Tag: volunteering Page 18 of 19

Recruiting And Retaining Student Volunteers: Five Top Tips

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On 23rd June 2015

In News & Views

Kathryn Edwards is NCVO’s volunteering development team assistant. She assists with projects supporting NCVO’s work on volunteer management and good practice and plays a key role in helping to organise Volunteers Week. Kathryn also supports the Investing in Volunteers Quality Standard, working with organisations attaining the standard.

Find NCVO’s original article here.

This week we celebrate Student Volunteering Week. This is a great time to recognise their significant contribution to the wider community, and to pay special attention to them as an invaluable source of time, talent, skills and creativity.

Having proudly volunteered and worked within a student volunteering charity, I’ve seen the extent of the role that student volunteers play throughout a city’s volunteering infrastructure. There were many essential roles fulfilled by diverse and energetic student volunteers, mostly benefiting people outside of their university. Research by IVR shows that 95% of student volunteers are motivated by a desire to improve things or help people, ranking higher than developing skills (88%) and gaining work experience (83%).

My top tips for involving student volunteers in your organisation.

1. Getting the opportunities right

Student volunteers have differing requirements, whether that is time commitments, varying skills or interests. Providing a broad range of opportunities will help you to recruit and retain them.

Be aware of their academic timetable and provide opportunities outside of the normal working day.

An NUS report states that the main barrier for students who do not currently volunteer was not having enough time; students said they would like to see more one-off opportunities to encourage them to volunteer. Student Volunteering Week is a perfect time to run one-off ormicro volunteering to give potential volunteers a quick snap shot of volunteering with your organisation and could potentially lead to students volunteering on a regular basis.

2. Create opportunities that develop skills

Think about what skills and experience the volunteer will need and gain from particular opportunities and include this within the volunteer role descriptions.

Even though a large majority of student volunteers are motivated by the desire to make a difference, developing their skills and getting work experience in meaningful roles is key to attracting student volunteers.

Opportunities that have skills which link with their academic course may seem more appealing to potential volunteers. The NUS report states that 40% of students said that education institutions linking volunteering opportunities to their course or academic qualification would encourage them to do more volunteering.

3. Provide clear and accurate role descriptions

Volunteer role descriptions must provide an accurate idea of the work the volunteer will be doing to avoid any misunderstanding. It should identify why the role is needed and the benefits to both the volunteer and the organisation as identified in the Investing in Volunteers standard.

Think about how you might adapt a role to meet the volunteer’s skills and requirements. Being able to provide materials in alternative formats, for example, audio and easy to read versions, can be extremely useful when trying to engage a diverse range of volunteers – which leads me on to…

4. Engage a diverse range of student volunteers

Think carefully about where you promote your volunteering opportunities. Is there a volunteering hub within the university/union to promote your opportunity? If not, try and build relationships with the Student Union and departments within the university to engage a diverse audience. Look at promoting in shops, cafes, libraries, magazines and newspapers that students regularly use and read. Think about the different groups and activities they might be involved in.

You could also work with existing student volunteers to spread the word. Ambassadors can provide real examples of their volunteering experiences and can help to produce creative recruitment messages that appeals to that audience. Using social media can help to share these messages through stories, photos and videos, and are a powerful way to inspire, engage and sustain student’s social action.

NUS research shows almost half of all students found out about volunteering opportunities through friends and family, with their place of study the second most common source of finding out about volunteering opportunities.

5. Support your student volunteers

Support and consistent communication is key to retaining volunteers. Volunteers should be provided with:

  • a point of contact
  • the opportunity to attend regular supervisions
  • group meetings.

This also provides an opportunity to regularly recognise the contribution they have made.

In order to retain volunteers, they must feel valued and supported. The quality of support and communication they receive can determine how effective they will be as a volunteer.

Work with volunteers to clarify their interests and what they would like to gain from volunteering – this will help you to offer them the right kind of role and opportunities to develop.

David Cameron’s Big Society volunteering plan and what it might mean for you.

By

On 13th May 2015

In News & Views

imgID15611225.jpg-pwrt2Half of the UK workforce would be given three days’ paid leave each year to volunteer, under Conservative plans unveiled on Friday.  Every public sector worker and anyone working in a company with at least 250 employees – more than 15 million people in total – would be entitled to the volunteering leave, David Cameron announced.  The Prime Minister said the pledge is “clearest demonstration of the Big Society in action”.

A series of high profile business figures welcomed the new plans for paid volunteering leave.

Mike Rake, chairman of BT, went one further than the Prime Minister, describing corporate volunteering as a “triple win”. He said it was “a win for the community, a win for individuals doing the volunteering, and a win for companies”.

“We welcome the Prime Minister reminding us of the importance of business to society,” he added.

Peter Cheese, chief executive at the CIPD, the professional body for the HR industry, said: “Our research shows that corporate volunteering benefits society, as well as businesses through building stronger roots with the communities they work in and serve, and engaging and developing new skills in their employees. It’s great to see this agenda being championed.”

John Cridland, Director General of the CBI: “Businesses encourage their employees to volunteer in the community and should do even more to increase this. It is a win win for everyone concerned”

Bear Grylls, the adventurer and TV presenter, also backed the plans, saying: “Firm Government support that enables millions to volunteer is a huge step forward towards building solid communities all around the UK.”

However, not everyone supported the idea. Lisa Nandy, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Civil Society, said: “Giving every public servant three extra days off could cost millions of pounds but there’s no sense of how it will be paid for. If just half of public sector workers took this up it would be the time equivalent of around 2,000 nurses, 800 police and almost 3,000 teachers.”

Some business groups are in little doubt that the policy will hit companies’ bottom lines. As Simon Walker, director general of the Institute of Directors, put it:

“Businesses should support their staff if they want to volunteer, but the architects of this idea cannot pretend that forcing firms to give an additional three days of paid leave will do anything other than add costs.  This announcement not only undermines the Tory record on reducing business regulation, it also puts additional pressure on public sector employers, and ultimately the taxpayer. Frankly, the essence of volunteering is that it is voluntary. The IoD would welcome proposals to incentivise and make it easier for companies to facilitate volunteering, but it has to be a choice.”

Ryan Bourne, head of public policy at the Institute of Economic Affairs, was even more trenchant in his critique the Conservative’ latest plan to increase volunteering:

“This is another example of politicians imposing burdens on business and taxpayers for the sake of sounding caring. At a time when everyone is telling us that the NHS and other services are overstretched, the idea that it should be a priority to allow public sector employees to take three days off for volunteering elsewhere, funded by the taxpayer, is ludicrous.”

What does it mean for the voluntary sector? Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO, and Asheem Singh, director of public policy at Acevo, think this is a exciting proposal for the voluntary sector and businesses.

Etherington said: “Many charities urgently need more volunteers to support their work, while volunteering is an excellent way for employees to develop skills and confidence that will benefit their employers. Anything that helps encourage our culture of volunteering is very welcome. We look forward to seeing the detail of the proposal.”

Singh said: “It recognises the crucial role of charities in building a better society. The workplace is a new frontier for social action, and this new legal right will help support a new generation of socially responsible citizens.”

However, some people on Twitter question the Conservatives’ agenda with this policy, arguing that it is just another way to fill gaps in public services.

Oonagh Aitken, chief executive of CSV, said: “As an organisation with an established employee volunteering programme, we know the benefits to employees, the workplace and communities.”

She does, however, argue that: “If this policy is to be implemented, it highlights the need to invest in volunteering organisations so that the best use is made of employees’ skills and interests when they do volunteer.”

The key question is how to make all this work for the charities – traditional team building initiatives (such as fence painting) can be a drain rather than a boost so the challenge is to design something more meaningful that can be completed in three days. Most successful schemes take a lot of resource to set up well and often a broker is required to develop something that is mutually beneficial for both businesses and charities.  Volunteering in a more collaborative and flexible way, for example allowing employees to choose causes they care most about, or being able to ‘pool’ their volunteering days. That way the volunteering has greater impact on the charity, is more engaging for the volunteer – and yields greater benefits for the business will be key to this policy leading to Volunteers rather than the Volun-told.  It seems certain that the Big Society is still very much a controversial subject.

Lib Dem and UKIP Manifestos – what do they mean for volunteering

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On 17th April 2015

In News & Views

If you saw our post about the Labour Manifesto, you might be wondering what the other parties are bringing to the table! This is a very brief summary of the main policy points in the Lib Dem and UKIP manifestos we think you in the voluntary sector will want to know about.

Liberal Democrats

The Liberals have a strong theme of support for social action and community rights throughout the manifesto. Ruth Driscoll, Head of Policy and Public Services at the NCVO welcomes “their focus on early intervention” “which would better support vulnerable people and would lead to long-term cost-saving”

Improved incentives for work programme providers, many of which are voluntary organisations.  To update the Lobbying Act to draw on Lord Hodgson’s work is also seen are very positive.

The manifesto recognises the value of the public having a voice in decision-making.  The voluntary sector’s role in providing and enabling this must be protected though it is not clear how this will be done.

UKIP

UKIP have said they would like to energise the voluntary sector in the build-up to this manifesto, but what does that mean? They are committed to scrapping the National Citizen Service, repealing International Aid, reducing the cabinet office spending on ‘big society projects’ and scrapping the Defra Waste resource action project.  They believe this will save £250 million in the first year.

They would replace these projects with the funding of 800 food banks and local advice centres, a veterans administration that would coordinate the work of existing charities and most interesting is the funding of “community agents and the voluntary sector” although specific details are very thin on the ground.

They also claim that by leaving the EU they would be able to offer more VAT relief to charitable organisations on some services and products.

In summary

What is clear, is that all parties recognise the importance of the voluntary sector, especially in a time of economic difficulty and for the poorest in society. There do seem to be some real differences in how they think the sector should be funded and governed, and the role of government in that process.  Whoever wins, I think the sector is going to see even greater change over the next parliament and will need to be ready to adapt.

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The Labour Manifesto – what does it mean for volunteering

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On 15th April 2015

In News & Views

Ed+Miliband+Speech+Scottish+Labour+Party+Conference+XyWH-NPlU5il

With the dust starting to settle and people having time to digest all the promises we look at some of the key areas of the Labour manifesto and what it might mean for Volunteers.

A Labour plan to bring back guaranteed childcare from 8am to 6pm in all primary schools has made it into the party’s manifesto.  First mooted in September 2013 the policy had since been sidelined as the party focused on criticising unqualified teachers and opposing the government’s free schools programme.  But “wraparound childcare” is back on the agenda. A single sentence in Labour’s education manifesto, released last week, has become an entire paragraph in the party’s main manifesto, launched today in Manchester.

“We will help families by expanding free childcare from 15 to 25 hours per week for working parents of three and four-year-olds, paid for with an increase in the bank levy. We will also introduce a legal guarantee for parents of primary school children to access wraparound childcare from 8am to 6pm through their local primary school. As well as helping parents, this will provide children with before and after-school clubs and activities, helping to raise their aspirations and attainment. This will be underpinned by a new National Primary Childcare Service, a not-for-profit organisation to promote the voluntary and charitable delivery of quality extracurricular activities.”

Most interesting is the final point which refers to this provision being provided by the voluntary and charitable sector, although detail is thin on the ground right now it would appear that Labour are keen to see the existing 3rd sector providers meet this demand but it does not explain how this will be funded.  With many schools already offering extensive activities and providing some type of service it is unclear how the National Primary Childcare Service will actually operate.

Asheem Singh, Director of Public Policy at the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, the UK’s largest trade body for charity and social enterprise leaders said:

“Charities and social enterprises will be most excited by the Labour promise to repeal the Lobbying Act. When politicians voted to restrict the amount grassroots campaign groups could spend on campaigns in this election year while voting at the same time to raise the amount that politicians could spend on their own campaigns, a basic principle of decency and democracy was violated. At ACEVO we are pleased that our sector’s persistence and the argument of our manifesto ‘Free Society’ has been accepted. We look forward to this injustice being rectified, ideally in the first hundred days of the new parliament, whoever wins the election.”

The Lobbying Act reduces the amount grassroots campaigners can spend in an election year by 60%. Earlier this year politicians voted themselves a 23% rise in the amount they could spend during the campaign.

Labour’s commitment to early intervention and preventative, community care is welcome and it is only through proper partnership with state and community providers that we can make a difference on a community basis. Labour have committed to pooled budgets that bring health and care together, but more detail is needed to see how this might be delivered on a community-by-community basis and what this might mean for the voluntary sector providers.

Labour’s proposals to localise public services and get funding to organisations that deliver social value through regional banks are welcome news to the sector but will require more detail. Localism has three dimensions – economic, constitutional and public service based evidence suggests that detailed policy is needed on all three if excellent services with a plurality of providers can be delivered.

What is really becoming clear is that both parties see a growing role for the voluntary sector in the next parliament which is sure to see a continuation of budget cuts and austerity whichever party wins.  Both main parties have recognised the importance of an active voluntary sector to protect some of those public services.  Volunteers and volunteer organisations must wake up to the new politics of the 21st century where they play an ever more important role.

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TeamKinetic and the Sport and Recreation Alliance announce corporate partnership

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On 13th April 2015

In News & Views, Press Releases, Sport

sport and rec alliance

It is a great pleasure to announce that TeamKinetic and the Sport and Recreation Alliance are working together as corporate partners. TeamKinetic are committed to building the world’s finest sports and leisure volunteer platform and see working with the team at the Sport and Rec Alliance as key to achieving that objective.

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The Sport and Recreation Alliance is the umbrella organisation for the governing and representative bodies of sport and recreation in the UK and represents 320 members – organisations like The FA, the Rugby Football Union, UK Athletics, the Ramblers, British Rowing and the Exercise, Movement and Dance Partnership.

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Their role as a trade association is to speak up on behalf of its members, representing their views and providing them with services which make their lives easier. Volunteers often play such an important role in this process and we hope that TeamKinetic will support this work.

What does the Sport and Recreation Alliance do?

Its members are the governing bodies of sport and recreation. Their job is to run their sport or activity, promote participation and set the rules and conditions under which it takes place.

The SRA’s job is to make that job as easy as possible, representing their views to people who make decisions;  promoting the interests of sport and recreation so that as many people as possible know about their work; they campaign on issues affecting our members.

TeamKinetic shares many of the values and beliefs about the importance of Sport within our society and we hope that this partnership will see a lasting legacy for Volunteers and clubs across the UK for years to come.

As part of the partnership between TeamKinetic and the Sport and Recreation Alliance, see also: Blog post – Here’s to the importance of volunteers.

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

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

Volunteering Internships

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On 6th March 2015

In News & Views, Policy and Operations

As always we look to bring you the best practice from across the Voluntary sector. This article from the NCVO gives some fantastic guidance on Volunteering Internships for Volunteer managers.

As more organisations have realised the value of offering young people the opportunity to gain experience, whilst benefiting from their willingness to work hard and learn, it is becoming even more important that organisations do not take advantage of this willingness.  The NCVO offer some common sense advice that ensures the Volunteer is valued and that they gain as much from the experience as the organisation does.

If you have examples of how your organisation has benefited from a Volunteer internship or lessons you may have learnt from using Volunteers as interns please feel free to share at info@smarterindesign.com.

See the full article and many more like it at

http://knowhownonprofit.org/people/volunteers-and-your-organisation/volunteering-internships#guidance

NCVO have worked with a range of organisations to review the current situation and produce guidance on volunteer internships to help charities ensure they fully understand any legal obligations they may have and to ensure expectations about the role between both parties are clear.

Internships have been the focus of much debate recently, with some arguing that they are either a form of job substitution or a way of exploiting cheap labour, and others that they are vital to both charities and those who want to work for them.

Much of the confusion comes from the fact that the term ‘intern’ has no basis in UK law. There is no legal definition of an ‘internship’. So people undertaking a role described as an ‘internship will still in legal terms be defined as either a worker or a volunteer.

Some charities describe some volunteer roles as internships as they have found it valuable to offer volunteering opportunities with a stronger skill-development focus and because describing a position as an ‘internship’ has been found to attract more volunteers.

NCVO have worked with a range of organisations to review the current situation and produce guidance on volunteer internships to help charities ensure they fully understand any legal obligations they may have and to ensure expectations about the role between both parties are clear.

The guidance also identifies key principles to follow to help ensure volunteer internships are managed in line with good practice, give a good quality experience and ensure volunteer interns are treated fairly and within the law.

Key principles

  1. Be clear what the role is and its purpose before recruiting
  2. Ensure that a volunteer internship is a genuine volunteering opportunity
  3. Make sure volunteering opportunities are genuinely inclusive and accessible
  4. Support volunteer interns in accordance with good practice standards in volunteer management
  5. Ensure that volunteer intern positions do not undermine fair recruitment procedures
  6. Provide opportunities for evaluation and regular feedback
  7. Recognise the contribution of volunteer interns

More information on each principle and how to implement them is discussed in the guidance.

http://knowhownonprofit.org/people/volunteers-and-your-organisation/ncvoguidancevolunteerinternshipsvoluntarysector.pdf

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The public sector needs to realise the voluntary sector does not mean free

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On 11th February 2015

In News & Views, Policy and Operations

The original article can be found at

http://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2015/feb/08/public-sector-realise-voluntary-sector-not-mean-free?CMP=share_btn_tw

NHS hospital sign

Volunteers are helping to support hospitals during this time of increased demand. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA

Last month the NHS crisis made headlines and it wasn’t a last-minute surprise to some of us in the charity sector. In December I received an email from the local clinical commissioning group, asking for urgent assistance to find volunteers to support the local hospital.

Among other things, they were looking for help to relieve pressure on the hospital being caused by increased demand for services and problems with the delayed discharging of patients. Volunteers were needed not just for “home from hospital” services and transport, but also for directly supporting nursing staff on the hospital’s wards.

Everyone knows that it’s a tough time for the voluntary and community sector. To be honest, it’s a pretty tough time for most people. By running a third-sector infrastructure support organisation, I see the issues every day and many smaller agencies are struggling to keep their show on the road. Although a great deal of important work is delivered across the public sector by volunteers, there are also many paid, highly-skilled specialists in the sector who provide the highest quality services, often in very specialised organisations. Even when volunteers are used to provide support there is still a cost for the organisations they work with.

Volunteers must be properly supported with supervision, management and training, not to mention other overheads such as insurance and safeguarding checks. All the things that go to make up a professional quality service that our communities deserve.

There continues to be a lack of understanding among those in government and service commissioning around the real cost of things when the voluntary sector comes to the rescue when things are difficult. It feels like some see it as a bit of a cut-price Black Friday approach to propping things up.

Four years of reduced funding have had a huge impact on everyone, but our sector has been hit particularly hard. Matters have been made worse by commissioners designing public service contracts in such a way which often prevent smaller, specialist organisations from being able to tender at all. There is now a very real danger that these same organisations that bring so much social value to the wider community may disappear altogether. Depressingly, it is often these same commissioners that are now requesting additional support from our sector to help stem the current NHS crisis.

Of course, the voluntary sector is always there to support the community – that’s the reason why we are so passionate about it and why we are working in it in the first place. But, it is long overdue for the sector to be taken more seriously. Rather than being seen as a merely supplementary amateur resource, there needs to be a recognition of the expert professionalism that exists, the level of activity that is delivered and a realistic understanding of how much it can cost to do what we do.

 

Safer Internet Day and Volunteer Kinetic

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On 10th February 2015

In News & Views, Policy and Operations, Security and GDPR

TeamKinetic are proud to be part of Safer Internet Day. Safer Internet Day takes place in February of each year to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology.

With just under a 1/3 of people aged 11 – 16 saying they have experienced cruel behaviour online we wanted to take this opportunity to offer this advice when using TeamKinetic.

Safer Internet Day

1.  Never meet anyone you speak to on the internet on your own, without being very sure they are who they say they are.  If you are unsure contact the administrator and they can check for you.

2.  Don’t share extra personal information. All the information the Opportunity provider needs is provided by the system.

3.  If you feel threatened or unsafe at any time using the Volunteer site, attending an opportunity or about any feedback left about your time Volunteering, contact the administrator immediately, it is confidential and they will listen to your concerns.

4.  Always make sure someone knows where you have gone to Volunteer.

If you follow these simple rules we think you should be safe and have a great Volunteer experience, but if you don’t, please tell and we can see what we can do.

Share your support with #Up2Us or #SID2015 this Safer Internet Day.

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Volunteer Opportunity of a lifetime……One way trip to Mars!

By

On 10th February 2015

In News & Views

https://embed.theguardian.com/embed/video/news/video/2015/feb/09/volunteers-first-manned-mission-mars-video

 

The launch date is still a decade away but preparations are underway for the first human expedition to Mars. Here we explain about the mission, Mars spacecrafts and selecting volunteers to establish a colony on the planet

From more than 200,000 people who hoped to leave Earth and die on Mars, only 660 remain in the running. They now face a more stringent astronaut selection process. Those who make the final cut earn a seat on the Mars One mission, a one-way trip to the red planet.

How will the astronauts be selected?

The next round involves more filmed interviews and group challenges to see how well people work together. The final selection round will follow the candidates as they cope with living in harsh, remote mocked-up Mars habitats. At the end of the process, Mars One wants six groups of four astronauts to train for the mission.

How will Mars One pay for the mission?

The Dutch not-for-profit organisation is raising money any way it can. That means broadcasting rights, sponsorship deals, crowd-funding, donations from philanthropists, and licensing intellectual property rights from inventions made along the way. The first mission, costing $6bn (£4bn), aims to send a spacecraft carrying two men and two women to the planet.

What do they need to do?

It’s all quite complicated. The first humans are not scheduled to blast off for Mars until 2024. But plenty of missions are planned beforehand to do vital groundwork. In 2018, a lander would be sent to the planet as a trial-run for technologies that the real mission will need. That will be accompanied by a communications satellite to beam messages back and forth. In 2020, an “intelligent” rover is sent to Mars, along with a trailer. The rover’s job is to scope out a good landing site, far enough north for the soil to contain a good amount of water, but equatorial enough to get plenty of sunlight. Two years after that, in 2022, six cargo missions head off for Mars. They include another rover, two living units and two life support units. These land near the first rover, which tows them into position and sets up solar panels to power the units. The life support unit is meant to produce a breathable atmosphere in the habitat, 3,000 litres of water, and 120kg of oxygen kept in storage.

Mars One CEO Bas Lansdorp (L) holds a press conference to announce the launch of astronaut selection for a Mars space mission project, in New York, April 22, 2013. Mars One is a non-profit organization that aims to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars in 2023 through the integration of existing, readily available technology that can be purchased from the global private space industry.

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Mars One chief executive, Bas Lansdorp, left, announces the launch of astronaut selection for a Mars space mission project, in New York. Mars One is a non-profit organisation that aims to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars. Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

How will the astronauts get to Mars?

Mars One will contract a rocket manufacturer to build them a rocket. That could be Lockheed Martin, SpaceX, or another company. In 2024, they will blast the crew’s landing module and their main living quarters for the voyage into Earth’s orbit and dock them together. The crew then launch into Earth orbit themselves, climb into the waiting Mars spacecraft, and head off for their destination.

How do they land?

The Mars lander module detaches from the spacecraft and descends to the surface. Once down, the crew in their Mars suits are picked up by one of the rovers and taken to the habitat. It will take them a good while to acclimatise to the gravity on Mars. Their first tasks are to deploy more solar panels, and start their efforts to grow food on Mars.

When do they get fresh company?

The second Mars One crew is planned for take off in 2026, for arrival the following year. Their own habitats and life-support units are meant to land within weeks of the first crew arriving. To protect the astronauts from the harsh radiation on Mars, the rovers will pile Martian soil on top of the habitats.

Reprinted from the Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/news/video/2015/feb/09/volunteers-first-manned-mission-mars-video

 

“You think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito” — The Dalai Lama

By

On 9th February 2015

In News & Views

Word up!

Word up!

If you have a few words to share that can help inspire please share them and we will use them to do good.

email them to

info@wseducation.com

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