Volunteering in food or warm banks is crucial during these times. However, there are also other volunteering options such as befriending schemes for people feeling isolated. Some suggestions for where you can donate your time to help are listed below.
For many people across the country, there is a big risk of being forced into homelessness because of the inability to keep up with increasing living costs. It is impossible to deal with the rising cost of living when you are already struggling to find a secure and stable place to live. Crisis research published in March 2022, showed that families on the breadline face an average £372 deficit between their Local Housing Allowance and the cost of the cheapest rents in their local areas.
The Crisis charityreceives almost no government funding. The generosity of their supporters and corporate partners is what allows them to continue to be there for everyone that needs them. Support from volunteers allows them to deliver services to help people experiencing homelessness.
Supporting The Well-being Of Others
Well-being and mental health also play a big factor during this crisis. Money problems can cause high amounts of stress and people may be feeling down. With the run-up to Christmas fast approaching, people may not be able to afford to give gifts or celebrate it in the way that they usually do so volunteering to support the well-being of others is crucial.
Warm Banks
As energy prices rise along with the cost of living, an increasing number of so-called warm banks have been popping up around the UK. These warm spaces are usually in a heated building like a community centre or village hall. Members of the public can use them to help save on their home energy bills. One story from the BBC is of two friends who have set up a warm bank offering homemade soup. People can stay as long as they want to keep warm, and it helps them to feel less isolated or lonely. This couldn’t be done without the help of volunteers, other stories of warm banks can be read here.
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To support your volunteer’s mental health and wellbeing, it is important to ensure all your volunteers are happy and content and you are doing all you can to sustain their wellbeing and create a supportive environment for the volunteers. Showing the volunteers that their mental health matters to you can also help retain volunteers. Ensuring you have a well-maintained relationship with volunteers means they will feel more comfortable raising any concerns with you.
Ways To Support Your Volunteer’s Wellbeing
Provide your team with information about bettering your mental health and wellbeing and letting them know that support is available. Mind offers some information about this on its website which can be found here.
Strengthen The Relationships With Your Volunteers
Make sure you have strong relationships with your volunteers. Well-maintained relationships can reduce stress and increase happiness, engagement and overall health. According to NCVO research shows that a feeling of belonging is important to people and can help motivate them.
You can strengthen relationships with volunteers by encouraging team-building activities and creating opportunities for people to come together in person and online for example socials or regular informal meet-ups. You can also keep in contact with volunteers by using our new automated emails feature in our 2.2 update which allows you to send automated emails so volunteers will get a message wishing them all the best on their birthdays and thanking them for volunteering. You can read more about what else is included in our 2.2 update here.
Create A Mental Health And Wellbeing Policy
Ensure you have a mental health and wellbeing policy. Having a policy shows what actions you’ll take to support staff and volunteers’ wellbeing. In the policy, you can include things like how you’ll respond to people who disclose a mental health problem. NCVO have suggested St John’s Ambulances policy as an example which you can gain ideas from for your own policy.
Use The Wellness Action Plan (WAP)
Volunteer Now suggests using the Wellness Action Plan (WAP) as a way for Volunteer Managers / Organisations to support the mental health of their volunteers.
WAPs are a personalised tool that can be used to help us identify what keeps us well at work and the support we would like to receive from our manager to boost our wellbeing. You are able to fill in a Wellness Action Plan template on the Mind website.
Connecting With Your Volunteers
Get to know your volunteers, ask them questions and show interest by asking what their hobbies are or what their motivations are for volunteering. This can help build healthy relationships and allow you and the volunteers to be more comfortable around one another and volunteers are able to feel more freely about voicing their concerns.
Have Regular Informal Catch-ups
Have one-to-one informal meetings or check-ups with your volunteers if possible or just regular check-ins via email and make sure to actively listen to your volunteers, and seek out their thoughts, opinions and feedback. NCVO have a one-to-one meeting template that you can use for inspiration.
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For TeamTalk Season 2, Episode 4, Emma Peat from Formula E joins hosts Chris Martin and Imogen Greatbatch.
Welcome back to season 2 of our TeamTalk podcast. This season, we are talking to thought leaders, customers and stakeholders from the world of sports and physical exercise. Join us as we dive deeper into sports volunteering and the volunteer managers who make it happen.
In this episode, Chris and Imogen were joined by Emma Peat from Formula E. Emma talked us through her volunteer management journey and discussed her enthusiasm for sports and volunteering.
Emma Peat is currently the Event Workforce Manager at Formula E, leading a global team of Support Staff and Volunteer Managers who deliver a vital temporary resourcing programme on the ground at Formula E events.
Her volunteer management journey started at University where she got stuck in, playing many different sports. She even started a hockey team with her friends. After university, she moved to London and got a job at a clothing company doing customer service. She had experience before in the events world due to a placement year.
Emma’s passion for hockey landed her the Events Officer role at England Hockey. She has found that a passion-fueled environment is very energising and working with volunteers is her favourite thing and that’s where she fell in love with the job role.
Emma expressed that she is always very keen to get involved and would do activities with the volunteers as well as manage them. She is now operating internationally working for Formula E.
Formula E
Formula E is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. Formula E’s founding mission was for its race through the streets of the most iconic cities in the world – with a grid full of the best racing drivers and teams around – to show just what sustainable mobility was capable of, driving electric vehicles to the fore in the race for a better, cleaner future.
After six seasons of racing on the streets of the world’s most progressive cities, Formula E gained World Championship status, a move granted by the FIA (motorsport’s governing body) in December 2019.
TeamTalk is a podcast that takes a deeper dive into the world of volunteer management, hosted by Director of TeamKinetic, Chris Martin. Chris speaks to a variety of people across the third sector to get their thoughts on all things volunteering and volunteer management.
We launched our first episode in January 2022 and so far we are halfway through season 2 and our podcast is now available to listen to on a variety of platforms. This season, Chris has been talking to thought leaders, customers and stakeholders from the world of sport and physical exercise as he takes a deeper dive into volunteering and the volunteer managers who make it happen. We have been joined by a range of guests from the world of volunteering including Jenny Betteridge, Alaina Macgregor, Philippa Bass, Kristen Natale, Gethyn Williams, and James Allen and there are plenty more guests to come!
In this series, Chris has been joined by co-host Imo Greatbatch. Imo is currently the Head of Volunteering at England Netball and is passionate about volunteering in sports brings her insightful knowledge to the podcast.
Why You Should Be Listening To The Podcast
Our weekly podcast covers various topics with fantastic guests giving their insight on the volunteer management world. The podcast allows you to listen to other like-minded people’s thoughts on the sector and their journey into the volunteer management industry.
Due to the knowledgeable guests who have years of experience in the industry you are able to learn more about the sector. It’s particularly intriguing to hear the journeys each of the guests have come down to enter the sector and what they initially started out doing compared to the amazing things they are involved in now.
So if you are a volunteer manager starting out or have years of experience in the industry, it would be useful to hear the tips and opinions of others who are already involved in the sector. We can guarantee you will feel inspired after listening to an episode due to the strong passion for the sector from each of the guests.
Episode Guide
Season 1
In Season 1 Chris spoke to a range of guests across the sector, each covering a variety of topics from the importance of great leadership as a Volunteer Manager, the challenges of the pandemic on the voluntary sector and more!
Season 1 Episode 1: Starting off the season, Chris was joined by Nicola Ward and Ian Turnbull from Willowbrook Hospice. Chris, Ian, and Nicola discuss everything from Willowbrook to criminal checks, and how the TeamKinetic system has simplified their work.
Season 1 Episode 2: Talking all things Manchester women’s aid with Abi Froud from the Pankhurst Trust. Learn more about the incredible work done by Manchester women’s aid. During this episode, Abi discusses her work within the Pankhurst Trust and continues to inspire us to challenge gender inequality.
Season 1 Episode 3: If you want to know more about the importance of great leadership, this is the episode for you! Chris was joined by Ruth Lenoard, Ruth is the Chair of Association of Volunteer Managers and we are pleased to be AVMs first corporate partner. During this episode Ruth talks about her journey into where she is today and leadership skills.
Season 1 Episode 4: Next up Chris spoke to Andy Broomhead, board member at AVM and Head of Volunteering at Diabetes UK. We hear Andy talking about his challenges he’s been through as a volunteer himself and a volunteer manager.
Season 1 Episode 5: In the final episode of the season, Claire Troupe talked us through how those working with volunteers are revitalising the volunteer movement post pandemic. Claire Troupe is the Project Manager at Manchester City Councils Volunteer Inspire Programme (MCRVIP). She shared with us that if you are not fully immersed in the volunteer world, the work may go unoticed.
In Season 2 Chris explores the world of sport and takes a deeper dive into volunteering and the volunteer managers who make it happen. In this season, Chris was joined by co-host Imo Greatbatch. Imo is Head of Volunteering at England Netball and shares her insightful knowledge with the guests.
Season 2 Episode 1: Season 2 was started off by exploring the Vision For Volunteering. Chris and Imo were joined by three guests: Jenny Betteridge, James Allen and Gethyn Williams. Jenny is Stategic Lead for Volunteering at Sport England and Gethyn and James launched the market engagement that made the vision possible. In this episode we get stuck into what the vision is, what it means and how you can get involved as it evolves over the coming months and years.
Season 2 Episode 2: In Episode 2, Chris was joined by Alaina MacGregor and Philippa Bass from British Blind Sport. In this episode Alaina and Philippa talk about their jounry with British Blind Sport and we learn all about their ‘Have a Go’ day programme which has introduced hundreds of visually impaired adults and children to new sports.
Season 2 Episode 3: Next up Chris spoke to Kristen Natale who has over 10 years experience in volunteer development and is now the Head of Volunteering at Sport England. In this episode Kristen discusses her thoughts on the Vision for Volunteering and how she got to where she is today.
Season 2 Episode 4: Episode 4 is coming very soon! Chris was joined by Emma Peat from Formula E, this is a very interesting listen if you interested in this side of the sports industry.
Thank you to all our guests who have joined us so far on the podcast. If you have any topic or guest requests be sure to let us know, you can contact us on our socials using the hashtag #TeamTalk or drop us an email (isabella@teamkinetic.co.uk).
Keep your eyes peeled as Season 3 is coming soon!
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It is important to use volunteer-friendly language when addressing and discussing volunteers. As volunteers are not paid workers, subtle differences in vocabulary can make people think volunteers are unpaid employees, this would mean they can have the same legal rights as paid employees which isn’t the case as volunteers aren’t included in employment legislation.
Rethinking Your Vocabulary
Karen Knight, a Volunteer Management strategist and mentor, recently posted a blog post discussing the language of volunteering and made some interesting points. In the blog, Karen proposed some problematic words in the volunteer world. These included referring to volunteers as “yours” and also referring to “using” volunteers. Both of these words could be objectifying and imply ownership of the volunteers.
Perhaps using words like “involving” and “engaging” may be more volunteer-friendly words. Karen suggests if you are unsure about if a word is problematic, have others in your organisation give their opinions on it. The more feedback you can get the better.
NCVO and Volunteering England put together a document with volunteer-friendly words. The document gives tips such as don’t borrow vocabulary from employment, human resources or work experience policies without making sure it applies to your volunteer programme and ensure you re-read what you have written from the perspective of your volunteers. Using volunteer-friendly vocabulary can give people a clearer idea of their legal rights or responsibilities.
Examples of volunteer-friendly words and phrases
Ensure you’re using volunteer-friendly language
To ensure you are using volunteer-friendly language, avoid using the word ‘contract’ when discussing the volunteer’s agreements. Referring to the agreement as a volunteer contract can mean the volunteer may be entitled to claim workers’ rights. When providing the volunteers with information about what they will be doing, it would be better to use the term “volunteer role” rather than “job description”. The definition of a job description is a “written description of the exact work and responsibilities of a job”. Volunteers may think that the role is formal employment.
Try using the phrase “informal chat” instead of an interview during the recruitment process. “Informal chat” is a more suitable word than “interview”, which is used when applying for paid work. The phrase “informal chat” can also put the volunteer at ease.
Share these tips with other volunteer managers and people in your organisation so that we can make a change in the world of volunteering.
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A volunteering strategy sets out what you want to achieve with volunteering and how you want to do it. A strategy articulates what needs to be done to achieve the purpose of an organisation, group, programme, and so on. Creating a strategy is important as it explains how volunteers will contribute to the organisation’s aims. It can also include how it will find, recruit and support volunteers. The strategy helps everyone understand your vision for volunteers and why you’re involving them.
You may think being a busy Volunteer Manager that you may not have the time to write a strategy however a well-thought-out strategy may save you time in the long run and be beneficial to your organisation.
Important Things To Consider When Writing A Strategy
Important things to consider when writing your strategy are speaking to others in your organisation and taking a look at some important resources to help you. Engaging with everyone and having lots of collaboration and feedback is necessary when writing the strategy so use the opinions of others in your organisation. People to include could be paid staff within your organisation or existing volunteers as they may have valuable suggestions.
To ensure your strategy supports your organisation’s aims, you should think about the following questions NCVO have put together as useful advice when writing a strategy.
Think about these questions when writing your strategy
After you have created your strategy it is essential to review it. Reviewing your strategy will help you respond to trends and changes in volunteering. You should do this annually with the people you consulted when you initially wrote it to see if it is still up to date with your organisation’s aims and if there are any other suggestions for it.
Useful Resources To Help You Write Your Volunteer Strategy
Volunteer Scotland runs a one-day course on, “Developing a Volunteer Strategy”. This includes learning an understanding of how to put together a strategy, having time to reflect on what is needed and preparatory work. Volunteer Scotland also has a list of suggested useful resources for developing an effective volunteer strategy which can be found here.
NCVO have some useful resources including reports and research about volunteering and the voluntary sector to help you write your strategy. You can also bring in an external consultant to help develop your strategy. To find out how NCVO consultancy can help your organisation you can fill in their short online enquiry form.
There are also some examples of volunteer strategies available which may help guide you, however, strategies must be unique and tailored to the needs and ambitions of the organisation. Royal Parks have a volunteering strategy that may be useful which can be found here and a volunteering strategy agreed by the city’s public agencies and the third sector produced by Edinburgh Compact can be found here.
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The ‘mini-budget’ was announced by the Chancellor on 23rd September (2022) due to the rapidly escalating cost of living crisis. Sadly the budget meant that there would be little in the way of support for people and communities. A further budget is now expected on 31st October 2022.
On October 17th (2022), the government announced support within its Growth Plan to protect households and businesses from high energy prices. The Energy Price Guarantee and the Energy Bill Relief Scheme are supporting millions of households and businesses including charities with rising energy costs, and the new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt plans to continue to do so from now until April next year. However, Jeremy Hunt now says that any support after April will only be targeted to those most vulnerable meaning many households and organisations could be struggling in April 2023.
The scheme may provide immediate relief to charities, but when it hits next April, charities are likely to face problems. The charity, Family Space from Cheltenham, said the government’s energy price cap would not be enough help for the most vulnerable.
For struggling families, it was “a welcome relief, but not a solution”, the charity’s manager Sarah Avery said. Family Space has a new project called #FeedCheltenham, which involves Local Charities, Schools and Churches working in partnership across the food support network to feed people in Cheltenham. Increasing numbers of people are using the service, but fewer are donating.
Due to the significant effect the cost of living crisis will have on communities and government support which will only last until April, the role of charities and volunteers will be more crucial than ever. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Turn2Us have also highlighted how people will be impacted by the lack of further financial help combined with an increasingly severe benefits system.
A new report by Volunteer Scotland was released on the 27th of September discussing the impact the cost of living crisis will have on volunteers and volunteering. Increased demand for volunteers is needed for charities that focus on giving support to tackle the financial, health and well-being of the cost of living crisis.
There may also be a reduced number of volunteers as a decrease in disposable income could stop people from volunteering as their free time now needs to be used up by working another job. However, volunteering may be more attractive as people can take the opportunity to ‘get out of the house’ and take their minds off the crisis during this stressful time. The health and well-being of volunteers may be largely impacted as the cost of living crisis could cause financial stress and uncomfortable living environments.
The cost of living makes the reimbursement of volunteers a vital issue. If charities can’t afford to reimburse volunteers then it could have a large impact on the inclusivity and diversity of the voluntary sector as it can mean only those who can afford to be out of pocket can volunteer.
What Extra Support Is There?
NCVO have cost-of-living help and guidance, including support, webinars and training opportunities. They also have a small charity helpdesk if any extra information or advice is needed. On the 30th of November 2022, they will also be hosting a webinar on “How to manage rising energy costs” where they will be sharing ways to help you keep costs down during the energy crisis.
More on the cost of living crisis and extra support can be found here.
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This year, the annual TeamKinetic conference theme was Volunteering to 2030: What might the future look like? We had a variety of incredible speakers discuss their thoughts on the future of volunteering.
Day One
Day One of the TeamKinetic Conference involved sharing some exciting new updates to the TeamKinetic system, sessions on how to onboard volunteers and providers, available reporting tools on the system, how to create and use roles and other topics covered in a series of breakout sessions.
New To TeamKinetic
Rolf started off by taking us through the next major release. New opportunity creation system, better sharing options when sharing your opportunities, scheduling bulk emails, reporting improvements, and more! You can learn more about the 2.20 version here.
Watch Rolf’s session to get to grips with our exciting new update. If you’re a TeamKinetic Admin user, youcan even test it for yourself over at https://beta.teamkinetic.co.uk/vk/admin (Just use your usual admin login details!)
Reporting With TeamKinetic
Steve gave his session on reporting with TeamKinetic and later spoke to us about onboarding volunteers and providers and opportunity restrictions. He touched on the different types of reports, maintenance, general awareness of activity, how you can measure the success of your volunteer programme and other areas of how to report with the TeamKinetic system.
Watch the session below to find out how reports can help you uncover various things about your volunteers and opportunities.
Onboarding Providers and Volunteers
In Rolf’s breakout session he spoke to us about onboarding volunteers and providers. He started off by talking about the new onboarding/help screens that will be available to new volunteers when they register. These will be available for admins to customise in the upcoming 2.2 release. Rolf then discussed how to find and customise the emails that are sent to new volunteers and providers. These emails are the first communications your new volunteers and providers get from your organisation and they are a great place to set out your stall and set the tone for your programme. Finally, we took a look at how to keep your recently onboarded users engaged using the weekly newsletters, bulk emails and search filters to extract those users that are not interacted since registering.
Super Admin Options and Customising Emails
Another breakout session was run by Steve. This was a fun and busy session with lots of questions regarding customised emails and custom areas. Steve also touched on which functions are limited to organisations with providers who work for them, and what functionality can be used by all organisations including volunteer centres. Lots of interesting points and suggestions from attendees, and overall it was a very useful session. In case you missed it or would like to re-watch Steve’s session, it can be found here.
Why use Roles? And How to Create Them
Roles are still a relatively new addition to TeamKinetic. We know they could help a lot of customers but appear to be significantly underused. This is why Chris decided to base his breakout session on this feature. He talked us through how to create roles within your system, how they can be used effectively on your opportunities, and the differences between roles and restrictions.
Are You Taking Advantage Of Opportunity Restrictions?
In our final session of day one, Steve took everyone through the different opportunity restrictions available within TeamKinetic. These restrictions are important to ensure you get the right volunteers for your opportunities every time!
There are a number of ways to restrict your opportunities in TeamKinetic to ensure you get the right volunteer for the job, but are you using them correctly? Watch the session to find out:
Day Two
Day Two of the TeamKinetic conference saw some impactful guest speakers join us. They all covered a range of topics such as expenses, volunteer retention/impact, criminal checks, and more.
Guest speakers included Rob Jackson, Ruth Leonard from AVM, Randa Bennett from vHelp, Simon Dickinson from Digital Gaps, Dan McManus from Time Tempo Credits, Felicity Adrian from General Practise Alliance, Scott Jones from 123 Internet, and Allan Merrifield from First Advantage.
Rob Jackson
Rob Jacksonwas the keynote speaker at the 2022 TeamKinetic Conference. He shared ideas of what the future might hold for volunteering. Rob had some powerful points which we think are worth sharing.
Since the pandemic and now the cost of living crisis, people’s mental health has worsened. The pandemic has caused people to be burnout and have a lack of motivation. According to a brief by the World Health Organization, the global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by 25% in the first year of the pandemic. This could imply that in the future, volunteers may need increased support from volunteer managers due to poor mental health and lack of energy to put their time into volunteering.
The cost of living crisis could also cause an increase in stress and anxiety in people’s lives. Individuals may not have the spare time to volunteer as they have to work multiple jobs to support themselves through the cost of living crisis. The cost of living crisis also means the reimbursement of expenses needs to be prioritised. People may be reluctant to volunteer as they worry that it might leave them out of pocket as expenses are taking too long to be reimbursed.
After Rob Jackson, we then had a session choice between Simon Dickinson from Digital Gaps and Dan McManus from Time Tempo Credits discussing volunteer retention and impact in 2030.
Digital Gaps
Simon delivered a great session on providing verified volunteers for digital services. Digital Gaps’ mission is to help the public and third sector realise the financial, customer experience and improved well-being outcomes that data solutions deliver.
He talked about the work they have done with us to put in place a digital passport. Simon showed us the process that would verify a volunteer, using Yoti to verify your identity which then allows you to have a digital identity wallet which can be used when recruiting volunteers.
Tempo Time Credits
Dan McManus from Tempo Time Credits then took us through how to build and sustain a volunteer workforce in his session. Tempo Time Credits allows you to earn a time credit for each hour of volunteering.
Dan talked through some future plans for Tempo including an improved facility to donate to groups. Some thoughts Dan had on the future of volunteering was that the pandemic has had a large impact on older and vulnerable volunteers which has made it difficult for organisations to recruit volunteers.
vHelp
Randa Bennett from vHelp gave her session on how we should be handling expenses in the future. Randa has been in the technology sector for over 20 years and came across this problem around reimbursing volunteers and that’s where vHelp was born.
One key point she touched on in her session was the importance of inclusivity. If organisations aren’t reimbursing volunteers quickly, it could be excluding the less fortunate people who can’t afford to be left out of pocket, leaving only wealthier people being able to volunteer. Transparency is also a key aspect for the future of volunteering. In the future, organisations need to ensure they inform their volunteers about expenses in the early stages of recruitment.
123 Internet and General Practice Alliance
In the next session, we were joined by Felicity Adrian from General Practice Alliance. Felicity is a project manager and she helps put together the volunteer passport online platform for Northamptonshire.
Scott Jones from 123 Internet talked us through how he made their volunteer passport homepage. They gave us an overview of the concept behind the volunteer passport and discussed why the re-design was needed. To decide why the re-design was needed they held a workshop to help them understand what their key vision was for volunteering across Northamptonshire and how it could be shared through the volunteer passport.
First Advantage
Allan Merrifield from First Advantage spoke to us about Digital ID DBS. First Advantage are a global technology background screening company delivering innovative solutions and insights that help their clients manage risk and hire the best talent quickly and efficiently.
Their aim is to automate DBS checks to make it as easy as possible. During Allan’s session, he spoke to us about what services are available through the partnership that is in place between TeamKinetic and First Advantage. Allan also took us through the journey of creating a digital ID and how to use one.
A Big Thank You!
We’d just like to say a massive thank you to everyone who attended the 2022 TeamKinetic Conference and all our great speakers for their informative sessions. We hope you had a good time with us.
If you have any suggestions of things you’d like to hear about – or people you’d like to hear from – please tell us by emailing alex@teamkinetic.co.uk
We look forward to next year’s conference!
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For TeamTalk Season 2, Episode 3, Kristen Natale from Sport England joins hosts Chris Martin and Imogen Greatbatch.
Welcome back to season 2 of our TeamTalk podcast. This season, we are talking to thought leaders, customers and stakeholders from the world of sports and physical exercise. Join us as we dive deeper into sports volunteering and the volunteer managers who make it happen.
In this episode, Kristen Natale joins us. Kristen is the Head of Volunteering at Sport England and her passion for volunteering shines through.
Co-host Imo Greatbatch also joins us. Imo is currently the Head of Volunteering at England Netball. She is passionate about volunteering in sports and is offering her knowledge and insight on the topic.
About Kristen Natale
Kristen has over 10 years of experience in volunteer development, working with partners across various sectors. Although she didn’t plan for a career in volunteer management, she knew she wanted to do something rooted in communities and making lives better for people.
Now she is passionate about the power of volunteering and is the Head of Volunteering at Sport England. Kristen discusses her thoughts on the Vision for Volunteering and how she got to where she is today.
About Sport England
Starting out as The Sports Council, it was an independent body under the Department of National Heritage, established by the Royal Charter in 1972. The organisation now invests in sport and physical activity to make it a normal part of life for everyone in England. Two-thirds of their funding comes from lottery players, and everything the organisation spends ties into our vision that everyone in England should be able to participate in sport and activity.
Sport England believe they can be part of a bigger picture of work that helps to address many of society’s biggest challenges. Their Uniting the Movement strategy is a 10-year vision to transform lives and communities through sport and physical activity.
For TeamTalk Season 2, Episode 2, we are joined by British Blind Sport’s Alaina MacGregor and Philippa Bass. Hosted by Chris Martin and Imogen Greatbatch.
Welcome back to Season 2 of our TeamTalk podcast. This season, we are talking to thought leaders, customers and stakeholders from the world of sport and physical exercise as we dive deeper into volunteering and the volunteer managers who make it happen.
In this episode, we are joined by Alaina MacGregor and Philippa Bass from British Blind Sport. We are also joined again by our co-host Imo Greatbatch. Imo is currently the Head of Volunteering at England Netball, she is passionate about volunteering in sports and is offering her knowledge and insight on the topic.
About British Blind Sport
British Blind Sport “prides itself on making a visible difference through sport as we know that taking the first step into participating in a sporting or recreational activity can change lives for the better”. The charity was established in 1975 under the name of BASRAB (British Association of Sports and Recreation Activities of the Blind) and was created to assist blind and partially sighted adults and children to access opportunities in sports. The charity organisation has now assisted over 100,000 visually impaired adults and children to access sport.
About Our Guests
Alaina MacGregor is the Chief Executive of British Blind Sport. After a successful 16-year career in marketing, Alaina turned to charity work as she felt that she wanted to give back. Alaina became involved in disability sport as a volunteer advisor to British Blind Sport in 2010 but took up the responsibility of Chief Executive Officer in 2011.
Our other guest is Philippa Bass, Sports Participation Officer. Philippa joined the team in September 2021, having worked in Disability Football for the past 8 years, where she has experience of blind and partially sighted provision. Philippa, is responsible for the coordination and delivery of their active programme, to get more people active and enjoying participation in sports. This includes the ‘Have a Go’ day programme.
Have a go days encourage everyone, no matter their previous experience in sport, to come along, make new friends and discover inclusive activities in their community. The ‘Have a Go’ day programme has introduced hundreds of visually impaired adults and children to new sports.
As Alaina says, it’s an exciting time for disability sports but we need to get it absolutely right, we’re going to sprinkle magic and we’re going to make this happen.
Some useful links and resources will be left below for those who want to learn more about what British Blind Sport do.
You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to other episodes of our podcast:
