Tag: Volunteer system Page 10 of 14

How Willowbrook Hospice Transformed Their Volunteer Management…

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On 27th January 2022

In Case Study, Hospice

The majority of work we refer to in Willowbrook Hospice’s case study is based on figures and interviews from the year 2020. This data has then influenced the extra research conducted in the hospice sector.

It is also worth noting that these figures are taken from the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic and with fewer people volunteering, the activity on the system we’ve recorded has been limited.

Before TeamKinetic

We’ve previously spoke to Willowbrook Hospice’s volunteer manager, Bev, about how they managed volunteers before TeamKinetic and what it was that made Willowbrook decide to look into a volunteer management system.
Before TeamKinetic, they were managing volunteers through an access database described by Bev as an “archaic system”- with no way of contacting volunteers. With the access database, they’re was no opportunity for interaction and Bev realised that they needed something that would better manage their volunteers.

They realised they needed something web-based that can be accessed from anywhere. The system previously in use was linked to the NHS SHK system, it couldn’t be accessed at any time or place. Willowbrook decided they needed something shop managers could also use; this when they decided to start looking for a volunteer management system and came across TeamKinetic.

Moving to TeamKinetic and Implementation

Willowbrook Hospice chose TeamKinetic after seeing how local we are, watching a number of videos on our YouTube channel and speaking with our Director of Sales, Chris.

At TeamKinetic, we are constantly changing and adapting to suit our customers needs. This was another factor that “sold” us to Willowbrook – they knew if they ever suggest anything, we will take it on board and look into adapting the system to include this. 

Regarding implementation, Bev openly mentioned that they needed “lots of planning”, but Steve, our Implementation Consultant, helped with all their planning needs. Willowbrook has numerous shops and with the way they manage their volunteers, it helped them to have a staged way of implementing the system.

They started with one shop first, and shop by shop they managed to get all their volunteers on board. Bev even mention that COVID-19 helped them in some ways; having shops closed gave them the time to fully roll out the system to the volunteers. Joining TeamKinetic also allowed them to have a “data cleanse” – speaking to volunteers who didn’t want to volunteer anymore. With a new system, Willowbrook now know that the volunteers they have registered are the ones who are active and want to volunteer.

COVID-19

COVID-19 affected everyone, including Willowbrook Hospice. While we’ve has multiple lockdowns, the Hospice’s nine shops have been closed during those times . The pandemic also meant that the fundraising team at Willowbrook had to come up with ways to ensure they came up with COVID-19 safe fundraising events. So, having TeamKinetic really helped them with managing their volunteers during COVID-19 safe events. This is what Bev had to say about using TeamKinetic for one of these events:

We had an event that came up where we could sell things in a local Garden Centre. It’s something we had to implement quite quickly because it was over Christmas and the garden centre had told us that if we wanted a stall to sell our Christmas cards and other things then we could. So within half an hour, I had created it on TeamKinetic and had it emailed out to all the volunteers. I would say within the hour, we filled up all the slots for two weeks worth of people volunteering for it. I think that raised over £2,000; without TeamKinetic that would never have happened.

Bev Neilson, volunteer manager at willowbrook hospice

As well as events, from a communication point they were able to stay in contact with volunteers throughout every stage of the pandemic; something that was very important to them. Before TeamKinetic, staying in touch with volunteers was “virtually impossible” and would have involved bulk emails which never worked because the NHS system was too slow for them. Now, they can email and text volunteers from one system with a click of a button.

In addition to this, having the TeamKinetic system available to them during the pandemic allowed them to set up a ‘befriending system’ between the volunteers. From this, they have been able to keep volunteers in touch with each other, solely from the private notes function on the TeamKinetic system.

Willowbrook’s Volunteering by Index of Mulitple Deprivation Rank (IMDR) For All Volunteers Registered Since 2020

This graph shows the number of Willowbrook Hospice volunteers by decile. That is the number of volunteers with a home postcode that is ranked using IMDR.

1 = bottom-ranked postcode area in bottom 10% ranked area of England

10 = top-ranked postcode area in the top 10% ranked area of England

These figures are interesting to see as volunteering is typically viewed as a traditionally middle-class activity. A report by NCVO supports this, as their statistics show 48 per cent of those who volunteered in the last 12 months have a degree compared to 20 per cent who have no qualifications. Some 42 per cent of unemployed people have never volunteered, compared to 21 per cent of those who work part-time.

This is of course also impacted by the fact that Greater Manchester has more postcode areas that fall into the bottom 50% according to the IMDR rank. Despite this factor, I believe it is captivating that despite these statistics, Manchester shows that poverty is not a defining factor in their willingness to volunteer.

When looking at this graph, it shows that Willowbrook has been able to recruit and retain volunteers from all different postcode ranks in England. Showing their inclusivity in welcoming all volunteers into their volunteering programme. 

Age

As evidence shows, volunteering is often found to be a pursuit of older individuals. This typically comes from them having more spare time to volunteer than others. Although Willowbrook’s figures around age profiles accurately represents this statement, their figures also show the rising ability to recruit younger volunteers. This comes from the use of TeamKinetic as their volunteer management system. We are able reduce barriers into volunteering, especially for younger volunteers who are digitally engaged through TeamKinetic. We also allow for a quicker and easier recruitment process, something that is favoured in young people volunteering.

Gender

Stereotypically, data from the voluntary sector normally suggests a divide of 60% female volunteers and 40% male volunteers. Linking to this, evidence and research online also suggests a gender split in hospice volunteering with far more female volunteers over male volunteers is common.


Therefore, these figures from Willowbrook are not surprising with over 3/4 of volunteers being female. Despite this, Willowbrook Hospice does demonstrate inclusivity in volunteers with a range of female, male, transgender, and non-binary volunteers getting involved in hospice volunteering. This shows the TeamKinetic system is successful in ensuring anybody can register to be a volunteer as however they identify, allowing further inclusivity in the voluntary sector.

Opportunity Data

Volunteers recorded 16,007 hours of volunteering in the system from 2020. These hours took place over 49 opportunities.

The top 8 most popular opportunities regarding the number of hours undertaken by volunteers are:

1 Retail
2 Admin
3 Fundraising Events
4 Teaching Roles
5 Reception
6 Gardening
7 Catering 
8 Driver

As you can see above, the top 8 most popular opportunities is a very diverse range. This shows that since Willowbrook has been using TeamKinetic they have been able to recuit volunteers onto a wide variety of volunteering opportunities. Since Willowbrook Hospice rasies a lot of their funds from their charity shops, it is not a shock to see retail at the most popoular choice. Alongside this, one off fundrasing events are always popular amongst the volunteering community.

Support

To conclude, when on our Enterprise Plan you get telephone support from 9:00 am-5:30 pm, online chat support, support tickets you can raise in the system, YouTube ‘How To’ videos, and Facebook groups and livestreams. From this, we asked Bev from Willowbrook Hospice, who is on the Enterprise Plan, how she found the support she has received from TeamKinetic. Here’s what she had to say:

So from the beginning, and I will say, the support has been absolutely fantastic. If I ever send an email or put a support ticket because I need something, the efficiency is fantastic and I think that it’s that personal touch we get from TeamKinetic. I think if we’d have gone to one of the bigger companies, we wouldn’t have got that.

With TeamKinetic, you never feel like any questions stupid,
because I have asked some really silly questions in the past, but actually they’ve come back and easily explained everything to me.

I also think the help videos have been really good. We’ve sent those through to shop managers for them to watch. And I think that’s helped them train them, so I would definitely say support has been absolutely fantastic and I can’t fault that at all.

BEV NEILSON, VOLUNTEER MANAGER AT WILLOWBROOK HOSPICE

Find Out More…

TeamKinetic helps to build better volunteer communities by providing great tools for volunteer managers that save time, increase impact and improve insight. Our goal is to make volunteering easy for everyone no matter what. But don’t take our word for it, why not check out our customer reviews.

For more information on how we 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

Should you still be working with online volunteers post-covid?

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On 13th October 2021

In COVID-19, Volunteer Management

Now we’re heading back to ‘normal’, should you still be working with online volunteers? YES! By recruiting online volunteers from quite literally anywhere you’re expanding your reach. When it comes to volunteering: the bigger your reach, the better! Virtual volunteering slots here perfectly. 

In today’s blog post, we’re outlining the ways you can make sure your virtual opportunities stand out from the rest. 

Making Your Opportunity Stand Out

Your Opportunity Title. When creating your opportunity, make sure your title is compelling and attractive. A volunteer is more likely to join an opportunity that instantly excites them, so having a strong title is key. It’s also worth mentioning somewhere in the title that the opportunity is remote. 

Opportunity Description. Simply, don’t post the full list of details. Searching volunteers are likely to be leading with emotion – and a long description of there duties isn’t going to entice them. We suggest giving snippets of their duties but focus on explaining the impact they’ll be making.

Jargon. For a number of volunteers, this is their first time volunteering. Any specific language or acronyms should be left out. It’s most likely going to confuse potential volunteers, so keeping it as simple as possible will get more interest from new volunteers.

Calls To Action. Give potential volunteers the ‘next steps’ for joining an opportunity. Your opportunity should always have contact details too, for any other questions or support they might require. 

Image Use.  The use of imagery taps into volunteers’ emotions. Using the right image can trigger mirror neurons in the brain, so the volunteer feels the emotions portrayed in an image. Your images can also show that your organisation is inclusive to all. It’s important that your imagery is right, and sends the right signals to those browsing. 

Checking Your Posting. Once your post is complete, make sure to double check it. Go through and check that all the information is correct as well as looking out for any spelling/grammatical errors. It’s also worth, once posted, looking at the opportunity through a potential volunteer’s eyes – do they have everything they need to join? 

Are You Screening Your Volunteers?

Now that you’ve perfected your opportunity listing, and you have a set of virtual volunteers, the screening process can begin! What should you be considering when it comes to your volunteering screening process? 

At the outset, you need to find out where your volunteer will be working. Are they going to be in a pace that’s quiet and private, or will they be in a busy environment? The key thing is that they are able to volunteer effectively in the place they’ve set up. 

To ensure your volunteer is working effectively, are their any supplies or training required? Ensure that your volunteer has completed their training steps, and can access everything they need to start volunteering; this check makes sure there can be a smooth process into the opportunity, because there’s no stop/starting as a volunteer doesn’t have access to something important. 

Volunteers will be interacting with a number of different people – let them know the basic information on how they should interact. This can help build up a volunteer’s confidence, so they interact with the organisation and those it helps more. 

Make sure that you’re frequently staying in touch with those who virtually volunteer, over email, chat or video call. You can touch base weekly or monthly, building up a relationship that keeps them returning to volunteer. Establishing this relationship is important, volunteers want to feel seen and heard, like they aren’t just on the outskirts of the organisation. 

Volunteer Motivations

You can also match volunteers with other opportunities you think they might be interested in. One way you can do this is through understanding your volunteers motives. VolunteerPro teaches a lot about a set of motivations a volunteer is likely to have, and how they can be applied by volunteer managers. Their motivations are: 

  • Values: Where in which volunteers take something meaningful from the hours they spend volunteering. 
  • Careers: Opportunities open doors for volunteers to advance in their careers or network with likeminded people from their industry. 
  • Social: Volunteers can find themselves in emotional and supportive environments which they can also benefit from. 
  • Enhancement: Volunteering gives leadership development to volunteers and changes their perception of power to some extent. 

Volunteers that are open and motivated are most likely to have more than one goal in mind, rather than running on one single purpose. For some, they might not yet realise what those goals or motivations are, but they want to help in any capacity. 

Think it’s time to invest in volunteer management software?

You can start a free trial of TeamKinetic on our website. This will let you check out all our features for 30 days. If you like what you see, contact us to book a demo and see how we can help your organisation manage your volunteers!

How to get young people volunteering at heritage sites…

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On 6th October 2021

In Community, Volunteer Management

The HistoricScot Youth Forum was established to understand how to get young people volunteering and involved in the heritage sector. Historic Environment Scotland (HES) have been involved with Young Scot, in a 24 month partnership to help expand the engagement, participation and involvement of younger generations from different backgrounds to influence their activity and decision-making processes.

In previous conversations, there has been a multi-generational issue, especially regarding younger generations. Over the past 18 months, Young Scot have been tackling this problem of the lack of young generation involvement. Their results are presented in this report and contribute towards the Historic Environment Scotland 2019-22 corporate plan.

The report is spilt into three key themes: Community and Schools, Volunteering and Work, and HES sites all with a focus on future engagement of young people within the heritage sector. These recommendations are based off results from surveys.

Community and Schools Responses

For many, school is the first time people will engage with the historic environment. It’s highly likely that those who engage with historic environments as an adult have had experiences as a child, so ensuring sites are engaged with schools is crucial. 

The majority of young people nowadays find their information through online social media platforms, so if they aren’t connected to HES platforms, they aren’t going to be engaged with it. For 32% of respondents, they didn’t have a connection to historical places around Scotland, despite 47% expressing interest. 

Through their research, Young Scot have created these recommendations for the future: 

  • Start discussions with marginalised communities about how their heritage can be represented. 
  • Create history resources that are widely accessible for young people to learn and connect with. 
  • Develop relationships with schools and spread awareness of HES in classroom settings. 
  • Facilitate and engage with schools who have decided to visit sites and keep them engaged afterwards. 

Volunteering and Work Responses

Volunteering can be an important factor for individuals entering employment into the sector. Survey results show that 3/4 of respondents hadn’t considered a career in the historic environment but 60% of people wanted to know the ways work opportunities can engage them. Currently, the heritage sector attracts volunteers that are male around the age of 35 (according to Young Scot research). 

Lack of awareness towards employment, partnered with minimal advertisements are just two of the barriers which stopped people volunteering. If no one can see the opportunities, your pool of volunteers are significantly reduced.

In regards to young people, offering roles in areas they’re passionate about provides them with purpose and will help younger generations gain interpersonal skills they need. It’s especially vital now that these generations have lost time for social encounters due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

For Volunteering and Work, Young Scot had the following recommendations:

  • Create an online space for young people to showcase who they are and their skills for quicker sign up or applying opportunities. 
  • It’s imperative that those with or without the internet have equal access to opportunities. 
  • Start promoting your volunteering opportunities on the platforms where young people are, such as Instagram and Twitter.
  • For new volunteering roles, tailor the opportunity’s advertisement to a diverse group of young people through language, tone and imagery.

HES Site Responses

Currently, heritage sites host a number of opportunities for specific demographics and it’s mainly families. Due to this, there is still work to be done in engaging young people. For many heritage sites, this age range is forgotten, when they should be included.

In Young Scots’ survey, they found that if sites became more technology based, or held more events, then visits would be more enjoyable for younger generations. In a separate matter, over a quarter of respondents cannot access all parts of heritage sites due to the lack of accessibility provided.

Based on the information from the survey, Young Scot highlighted gamification as a way to engage young people within heritage sites. Gamification is applying elements of games to other activities, normally completed as an online technique to keep people engaged. Heritage sites can use this as a technique to interest young people into engaging with their content.

The report created a number of recommendations for heritage sites: 

  • Make sure that all facilities are accessible to everyone, without this, there is a barrier against those with disabilities from accessing the heritage environment. 
  • Design new events, exhibitions and educate young people of the cultural changes within society.
  • Host events to celebrate minority groups and their heritage in Scotland’s history. 
  • Make improvements to the website and the types of content it provides: specifically where people can go to learn more. One way to do this is to create hubs for different age groups. This, along with the introduction of gamification, creates an online community where young people can meet other, like-minded people.

Conclusions…

From Young Scot’s experience with engaging in the sector, there is a disproportionate underrepresentation of those from a variety of backgrounds. Heritage sites don’t reflect the diversity of the sector, the organisation, or Scotland as a whole. This barrier in particular needs to be overcome to make HES as accessible as possible for all young people.

The introduction of the latest technology can engage audiences at a younger age; paired with a strong relationship with schools, the historic environment can recharge younger generations of their love for Scotland’s culture, past and present.

Young Scot is hoping the recommendations made throughout the report can start conversations within HES on the future of younger generations in the sector. They encourage HES to continue involving young people in future plans to make a real impact. 

Want to start engaging with your volunteers more? 

Calling all heritage sites! We’ve worked with Volunteer Organisers Network and Historic Environment Scotland to create the Make Your Mark Portal, which can promote your heritage opportunities to new audiences and helps you with your volunteer management. You can find out more about Make Your Mark here. 

If you’d like to know more about us here at TeamKinetic, and how we can help you manage your volunteers, you can access our website here.

Why I’m over the moon to be partnering with the Association of Volunteer Managers

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On 29th September 2021

In News & Views

A message from our Sales Director, Chris Martin, on what it means to be partnering with AVM.  

This month has seen the culmination of a conversation that started 5 years ago, and I’m absolutely delighted to finally announce that TeamKinetic will be the very first corporate partner of the Association of Volunteer Managers.  

Since starting TeamKinetic, I have been working away sharing the gospel of digital volunteer management. Having come from a sports and events background I was unaware of the richness and diversity of the wider volunteering world. I knew it existed, but I didn’t really appreciate the depth and breadth of it. 

As I became more enlightened about volunteering outside of my comfort zone, I was lucky enough to stumble upon the work of the Association of Volunteer Managers and their learning and development days.  

The first thing I felt when attending this event was the warmth of the welcome, and despite some of the volunteers and staff having changed over the years, the openness and welcoming atmosphere hasn’t changed one bit. It was a revelation to see this organisation run by volunteers doing what they were for the greater good of the sector. I think as early as that first session back in 2015 I was already thinking about how I could get involved.

It goes without saying that there is so much more than a warm welcome and a lovely group of people, the AVM’s work is essential and over the following 5 years we at TeamKinetic have been really proud to support their events where we could, but I always felt there was potential to do more.

Being the first at anything comes with its own set of challenges and this was no different.  As an organisation, the board at AVM needed to develop its own understanding of how a partnership might work and what it might like to offer a potential partner. They also wanted to make sure that any organisation they worked with share their values and beliefs about volunteer management. Over the last 5 years it’s been a real pleasure getting to know some of the people who make AVM what it is, working on the occasional project and talking about how we might support each other’s work. So although we are now announcing our official partnership, it feels like we have been unofficial partners for quite a while.  

So, here we are, the very first corporate partner and we are so excited to get started.  

It’s my hope that as TeamKinetic we can bring some real value to the AVM. TeamKinetic’s mission is to make volunteering easier and we want to share with you our experience and knowledge about digital transformation and how to use digital tools to manage your volunteers.

We also believe that every organisation, no matter how big or small can access and afford these digital tools without any fear of cost or growth. We appreciate not everyone will want to use TeamKinetic but I think what we have to say will have the potential to positively impact your work.

Over the next 12 months, we will be working with the team at AVM to develop some accessible resources and materials that you might find useful if you are thinking about how you might use digital. We will be exploring what type of member offers and benefits you might like from us to make it easy and affordable for you to look at digital volunteer management and most importantly we hope to get to know you all a little bit better.

We are sure this is just the start of a long and mutually beneficial partnership with the fantastic team at AVM and if you have any questions or suggestions of the type of content we can create for you then please do get in touch with me and let me know. 

I really look forward to seeing you all at the conference this year, please do say hello if you spot me.  

Chris Martin. 
Sales Director. 
Chris@teamkinetic.co.uk

TeamKinetic is officially the first partner of the Association of Volunteer Managers.

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On 23rd September 2021

In News & Views, Press Releases

TeamKinetic are excited to announce that they will be the first official corporate partner of the Association of Volunteer Managers (AVM.) Since discovering their work 5 years ago, they have been a passionate advocate for the importance of the AVM. TeamKinetic welcomes this formal partnership. 

Both organisations share the same passion and desire to progress the professionalism of those who involve volunteers. AVM’s goal as an independent membership body is one that supports, represents and champions people in volunteer management in the UK regardless of field, discipline or sector. As an organisation primarily run by volunteers TeamKinetic is proud to be able to directly support their work as a partner as they offer training, campaign on key issues and provide peer to peer support to volunteer managers. 

The partnership is hoping to offer the membership added value and over the next few months will be looking to announce a number of special offers only available to AVM members and supporters. TeamKinetic have spent the last 13 years on the edge of customer-led innovation surrounding digital volunteering and will be continuing to support the campaigns undertaken by AVM. They are looking forward to sharing their experience and knowledge with the AVM members. 

Sales Director, Chris Martin has expressed his gratitude towards Jo Gibney and Ruth Leonard “for all their hard work in helping to make this a reality and I sincerely hope we can continue to support the wonderful work and development of AVM for a long time to come.” 

Chair of AVM, Ruth Leonard says “this is a really exciting next step for the organisation and will enable us to think about how we can offer more to volunteer managers. AVM is proud of our heritage of being run by and for our members and want to be able to remain relevant into the future. TeamKinetic’s enthusiasm and support for AVM has been clear throughout our shared working and I’m looking forward to develop this further.”  

For any organisations or individuals who work with Volunteers, that are not already aware of the AVM and their work, you can visit their site to learn more on becoming a member. 

Get in Touch…

If you’d like to know more about AVM, you can access their website here. 

You can contact the team here at TeamKinetic through our website, or call on 0161 914 5757. 

Volunteer Passports: Is this the future?

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On 8th September 2021

In COVID-19, News & Views

The following round-up blog post comes from a research report commissioned by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), on Volunteer Passports that TeamKinetic helped to support. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we were reminded of just how important volunteering is to communities. It’s suggested that around 12.4 million adults volunteered during the pandemic, 4.6 million of those for the first time! The pandemic has made waves within volunteering and with more and more organisations coming together to find a collaborative approach to recruitment and onboarding; there have been movements to introduce volunteer passports into organisations. 

What is a Volunteer Passport?

If you aren’t familiar, a volunteer passport can hold all the verified credentials a volunteer might need in order to volunteer, which can serve as credentials to a pool of organisations. This can be called volunteer portability; this concept refers to the easing of movement across different organisations and roles. Volunteer passports can be a quicker way to apply as a volunteer as any references or training needed has already been completed and verified! 

Passporting Aims…

The initiative aims to address key issues regarding volunteer recruitment, management and development…

In certain contexts, such as emergency response volunteering, volunteer passports can be a mechanism to recruit and onboard large numbers of volunteers to opportunities locally and at speed. With passporting, the aim is also to improve the effectiveness of matching volunteers to opportunities tailored to what they’re interested in, or want to take part in. It also means that volunteers can be ‘re-deployed’ onto different tasks where they may be needed. This also ensures that micro, ad hoc and event-based volunteering opportunities are supported, also known as volunteer portability. 

Reducing volunteer vetting can save time and money for all parties, through the standardisation of volunteer training and management. In the past, there have been previous initiatives that have explored this locally or within a particular sector, improving the consistency of trained volunteers. 

What about alternative practices?

Here’s a quick run-through of the practices that could be integrated into volunteer passports: 

A number of volunteering organisations already match volunteers with volunteering opportunities they find may be a good fit, based on previous opportunities or through a skill-based match. Many volunteers started volunteering through word of mouth therefore, online volunteer passports may be deemed unnecessary. Any passporting system would have to consider how the offline side could be integrated successfully. 

Volunteer profiles have also been in previous initiatives, numerous management platforms have offered volunteers a facility where they can develop and build their ‘profile.’ This can be used as an alternative to CVs or LinkedIn, which volunteers involved in the report have emphasised. Volunteer passporting could mean it addresses an aim that has already been met.  

Other related schemes have been surrounding rewarding volunteers. Just like within the TeamKinetic system, schemes can provide rewards through ‘time banks’ or ‘time credits’, where a volunteer’s time is recorded, which they can then use to redeem a reward of some sort. The reward would depend on the organisation they are working with. We know how important recognising and rewarding volunteers are, so volunteer passporting has to include this, or something similar. 

Key Areas of Demand

In order for volunteering-involved organisations to support volunteer passports there are some key areas of demand. The report consistently highlights that portable IDs, and DBS checks are deemed to be a core element of potential volunteer passports. This is because they benefit volunteers, organisations and stakeholders from different voluntary sectors. The introduction of portable IDs and DBS checks is welcomed by organisations as a way to reduce the admin burden that comes with mass onboarding. For volunteers, it reduces the barriers they may find when wanting to volunteer in a different sector. 

Allowing organisations to have a shared pool of volunteers would help particular types of volunteering such as emergency, event-based, and micro-volunteering. This element is a way of always having volunteers on hand to offer opportunities to.

From the suggestion for portable IDs, the standardisation of volunteer training is also of interest. Standardising training will be beneficial through local volunteer portability and regarding specialist skills with individual sectors. Not only can volunteers help across different organisations in their local area, those volunteers with specialist skills, are enabled to complete certain tasks for a number of organisations within the sector. 

Another element was found that there needs to be some sort of validation of volunteers’ experiences and skills. For some volunteer groups, this would be incredibly beneficial, where volunteering could become a potential route to employment, the validation of skills can be added to a CV etc. This aspect was also thought to offer benefits in terms of supporting social integration and the well-being of different marginalised groups. 

What Does Each Sector Think?

The research for the report presented some experiences and views from each sector regarding the introduction of volunteer passports and how they might be used. 

The health sector has seen a rise in volunteer passporting over the past couple of months, and the expectation is for the demand to grow. The sector has found that passporting ensures agile and efficient emergency responses along with the integration of statutory and non-statutory services. The demand has also increased in the community action sector; portability at local level of training and skills has already been introduced, so there is potential to build on existing initiatives to deliver a comprehensive passporting system in local areas.  

Regarding the culture sector, museums and heritage sites perceived passporting as beneficial. Specifically highlighting the portability.

Portability allows for volunteer learning and skill exchange, reducing administrative burden. There has been interest in developing a shared volunteer training standard within the sector.

In some areas, the sector has found they have been oversubscribed with volunteers. Therefore, standardising training and easy portability means volunteers can be moved into new routes while staying in the sector they’re interested in. 

While there is strong demand in certain sectors, the sporting sector has seen very little demand for a passporting system, with the exception of portable DBS checks. The report shows that demand is low as volunteer recruitment is mostly organic, so there’s little interest in the digital brokerage of volunteer passports. Along with this, for individual sports, qualifications are already there in terms of training, and therefore the standardisation of training has been met and recognised. 

So How Will it Work?

How might volunteer passports work moving forward?

  • Commonality: Volunteer portability is more likely to work when there is a common denominator between organisations whether this be locally or sector-based. This commonality between organisations may be essential to building a ‘federation of trust’ aligning volunteer standards and processes. 
  • Sustainable? Stakeholders have concerns that passport initiatives may not be sustainable. This is due to the temporary nature of funding, and a lack of resources. To overcome these issues, volunteer-involved organisations have stressed the need for passporting initiatives to be developed in a realistic way, building this into a long-term strategy for volunteering. 
  • Credibility: The Credibility of passport schemes is incredibly important for volunteer engagement and organisations. Some examples of the ways individual volunteer passporting schemes have been credible have included: endorsements from national councils of volunteer organisations and local authority and government institutions. 
  • Data Standards: This is a strong requirement from digital platform providers and organisations who explain that any volunteer passport system would only work if it was developed with open data standards. 
  • Control? Various organisations have emphasised how important it is for volunteers to be the ones controlling their data. For example, in previous initiatives, there have been options for volunteers to pause notifications at times when they were busy or wanted to stop volunteering for the moment.
  • Access: There is an element of exclusion and barriers for small organisations due to a lack of digital infrastructure and skills to join in on volunteer passporting for those who work for their organisation. Where are smaller organisations going to find and retain their volunteers? 

Expectations of Government Support…

There are areas where central and local governments can support volunteering in the context of volunteer passporting, including: 

  • Raising awareness of current possibilities to make DBS checks portable and improving their portability. 
  • Providing legal clarity over certain issues curtailing volunteer portability or any other elements of passporting. 
  • Working with the voluntary sector to support greater standardisation where appropriate through funding for resources and infrastructure. 
  • Encouraging volunteering by making sure other government policies do not pose barriers to volunteering. 

Where Does TeamKinetic Fit In? 

As mentioned at the beginning of this blog post, TeamKinetic helped support this report we’d like to thank the DMCS for inviting us to help! We’re intrigued to see how volunteer passports and passporting develop in the next couple of years. We’re currently looking at ways we could introduce volunteer passporting, or elements of passporting, into our system. 

If you’d like to know more about us here at TeamKinetic, you can start a free trial of TeamKinetic on our website. This will let you check out all our features for 30 days. If you like what you see, contact us to book a demo and see how we can help your organisation manage your volunteers!

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

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Will Volunteering Come Out Stronger After Covid?

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On 2nd September 2021

In COVID-19, News & Views

Coronavirus has introduced so many new challenges for communities over the past 18 months, but it’s also presented foundations to build a stronger community. Moving out of the pandemic means the focus is now on building the relationships between volunteers and organisations; along with renewing that drive to volunteer in the first place. This could mean we have to rethink the roles within volunteering moving forward.

Remote Volunteering? 

The use of remote volunteering over the pandemic has been phenomenal in helping those who’ve really needed it. Due to this, there is a larger market for this kind of volunteering, as so many people have volunteered in this way lately. In order for virtual volunteering to continue, volunteers must be attracted to your organisation’s missions as the social aspect towards volunteering has been stripped back. Communicating that their small contribution will make a difference will keep them involved and feeling positive for helping the community.

The pandemic has also increased the amount of online recruitment. So how have organisations found and kept in touch with their volunteers? It feels inevitable that recruiting volunteers online is something that will carry on far into the future. For organisations, their next steps may be to solidify their presence online. This is where a volunteer management system would come in handy; with TeamKinetic you can recruit more volunteers than ever before, and have constant contact to keep them informed. 

Flexibility…

To create a more accessible volunteering route, there needs to be flexibility. For those who cannot commit to certain dates and times: flexibility allows for no obligation to return. It also means that volunteers can now access the risks beforehand (because they haven’t committed to a continuous role). Despite saying we’re coming out of the pandemic, people still have to assess the risks before going out (coronavirus included)! While it becomes more of a challenge for organisations to be flexible, breaking down roles into smaller opportunities is a way to include more flexibility.

Looking towards the future

There is a feeling that volunteering has taken a strong leap forward over the past 18 months. There is a renewed purpose to help those who really need it: we’re more aware of our communities’ vulnerabilities. Volunteering has increased massively over the pandemic and as a result we have to focus on preserving the positive changes that we have seen.

Interested in TeamKinetic? 

Why not come and try our system for free! You can start a free trial of TeamKinetic on our website. This will let you check out all our features for 30 days. If you like what you see, contact us to book a demo and see how we can help your organisation manage your volunteers.

You can also follow our social media pages: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Volunteering made safe with TeamKinetic

By

On 25th August 2021

In TeamKinetic Features

TeamKinetic are always here to make sure their clients and any volunteers are protected. We ensure the highest security as we know many organisations may work with young and vulnerable people. TeamKinetic have created a system which allows for safe volunteering and volunteer management. Take a look for yourself below.

Criminal Checks

TeamKinetic understand that many organisations work with young and vulnerable people, so we know that criminal checks need to be completed before volunteers are accepted. With our system you can fully customise volunteer registrations by allowing criminal checks before they can be accepted. 

If you only have specific opportunities which need these criminal checks you can customise the opportunity to do these checks when a volunteer joins. This makes the process easier for you when criminal checks need to be done on your volunteers. 

Roles

Roles have been created to allow organisations to enable a prescribed on-boarding process for volunteers. Roles are a great feature for organisations that have regular opportunities that are undertaken under the same set of compliance, training, or on-boarding rules.

Community Tasks

Community tasks were set up in response to the COVID-19 crisis. They are small tasks designed to provide community support to people who are unable to leave their homes. These tasks differ from the usual volunteer opportunities where the opportunities might have set hours etc… With community tasks it is usually one volunteer helping someone in the community who cannot go shopping, or pick up their medication and so on.

These tasks are secure that whenever a volunteer signs up for a task they must be full approved before they can get any personal details of the task. Any personal information will be hidden and only available to the task manager until a volunteer is approved for the task.

Community tasks have been able to help many during the pandemic and have allowed communities to provide support for one another in a safe environment. Don’t believe us, read our case study from COVID-19 Kenilworth Support who have been using our community tasks since the beginning of the pandemic. 

Accreditation System

TeamKinetic created an accreditation system for the Rugby Super League Grand Final in 2019 and more recently have set up the same system again for the Rugby League this year.

Mainly this is used for major events and sporting events and will allow for the safe management of any person at the venue on the day. The system records the identity and health checks of every personnel. They can then be given badges which include the zones they can and cannot enter to ensure security in each zone. 

It is a great piece of software which helps to keep venues secure and personnel who arrive will have to show there ID to ensure entry. 

Want to Try for FREE?

Why not come and try our system for free! You can try out all of the above and so much more which will help safely organise and manage volunteers. You can also get in touch with us via our website or call on 0161 914 5757. 

Visit our social media pages to find out more information about TeamKinetic and some tips on how to use the software. You can find us on: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. 

How To Spend Your Underspend

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On 18th August 2021

In TeamKinetic Features

You might find at this point of the year, there’s an excess budget underspend you need to decide what to do with. You might be wondering, what should I do with it? Should I spend it? Save it? Invest it? Well, we are here to inspire you with different ways you can use your underspend to make the most out of your TeamKinetic system and to invest back into your volunteers…

1) Purchase SMS Text Messages

The perfect way to communicate with your volunteers, alongside emails of course, is text messaging. One of our volunteer managers, Claire from Halton & St Helens, even said ‘between texts and emails, we can have more of an impact in communicating straight away with volunteers’.

In fact, we even did a full blog on the benefits of using SMS text messages, but, to summarise:

  • Quicker and more efficient communication 
  • A easy way to identify volunteers
  • A way to recruit any volunteers if a volunteer drops out at the last second
  • A proactive way to get feedback from volunteers
  • A way to send nice ‘thank you’ messages to your volunteers to show your appreciation for their hard work
  • An easy way to cancel an event if disaster strikes ( e.g the unpredictable UK weather)

And to make it even easier for you, you can watch a video on how to buy SMS text messages through our system following the hyperlink here. 

2) Training

You can always save your money and keep your eyes peeled for some TeamKinetic training. We have recently started extra training showing you how to set up and customise your site and how to use your TeamKinetic site to manage your volunteers. This training is perfect for any admin as a refresher, or for new admins who need to learn the ropes!

3) Upgrade Your Plan

Whether you are on the Free plan or the Advanced Plan, there is still a bigger and better plan for you!

The Advanced plan offers you 1 Admin user, your own sub-domain, support tickets answered in 24 hours, online workbooks teaching admins the core features, the use of the TeamKinetic IOS and Android native app, 100 MB document hub storage and more.

The Advanced + plan offers up to 3 Admin users, implementation support of 2.5 hours, telephone support, online training, your own sub-domain, support tickets answered in 24 hours, pre-recorded training materials, the use of the TeamKinetic app, 1GB document hub storage and more.

The Enterprize plan, our biggest plan, offers unlimited admins (1 admin user included), detailed consultancy and fully supported implementation manager,  telephone support, support chat, online training, your own custom URL, access to the TeamKinetic app, access to the TeamKinetic customer steering group, access to live online training events, unlimited document hub storage, community tasks and many more.

To find out more about upgrading your plan, email chris@teamkinetic.co.uk.

What Are You Waiting For?

You have so many options of how you can spend your underspend, what are you waiting for? Are you going to upgrade your plan? Purchase extra training? Or Purchase some handy SMS texts? Something else? Whichever you choose, you will be spending your money wisely and investing in your volunteers. That sounds like a win to me!

The Whitworth Gallery, in partnership with TeamKinetic

By

On 4th August 2021

In Case Study, Heritage & Culture, News & Views

At the start of 2020, The Whitworth made the leap to take on TeamKinetic as their volunteer management software provider. They made this change just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning working from home gave them the perfect opportunity to understand and implement the system.

The Whitworth Gallery is described as historic, contemporary, academic, and playful. Founded in 1889, the first English gallery in a park has been transformed by a £15 million development in 2015. As part of their volunteer programme, volunteers are able to contribute across the gallery. This includes supporting artists, textile care, art gardening, digitising their collection, cataloguing their library, assisting in the delivery of workshops, and much more.

Fiona Cariss, volunteer manager at The Whitworth says,

“We chose TeamKinetic as they’re a local organisation to our gallery and already supply the volunteer system for Manchester City Councils Volunteering opportunities.

The Whitworth is in partnership with Manchester Art Gallery, along with Manchester Museum too, so it means in the future we could look at sharing our volunteers and opportunities across the partnership through the system.

In a way the past 18 months has been a perfect time to implement the new system with TeamKinetic, as we’ve managed to test it with our volunteers whilst everyone has been at home-  it helped us reach out further to our locality making it easier for them to register their interest and hear about the volunteering opportunities straight away. The data and reporting aspects of the system has and will definitely help in combining everything we need when we’re evaluating the programme and reporting back to various funders.

So far all our volunteers have found it easy to register and it’s a very usable system, in which you get a lot of support from TeamKinetic too. The Whitworth Volunteer Programme is looking forward to working with TeamKinetic further in the future when we have more volunteering opportunities coming up.”

Find Out More…

If you’d like to volunteer with the Whitworth, you can check out their opportunities here.

TeamKinetic helps to build better volunteer communities by providing great tools for volunteer managers that save time, increase impact and improve insight. Our goal is to make volunteering easy for everyone no matter what. But don’t take our word for it, why not check out our customer reviews.

For more information on how we 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

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