Now your site is properly set up and looks like your site instead of a generic TeamKinetic system, it’s time to get to work and create your first opportunity. All the different fields to fill in on an opportunity may seem complicated at first but you’ll quickly get the hang of it!
It’s important to get to grips with all these different options so you can go on to create opportunities quickly in the future and save yourself some time. Right now, the basic thing you need to know is the difference between session-based and flexible opportunities.
We covered this in the introductory page of the workbook but it can’t hurt to go over it again!
Session-based Opportunities Sessions can either be recurring (daily, weekly, monthly, etc) or individual. They’re used for activities that have a specific time/date they need to be completed on.
Flexible opportunities In contrast, flexible opportunities can be completed at any time. This is great for opportunities that can be done online, such as language translations, or over the phone, such as befriending.
Task
Create an opportunity.
The Process
Step One Go to ‘Opportunities and Providers’.
Step Two Click ‘Create Opportunity’.
Step Three Fill in all fields with details relevant to your opportunity.
We’ve got the system set up, what next? Site customisation can help turn a good looking TeamKinetic system into a great branded system. Just take a look MCRVIP’s siteto see what we mean! To start with, we’ll create a custom front page and footer, adjust colours to match your branding and edit some CSS properties.
Task
Complete all relevant site customisation options.
The Process
Step One Click the admin cog in the top right corner.
Step Two Click ‘Look & Feel’
Step Three Go through the following tabs to make your website more personalised: – Logo (if not completed during registration) – Colours and Text – Front Page – Footer – CSS
Did you know that you can customise your TeamKinetic system’s volunteer registration emails? Changing the first email your volunteers receive can be a big step in improving your volunteer management.
How do I change the registration email?
Go to the Admin Settings Cog→ Customise Emails
Find the ‘volunteer registration’ email and click ‘Edit’.
You can now edit the default text and style it accordingly. When you click on the blue buttons on the right, a placeholder will be added to your text, and when sent, that placeholder will be replaced with the appropriate text; in this case you can use placeholders for your organisation name, organisation contact number, the volunteers email address, and a login link for the volunteer to follow.
What changes should I make?
That first email after registration should layout the next steps you want the volunteer to take. For example, this might be to upload a photo and a piece of ID. You could also direct them to the Resources & Help, where all the documents in your document hub are available, if your volunteers require extra information after registering.
You can alter options regarding volunteer photo/ID uploads via the Admin Settings Cog → TeamKinetic Options → Everything Else.
Volunteers can easily access these things through the left-hand-side menu on their dashboard.
They should go to the underlined tabs to upload a picture, ID, and view the document hub (in that order).
You can also add links to various areas of the system for easy access and attach files to the email. For example, you could share the link to take them straight to a search for COVID-19 related opportunities. This will help highlight ways volunteers can help their local communities. You can find your shareable link to all COVID-19 opportunities on your admin homepage:
If necessary, make sure to tell new volunteer about inductions, DBS and ID checks when they first join to allow them to get started with you as soon as possible. As an admin, you can keep track of DBS checks via Volunteer Management → Criminal Checks as well as visiting a volunteer’s profile directly via Volunteer Management → Search Volunteers.
You could also customise the ‘joined opp’ email that is sent when a volunteer joins their first opportunity to let them know what you want them to do next. Perhaps explaining the keywords used on the site, such as sessions, the different opportunity types, and how to log hours.
What else can I do to get volunteers started?
Switching on text messages is another great way to keep in contact with your volunteers. Text messaging can be switched on by going to the Admin Settings Cog → TeamKinetic Options → Notifications → Switch on Text Messaging.
Building your Document Hub can also be highly beneficial to your volunteers. You can add documents, links and text for your volunteers and providers, e.g. a code of conduct or training manual for new volunteers. To access the document hub, go to the Admin Settings Cog → Document Hub
Want more TeamKinetic tips?
Subscribe to our blog for more like this as well as other pieces relevant to volunteering and volunteer management. You can also follow us on Twitter,Facebook, and LinkedIn.
You can visit our YouTube channel to find further help navigating your system or call us on 0161 914 5757, we’re always happy to help you out!
During this pandemic our governments have told us to stay safe and stay inside, but what about staying safe online? It’s fair to say we’re probably spending a lot more time online recently. I mean, what else is there to do if you can’t leave the house? Whether you’re video chatting with friends, mindlessly scrolling through social media, or managing your volunteers from home, it’s important to stay vigilant online.
So what does this mean generally?
In short: be careful what new programmes/applications you use. Do a little bit of research before you download and give personal details to a new app. Ask friends and family if they use it, consult trusted online sources and decide whether it can be trusted.
Remember: even apps that seem to be trustworthy can fall victim to security breaches themselves. House Party seemed to be taking the online video chatting market by storm until rumours of data surfaced. Although these rumours turned out to be false, their reputation as a safe app was ruined. Furthermore, Zoom, an application used for video chatting/conferencing was actually subjected to a data breach. The CEO of Zoom held his hands up in apology but it doesn’t reverse the damage done.
If the phrase ‘too good to be true’ comes to mind, it probably is. A growing number of people are falling victims to social media scams. Fraudsters posing as good Samaritans hosting giveaways on Twitter are some of the the people most likely to trick you. A few examples can be seen in this article from Refinery.
The ultimate way to stay safe
Passwords. Passwords are key. Having a variety of passwords for everything you use may seem tough – who has the memory capacity for that?! – but it could save you a lot of trouble. Besides, there are ways to keep track of all your passwords, whether it be a password-protected note on your phone, an app that keeps track of all your passwords, or going old school and writing them down somewhere.
So what does it mean for volunteer management?
Here at TeamKinetic we work hard to make sure all data is secure and we adhere to GDPR regulations. You may have seen our new COVID-19 community task dashboard for volunteering. With this, a new set of challenges arose: how could we give the personal data (like contact details and addresses) of people in need of help to volunteers without breaching their privacy?
Measures were taken to ensure that personal data was only given to volunteers after they’d been assigned a volunteering role, such as shopping for someone else or a simple phone conversation. If someone is not assigned to a task, they do not see the data and therefore ensuring the security of all involved.
First of all, ‘Private Data’ can only be seen by site admins. This can be used to easily sort tasks in your own way.
‘Data Shown to Assigned Volunteers’ does exactly what it says in the title! However, it is important to note that this data is only shown to volunteers after they’ve been accepted on a task. This ensures that no private data is given to the public unnecessarily.
Finally, ‘Public Data’ is shown to all registered volunteers looking at the community task dashboard. It shows everything prospective volunteers will need to know, e.g. the time, date, and task. Furthermore, you can add boosted security measures here too, such as requiring criminal checks and approved ID.
How TeamKinetic Can Help
We will always try and provide you with relevant news through our social media channels, especially in situations like this. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
If you want to help your community and require a safe, online method of volunteer management, you can use our system completely free of charge for the duration of the pandemic by going to our website and starting a free trial.
If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to contact us via phone: 0161 914 5757 or email: info@teamkinetic.co.uk
We also have a few other blogs about volunteer management during COVID-19, you can read them by clicking the titles below.
These are all the questions asked during our webinar. To find something more easily, try pressing ‘ctrl’ and ‘f’ on your keyboard then typing a keyword.
Can I watch the Webinar again?
You can see the webinar we did on Friday 3rd April at 2:00pm below. If that doesn’t work click this link.
You can see the webinar we did on Friday 3rd April at 4:00pm below. If that doesn’t work click this link.
Where can I see/test these features out?
You can try out the task management on our demo site. Use the login details: Email = info@teamkinetic.co.uk Password = password You can view and download the volunteer app here. Use the login details: Email = kangarolf@yahoo.co.uk Password = password
Is this free to organisations/groups?
We are offering TeamKinetic Advanced for free to community groups for 3 months during this crisis. More formal organisations such as volunteer centres can access special pricing on our Enterprise addition if required. To get started, go to our website.
Do the mutual aid groups count as small community groups?
Yes, though if they require our enterprise edition there may be a small fee.
How do I switch these new features on?
Watch this short video that shows you how to set this up on your system.
Can we import existing volunteers via CSV or from another system?
There is no automatic way to import volunteer details, although it is possible, there would be a charge incurred for migrating the data. Alternatively, you can INVITE them via a CSV file and the system will track if they sign up.
This is often better as the information is up to date and you will know that you have captured all the relevant information. (When you migrate data there are often gaps in the information where we now require information that was not captured in the first instance.)
Is this all GDPR compliant?
Privacy by design is central to our development process. The new features comply with GDPR and you remain the data controller for your data.
On the front page, instead of using the words ‘volunteering operations’, why not ‘volunteer tasks’ since the app is called a task?
You will see in the latest version, once you switch on these features you have a box for ‘Tasks’.
Will existing volunteers have to register again as COVID-19 volunteers?
No, but you may have some new processes that they need to complete before you allow them to be a COVID-19 volunteer (e.g. upload their ID).
Do all existing volunteers get to see these opportunities?
All existing volunteers that have access granted to your current application (i.e. they have been cleared after registering) can access the new COVID application.
They will see opportunities whose criteria they meet (criminal check required, etc.) in distance order from either their current location (if given) or from the location entered in their profile.
They will only be able to see these new tasks via the COVID app, they are not visible on your main website.
Can we have custom fields?
You can not currently add custom fields to TASKS, but this may be something we explore in future development.
Can the text on the landing page be made clearer? People have ‘registered’ and assumed they are volunteering. But they have not joined/ applied for an opportunity.
We will look at the wording on the landing page.
We strongly encourage you to look at your current post-registration email and make sure you are being very explicit about what you want your new volunteer to do next.
We also know that some organisations have had some very good results by emailing all volunteers who have registered but not as yet gone on to join a volunteer opportunity. Hit those volunteers with some direct messages via email and SMS text explicitly telling them to sign up for a task or an opportunity. To do this watch the video below.
Is this standalone or can it be linked to an opportunity already in existence?
‘Tasks’ are standalone right now, this was done for speed of development and the unique situation this crisis presents. Looking to the future this will be something we will be looking to integrate into the normal TeamKinetic App.
Can you set age limits on tasks?
No.
Does it automatically add the volunteer hours and feedback?
Not currently, as these opportunities don’t necessarily convert very well to an hours metric. Though we will explore some other methods for tracking these Tasks.
In the ‘Search Volunteers’ filters, how do I filter volunteers I have already emailed?
You cannot directly search by volunteers you have never emailed. It is possible though to filter by those volunteers that have not joined an opportunity and/or that registered before or after a set date. So you can every month use the NUMBER OPPORTUNITIES JOINED in conjunction with the REGISTRATION DATE to select everyone in that month that has registered but not joined an opportunity and email them.
Does it use ‘Push Notifications’ via the app or are volunteers updated by email?
Not currently Push Notifications, but it is on our roadmap. Volunteers can be contacted by email and SMS text and via the chat function within Tasks. Push notifications are difficult to set up and are not consistent between iOS and Android. We will be looking at adding in-app notifications in the short to medium term.
Is there a safeguard in place in relation to the number of hours a task has been assigned before it’s completed?
The age of the Task is displayed in hours and days on the Task details. There are no reports or warnings yet around tasks that are beyond their target date by a given interval. They will, however, always appear at the bottom of the unassigned list.
Some of the referrals we’re getting through may be urgent in nature, is there a RAG rating on the tasks?
We don’t have a RAG (traffic light) rating on tasks. You could use words like urgent in the title for now.
When we have tried this in the past we find the system quickly becomes diluted as provider, given the choice, selects urgent!
Can you request certain volunteers do certain roles, i.e. if they are in Aldi already getting the volunteer to pick up multiple shops at the same time?
Volunteers can be assigned multiple Tasks by an Admin or a Provider user or they can also self-assign multiple tasks. So they could join multiple tasks which involve picking up food allowing them to complete multiple tasks in one shop.
Is there a place where people can record money changing hands?
As you can imagine, money is involved, there are significant risk factors to take into account, so it is not the type of feature we would want to rush, but it is something that we will look to tackle in the next few weeks.
Can we upload photos of shopping receipts?
This is a great idea for a feature and we will add it to the road map.
Is there a diary linked to this?
Not currently, though we have taken note of this and will be looking at different user interface options as we continue the development of the application.
Is there a word count on the notes area for example, where shopping lists are very long?
The word count will be sufficiently large to allow quite detailed notes. If you find it is insufficient please raise a support ticket and we will look at extending this.
Who will be putting the information on? Is it Volunteer Centre staff?
We envisage Tasks being added by both Admin users and Providers depending on the organisation, but mainly providers.
Who are the ‘Providers’?
A provider is someone/an organisation who advertises a volunteering opportunity.
Does it connect into local voluntary and community groups who are coordinating various volunteer activities?
Yes, this new TASK functionality will allow these community groups to register as a provider and manage their volunteers via your system.
Who can add tasks – any provider? Approved providers?
Admins can either allow ALL providers, only TRUSTED PROVIDERS, or SPECIFIC (handpicked) providers to add tasks.
Can we hide the ‘community tasks’ from some providers?
Yes.
How will it be coordinated with Local Authority contact centres?
We know the landscape varies across the country, so we are trying to build these features to be as flexible as possible. We have examples of the Task system linked to other systems within the council and examples of council staff being established as providers so they can add Tasks directly or via some sort of upload function.
Some centres are not managing volunteers directly, such as PAVS. But we see that this might work for our providers, it would be useful if a little “how-to?” could be produced for us to disseminate to the groups.
I think this would work for mutual aid groups, but it’s not our job at VC to do this – I think this is functionality for providers not for us. Mutual Aid groups in Gwynedd have already got systems set up – I don’t think they would move over onto a completely new system now.
We are not forcing anyone to use this system and appreciate you may have a solution that is working locally. As mentioned there may be the ability to link alternative systems together as we are doing in Greenwich, but this will involve a cost and some additional work.
The functionality is mainly aimed at providers, and specifically, community volunteer coordinators who don’t have access to tools to manage their volunteers.
Who actually checks the volunteers? Is it us Admins within the volunteer centres that approves the volunteer?
The on-boarding of the volunteers remains the same with regards to TeamKinetic. The volunteers still register the same way they did previously, you may decide locally that your process has to change to deal with the particular issues of this situation. But there are ‘flags’ against each volunteer to be ‘Cleared’, ‘Inducted’, ‘Criminal Check’, and ‘ID Verified’ which can all impact volunteers’ access to tasks. So if you specify that a task requires volunteers to have shown their ID, then it will only allow these volunteers to join the task.
What is being done around volunteer identification?
We have included the ability to mark a volunteer as having ID, and restrict tasks to ONLY volunteers who are marked as having submitted their ID.
If the volunteer isn’t assigned to a group/provider, who validates them and checks them?
Volunteers will appear to the Admin as they have previously, waiting to be cleared. You may wish to enforce additional checks or required documents such as picture ID or proof of a criminal record check. You may also wish for the volunteers to include a picture of themselves for example, which can be locked so they can’t change it after it’s been checked. These features can all be enforced via the Super Admin area.
Some customers are using text messages, requesting the volunteer upload the appropriate ID documents. They have set up a template text message that they send to the volunteer once they have agreed to do a task which has our organisation name and phone number on so that they can upload the appropriate documents.
Most of our existing volunteers don’t have ID on the system. Does the system stop them taking a task if they haven’t proved their ID on the system?
We have added a new flag for volunteers so admins can start to mark volunteers having provided ID. We will be adding this flag as a filter to the tasks presently. It will be a decision for each organisation if they want to go back and historically flag volunteers and use the ID restriction on tasks. We will be able to help with identifying volunteers with uploads, please get in touch via support ticket.
The lock feature you mentioned available on Downloadable Documents is not available on my system? I am a superuser and have been using Downloadable Documents all week.
Downloadable documents are different from the documents that are uploaded to a volunteers profile. Downloadable documents by their nature cannot be affected by a volunteer. It is possible however to upload a document to a VOLUNTEER’s profile and disable the volunteer from being able to remove it. Locking documents is covered in the ‘Adding Volunteer Documents’ video above.
How do you record who has DBS checks?
These checks are recorded in the same way as previously in TeamKinetic. Here is a short video on how you can do this.
DBS can only be added by an Admin user. These details are visible to providers via the volunteer profile.
How will Providers know if the volunteer needs to have had a DBS check? How will you be able to check that the volunteer has really had that?
Criminal records checks can be recorded in TeamKinetic by Admin users only. Tasks and Opportunities can be limited to those volunteers that have a valid check in the system.
This will depend on some extent to some support and training from the Admin users for the Providers.
I thought the DBS/criminal record check function was turned off for Volunteering-Wales.net?
The criminal check sections of a volunteer’s profile are always available. So you can always record a criminal check against a volunteer. There is also a super admin switch (which is currently switched off for Wales) that controls if the criminal check restriction is available when creating new opportunities.
It was switched off for PROVIDERS as many providers were saying that the opportunity required a Criminal Check, but the volunteer couldn’t join the opportunity as they didn’t have a criminal check against them in the system. But it is always available for administrators to add a criminal check to volunteers.
One of the issues is around managing these tasks. Many volunteers are doing these tasks on an ongoing basis and will agree with an individual as and when they’re required to go shopping. How will this work with the app?
We are already working on a solution to this issue, with tasks that are ongoing and require more than one volunteer and we expect to see those functions soon. We are looking into FOLLOWING A PROVIDER which could send an email to volunteers who are FOLLOWING, to inform them that they have recently added a task.
Is there an option to confirm ‘task completed’ and all satisfied?
Yes, see the short video below.
If new volunteers sign up for a task, how can providers provide them with code of practice/ safeguarding info appropriate to the task?
Can we build in Volunteer training/ guidelines as they sign up?
You can continue to use the Document Hub in the Super Admin area for both Volunteer and Providers, see the video below to see how you add documents.
Further Guidance from WCVA will be shared with our Welsh customers as it becomes available.
Can you assign tasks directly to someone who has not applied? I already have people on a waiting list?
Yes, below is a quick tutorial – how to assign a volunteer to a task.
How does the volunteer join their local support team (community group) on the site? Can our ‘Street Champion’ role only be open to volunteers accepted on that opportunity?
Right now that is not possible, but we are exploring the ability to be ‘linked’ to a provider for a future update. So a provider may have a group of local volunteers that they know and want only to engage with rather than other volunteers from the system, that they may not know.
Please can we as admins have the function to authorise these tasks? We don’t want volunteers taken advantage of and we don’t want the private data being passed into the wrong hands.
We are trying to add a pre-approval process by admins for all provider created tasks. We will endeavour to have this ready for release or soon after. You will always be able to DELETE unsuitable tasks until we can complete this change. It is a balancing act between not requiring administrators to get involved with every task transaction, but giving them enough control to be able to identify tasks that should be removed.
Can individuals register their requests for support (for example shopping requests)? Or the group admin has to record these individual requests of the system?
The admin or Provider can add tasks. At the moment if a person requires support they could either register as a Provider or contact an existing Provider or administrator so the task can be added to the system on their behalf.
This task app may work well if you add an ‘Ask’ session where the public can ask for support, then we can create a task from their ask… is this possible? we have people contacting to inform us about needs in the community for example.
It’s a great idea and one we will look at if people think there is an appetite for this.
How soon will the ID function be available?Can any individual that registers on the site print out a volunteer ID? Are we assuming that everyone will be a safe volunteer?
On the ID function and approval of it. WCVA is discussing at a Wales-wide level to get Police others buying in and support for the approach. We will update all hopefully next week on how those conversations have gone and how this feature may develop based on what the police state they require.
When we set up a task, can that task be saved as a template task so we can use it quickly to set up the next task? E.g. automatic upload of saved or previously typed words/data.
Not at the moment, there is only one field (Task Title) which may be a similar form task to task, and we have already added an auto-suggest functionality to this field. The other fields will be different from task to task (e.g. recipients address, or shopping list).
We will also explore CSV uploads and an API link where appropriate with clients to do so.
Can you download the documents uploaded by Volunteers in CPD & Documents area? We’re considering the most secure way to share images of say DBS checks with providers.
Yes, you can upload and download copies of documents. Though sharing Criminal Records Check information may have significant GDPR considerations as this is sensitive data. It would be our suggestion that you share the DBS number and direct your providers where necessary to check those numbers on the DBS website. Alternatively, you can check the number for them on the DBS site.
Is this new section of Volunteering Wales bilingual?
We will be working towards a bi-lingual interface, but initially, we will develop the English version as we know speed is paramount at this time, once we have an interface that is relatively stable we will look to add the Welsh language elements.
Are you going to have a limit on how far a volunteer can travel to apply for a volunteering role?
Opportunities are filtered initially by proximity and it is the assumption that people will be looking to help out near home. We have no intention of adding an arbitrary distance currently but if this becomes an issue we will be happy to revisit.
Is there a report built that shows things such as average time for completion, etc?
There is little reporting right now, but this is something we are aware of and will be thinking a little more about as we get more data.
The tasks need to clearly state who the provider is.
We are open to this type of feedback and we will see what we are able to do, to improve the user experience.
Does this mean that ‘Informal Groups’ COVID-19 Neighbourhood and Mutual Aid Groups are now able to register themselves as Providers, not just the usual formal (registered charities/Groups etc)?
Our usual minimum requirement to register a provider is a volunteering policy and insurance. Which may not be appropriate for those small groups, as we don’t know most of these groups how do we know they are legitimate?
If you know the people running these opportunities and Tasks then they are probably ok to be approved. Most are well-known people in communities and local councillors. It is open to local discretion.
Could the informal groups be registered as COVID-19 providers and keep them away from the main section of the site? Maybe only COVID-19 providers should be able to see COVID-19 tasks.
This is not currently available but is certainly something that could be considered in a future update. We will add it to our development road map.
Once a volunteer selects the task, is it no longer open to others, i.e. can more than one volunteer select one task giving the provider a choice of who’s best suited?
Not currently, but it has been talked about for a later version of the app.
If there is something already in use in a county can the function be turned off so volunteers aren’t trying to sign up to tasks that won’t exist?
Yes, this is an optional feature set that can be switched on and off as required by the Admin. You can see a short video on how to do that below. We are also allowing you to use these features on a provider by provider basis.
Do you have any publicity that would help us with promoting this new function, please? Coming from WCVA/WG seems to help us locally and is seen as more ‘official’.
We are working with the Welsh Government and other partners on this.
How are you going about promoting it to the community groups?
We need your help, please feel free to share TeamKinetic with other organisations or community groups you think might benefit.
What is the URL for the TeamKinetic blog?Will the comments be available on the blog as well?
Yes, and now you’ve reached the end of our FAQ section! Feel free to browse our other blogs by clicking here, or visit our website.
Still Have Questions?
Send us your questions via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or on the YouTube videos at the top of this blog post. We’ll try and respond ASAP and we’ll add them to this post or everyone else to see!
You can also call us on 0161 914 5757 or email us at info@teamkinetic.co.uk.
TeamKinetic and The Student Room work to make student life better
TeamKinetic becomes the new supplier to The Student Room
The Student Room (TSR) is the UK’s largest online student community. It exists to provide every student from GCSE to the world of work with peer-led online support. The Student Room community allows students to support each other, as they fully believe that the people best placed to offer support are those who are going through or have recently come out the other side of the student experience.
Mhairi Underwood, Head of Community at The Student Room, has been working with TeamKinetic over the last year. Testing the TeamKinetic volunteer management application, to see if a digital platform would improve the support of volunteers in the organisation, and improve workflows for staff.
Since February 2019, TeamKinetic has been supplying its volunteer management application to TSR as part of a pilot, to explore how a digital volunteer management application might provide added value to TSR’s volunteers and staff. TSR has a dedicated team of volunteers across the UK and around the world, providing peer-based support via its online forums. We are proud to announce that based on the success of this pilot project, TeamKinetic will be continuing to work with TSR, developing their volunteer workforce and supporting their development as a student-first organisation.
Mhairi said “We’ve found that by adopting TeamKinetic as our in-house volunteer management platform, we’re able to completely streamline our volunteer administration in a way that provides both us and the volunteers with control and trust. Once it was embedded, we were able to focus much more fully on the things that really made a difference for our volunteers and our community, knowing the administration was taken care of.”
Chris Martin, Director of TeamKinetic, said “The Student Room is a unique organisation, which provides a wealth of services to young people, they know their audience and the importance of digital in engaging that audience and we love that! Working with them during the initial pilot stage to enhance their volunteer program and support the amazing work they do has been a real pleasure. I look forward to seeing how the offer develops over the next 12 months.”
TeamKinetic hopes to continue to build better volunteering communities throughout many different organisations, no matter how big or small.
Ends
Contact details:
For more information, please contact TeamKinetic on 0161 914 5757. Or email chris@teamkinetic.co.uk
Before I arrived at university, I had no idea just how much effort it takes to keep a university team running smoothly. From taking care of players’ wellbeing to ensuring the club is financially stable. It’s clear to see how much effort these students put into the clubs they’re a part of.
To keep playing their favourite sports, a select group of students from each sports team have to step up and take on a vital senior role within the club. I’d like to take a look at one club in particular.
The Manchester Metropolitan University Women’s Football team have been my favourite group of people since I started university. Now I’m on placement, I thought it’d be great to bring attention to the work they do day in, day out.
From managing club funds to organising social events, every member of a sports team’s committee is important.
One of our many nights out… Guess the theme?
The MMUWFC 1st Team
But first… What does it mean to take on one of these roles?
The different roles that students on the team can volunteer for include: – Social Secretary: ensure that the club has plenty of social activities that appeal to all members and allow everyone to get to know each other in a welcoming and friendly environment. – Treasurer: oversees financial aspects of the club. They will work with other members of the committee to plan which events and activities the club can afford to carry out. – Publicity Secretary: ensure that the club has a strong social media presence and content to keep current members engaged and attract new members. – Vice Chair/Chair: the chair is responsible for overseeing the committee and club activity/direction. They provide support and guidance to other committee and club members. The vice chair will assist them in all matters (see our interview with Charley below for more).
These roles may vary between teams/universities but are vital to keep the clubs running smoothly. Taking on one of these roles requires some work. Despite this, it can make for a great addition to any CV and the skills you learn along the way are invaluable!
I spoke to Charley Parkin, the Vice Chair of MMU Women’s Football and Captain of the 1st Team…
What kind of work do you do for the MMU Women’s Football Team?
“I mainly just oversee things on the admin side and help Crystal (The Chair) with anything she needs. Basically making sure things go smoothly. As first team captain I have to organise teams, transport to fixtures, etc. and make sure everyone is having a good time.”
Why did you want to volunteer to be on the committee?
“I wanted to volunteer to be on the committee because I did it last year as Social Sec and really enjoyed it. Plus, having been at uni three years I feel like I am in a good position to help and advise first years with any issues they have and almost act as a role model.”
Do you enjoy your role?
“I enjoy being involved with decisions made about the club and the fact we can influence things for the better and make not just people’s women’s football experience but university experience better as a whole.”
So how do I get involved?
MMU Women’s Football isn’t the only team out there that relies on volunteers! Chances are every sports club at any given university does. This may seem like hard work for anyone who takes up one of these senior roles, but the rewards are great. You’ll have leadership experience and a range of skills that you can’t find anywhere else – who wouldn’t want that on their CV?!
There are a few different ways you can get involved:
Check your university’s volunteering page,
Get in contact with your student union,
Just go and talk to the current chair of the club you want to volunteer for!
Tip: It’s usually best to go for these roles after the current sporting season has finished and before the next one starts.
World Mental Health Day is a day of global mental health awareness and education, which aims to eliminate the stigma behind mental health. Life, as we all know, can be difficult and these problems can arise and affect many of us in a whole range of ways. How our bodies cope with this can have different effects on our mind and soul. Before we judge one another be mindful of what that person may have gone through, what wars they may have battled and what obstacles they may have overcome or maybe overcoming. It’s time to leave our judgmental thoughts and started looking after each other. The world we live in today faces too much animosity and hostility. We must all learn to love and get along with one another, we all live in one world – it’s time we became one and start working together.
Mental Health in the UK
Around one in four people in the UK will suffer from mental health issues each year, while only one in eight people are receiving treatment for mental health. One in six people in England each week suffer from a common mental health issue such as depression and anxiety.
A total of 70.9 million prescriptions for anti-depressants were given out in England in 2018 by the NHS. This is an increase of 3.4 million from 2017 to 2018. From 2015 to 2018 the number of prescriptions for anti-depressants for young people increased by almost 1 million! From these figures, it is clear to say mental health is an issue which is rising in the UK.
Causes of mental health issues
Mental health issues can affect people for a wide range of reasons. Trauma, loss, isolation, abuse, unemployment and the list keeps going. For many individuals, it’s a various combination of factors/experiences which have lead to negative outcomes. Yet everyone is different, one person’s mental stability will have different variances to what they are more tolerant of than others.
Social media
Over the last decade, social media has grown dramatically making each and every one of us more connected than we ever have been. Developing relationships which are halfway around the world is now a reality. On average a person in the UK checks their phone 28 times per day! It often makes me think what has the world come to, is this right? or is this wrong? or is this just the world we live in today and this is merely just evolution?
Implications of social media
The bottom line is that social media can have a detrimental effect on our mental health. Especially on the younger generation. Who are almost dependable on their mobile device, almost feeling lost without it. I know myself only being 20 that I do find it hard to break away from my device, I’m not proud of this and I do wish I could separate away more easily. Essentially social media is minimizing the human connections we make with one another. Limiting our social and communication skills in the real world because our heads are buried way beneath endless tweets and trending hashtags. Taking us away from the real world and keeping us trapped in virtual reality. Where we only care about our virtual selves and how others view us on various social platforms.
Low self-esteem is something young people suffer with when scrawling down photoshop perfect Instagram profiles. Where the immaculate and perfect image is captured – after hours upon hours of makeup editing and light adjustments! A study found people suffer from envy and self-doubt, as a result of comparing their own lives to those which are deemed to have the perfect lavish lifestyles we apparently all crave.
This leads me to say that it’s no wonder that social media is leading to unhappiness in people if used without caution. Causing anxiety and depression. We’re in a constant battle with ourselves to be better than everyone else, to look and dress the best, when really we should be happy and comfortable in our own skins. However many of generation Z have realised their infatuation with their smartphones and social media and have begun to quit various platforms. In an attempt to restore their mental health.
Volunteering and Mental Health
Volunteering can significantly boost your mental health and well-being. Mental and emotional well-being was found to be better in those who volunteer frequently, and worse in those who didn’t offer their help in any form. Recently universities in Birmingham and Southampton conducted a survey of 5,000 households across the UK. Those that volunteered regularly scored six per cent higher on the health and wellbeing.
Older generations
Voluntary work done by those over the age of 65 is set to be worth £5bn more in 2020 than it was in 2010. Volunteering provides a purpose and meaning, especially to older people who may find themselves more isolated than they used to be. Allowing them to build a social network of friends in which they can meet up with on a regular basis improving the well-being of the volunteer. The association is simple, the higher your well-being the more inclined you will feel to help others. Vice versa, the more you help others the higher your state of well-being.
Unemployed
Those in unemployment tend to have lower self-esteem and mental health. Without employment, people find it hard to motivate themselves for the day ahead. They have no structure, paid income, and feel they have less of an identity. Voluntary work will be able to benefit someone who is unemployed, helping them regain structure in life. Although the work is unpaid and will not be able to replace that aspect, it still gives people meaning and purpose.
Employers are more likely to employ someone has done voluntary work, over someone who has not. Volunteering allows you to acquire skills and knowledge which can be put to good use in employment, demonstrating higher levels of productivity as a potential employee. Also, it’s not just about what you know, it’s who you know to get you in the front door! Volunteering allows people to network giving them the opportunity to meet people they may never have met before, which could lead to great employment opportunities further on.
On a final note
As many of you already know TeamKinetic is a strong believer in volunteering and all the good in which can come from volunteering. But today the most important message of all is to be aware of mental health issues globally. If you suffer from mental health issues seek help and seek advice, don’t be afraid to talk to.
See below specialist mental health services.
The Samaritans offer emotional support 24 hours a day, in full confidence. Call 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org.
Mind provides information on a range of mental health topics to support people in their own area from 9.00 am to 6.00 pm, Monday to Friday. Call 0300 123 3393 or email info@mind.org.uk.
Anxiety UK runs a helpline staffed by volunteers with personal experience of anxiety from 9:30-5:30, Monday to Friday. Call 08444 775 774.
MindEd is a free educational resource on children and young people’s mental health for all adults.
Across Greater Manchester, 5,564 people are homeless. Homelessness in Manchester City Centre has dramatically increased over the past 5 years.
What is Nightstop?
Nightstop is a service run by Depaul UK. It provides young homeless people with emergency overnight accommodation. Saving them from facing a night on the streets or an unsafe place. The services are run by communities and charities in more than 31 locations around the UK, including Manchester, Birmingham, and Glasgow.
Nightstop is a unique project which relies on volunteer hosts to provide a safe, welcoming place for young people in crisis. These hosts are ordinary members of the community who volunteer to open their homes to young people aged 16 to 25. In 2018, they had 603 registered volunteer homes which helped provide a safe place for 1,224 young people to stay the night.
Why it’s needed
The service they provide is admirable, opening your home to a stranger can’t be easy but these volunteers are helping to tackle what has, unfortunately, become quite a big problem in Manchester. Recent research shows that Manchester has one of the highest rough sleeping rates in the country, as well as the highest number of deaths of homeless people. This is an issue that needs to be addressed and Depaul are doing that through all their work – including this service.
We recently visited the Nightstop Greater Manchester offices to meet with the team and learn more about what they do. We got some great stories from some amazing volunteers as well as their service manager. The work they do for homeless young people is inspiring.
From left to right:Rosemary (Volunteer), Dave (Nightstop Service Manager), Beth (Community Partnership Coordinator at Depaul UK), Milo (TeamKinetic).
We’ll be uploading a new video from our visit to Nightstop every day this week, either on YouTube, social media, or both – so keep your eyes peeled!
As a purveyor of volunteer management software, you would not be surprised to hear me evangelise about the importance of technology in volunteer management and the potential opportunities for efficiency, scale and reduced operating costs. In this article, I want to explore what technologies we think are important now and will be important in the future, but more importantly than the technology itself. I want to look at how the technology works with the human experience to build stronger more coherent communities.
I don’t need to tell the readers of this blog, that volunteers and volunteer management do not easily fit into any single box. Unlike employees, the relationship between volunteers and the organisations they give their time to is unique and comes with its own set of unique risks and considerations. So what technologies can you leverage to make your volunteer management more effective?
HR Software
Let’s start with the dry and boring, but essential and important stuff. Did you know that only 5% of charities currently have and use HR software? That means 95% of charities are not safeguarding their volunteers. That is a massive number who may be leaving themselves exposed to GDPR and data-breach fines.
Organisations, big and small, must ensure they fulfil their duty of care to their volunteers. They need to keep them safe and ensure they are appropriately trained and inducted. They also need to make sure only people with the appropriate skills and training are allowed to access certain higher-risk roles. Some voluntary opportunities carry significant risks for the volunteer, the service users and the organisation itself, and these risks need to be mitigated.
To ensure an organisation is compliant with employment law, health and safety law and GDPR, HR software provides a methodology to track and report on an ever-changing workforce. From general trends on the demographics of your volunteers, how many men, women etc, to which of my volunteer’s criminal records check is coming up for renewal.
Having all your volunteer records available, searchable and customisable means you can quickly identify training needs, skills gaps and individuals who may pose a potential risk to the organisation or have the ability to do more for the organisation.
Volunteers are not employees! So the data you hold on them is different to that you might have on your paid staff. Under GDPR you must have a valid reason for holding data that might be considered personal or sensitive. Volunteers can be deployed across various business areas and as such certain information will be required to be shared with managers, employees and partners about that volunteer so that they can be deployed safely and appropriately.
Your HR software needs to be flexible enough to deal with the unique nature of volunteers whilst being robust enough to protect the individuals and the organisation.
The question we ask organisations to consider: is your HR system the right place for your volunteer’s data? If not what are your options?
Brokerage
Great! you have a list of potential volunteers, you know a little about them; their demographic information, maybe a little history on their experiences. What do you do next?
Getting the right people into the right roles is the difference between a successful volunteer programme and a failed volunteer programme. How effective your brokerage is, determines how well volunteers are matched. We think the key elements of effective digital brokerage are:
High-quality information so volunteers and organisations can make informed judgements on what suits them and what they want to do.
Effective search and filter tools, that enable users to quickly find what is important to them presented in a way that lets them scan large volumes of information quickly. Time, location, keyword, accessibility are all the types of key data points users want to be able to refine their search criteria by.
Opportunity brokerage that gives the volunteer ownership of their experience but that also allows organisations to check and limit opportunities based on experience, skills, qualifications and available references.
Matching people to opportunities means you need to have what people are looking for. This involves doing two things, having enough opportunities that your volunteers have lots of choices and having real insight into what your volunteers are searching for.
Having enough opportunities to create real choice is a challenge, especially when you first get going, so a system that can pull opportunity data from other sources would be useful.
Being able to share your opportunities across other national brokerage sites via API‘s
Understanding your volunteers and what they are looking for, means you can inform your opportunity providers on what they should be offering, and what keywords they should be used to describe their offer so people can find them.
Do you need brokerage..? Is your brokerage resource-intensive and require your staff to spend too much time data inputting?
I appreciate volunteers are not customers! And they are not Employees! But they do occupy a space in between these two entities. They do have a choice over how they spend their time, they need to be looked after like you would regular customers. So how do you do this?
An effective CRM provides a set of tools that allows you to communicate and measure the effectiveness of those communications with your customers.
Being able to create lists of volunteers based on experience, demographic information or skill and qualification means you can target emails, newsletters or SMS text messages. Tracking the impact of these communications in regards to the performance of your opportunities enables you to understand which of your communications are most effective and perhaps why.
A CRM will provide you with a method for tracking interactions, identifying volunteers who are suited to certain opportunities and will make it easy to use the digital communication tools to reach out to these people.
36% of potential volunteers experienced barriers to volunteering due to potential communication issues, e.g. a lack of response to their application, or lack of clarity and understanding about the role. Could your customer relationship management be limiting the number of volunteers your organisation receives?
Should your volunteers be in your customer relationship software, or is there somewhere else they might be better placed..?
Social
Whatever your view on social media, you can’t ignore it if you are looking to engage an audience.
Social media provides a range of potential benefits for organisations and provides a powerful method of growing your audience via volunteer’s social groups and followers. Sharing opportunities and experiences that you are passionate about with your social media audience will improve your opportunity engagement.
Looking at how you integrate social features into your volunteer’s experience will enhance retention and make your programme more sustainable, help build a feeling of community and allow you to share incentives and future opportunities. Can you use technology that allows you to create groups and communities?
Existing applications such as Facebook, What’s App, Twitter and Linked In all provide tools, but you must also consider that these services have some hidden costs in their use. How exposed are your uses to their data being used by these large organisations, do you as an organisation have the control you need over these external applications to protect your users and your organisation’s reputation, do you want to share all your user’s data with these 3rd party social networks?
It’s important to know your volunteer demographics well enough to be able to target them effectively on social media. The top social media platform used differs by generation – Gen Z (19 and under) use YouTube, Twitter, and Snapchat the most, while the older generations (20 – 70+) spend most of their time on Facebook. (Mintel 2019)
You want to take advantage of the benefits of social media and the potential for your work to become a viral sensation without the inherent risks these platforms pose. You must invest time in developing your organisation’s online persona, growing an engaged audience on the platforms that you identify as appropriate for your volunteers and managing that profile to ensure you stay relevant. To do this requires considerable staff resource and knowledge of the platform to use it effectively.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could find a way to generate social content and link to your accounts.? Would it also be great if your volunteers and providers can share and engage socially as well.?
TeamKinetic
Our ambition at TeamKinetic was to develop a platform that allowed a volunteer manager to take advantage of all the above technology in one place. A platform that was specially designed for working with the unique considerations that arise with volunteers.
TeamKinetic is volunteer-centric – built to make the life of the volunteer as easy as possible. Built to allow volunteers to take ownership of their experiences, to take advantage of their social media and allow them to easily communicate with opportunity providers and other volunteers.
Designed for the entire volunteer life-cycle: from recruitment, through onboarding to deployment, and then with tools that would lead to better volunteer retention. TeamKinetic provides a framework of checks and balances to ensure the volunteers are safe, the wider service users are safe, and the organisation can meet its legal responsibilities and deliver high-quality, insight-driven experiences for its volunteers.
TeamKinetic is built on the principals of open data, with tools that allow the linking and sharing of certain data. This approach means organisations can use TeamKinetic in isolation or as a ‘best in category’ tool or they can link it to other software they use to create a more complete picture of their business. Simple to use features allow data and reporting exports as well as built-in data sharing functions. This allows quick and simple sharing with other brokers and applications.
For most organisations, having multiple applications, software and systems can be too complicated and expensive. TeamKinetic’s ambition is to provide all these services, and the ability to link to more as required, in a specialised volunteer management product. Our hope is that it is both cost-effective and feature-rich. This approach means you can have an ‘available any time’, web-based service that has a free mobile application, powerful data tools, customisable design features, and is built for the express job of managing volunteers. A service that is updated and improved every year at a cost that will not break the bank.
Finally, as a specialist in this sector, TeamKinetic has vast experience in how to use the available technology to get the very best from your volunteers. Our extensive support means volunteer managers can get good advice from both TeamKinetic and other volunteer managers who use the TeamKinetic system, sharing good practice and learning from each other. TeamKinetic’s value does not end with its software. Its true value is in shared best practice and the use of high-quality data that allows all our customers to look at ways in which they can improve their volunteers’ experiences.
If you want to see how TeamKinetic can help you, please feel free to get in touch here. We would love to give you the tour and show you how TeamKinetic could change your world. Just get in touch and we can arrange a 30-minute demo and 30-day free trial, so you can see for yourself how much more you might be able to do.
