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Volunteering made safe with TeamKinetic

By

On 25th August 2021

In TeamKinetic Features

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

Criminal Checks

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

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

Roles

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

Community Tasks

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

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

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

Accreditation System

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

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

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

Want to Try for FREE?

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

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

Milo James: Going Out In Flames

By

On 2nd July 2020

In News & Views

Pictured above is a visible representation of how I picture myself leaving TeamKinetic on my last day.

Unfortunately for me, this is not quite accurate. And I don’t plan on any casual arson…

But this is officially my last and final blog for TeamKinetic, which has come around a lot faster than I ever could have imagined. TeamKinetic has mirrored a second home for me over the last year. You might even say, a home from home, with most weeks having spent more time with colleges than I had done with my actual family.

At The Beginning Of Time

Like starting any new job, initiation is always needed. You know the usual.

Chris (director): Here are the toilets, this is what to do in case of a fire, oh and do you like roller coasters?

Me: Erm… yeah sure, obviously lying not willing to let the other team members down, and completely ruin the works outing.

All I’m going to say is, never EVER again.

When starting any new job there are always initial uncertainties (some more terrifying than others). Will I be able to fulfil the job role? What if I hate my boss? What if he hates me? What if I don’t know the answer to something? All these little things almost fester in the mind. For me personally, I’m not a huge worrier and have a laid back approach to life. What will be, will be. However, I’m only human and these little things did bother me in the initial few weeks.

But I soon found my footing and so the journey began.

The Journey

Once I had found my inner confidence I was soon able to achieve more than I thought I initially could with TeamKinetic. Working alongside my trusty more literate colleague Alex, I or we were able to take on all the challenges which lay ahead. But I’m not here to bore you with the specific’s of all our adventures. So instead here’s a visual montage of a few things we have been involved with.

Between us

  • Over 100 blogs published
  • Consistent development of TeamKinetics SEO
  • Many many hours spent editing videos
  • Campaign planning our brains out…
  • Email, after email, after email
  • And many office laughs and giggles to accompany

In The End

Like any good story, the end is always near. But it’s been a great story to live.

Huge thanks to Chris, Steve and Rolf for having me.

And do give TeamKinetic volunteer management software a good look around, what they’ve developed over the years is actually pretty good!

They don’t talk about this though.

A Strong Opportunity Can Increase Your Volunteer Retention Rates

By

On 23rd June 2020

In Application Features and Tutorials, Volunteer Management

Advertising an engaging volunteering opportunity is not always the simplest task. And often the clearest messages can become disfigured, resulting in your opportunity becoming less attractive to prospective volunteers. Below we’ve identified some examples of how to design and present a strong volunteering opportunity on your TeamKinetic platform. Each element has been streamlined to guide you through an on-brand TeamKinetic experience that is engaging and most importantly, eye appealing to your volunteers.

Where should your opportunity live

The most obvious place of all is your own website, for your prospective and current volunteers your website provides a safe and secure portal in which you can display your volunteering opportunities clearly for all to see. In turn, it will also allow you to easily collate data on the number of people viewing your opportunities page, by monitoring web analytics with Google Analytics.

Name your opportunity

Be clear and concise, over the years we’ve seen many volunteer managers fall victim to the mistake of over advertising their volunteering opportunity. The best practice would be describing the opportunity in its simplest form by using as few words as possible, for example ‘volunteer caretaker’. By over complicating simple roles with complex names will only off put your volunteers. You may also wish to add a location, contact email and phone number as these are the key details which your volunteer is likely to need straightaway.

Outline your opportunity

Now here’s your opportunity to say more, no pun intended… When writing your descriptions keep them short and sweet, whilst listing the main tasks the volunteers will be expected to do during the opportunity.

Why not offer an incentive? We’ve found from customer feedback that these make the opportunities more appealing to volunteers. For example, an incentive may be unlimited tea and biscuits or a free T-shirt. If we know anything about volunteers we know they love tea and biscuits.

Finally, summarise the benefits. In this part you will want to describe how this volunteering opportunity will bring your volunteer’s fulfilment. How will their volunteering efforts make a direct impact?

Be clear in your presentations of your opportunity, make key information stand out.

When and where?

These are the fundamental outlines which are absolutely necessary when creating your volunteering opportunity. Day, time and location will outline the commitment time frame in which your volunteers will have to make. Also if possible make clear what type of volunteering opportunity this is, event, ongoing or just a one-off.

Show off the good REVIEWS

Make your feedback visible, think of your feedback like your own personal catalogue of reviews. In a modern world filled with decisions, reviews offer simple and relevant guidance. Similarly to this, the feedback from previous volunteers will provide guidance to your potential volunteers, encouraging them to enjoy the same positive experience.

Call for action

Always leave some visible call to actions, these will encourage the volunteer to perform some form of action. Call to actions may be subtle but they are all nudging your volunteer to do one thing. And that’s registering on your opportunity.

Call actions can include

  • Social media sharing links
  • Document printing
  • Internal links (other opportunities, company website)
  • Register / Logging in options

 

Here at TeamKinetic we can help with all your volunteer management needs. Go to our website to create a demo site – it’s completely free! You can also call us on 0161 914 5757 with any questions.

Don’t hesitate to reach out on social media, you can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can also go to our YouTube channel to see some examples of the features we have to offer and some of the people we already work with.

Introducing TeamKinetic: Sammy Reid – Dropping the Poms

By

On 19th June 2020

In News & Views

Sammy Cheerleading (Middle)

Starting off in life my ultimate dream was to become a dancer. Training 6 days a week, performing once a week and competing twice a month was all I ever knew. The styles of dance I enjoyed ranged from ballet to tap to the latest cheerleading. Each has taught me different life skills and lessons along the way. Dancing has also helped me to grow as an individual, giving me experiences I would never take back, however, I soon came to realise my aching knees weren’t going to take it much longer and decided to drastically change my career path, cue the degree in events.

The Buzz Of Marketing

When starting my Events Management degree marketing was not something I considered as a career. Not until I studied a unit titled marketing an event did I realise this was my passion. From creating a website for a new, trendy (fake) festival to even turning a yellow Corsa into a giant bee to market a real-life event. Each of these projects pushed me creatively in ways I didn’t know possible!

Marketing is the art of revealing peoples emotions through just something as simple as a poster or video. It has amazed me as to how something so simple can impact 1000’s of people. This has inspired me to follow the marketing path as a career and to continue my learning within this industry.

Bee themed car for a marketing campaign.

Volunteer Times

Volunteering was not something I was very aware of, it wasn’t until University when my first volunteering role showed me just how important volunteers can be.

Some of my first roles were for small charities who rely on volunteers to survive. Having that experience changed my perception of volunteering and how much these organisations value their volunteers. Not only this but from working on sporting events and major festivals I have had unbelievable experiences. Being able to see bands and artists for free or watching the Rugby League Grand Final. These opportunities have allowed me to meet like-minded people and have some of the most amazing moments in my life, just from volunteering!

Seeing TeamKinetic create an easy to use volunteer management software for organisations instantly made me want to work for them. Knowing organisations rely heavily on volunteers and also having lived the exciting experiences as a volunteer, I knew this company were creating something incredible and I was keen to be involved.

Lockdown Hobby

During the lockdown, like most people, I decided to take up a new hobby to keep myself busy. I have always been into shoes and clothes, so I decided to start painting them. Each design has opened up my creative mind and has helped me relax, however, this hobby has quickly turned into quite the obsession and I find myself painting till 3 am!

Painted butterfly shoes.

Final Words

I am excited to start this new chapter in my life and am thankful for this opportunity to work with TeamKinetic who will help me to develop my skills in marketing and get some hands-on experience at the same time. I am looking forward to working with a motivated team who share the same values and drive as I do and meeting TeamKinetic’s customers, getting to know more about their organisations and what I can offer for them! I can’t wait to get stuck in!

Sammy Reid

sammy@teamkinetic.co.uk

For more information on volunteer management software visit our website or call 01619145747

Stronger Together CIMSPA

By

On 29th April 2020

In News & Views

TeamKinetic is proud to announce that we are working together with CIMSPA- the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity.

Like many working sectors across the UK, the sports and physical activity sector has also been hugely affected by COVID-19. With all gyms, sports and leisure centres being closed due to the pandemic. This has created many uphill challenges for the 500,000 workers in the sports and physical activity sector.

The Challenge

The task of keeping the UK physically active and healthy has never been more crucial. Although we are faced with self-isolating, social distancing and many other sanctions in our daily lives, doesn’t mean we can’t all stay healthy.

We share the same ambition as CIMSPA of being versatile in these difficult times to aid the sector to keep the UK active. Therefore we have offered CIMSPA our support in the form of our Advanced volunteer management software – built for COVID-19. We hope by becoming a CIMSPA supporter we will be able to help some of the 500,000 workers affected by this pandemic and help those stay active and healthy along the way.

Read more below on what CIMSPA is doing as part of their Stronger Together campaign

CIMSPA launches Facebook group to provide support for the sector during the Covid-19 crisis

CIMSPA launches digital hub to support the sector during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis

For more information on how TeamKinetic can help your organisation

Visit: TeamKinetic.co.uk

Call us on: 0161 914 5757 

Email: info@teamKinetic.co.uk

TeamKinetic wins TechForce19 Award COVID-19

By

On 24th April 2020

In Awards and Prizes, News & Views

TechForce19 was developed as a call to action for all innovators who have the technological ability to be able to supply the elderly, vulnerable and those self-isolating during COVID-19.

The competition saw over 1600 entries who felt their technology could help to combat this pandemic challenge. We are very proud to announce that TeamKinetic has been shortlisted as one of the 20 companies who will receive the £25,000 to test their technology to help with the response to COVID-19.

TeamKinetic aim to use their volunteer management software and their new COVID-19 related volunteer management features to optimise staffing in care and volunteer sectors. This will be achieved by deploying TeamKinetic with 3 of our new customers, The Royal Brough of Greenwich, Halton & St Helens VCA and Groundwork working in partnership with Barnet Council. The application will be used in the recruitment and training of volunteers into non-clinical roles at a local level and providing essential services that people in isolation need.

TeamKinetic is already used across the UK with over 145,000 volunteers using the system and is used to power the national system Volunteering-wales.net on behalf of Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA). So this award feels like a nice acknowledgement of the hard work that has gone into developing TeamKinetic into the simple to use platform it is today, over the last 10 years.

In preparation for taking on the TechForce19 challenge, TeamKinetic has been working with their existing partners to look at the specific requirements that have been created due to the pandemic. Partners like Manchester City Council and Glasgow Life have all played a key role in helping TeamKinetic respond to the crisis and to push our engineering teams to do some amazing work in response.

Read all about TeamKinetic and the other winners here

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/digital-innovations-tested-to-support-vulnerable-people-during-covid-19-outbreak

TechForce19 is an initiative being run on behalf of:

NHSX is one of the largest health and social care transformation programmes in the world, created to deliver technology that staff and people need. With the aim to utilise technology in the most efficient way possible in order to reduce stress on our NHS workforce. 

AHSN connects the NHS and academic organisations, local authorities, the third sector and industry. They focus on improving outcomes for patients through innovation and technology.

PUBLIC is an organisation which aims to breach the gap that smaller start-up technological companies struggle to overcome themselves. Many small start-up organisations have made progressive headway in innovative technologies which have the potential of helping many people. However, they struggle with the initial start-up when connecting to the right people, like the governments and local authorities. 

For more information on how TeamKinetic can help your orgainsation.

Start your FREE Trial : TeamKinetic 

Call us on: 0161 914 5757

Email: info@teamkinetic.co.uk

Parklife… More Like Quarantined Life!

By

On 14th April 2020

In COVID-19

Hundreds of festivals across the UK cancel due to the current pandemic. But how can festival suppliers utilise their resources to benefit the many organisations battling against COVID-19?

Festival season is over

Festival season this year is more than likely to be completely off, with few festivals still scheduled for late August and September. However, the likelihood of these events going ahead still remains slim. Festivals such as Glastonbury, Parklife, Radio 1’s Big Weekend and many more have been faced cancellation.

These events as you can imagine take months of planning and preparation, with venues, equipment and people to be organised. However, all that seems to have gone to waste, or has it?

Resources are not to be wasted

There is more to a festival than stage lighting and huge stands, but what equipment can actually be utilised from festival suppliers to help charities and local authorities during these unprecedented times? I’m not quite sure we can fight off COVID-19 with strobe lighting alone – although it would be quite a sight.

So what equipment can the NHS and charities make good use of?

You will be pleasantly surprised to hear that there is quite an extensive list: generators, furniture, comms equipment, tents and marquees, outdoor and indoor audio equipment, vehicles, medical equipment, heating equipment and the list goes on. Many festival suppliers even have access to services including security, medical services, traffic management, project management and much more.

What’s happening now?

Organisations which supply such equipment are now re-focusing their efforts. Their efforts are now refocussed on providing available equipment to local councils, charities and helping government initiatives. This supply of equipment to these organisations is desperately required and any organisation that can help should. Not to profit from, which many organisations have fell victim into doing, but to be forthcoming in their ability to help and improve the UK’s current situation.

How TeamKinetic can help

Joining the many organisations aiming to provide a service in which that supports charities, councils and the goverment battling COVID-19. We have further developed our services, incorporating new features purposley build for COVID-19. 

Introducing TeamKinetic Advanced – built for COVID-19 designed for you, all free of charge for three months. 

New Community Task Dashboard 

Our new fast implementing Community Task Dashboard, allows users to create COVID-19 related tasks quicker and easier.

It couldn’t get any more simple.

CREATE: COVID-19 related tasks 

ASSIGN: Volunteers to your created tasks or wait for your volunteers to assign themselves

APPROVE: Volunteer need approval before they have access to tasks details
COMPLETE: Wait for the completion of the task 

All New COVID-19 Volunteer Application

Volunteers simply sign in to your site on either desktop or smartphone, open the application and apply to the most recent COVID-19 related tasks. With lots of the same safety and safeguarding features that TeamKinetic has always had.

Volunteers can then keep track of their applied tasks in the ‘Tabs’ in the application. 

NEW: These are new tasks available for volunteers to help with

APPLIED: Volunteer can see their applied tasks waiting for approval from Admin/Provider

ASSIGNED: Volunteer has been approved, the volunteer can now see more details on the COVID-19 related task. Such as more sensitive information i.e. exact address. 

COMPLETED: Once completed tasks appear here for the volunteer’s personal record 

Gain access to all this for FREE

TeamKinetic Advanced – built for COVID-19

Managing Volunteers During The COVID-19 Pandemic

By

On 16th March 2020

In COVID-19, Volunteer Management

Even if you haven’t seen the lastest news or attempted to buy hand sanitiser recently, you may have noticed a decline in volunteer participation, and that pasta and toilet roll are now worth more than GOLD!

Keeping your volunteers volunteering and coming to sessions can often be challenging. During a virus pandemic, it’s sure to make that job even harder. In this blog Teaminetic aims to give some practical advice to keep your volunteers volunteering.

Reassure

Reassurance will be key. The message to volunteers should be to not panic, that volunteering should be proceeded as normal unless specific advice is received. During this time you may need a higher level of communication between yourself and your volunteers. Clear communication will help to remove the anxiety that volunteers may be feeling, and help you restore confidence through reassurance that you are doing everything possible to reduce risk.

Prepare

Preparation is key, and following a few simple rules will help.

  • Assuring hand sanitizing stations are filled and available
  • Surfaces that are regularly used have been cleaned, countertops, doorknobs etc.
  • Asking politely that anyone who isn’t feeling well to not attend sessions.
  • Provide disposable wipes so that commonly used surfaces like keyboards, remote controls, desks etc can be wiped down by volunteers before each use.
  • Enable micro-volunteering or volunteering from home.

Notifications

Keep volunteers up to date with the latest news from your organisation, via newsletters, emails, texts and social media channels. A lot can happen in 24 hours as we’ve previously seen. The fluid situation could mean that sessions or events might need to be cancelled at short notice, so try to keep your volunteers informed.

Volunteering from home

There is a high probability that people could be asked to work from home. If, or when, the government issues these measures, perhaps your organisation could adopt virtual or micro-volunteering in order to maintain volunteer involvement.

Micro volunteering involves low commitment action towards a cause. Micro-volunteers can choose how and when they volunteer, providing they have access to the internet via a laptop, tablet smartphone etc.

Micro-volunteering opportunities could involve.

  • Signing online petitions
  • Writing blogs
  • Re-tweeting and posting relevant content on Facebook and Twitter.
  • Providing feedback on marketing materials.
  • Creating Facebook Live meetings or Google Hangouts meetings.
  • Getting creative by generating material for upcoming events.

Micro-volunteering and virtual volunteering will not replace traditional volunteering. However, during COVID-19 it maybe your best option in order to maintain engagement and stay tuned with your volunteers.

In the meantime

What can we all do to help prevent the spread of COVID-19?

  • Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze.
  • Put used tissues in the bin.
  • Wash your hands with soap and water often – use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available. Remember to wash your hands for 20 seconds, whilst singing God save the Queen (Other songs are available).
  • Try to avoid close contact with people who are unwell.
  • Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.
  • Refrain from touching your eyes, nose or mouth if your hands are not clean.

Stay positive, remain calm and don’t worry, there’s enough toilet roll for everyone…

Further reading sources

TeamKinetic Volunteer Management

Volunteer Management Trends of 2020

By

On 9th March 2020

In Volunteer Management

What positive changes should volunteer managers be anticipating throughout the upcoming year? TeamKinetic aims to explore the changing avenues in which you may find yourself turning down at any given point.

Embracing Technology

This year alone there are predicted to be 51 million smartphone users, who will have access to various apps on their phones. For the volunteer manager, this is brilliant as many volunteer management systems – including our own can operate through an app. Creating more ways in which you can manage and communicate with your volunteers. Which will help your volunteer management run a lot smoother, not just for you but your volunteers as well.

Training

Phone calls and face to face meeting could be starting to become a thing of the past. Many organisations including ourselves are now adopting the use of ‘virtual help’. This being online support which is readily available for all volunteers. Virtual help makes good use of platforms like YouTube, instant messaging and help forms. Which in short saves the volunteer manager time.

Ageing Population

People are living longer and healthier lives, which isn’t a surprise. People are starting to take a lot better care of themselves by feeling more inclined than ever to live healthier active lifestyles.

Therefore volunteer managers should expect a rise in the number of older volunteers with time and energy to volunteer. Perhaps its time volunteer managers shifted perceptions of the ‘old’ volunteer, and started removing aged based limits on volunteering opportunities. Although people aged 65 and over are 45% more likely to volunteer than any other age group, only 6% of those over 65 actually feel old. Meaning older volunteers are more than happy to take part in more physical volunteering opportunities – if given the opportunities to do so.

A common theme that our customer relations team has found here at TeamKinetic is that. The wording of opportunities can often make volunteers not want to join an opportunity. Volunteer managers should try to be mindful when writing volunteering opportunities, as certain words can make opportunities sound more physically tiring, boring or even more complex than they actually are.

Younger Volunteers

There are small indications that the younger generations are starting to volunteer a lot more than they used to. 70% of 18 – 24-year-olds have reported having volunteered at some point in the last year. Recent interviews held by TeamKinetic and student volunteers help support this statistic, as many students did volunteer in some shape or form. Either to improve their academic profile or just because they wanted to give back to their community and have fun. This increase in younger people volunteering only gives volunteer managers more options and opportunities to attract younger volunteers, who are enthusiastic to help and be apart of a volunteering programme. 

Volunteer Led Opportunities

Volunteer-led opportunities involve listening and understanding what your volunteers want to do. It’s a growing trend that organisations are listening more to their staff and their customers. It would only be right to suggest that volunteer managers could do the same. A volunteers feedback could pose to be very useful as they are the ones taking part in the opportunities on a regular basis (on the front line as you may say). Suggesting it might be worth allowing volunteers to take lead on some opportunities, as this could be more impactful or at the very least, given the time to suggest new ideas.

A Question of Flexibility

How much flexibility volunteers have is always going to be a changing factor. Pictured above are some of the many reasons why the average person is soo busy. Considering these in modern volunteer management could mean thinking about running more “one-off opportunities”. which are opportunities that don’t happen on a regular basis (perhaps monthly), allowing time for volunteers to adjust their schedules, making it so they don’t have to commit to a specific time frame every week.

For more information on TeamKinetic volunteer management, visit our website or call us on 0161 914 5757.

World Book Day 2020

By

On 5th March 2020

In Community

Happy World Book Day, not just to the children but to all the volunteers across the UK helping to support our Libraries.

Across the last decade, over 500 libraries have been handed to volunteers. More and more libraries are still becoming staffed only by volunteers, instead of paid staff, provided by the council. This is due to the council making budget cuts. However, this is still better than the alternative of closing down local libraries, inhibiting children of what still is an exciting adventure out the house to somewhere new where their imagination can run wild!

Libraries create opportunities for children to:

  • Learn
  • Develop and grow
  • Interact with other children
  • Get help with homework
  • Give mum and dad a break
  • And generally, have fun through the power of imagination!

Libraries are being revived

Despite some towns being deprived of their local library services. Many libraries still continue to run each day through the commitment of local community volunteer groups. Where members of the groups will rotate working shifts allowing the library duties to be split equally amongst the volunteers. Many community-run libraries have been revived by volunteers. This is because the previously paid staff before weren’t local, therefore naturally they didn’t have the incentive to be as engaged with the community as current local volunteers are now.

Volunteers helping communities

Community volunteers are performing amazing tasks in order to keep libraries fresh and welcoming to all local communities. Our current client MCRVIP in Manchester have been advertising volunteering opportunities for libraries across the whole of Manchester, opportunities at Manchester libraries can include:

  • Lego Club volunteers
  • Once a month Film and craft volunteers
  • General Community library volunteers
  • IT volunteers
  • Homework club volunteers
  • Saturday club volunteers

More roles than you would have realised, it shows that it’s not all stacking and scanning books, but actually helping the community and interacting with the children and adults that go.

So thank you to all the volunteers for helping our community libraries.

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