Tag: volunteering Page 17 of 19

Volunteer numbers are stagnating while the number of opportunities rises each year. It is easy for volunteer managers to want to “recruit”, without assessing and placing volunteers in the most suitable opportunities.

TeamKinetic contend that it’s important for all volunteer managers to understand how to recruit volunteers. Equally, it is important to understand how to effectively manage them. Perhaps more important still – how do you retain them?

Recruiting volunteers

Let’s start with some figures that are important to know from a volunteer managers point of view. As this always helps to understand the context we are working with.

Over 21 million people volunteer across the UK every year
More than 100 million hours donated to volunteers communities every week
The economic value of volunteering is at least worth £50 Billion to our economy
There are around 161,000 active UK charities

In giving, how much do we receive? The social value of volunteering (Andrew G Haldane, Chief Economist, Bank of England, 2014).

Clearly, there is an appetite by people to help shape their communities and give their time freely to achieve their goals. How do you and your organisations make the best use of this amazing resource?

Advertising

How technology is redefining volunteer management…

Technology has been a powerful tool in allowing people to achieve things that once were not possible in the past. The developments have allowed billions of people to communicate, share stories and ideas from different locations and times. TeamKinetic uses technology to allow volunteer managers to complete tasks in a simple and quick manner. Technology is a tool that can create a number of benefits to organisations that is focused on providing volunteers with the best possible opportunities.

TeamKinetic work with a number of organisations such as; Do-it.org, volunteering-wales.net and VolunteerScotland to offer volunteers options across the UK. We believe that audience size matters and individuals looking for things they are interested in is made simple.

We believe it is possible to create an audience ecosystem for opportunities. every volunteer manager in the sector plays an important role in providing volunteers with access to a wide range of opportunities that will bring about benefits to the organisation and volunteer. TeamKinetic is assisting volunteer managers to carry out these tasks by providing a platform that allows them to create and advertise opportunities according to the organisation’s audience. The system also inputs all volunteers into one area after registering. This allows the selecting process of volunteers to be effective and time-saving.

Opportunities

Volunteer managers should always strive to create opportunities that are appealing and beneficial to the volunteer. Opportunities should allow the volunteer to gain positive and worthwhile experiences because at the end of the day they’re giving up their time to help you!

When advertising an opportunity it is important to consider the following:

Provide the volunteer with all the information regarding the opportunity.
Include some of the benefits of the volunteering opportunity
Highlight some of the key requirements of your opportunity

Here are some amazing opportunities that have been provided to volunteers by organisations using the TeamKinetic volunteer management software. When opportunities are well thought out and advertised they can have a big impact on the volunteer and their experience.

Liverpool FC Foundation – Respect 4 All

Respect 4 All is a great example of a simple and easy to sign up volunteer opportunity created by the foundation. The opportunity is a regular ongoing event that is held every week that brings in a variety of volunteers. The Respect 4 All event is well advertised through the website and the mission of the event is clearly outlined. The Respect 4 All event is for girls and boys with complex and additional needs ages 5+.

This opportunity is perfect for an individual that has no experience and wants to get involved, as they are not required to have specific skills or experience. Once signed up the volunteer is provided with a full induction that allows them to get to know the volunteer managers and highlights what is expected of them.

The volunteer is provided with their own LFC Foundation Kit which is a good way of making them feel part of the team. Respect 4 All is a successful event and volunteers always leave happy, which is reflected in some of the reviews that are left.

“Lovely to meet the staff who made me feel very welcome as a newcomer. Really well organised, and would love to help again”

England Hockey – #IndoorHockeyUK

England hockey is another organisation that has used the volunteer management software to its potential by creating some fantastic opportunities. A good example of one of England Hockey’s opportunities is their spectator service role for the #IndoorHockeyUK event that is being held on the 28th of December.

The volunteer role is well defined with a clear outline of what is required (16+ and a criminal check). Additionally, the role expectations are outlined for the volunteer applying so they are fully aware of the tasks at hand.

England hockey has also used the volunteer system features to include what would be provided to the volunteer e.g a volunteer pack (including a t-shirt and water bottle), refreshments and meals. As well as the map feature which gives the volunteer and exact location of the event.

volunteer management software, volunteering, free volunteer management, volunteer managers — A diverse group of volunteers

Selecting

Matching the right volunteer in the role best suited to them is the best way to ensure success for your voluntary programme. Finding volunteers who commit to opportunities over a longer period of time is vital for organisational and volunteer development. All organisations are different and will have different expectations of what they require from the volunteer.

When selecting volunteers it is necessary to consider how difficult you wish to make it for them to have a positive experience. The type of role volunteers apply for will impact their onboarding process. it is important to consider whether they can apply and turn up to their opportunities or if you require a face-to-face meeting with them.

For example, tasters may require little to no onboarding and are ideal for the volunteer to try out opportunities. Supporting the volunteer to see what skills they have and how they may fit into an organisation. Whereas roles with greater responsibility may require references, DBS, and relevant experience.

TeamKinetic allows managers to set these guidelines for each opportunity they provide. Volunteers are never expected to provide more than is asked of them in the application process.

Dawn Georgeson -Volunteer Lead at the Liverpool FC Foundation had this to say about some of the issues volunteer managers face when recruiting volunteers.

“Reliability is one of the key things! Not that volunteers are not reliable but its more about what is a ‘regular’ volunteer for me. For one person every week could be a regular volunteering opportunity that they will continue to do. However, for some people, it could be once a month or even once a year and that regular to them, and it’s managing that. Discussing with volunteers on what their expectations are and what ours are, and making sure they marry up. That is one of the biggest issues in making sure people are fulfilling their opportunities.”

TeamKinetic allows volunteer managers like Dawn to set the type of opportunity on offer. Allowing them to better understand and manage how regular the volunteer will be. On the volunteer management software, TeamKinetic gives 3 opportunity options, which are:

Repeating – (An opportunity that is regularly ongoing e.g coaching football every Tuesday)
Non-repeating – (A one-off opportunity or event e.g Commonwealth parade)
Flexible – (An opportunity that is irregular e.g befriending old people when you have free time)

These options help categories the opportunities and allow managers to have a greater understanding of what they would consider as a regular volunteer for their organisation. The TeamKinetic volunteer software makes selecting volunteers simple and easy for the managers. This allows more time to be spent on organisation goals and developments and less time spent on administrative tasks and micromanaging the whole recruitment process.

Find out how TeamKinetic has helped organisations simplify their management process and reduced time spent on micromanaging volunteers.

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

Twitter Facebook LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Podcast

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

Volunteering Conference – Getting to know Kristen Stephenson

By Steve Hall

On 5th September 2018

In Community, Events and Conferences

As TeamKinetic 4th annual sports volunteering conference approaches, we thought it would be an excellent opportunity to get to know some of our guest speakers for the event. The theme of this year’s conference is:

‘What can sports volunteering learn from the wider voluntary sector’.

This year’s volunteering conference will allow volunteer managers, volunteers, policymakers and academics to come together to discuss best practice as well as insights in the wider voluntary sector.

DAY 1 (TeamKinetic Customers only)

FREE event to TeamKinetic customers.
A masterclass by Steven Hall on the TeamKinetic volunteer system.
Customers will also be able to discuss the future software developments of TeamKinetic.

DAY 2

Denise Larrad – BBC Sports Personality 2017 Unsung Hero award winner
Kirsten Stephenson – Head of Volunteering – Sport England
Laura Hamilton – Volunteer Management Consultant – Laura Hamilton Consulting and member of the Association of Volunteer
Chantel Scherer – Director of Marketing, Communications and Member Engagement at Sport & Recreation Alliance
Mike Howlett – Volunteer & Citizenship Lead – Sefton Volunteer Centre
Claire Jones – Head of Volunteering – Halton and St Helens Volunteer Centre
Fiona Liddell – Volunteering Development Manager – Welsh Council Voluntary Action (WCVA)

Kristen will be leading the first session at our conference with a session on…

“Volunteering in an Active Nation: How cross-sector collaboration can unlock the potential of volunteering in sport and physical activity”

Kristen has recently joined Sport England as Head of Volunteering. She leads on managing the 32 projects across Sport Englands Volunteering Funds and supporting the delivery of the strategy ‘Volunteering in an Active Nation’. These funded projects are focused on getting young people involved in making a difference through; social action, sport and physical activity and creating opportunities to get people from economically disadvantaged areas involved in volunteering.

The most important things for you as a volunteer manager at Sports England?

“A key priority for my role is to focus on how we can increase the diversity of people volunteering in sport and physical activity. I manage our Volunteering Funds which are all testing approaches to reaching people who are currently underrepresented; particularly those in lower socio-economic groups and women. This is one of the most challenging but exciting areas of my work! I am really passionate about making volunteering in sport more inclusive so that more people can experience the benefits.”

Your best or most memorable volunteering experience?

“One of my most memorable volunteering experiences has to be helping out at my running club’s midsummer relay race in my local park. It was a beautiful summer’s evening with a great turnout! I was taking on a new volunteer role- timing the runners taking part. This was a bit nerve-wracking, to begin with, and hard work but starting the big race clock and seeing everyone have a great time was totally worth it!”

What to expect from you on the day of the conference?

“Expect to find out more about Sports England’s strategic ambitions for volunteering and hear how we’re working with and learning from the voluntary sector to make these a reality. I hope people will find out more about our work to increase the number and diversity of people volunteering in sport and physical activity and perhaps be surprised at how we are working differently to achieve the aims and objectives of our strategy. I’m also really keen to hear from delegates about their work in this area too and so I hope it encourages people to come to share their ideas and what they are working on too.”

We look forward to having Kristen at the conference and learning about more Sport England’s strategy. We hope you are as excited as we are TeamKinetic is to hear what our other guest speakers have to talk offer. Above all, we hope to see you there for a great day!

If you’re still undecided, why not read our six reasons to attend the volunteering conference!

For more information on the volunteering conference and how to purchase a ticket. Please click this link.

Understanding the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of the internet for volunteer managers

By Chris Martin

On 30th August 2018

In Community, Policy and Operations, Security and GDPR, Volunteer Management

TeamKinetic believes that the internet has the potential for transformation in our world comparable to the Gutenberg’s printing press , but if the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that the internet reflects both the very best and very worst of human nature. What do volunteer managers need to know about the internet to keep their volunteers safe?

I’ll provide some useful resources to give some context and understanding of the darker side of the internet and how we have used this to try and inform our policies and procedures as an organisation and what we think you should consider as an organisation as you become more reliant on digital platforms.

The internet provides almost limitless opportunity for grassroots social action, citizen journalism, voluntary engagement and so many other potentially positive outcomes, but we are naive if we do not recognise and consider the risks.

Jon Ronson, journalist and author recently wrote “So you’ve been publicly shamed” on how the networked effect of the internet can lead to individuals being ostracised. His entertaining and occasionally dark work examined some of the difficult issues around user-generated content and how people’s mistakes are amplified and stored for eternity in the memory of cyber-space. Ronson’s storytelling introduces the reader to the inherent risk for normal people to get caught up in exceptional events and how little control they have over these events once a post goes viral.

Sarah Jeong, now of the New York Times Editorial Board, Vice and The Verge has written extensively on the internet’s inherent problems and her book, “The Internet of Garbage” gives informed insights on the risks and unintended consequences of poor policy and practice and how that can impact organisations and their users. Jeong discusses at length some of the nuanced problems the modern internet has created for itself and how copyright law is being misused as a method of content suppression and removal, due in part to lack of other recourse to individuals who find themselves at the centre of a viral internet storm.

I mention these two texts as they are accessible and informed, and for those who are looking to understand the internet, they will help non-technology people appreciate the inherent risks of a highly networked world, the very real risks that can affect everyday users and voluntry organisations alike.

TeamKinetic is aware that our volunteer management platform has the potential to recruit volunteers in almost any situation. It is effective and easy to use and can be administered remotely with high efficiency to deploy individuals or teams of volunteers at short notice. These characteristics are great if you run a charity, an event or a university internship program, but they are equally great if you are recruiting individuals to partake in less positive endeavours. The creators of any platform which allows users to create content and communicate with each other must be aware of the risks as well as the benefits.

Recent legislation such as GDPR, goes some way to help individuals protect their privacy and increase their control over websites and platforms they engage with. It also gives businesses and organisations the chance to audit exactly what information they collect, why they collect it, and what they are going to do with it. This was a revealing process for us and was very worthwhile. All legislation, however well intentioned, runs the risk of “unintended consequence“. As responsible curators of TeamKinetic we have to embrace some basic values by which to manage our site.

What are our ideals and values?

As an organisation, we have put honesty at the centre of our company values. This is a type of statement that is easy to say, but much harder to live by. We aspire to offer honesty in our pricing, in our customer service and our product.

Our role in supporting the organisations that use TeamKinetic to manage their volunteers goes beyond the provision of software. We want to build a community of volunteers and volunteer managers that can share practice and policy, develop professional connections and work to strengthen the sector as a whole through the development of consistent standards in the wider information technology infrastructure of volunteering.

We want to be able to share expert knowledge and insight based on our user data and experience to help the sector become better at recruiting, deploying and recognising their volunteer’s hard work. We commit to making our data available to researchers, and the resulting insights and findings will be freely available to all who have a valid interest in the voluntary sector.

Finally, we want to create an amazing experience for all our users, that means the best technology, built in a way that is easy to use and importantly every user is protected by good policies and excellent support. Our volunteer-centric approach to development will remain the centre of our business operation.

We hope you will join us on our continued mission to be part of the ‘good’ internet and we look forward to your thoughts on how we can do this.

Free and Paid Volunteer Management Software: What is the difference?

By Rolf Herbert

On 30th May 2018

In Application Features and Tutorials, News & Views

TeamKinetic has been providing volunteer management software to third-sector organisations for over ten years. As part of our service, we also provide free volunteer management software to organisations through our national brokerage website tryvolunteering.com providing TeamKinetic FREE.

This is the perfect opportunity for organisations to test the benefits of advertising opportunities nationally, understand the benefits of volunteer management software’s reporting functionality and test the responsiveness of volunteers to join opportunities through an online portal. TeamKinetic FREE lets you manage an unlimited number of volunteers on one opportunity.

To help understand the benefits of volunteer management software, TeamKinetic have put together this short guide:

What is volunteer management software?

‘Volunteer Management Software’ is a term coined to describe a built-for-purpose computer system which can be used by voluntary organisations to recruit and manage volunteers. It creates an online portal for volunteers to access advertised opportunities, which in turn makes volunteering more accessible. There are various systems available on the market. Each provider of volunteer management software takes a different approach to delivering their software system and this is reflected in the functionality, features and design.

Who uses volunteer management software?

Volunteer management software is used by many voluntary, non-government, education, health and sport organisations. The staff that use the systems often include volunteer managers, community engagement officers, events coordinators, sports development officers, volunteer coordinators, HR and operation staff, and many more.

What does volunteer management software do?

Volunteer management software helps organisations to reduce the amount of time spent on administrative tasks. The software also helps to recruit and deploy volunteers. Depending on the software provider, additional functionality may be available, such as reporting features, social media sharing, communication tools and much more.

What is the difference between free and paid versions of volunteer management software?

Free volunteer management software often has limitations or simplified functionality. As more functionality, reports and functionality increase, so does the price of the software.

TeamKinetic provides several volunteer management software options to match the needs of different organisations. We have one free version and three paid versions of volunteer management software.

TeamKinetic FREE is a free volunteer management software system that is hosted on tryvolunteering.com. You can’t control the look at feel of the site, but you can advertise opportunities and invite volunteers.

TeamKinetic ADVANCED and TeamKinetic ENTERPRISE are both bespoke systems that are hosted on their own domain and include higher functionality features. You can find out more about this on our website.

What features and functionality does TeamKinetic FREE include?

TeamKinetic FREE is a national volunteer brokerage system with advanced volunteer management functionality; it acts as a virtual portal for volunteers to find voluntary opportunities. Removing the restrictions of traditional volunteering sign-up, your organisation will be bought into the digital age and will save valuable time, previously spent on administration tasks.

In all versions of TeamKinetic’s volunteer management software volunteers can access all of the same features. These features include:

the ability to join opportunities,
Create a profile
track achievements
add CPD and qualifications
track opportunities attended
log hours

Search for opportunities, events and training by:

keywords
categories
activities
distance and date
leave opportunity feedback
share opportunities on social media

As an opportunity provider you can:

Create a profile for your organisation
Create opportunities
Manage unlimited volunteers
Group volunteers
Check DBS
Request references
Access automated emails
Upload documents
Restrict opportunities
Share the opportunity onto Do-It

Using TeamKinetic enables you to report on essential KPIs and Data, including:

Gender of Volunteers
Volunteer Ethnicity
Volunteer Age Groups
Volunteer Group Membership
Hours Logged by Category
Opportunity numbers by category
Monthly cumulative logged hours
Unique Active Opportunity Sessions
Available Opportunity Sessions

All of this data is available for download in a CVS file.

What if my organisation needs its own system?

As mentioned, TeamKinetic also provides bespoke volunteer management software systems which can be integrated into your organisation’s current website. We are more than happy to discuss the pricing of the system, the specification required and which version would best meet your organisation’s needs.

Where can I find out more / Can I discuss this further with you?

TeamKinetic is always happy to help and support voluntary organisations and we will happily discuss which option of our software would be best suited to your organisation’s needs. Speak with one of our specialist Team today.

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

Twitter Facebook LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Podcast

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

From Volunteer Management Systems to Volunteering in Ethiopia

By Chris Martin

On 10th April 2018

In Community, News & Views

School Under The Tree

A few months ago I wrote a post about the potential impact we can all make and how we as individuals and business owners should try to maximise that impact. It occurred to me that I really needed to live by my own message and I started to look for new personal and business projects to increase my impact.

Through a friend, I was introduced to The School Under The Tree, a Manchester based charity that supports a school project in Ethiopia. The charity name echos its beginnings, a young Ethiopian man teaching local street children under a tree in the town of Awasa in Southern Ethiopia. Supported by people from Manchester, that school of humble beginnings has 13 years later transformed into a provider of primary age education for over 200 students every day.

The challenge

How can we make this small school in Ethiopia, sustainable and maybe even give it the potential to grow, without it being dependant upon donations and funding?

This is a challenge many fundraisers and 3rd sector organisations around the world battle with every day. My goal is to develop a business model that will allow the school to prosper long term, whilst staying true to its goal to provide education for some of the poorest young people in this region.

Over the next few days I’ll blog about my experiences in the school and share ideas on how we might help achieve long-term viability for the School Under The Tree. If you have ideas please comment below or follow us on twitter @schoolundert.

Introducing TeamKinetic: James Carr – Could I be d’Artagnan?

By Rolf Herbert

On 8th November 2017

In News & Views

Continuing our celebrations of #IVMD17 and the latest update to VolunteerKinetic 7.3, we’d like to introduce our newest addition to the team, James Carr.

Much like d’Artagnan, my journey began by setting out in search of a new beginning.

I was ready for a challenge, using my skills and knowledge to prove myself as capable.

My studies in Sport Management had equipped me with the theoretical knowledge needed and a handful of short-term internships had given me the practical opportunity to apply it. I enjoyed the dynamic nature of marketing, from understanding the needs of the target audience to creating strategise and analysing results. I also realised how important it was for me to believe in the company, its purpose and values.

When I was invited to an interview at a small business office in Manchester for the role of Marketing Coordinator, I knew such an opportunity had arrived.

Despite all my preparation, on the morning of the interview, my apprehension began to build. With clammy hands, a dry mouth and my collar feeling like it had shrunk an inch since setting off that morning; I eventually arrived at the entrance.

The moment I met the three men who greeted me I relaxed. Perhaps it was their warm welcomes, the light-hearted small talk or just the overall friendliness of these guys that made me so at ease. As we spoke I realised that their work was more than just a job. Collectively they were driven by the goal of delivering a product focused on: building better communities through volunteering.

Of course, those “three men” were TeamKinetic – Chris, Rolf and Steve!

Thankfully, our introductions skipped any duels! In a short space of time, I gained a real understanding of their camaraderie, the crucial role each played and the extensive knowledge that each possessed in understanding their client’s needs.

In the interview, I shared my vision for a Boxing Club at the University and the story of how I turnt it into a reality.

I coached my club each week, drilling them on technique, fitness and skill. My success measured by the numbering regulars and increasing new members who turned up. I learnt the importance of organisation, communication and leadership. My experience volunteering equipped me with skills I had never considered before, which I now hold to be invaluable.

Like me, TeamKinetic had their own vision. They wanted to enhance the ability of volunteers managers with a system that engaged volunteers, made their management simpler and more intelligent. Although they had already been working hard to make this possible, they needed someone to help market their brilliant product.

This was certainly something I could do. Thankfully, they thought so too!

Since settling into the team I have learnt so much more about those who make TeamKinetic possible. I have also had the opportunity to speak to some of their clients, who expressed how much they like working with TeamKinetic and their application.

Now my role is to support the company through marketing the great
service they deliver for the likes of Manchester City Council Council, Glasglow Volunteer Centre and Cardiff Metropolitan University.

With a real love of sport, volunteering and marketing, I am excited to begin this opportunity alongside everyone at TeamKinetic.

“All for one; one for all.”

James Carr

Marketing Coordinator

If you have any thoughts you would like to share, please feel free to contact me at:

james@teamkinetic.co.uk

Introducing TeamKinetic: Chris Martin – What has Volunteering ever done for me?

By Chris Martin

On 7th November 2017

In News & Views

Volunteer Managers have reason to celebrate this week with International Volunteer Managers Day on the 5th November and TeamKinetic released their latest updates on VolunteerKinetic 7.3!

We decided to take this opportunity to introduce or remind our beloved Volunteer Managers of who TeamKinetic are. Throughout the week we will be releasing a series of Blogs on each of our team members, with their story in volunteering and TeamKinetic.

To kick things off, I thought I would write my blog first. My topic of choice:

What has Volunteering ever done for me?

As I start to write this blog, I’m reminded of the scene from Monty Python’s Life of Brian where John Cleese as the Head of the Judean Peoples Front asks what have the “Romans ever done for us?”, if you have never seen this before, please take two minutes to enjoy this clip.

It is often hard to see the impact of volunteering has whilst actively participating in it. At the time when I undertook my voluntary roles, it was to fulfil a specific need that was being neglected or because someone close to me would ask if I could help.

Only upon reflection can a true appreciation of volunteering and its impact be noticed. In both my personal and professional life, volunteering has built longstanding relationships, that I still value today.

As a younger man, I remember wondering how I would continue some form of swimming once I had completed my lessons. I wanted to keep the competitive aspect that I enjoyed but did not want to continue into highly regimented adult swimming club that was on offer. My options presented themselves as either hanging up my goggles for good or travelling excessively to join another more sociable club. Neither one did I find particularly attractive.

Instead, I wanted something at my local pool, where I could continue developing my ability, maintaining enjoyment and friendly competition.

It was then, I saw a need for a local water polo club!

My friend and I decided that we could run this together. So we planned a pitch for the pool manager and after successfully convincing him of the potential our idea, he agreed to give us a slot.

The catch, however, was that the only available slot was 18:00 -19:30… on a Friday!

At the age of 18, this would break into essential socialising time and we wondered if we could get the attendance we desired. Disregarding this constraint, we decided to go for it and accepted the time slot!

By no means was it an easy ride from there, as the club required a big commitment for two teenage lads, demanding time spent planning, coaching and running the club as a whole.

Of course, we enjoyed doing it, but I would be lying if I said it was always easy going, as sometimes it really could be a pain in the backside!

At times it took some real perseverance to push the club through but the next two years saw us build our club to the level we desired! Eventually, my time to leave for University came, but we had built a club that had gone strength to strength, continuing in existence today (twenty years later!).

With the benefit of hindsight, I can look at that experience differently now. I developed planning skills, interpersonal skills, worked out how to get things done within a public-sector environment, I developed relationships that I still use professionally and friendships I still value today.

Many of the benefits of volunteering cannot be effectively measured, certainly when I started my volunteering journey neither had I considered too.

But now, I think differently. These experiences helped me identify elements of social capital that before I had never considered, and now would never underestimate or value.

I went on to become a qualified Physical Education teacher and set up a business around sports coaching, this journey started at that water polo club, not through any specific long-term plan but to some extent, due to the direction of travel that was started with this experience.

For the last eight years, I have worked in the sector and have grown to appreciate how complex peoples’ motivations to volunteer can be. Often it is beyond the simple reason of being ‘fun’ that we give our time but in the knowledge that we are helping to make a difference.

Since founding TeamKinetic, these beliefs and experiences have driven me daily. We have made it easier to find and be involved in Volunteer opportunities, whilst making it easier to recognise hard work and commitment in a way that is engaging and simpler for organisations that depend on their amazing volunteers.

I hope you will join us on our mission to build stronger more engaged communities, and if you find yourself asking the question, what has volunteering ever done for me, you too, can tell your story about how it has changed your life for the better.

If you fancy having a talk please feel free to email or call me!

Thank you,

Chris

Sales Director

Chris@teamkinetic.co.uk

How you can turn every week into international volunteer week, and why you should!

By Chris Martin

On 8th June 2016

In News & Views

While there are many types of volunteer opportunities, they all share something in common: the people donating their time want to be acknowledged for their hard work. Showing your appreciation to every volunteer can be difficult, especially across a large organisation. How do you acknowledge the varying contributions they make? How do you even know?

To start, your organisation needs to create a plan for thanking volunteers — no matter how many hours they contribute to your cause.

Think about it: when an organisation hosts a crowdfunding campaign, they create a strategy for how they’re going to acknowledge donors. From sending out thank-you letters via email to showing their appreciation on social media, there are multiple ways organisations thank donors. And the same techniques can be used to show volunteers you care.

Through the support of volunteer management tools, you’ll have a record of supportes who have volunteered. Use that knowledge to send out thank-you letters soon after a volunteer has donated their time.

Moreover, if you recently held a fundraising event with help of your volunteer workforce, you should show your gratitude publically by posting a thank you on social media.

Additionally, your organisation must look at how you are recognising volunteers within your senior management team and resource volunteering within your operational teams. Do you have a person or persons with a responsibility for volunteering within your organisation at each level of management?

It starts from the top. Is there an acknowledgement at board level as to the importance of valuing volunteers? Bearing in mind you’re a voluntary organisation! That would be a great place to start. We know that when volunteering is valued within an organisation’s culture, you are much more likely to see amazing results.

Once you have some sort of volunteer management in place, you need to consider how you identify and recognise those people who are the “diamonds” for your organisation. These are the future volunteer leaders, those volunteers that operate over a wide range and number of volunteers and that inspire and mentor other volunteers.

To spot these volunteer leader candidates, develop a role in your organisation that examines your volunteer workforce. This role identifies the data and information you need to capture, and understands what motivates your volunteers and then uses that knowledge to facilitate and enable volunteer experiences that are fulfilling and rewarding. Read about our experiences in data insight and what we consider to be the most valuable data or take a look at the work of Join In.

Once you’ve identified volunteers that could potentially become leaders, it’s important to keep them engaged in your nonprofit. That way, your organisation can cultivate them into leaders who can manage and motivate others.

DonationForce has a guide on donor engagement to help you keep donors and volunteers involved in our organisation through incentives and competitions.

Keep in mind: it is easy for organisations to fall into the trap of offering great rewards and incentives, but the key is to invest in the right people rather than spreading it too thinly across too many individuals. Incentivisation is part of a successful volunteer team, but you need to know what your return on investment is going to be. Who are you spending on? What do you expect in return? Are you investing wisely? Having data on volunteer retention, cost per conversion, being able to map an individual’s pathway from starting out as a helper through to running a county executive or becoming a head coach. This data ensures that you remain focused on finding those “diamonds”.

Finally and we think most importantly you need to look at how you grow from a centrally administered and controlled volunteer programme, to one that is owned by the volunteers, clubs, and participants themselves. Any expanding and successful volunteer programme is partly the result of a groundswell of people from the bottom, not diktats from the top, you need to build volunteer leader infrastructure (by that I mean find great, motivated people and provide them with support, training and resources) that facilitates and enables your existing volunteers to help to offer more amazing, exciting opportunities to the next wave of volunteers. This is the virtuous circle of volunteer investment.

So to recap we think the most important things you can do to help your volunteer programme grow all year round is to;

Achieve an appreciation and acceptance at the very top of your organisation that values the investment volunteers make in your organisation. Value your volunteers.
Develop specific roles within your organisation whose job is to collate your volunteer data and gain insight which can be used to improve your programme. Do not just collect key performance indicators.
Incentivise and reward volunteers all year round. Be smart, target rewards for best returns.
Identify, support and develop potential volunteer leaders. Leverage their experience and enthusiasm to spread your volunteer values.

Sport is known to be poor at retaining its volunteers, it’s time to move on from yearly gestures to look at understanding your rank and file stakeholders (not just members but mums and dads, siblings, and long-standing supporters), what they want and how you can deliver to keep them engaged. We work with organisations to make valuing volunteers an important part of their culture and offer solutions that help with those issues outlined and encourage retention and development of volunteers. Our cloud applications, including VolunteerKinetic, provide an easy- to-implement infrastructure that makes embedding good volunteer practice across your organisation simple.

I hope next International Volunteer Week I can write a blog where I talk about how we have moved into a world where your volunteer is understood and is looked after as well as your CEO.

In response to the “Coaching and Volunteering Data Management Systems – Procurement Guidance For CSP’s.”

By Chris Martin

On 1st April 2016

In News & Views, Sport

TeamKinetic welcome the guidance from CSP Network and wanted to take this opportunity to clarify our service and to share with you how we think our range of applications can provide a world class Volunteer and Coaching experience.

We are offering 12 months FREE usage of our system to all CSP’s as a no risk trial. If at the end of the trial period you are not happy with our support or service, you can export your data in its entirety. For more information on starting your free trail and pricing please get in touch here.

What we do

Our system is not only limited to Volunteer management we also offer:

Coach management and agency support including tools for scheduling, payments, bookings, quality assurance and feedback.
An integrated database that allows for activity session and club sessions to be published, updated, searched and powerful communication tools to keep your clubs informed.
Accreditation and access management for events of any size, with badge creation, area access controls and on-site security.

We are actively developing more modules all the time for inclusion in TeamKinetic, our complete integrated package.

How far we reach

Our system is currently in use across the UK and has over 45,000 users registered.
Over 60% of those registered have been active in the last 12 months.
This year our users have already logged 27,564 hours
Last week our sites enjoyed 10,000+ page views

Who we work with

Our sports based customers include

We also work with a wide range of Universities, Hospitals, Charity’s and youth organisations.

What our customers say

“GreaterSport have been working closely with TeamKinetic over the past 14 months. TeamKinetic have been able to develop the system to suit our needs as a CSP, this has included upgrades so we can now manage both volunteers and coaches on the same system. Within Greater Manchester we have seen an increase in people volunteering with our APS volunteering score rising to 13.2% – we feel a lot of this is down to the management system as volunteering has never been so easy for the users. We would highly recommend working with TeamKinetic and are excited to see our volunteer and coaching workforce growing over the next 12 months.”

Nick Lowden

Workforce Development – Greater Sport

We have built our platform on the following principals.

The End User is the most important person in our world.

TeamKinetic is incredibly easy to use. We believe passionately that less is more. So we use data from the end user, what they search for, what they leave positive and negative feedback on, where they are, how many opportunities they view and what type of opportunities they are. This provides insight and a more tailored experience for every user. This IntelligentBrokering™ ensures every user is presented with information that is up to date and relevant.

Integrated social media, access via mobile device and the ability for the user to see and share opportunities with any one at any time.

We know you don’t like to send good people on bad experiences and we love to help you recognise talent and enthusiasm by;

Using anonymous feedback by both volunteers on opportunities and providers on volunteers
Giving volunteers ThumbsUp notifications for a job well done.
Rewarding both on line with achievement badges and in the real world with HourTrade™, those who go above and beyond

Its our aim and ambition to help you build a sustainable and strong sporting community of officials, coaches, volunteers and participants.

Support, support and more support

Information, data, and insight is excellent and indispensable, but it means little without the right support. We pride ourselves on our after care.

Monday to Friday – 9:00-5:00 telephone help line.
Online support ticket system for bugs and new features is always available.
Free access for customers to our yearly development conference in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University, this year with speakers from DBS discussing safeguarding in recruitment, Step Up to Serve CEO Charlotte Hill and Geoff Thompson MBE from Youth Charter, This year we are looking at Sports Volunteering in the current landscape of austerity. Book here.
Close working relationship with the Sports Volunteer Research Network so you can access a raft of academic research.
Monthly news letter that we like you to contribute to.
Partnership with the Sport and Recreation Alliance

Our products never stop improving and those improvements are driven by you our customers and the feedback you provide.

No Hidden Costs

Unlike some IT providers, we aim to be transparent and up front about costs. Offering long term assurances on price and clarity on future price increases.

In most cases our licence fees cover all standard on-going costs including support, updates, hosting, and data usage.

We want you to feel confident when you invest with us.

How do we achieve all this?

We aim to provide you with a set of simple to administer online tools that make promoting, signposting and communicating with your community simple and effective.

Our services are in no way exclusive and can work alongside any other web site or web sites.

The data collected can be exported at any time by you the customer. with an extensive library of report functions.

The system is built to allow you control over content and branding so there is little need for additional development costs.

Our CRM functionality means e-mail, social, blog and SMS can all be taken care without the need for additional external services or tricky exports and delivered fully branded at the click of a button.

If you want to find out how we can help you, please feel free to call or get in touch below.

How charities big and small can help the NHS | Voluntary Sector Network | The Guardian

By Chris Martin

On 24th November 2015

In Charity, News & Views, NHS

With public health under new budget pressures and no sign of abating cronic health needs the Guardian discussion on the roll of the Voluntary sector offers some interesting arguments.

http://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2015/nov/24/how-charities-can-help-the-nhs