year” and other similar personality traits that carry your organisation. 

A Christmas Party

A Christmas party may be a struggle for most charities and organisations due to the cost of living crisis. Venue hire and catering may be out of budget so a cheap alternative is to have a virtual party over an online call involving a Christmas quiz with small prizes to be won.

Even though this is very lockdown-esque way to celebrate, it’s an affordable and easy alternative that doesn’t involve much planning to get all your volunteers in one place. There are many available Christmas quizzes online or you can have some fun and make up your own! 

Homemade Gifts 

Homemade baked goods or Christmas ornaments are an inexpensive way to reward your volunteers this Christmas. Who doesn’t like baked goods at this time of year, this is also a cheap option that anyone would be happy with. Some ideas for Christmas baked goods can be found here.

Making your own Christmas tree decorations or ornaments is a sustainable and affordable way to say thanks, this way volunteers can re-use the decoration each year and be reminded of the hard work they have achieved. There are plenty of ideas online for DIY Christmas decorations. Eight cheap and easy decoration ideas can be found here!

Give Volunteers Recognition On Your Blog

If your organisation has a blog, you could write a blog post thanking your volunteers. This means their work can also be recognised outside of the organisation. Similarly, you could create posts for social media with the volunteers’ names and a photo of their efforts. This is a free and easy way for volunteers to feel special and receive acknowledgement for their actions. 

Make sure your volunteers feel appreciated and recognised all year round for their hard work – not just at Christmas time.

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

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

TeamKinetic 2.2.1 Minor Release

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On 12th December 2022

In Application Features and Tutorials, TeamKinetic Features, Technical Updates

Just a small release with some bug fixes but still a couple of new features for added value!

Bulk Actions on Sessions

Great time saver here for those that deal with many sessions on an opportunity. Similarly to when you are using the volunteer or opp search, you can check individual, or all sessions, and perform some actions on them.

Currently, you can email all the volunteers on that session, update the session’s time and duration, download the volunteer details for everyone on the selected sessions, and delete the selected sessions. There is also the potential to add further actions if anyone has any great ideas.

Admin Chat Rooms

We hope you’ll get on board and make use of this new feature where you’ll be able to ask advice and give advice to your fellow volunteer coordinators.

We’ve currently got three fixed rooms and you can add new posts and reply in much the same way as you do now for the opportunity chat rooms. You can also subscribe to each room and get email alerts when new posts are added.

You’ll find the chat rooms in the Help and Support menu. We are quite excited about this and hope you can use it to good effect.

As always, we are ready to take your feedback and questions in all the normal channels.

Where To Volunteer This Christmas

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On 7th December 2022

In Christmas, Community, Holidays

Volunteering at Christmas time is one of the most popular times of year people choose to donate their time to help, therefore opportunities usually get filled up quickly. 

Many families and groups of people are struggling every day but with the most difficult time of year being just around the corner and due to the cost of living crisis, the help of volunteers is needed now more than ever. 

To everyone who celebrates Christmas, it is fulfilling to help make someone else’s Christmas the best it can be. Many charity appeals are organised in the run-up to Christmas to help those in need. Some examples of where to volunteer in the UK this Christmas can be found below, these include The Salvation Army, Crisis Christmas centres, Age UK and many more.

Homeless Shelters 

The festive season can be particularly hard and lonely for homeless people, and shelters are likely to be particularly full this year due to the cost-of-living crisis. Helping out during Christmas at homeless shelters usually involves sorting through donations, serving food and offering general support by communicating with people who may be lonely during this period. 

Centrepoint, the charity that supports homeless young people, warns that this could be the worst homelessness crisis in the charity’s 50-year history, as the pandemic has led to thousands of young people losing their jobs and their accommodation therefore extra help from volunteers and donations are needed now more than ever. Volunteer opportunities for Centrepoint can be found here. 

Crisis is a national charity for people experiencing homelessness. With the help of others, Crisis want to ensure as many people as possible can leave homelessness behind this festive season. They will be extending their services in London providing support and accommodation in hotels from the 20th of December to the 25th of January. You can find available volunteering opportunities for Crisis here. 

Women’s Shelters

The Christmas holiday period can often see more frequent incidences of domestic violence, due to factors such as more time spent at home with abusive partners, and additional financial pressures due to the cost of living crisis. You can contact a Women’s Aid domestic violence service or refuge in the area where you live to see if they have any volunteering opportunities available for you to offer your support this Christmas. Some available opportunities from The Pankhurst Trust can be found on their website.

Charity Shops

Charity shops are particularly busy during the run-up to Christmas so stores may need some extra support. The Salvation Army are currently looking for volunteer helpers to get involved with all kinds of activities for their many community charity shops. Their shops are suitable places for people of all ages and abilities to volunteer, tasks include operating the till and creating festive window displays. The Salvation Army has available opportunities here. 

Warm Banks

More than 3000 registered organisations have opened or are opening up free, warm, welcoming spaces for the public this winter across the UK with Warm Welcome. These warm spaces are usually in a heated building, which members of the public can use to help them save on their home energy bills. You can contact local charities involved with Warm Welcome to see if they need volunteers for their warm banks.  

Food Banks

Give someone the food they need this Christmas and dedicate your time to helping a food bank. You can find a local food bank with opportunities near you using The Trussell Trust website.

FareShare is another food bank charity that stops good food from going to waste and gives it to people who need it. Fareshare has plenty of opportunities which can be found on their website. 

Supporting People Feeling Lonely This Christmas 

Elderly people can feel isolated and lonely at this time of year especially when they are in a care home.  Through volunteering, you can support older people who may otherwise spend the holidays alone. According to Age UK, “Almost 1.5 million older people feel more lonely at Christmas than any other time of year.” You can volunteer for Age UK to do their telephone friendship service where you phone an elderly person weekly, last Christmas, Age UK supported 28,345 telephone friendship calls to older people. 

Remember that volunteers for are needed all year round for charities like these and not just at Christmas. If you need help organising volunteers during this busy festive period, check out our website.

 

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

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Are you Missing out on Billions from Corporate Volunteering?

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On 1st December 2022

In Charity, News & Views

According to research from Pilotlight, corporate volunteering could generate up to £17 billion for UK charities. The report also calls for UK employers to do more to support skills-based volunteering in their communities.

So what’s stopping corporations from encouraging their employees to volunteer? Some leaders say it’s difficult to find opportunities that align with company goals. Maybe some corporate leaders just aren’t looking, or aren’t aware, of the vast opportunities available. Not to mention the benefits they can provide.

It’s not as if the demand isn’t there, the report states that 45% of adults would like to use the skills or knowledge they have developed at work to help out charities, good causes or community groups on a voluntary basis.

There is a push to move towards a ‘workout culture’. This involves actively encouraging and supporting employees to use their time and skills to support charities and get involved in their community. Overall, it builds a stronger, more progressive company culture.

Promoting the Benefits

Allowing workers to volunteer is known to increase employee well-being, improve retention, and increase attraction to potential employees.

Furthermore, while volunteering helps the community, it could also help improve an organisation’s culture. Corporate volunteering days provide a chance for employee bonding – especially relevant due to the face-to-face time lost during the pandemic.

Recent research from the Charity Retail Association shows that charities are experiencing volunteer shortages, with many reporting that these shortages have had a negative effect on income. What better way to fill these gaps than through corporate volunteering? Promoting the benefits of volunteering and tugging on the heartstrings a little bit can’t hurt anyone.

What can Charities do?

An area on your website specifically dedicated to outlining what corporate volunteering is on offer is a great help. The first step is to make key information easy to access.

Any organisation with volunteering opportunities should be promoting them digitally. This is the best way you can reach a wide audience. This might involve posting on social media, or investing in a volunteer management system.

We appreciate some organisations may not be able to afford digital tools like volunteer management software, that’s why we created TryVolunteering.

TryVolunteering allows you to advertise your opportunities for free on our national platform. Get started today by signing up as a Provider. You can set up your own profile and invite your existing volunteers to sign up. We will also automatically link all volunteers who sign up using your link to you.

An example of a public-facing profile on TryVolunteering.

In addition, our varied pricing options mean there’s something to suit organisations of any size. With our cheapest option starting from just £19 per month. Find out more on our website. You can even share your opportunities to other local TeamKinetic sites to really maximise your reach.

What can employers do to encourage their employees?

  • Talk to your employees.

    Firstly, find out what it is they might want to get out of volunteering. Find out what they’re interested in, particularly if it aligns with your company’s goals. Employees will be more enthusiastic about volunteering if it connects with their values.

  • Reach out to charities.

    Find charities that work in the fields you’ve identified as important to your company and employees. This could even end up becoming a long-term partnership for ongoing corporate volunteering days.

  • Start spreading the word!

    Tell your employees how they can join in, explicitly promoting the benefits. Why not give them a paid day off to get involved? Mention it in your meetings, newsletter, emails – basically any communication channel.
    You should also set up a way for employees to give feedback on what worked and what might not have worked, this allows you to improve your volunteering days as time goes on.

  • Celebrate your achievements.

    Volunteering is a great way to pick up new skills and put those you already have into practice. Posting about your volunteering on social media and internal email updates can also be a great morale booster for employees.

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

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

The Best Ways To Volunteer During The Cost Of Living Crisis

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On 30th November 2022

In Community, News & Views

The current cost of living crisis will affect us all, but the impact will be disproportionately felt by those who are already struggling. Charities and organisations that provide essential services such as food banks, warm banks, mental health services, and helping people facing homelessness are being largely affected. UK Fundraising reports, for example, that 9 out of 10 food bank charities fear they can’t meet the rise in demand. Charity Times also reports that some charities are now referring their own staff to food banks.

Volunteering in food or warm banks is crucial during these times. However, there are also other volunteering options such as befriending schemes for people feeling isolated. Some suggestions for where you can donate your time to help are listed below. 

Food Banks 

Nearly seven million people are said to be going hungry in the UK, including two million children and this is becoming a more significant struggle due to the cost of living crisis. 

The cost of living crisis is leading to increased need and rising costs for food banks which has also meant there is a need for more volunteers to donate their time. Staff and volunteers at food banks are working tirelessly to support people in their communities. Food banks in the Trussell Trust network provided more than 2.1 million parcels to people facing financial hardship.

Homeless Shelters 

For many people across the country, there is a big risk of being forced into homelessness because of the inability to keep up with increasing living costs. It is impossible to deal with the rising cost of living when you are already struggling to find a secure and stable place to live. Crisis research published in March 2022, showed that families on the breadline face an average £372 deficit between their Local Housing Allowance and the cost of the cheapest rents in their local areas.

The Crisis charity receives almost no government funding. The generosity of their supporters and corporate partners is what allows them to continue to be there for everyone that needs them. Support from volunteers allows them to deliver services to help people experiencing homelessness. 

Supporting The Well-being Of Others 

Well-being and mental health also play a big factor during this crisis. Money problems can cause high amounts of stress and people may be feeling down. With the run-up to Christmas fast approaching, people may not be able to afford to give gifts or celebrate it in the way that they usually do so volunteering to support the well-being of others is crucial.

Warm Banks 

As energy prices rise along with the cost of living, an increasing number of so-called warm banks have been popping up around the UK. These warm spaces are usually in a heated building like a community centre or village hall. Members of the public can use them to help save on their home energy bills. One story from the BBC is of two friends who have set up a warm bank offering homemade soup. People can stay as long as they want to keep warm, and it helps them to feel less isolated or lonely. This couldn’t be done without the help of volunteers, other stories of warm banks can be read here. 

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