Anna started volunteering with Voices of Hope during lockdown earlier this year. She is a trained chef and after finding herself out of employment, she wanted to make a difference to people who had been disproportionately impacted by the lockdown. She cooked meals that were delivered to people who were usually supported by other services.
As lockdown measures have eased and Voices of Hope (VOH) have been able to reintroduce some of their activities, Anna has continued to volunteer with them. She has especially enjoyed getting involved with the Sisterhood Sanctuary, one of the many community projects run by VOH, for women who have experienced domestic violence, assault, abuse, and mental or physical health challenges. They get together and enjoy different activities such as making cake decorations, beauty treatments and talks from local businesses. Anna cooks lunch for the women at these sessions; she said she loves seeing the impact it has on them.
“Cooking someone a meal makes such a difference”
Do you have a skill that could be beneficial to a local charity? If you’d like help finding a volunteering role, please do get in touch.
Learn English At Home (LEAH) provides one on one English tuition to disadvantaged migrants and refugees in the SW London boroughs of Kingston, Richmond, and Hounslow. Richard initially volunteered as a tutor with LEAH when he retired from his career in the Civil Service. He explained that the experience gave him a “real appreciation of the benefits LEAH brought to migrant communities in the area, and of the needs of and problems experienced by those communities”.
When the opportunity to become a trustee of LEAH arose, Richard jumped at the chance. We asked him about his experience of being a trustee, and more recently, the Chair of the Board. We asked Richard what it really takes to become a Trustee.
What do your responsibilities look like as a trustee?
My main role recently has been contributing to and chairing meetings about the charity’s work and its future strategy. I chair the Board of Trustees and attend other committees – we run a Programme Development Committee, a Fundraising Committee, and a Finance Committee. As well as contributing to the charity’s future strategy, I attend fundraising events, speak about the charity’s work to local stakeholders, and become involved in discussions with local stakeholders and funders. I also line manage the charity’s Director. I think one of the functions of the Chair is to raise the profile of the charity and to spread information about its work, and I always seek ways of doing more of this.
What has been the best thing about being a trustee?
It has been really good to work with a group of people who are genuinely committed to improving a lot of disadvantaged communities and promoting social cohesion in what seems a difficult time for migrants. I’ve been impressed by the successes we have achieved, and by the stories our students bring about how improving their English has enriched their lives.
What hopes do you have for the Board’s future?
We are an inclusive Board, although hardly as diverse as our client communities. I hope that we will be able to enrich the Board with new and more diverse talent in the coming months and years.
How has COVID-19 impacted on your role as a trustee this past year?
This has indeed been a turbulent year. We have had to change the ways we work in so many ways. I am proud of the way we have turned what was a face-to-face service into a remotely-delivered one, which continues to benefit many of our disadvantaged clients. Trustees have been very active in keeping abreast of this and acting as a critical friend to the Director as she has introduced these changes. Trustees’ meetings have also become virtual, which presents some challenges in managing a busy agenda. There is a plus side, however, our new ways of working have given us many ideas about how to deliver new and better services in the future, and thereby enrich the support we give to our students – and that can only be a good thing.
Would you recommend becoming a trustee to other people?
Being a trustee offers a real and important way of contributing to society and our local communities – the opportunity to develop and expand networks in the local community, and to develop links, and sometimes friendships with other people working with disadvantaged groups. The work is interesting and although it takes some time and effort, it is very worthwhile.
The diversity of trustees, or charity board members, tends not to reflect the demographics of the communities they operate in. Many charities recruit informally and through their existing networks; resulting in poor diversity among the board and a risk of a disconnect between organisation and beneficiary.
According to Charity Commission for England and Wales and Inclusive Boards:
just 36% of trustees are women
only 8% are from a BAME background
61years-old is the average age of a trustee
only 2% of trustees are under 24-year-olds
Why diversity on boards is important
Appointing a board that reflects the community you work with improves your decision-making, meaning more effective client services. Diversity brings unique talent, knowledge, and inspiration to charities; generating an influx of new ideas and inspiration. By recruiting trustees from a variety of professional and personal backgrounds and ensuring a healthy changeover, organisations can help keep the board fresh and provide professional development opportunities to more people.
5 top tips for improving diversity on boards
Set time limits for trustee teams this will help your board stay fresh and prevent leadership from becoming stale
Use alternative methods of recruitmentnot just word of mouth
Look for people with lived experiences related to your charitable cause
Organise accessible board meetings that take place atconvenient locations and times and are inclusive for those with disability
Monitor the diversity of your board regularly to ensure a good mix of technical skills and expertise.
If you’re currently recruiting new trustees Volunteering Kingston would be happy to promote your opportunity to their pool of volunteers. Get in touch with Molly from Volunteering Kingston on enquiry@volunteeringkingston.org.uk for more information.
See the writing role descriptions guidance for more information.
Before you start recruiting, think about:
Possible volunteer motivations for your ideal volunteer.
Different audiences that you want to approach with your recruitment strategy.
Resources you have and resources you need.
Who else can help you.
Target
Decide on a SMART Target: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.
E.g. We will receive 10 applications, which will translate into 5 volunteers being appointed by 30th June 2023.
Audiences
Breakdown the specific audiences you want to approach in your recruitment. It may just be one, or you may be approaching several different audiences. E.g.
16 and 17 year olds who are interested in theatre and want something to do in their summer holidays.
Retirees and stay at home parents who want to use their parenting skills to help vulnerable children.
Professionals in demanding roles who want an impactful opportunity that fits in with their busy lifestyle.
Key message
Think about the key message you want to share with each audience – try and sum it up in one sentence. This will help with your recruitment.
Tactics
Think how you want to reach these audiences – aside from posting an opportunity on our website. Where can you find them? What resources do you have access to? Some examples of tactics:
Ask current volunteers who match that audiences to speak to their friends and neighbours.
Email the teacher of a local sixth form college course on health & social care.
Create a poster and ask local shops and businesses to put it up.
Send a press release to local newspaper about your need for volunteers.
Hold a taster volunteering day.
Next actions
Looking at the tactics, make a list of next actions to achieve. Be realistic about how much you can do and consider focusing on the areas that will make the biggest impact.
Template
Opportunity:
Target:
Audience
Key message
Tactics
Worked examples
Opportunity: Family Support Volunteer
Target: Get 20 applications and have 10 volunteers get through
Stay at home parents who want to use their parenting experience to support young families.
Bored now the kids are at school? We’re looking for volunteers with experience of parenting or childcare who want to help young families who are going through challenges.
Post opportunity on the Legends of the Forest website.Ask current volunteers to share info about the role in parent whatsapp groups they are in.Leave leaflets and flyers at the local library.
Stay at home parents who want to use their parenting experience to support young families.
Retired people who want to volunteer to help families.
…
…
Retired people who want to volunteer to help families.
Opportunity: Gardening Volunteers
Target: Get 30 sign ups and have 20 volunteers sign up
Audience
Key message
Tactics
Audience
People who are interested in the environment
Want to help keep Waltham Forest green?
Post opportunity on the Legends of the Forest website.Post on local environmental Facebook groups.Put up a poster in a local zero waste shop
Interviews with volunteers should be informal and a two-sided conversation.
These suggested questions are to help you think about how best you and the volunteer can understand whether this would be the right role for them.
Why are you interested in volunteering for this role?
How can we help you get the most out of volunteering?
Are there any aspects of the role which you might find challenging?
Do you have any experience with [specific skill]?
[Describe a scenario and ask them to share their suggested solutions]
We’re looking for a volunteer who can give [detail the time commitment required].
How does that fit with your schedule and plans?
[Ask them about any other practical details e.g. timings, location, equipment]
We are here to support you. Please let us know either now or later any access or support needs you might have and how we can help you. This won’t impact on you being selected as a volunteer.
Volunteering Kingston Code of Conduct for the Voluntary and Community Sector sets out the essential principles for running a successful and sustainable volunteering programme. It provides an overarching framework for good conduct and a benchmark of good practice. The Code of Conduct has been adapted by the Volunteering Kingston team, inspired by the principles of the London Volunteer Management Charter created by Greater London Volunteering.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion – Volunteering should be open to all, and volunteers must be treated with fairness, dignity and respect regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
Recruitment process – Recruitment procedures are fair, efficient and consistent.
Suitable volunteering roles – Volunteering roles should not replace paid staff and organisations should take proactive steps to avoid any suggestion of job substitution. Organisations should not use our platform to recruit for political activists or other roles which could be seen as contentious.
Expenses Policy – Volunteers should not be left out-of-pocket for their volunteering. If organisations and groups which involve volunteers cannot currently pay expenses, volunteers should be made aware of this when they join or apply for the role.
Induction/Briefing – Volunteers know what they are expected to do and know who they can report to. Roles must be clearly defined and provide inclusive and purposeful opportunities to volunteers.
Support and supervision – A named supervisor (or Lead Volunteer) should be identified and ongoing support appropriate to the role should be made available to all volunteers. Volunteers are provided with appropriate training to carry out their role, and signposted to relevant development opportunities.
Safe volunteering environment – Volunteers should feel that they are in a safe and supportive environment. The physical and emotional risks of volunteering are identified, minimised and covered by adequate insurance. All relevant Covid-19 guidelines, national and local, are followed. Volunteers should be made aware of all policies and procedures in place.
Resolving difficulties – Volunteers know how to raise a concern and how it will be handled. If a volunteer feels unsafe or uncomfortable while volunteering they have the right to leave at any point.
Reward and recognition – The organisation or group should express appreciation to the volunteers by informally and formally thanking their volunteers for their time and energy.
Reporting – Organisations maintain contact with Legends of the Forest and report their volunteering placements and volunteering hours gained through our brokerage service. They can either use Team Kinetic website to record hours or send a quarterly estimate to the team.
Data protection – Organisations should follow the law and best practice on handling volunteers’ data.
By advertising your roles with Volunteering Kingston you are agreeing to the Code of Conduct. If Volunteering Kingston have reason to believe your organisation has failed to comply with the Code of Conduct, Volunteering Kingston may choose to suspend your organisation from our database until we know that you are following our basic expectations.
Volunteering Kingston is here to support your organisation or group to provide volunteers with the best experience. Contact the Volunteering Kingston team to find out more about our organisational support and guidance: enquiry@volunteeringkingston.org.uk or call 0300 365 9980.
Once your account has been approved by Volunteering Kingston, you can create and add new volunteering opportunities. Just simply sign into your account and click on add opportunity.
Key Details
Opportunity Name – Brief title – Include the name of the activity and role e.g. Fun Run Volunteer Marshall
Opportunity Description – Be descriptive – Give as much information about the role as possible, remember you are also trying to entice people to volunteer so make it sound fun and interesting.
Benefits & Perks – Something to say ‘thank you’ to the volunteers. Tea and coffee provided throughout, a lunch or opportunities for volunteer training.
Skills Required – Skills that will help the volunteer get the best from this opportunity. If skills are needed offer to provide any additional or specialist training to volunteers before they begin– this could be one of the added benefits and perks
Main Category – From the drop down menu what most describes the role.
Activity Tags – Words you want associated to your opportunity e.g. if it was an admin role the tags could be: Admin, office, IT.
Is the opportunity accessible?
Opportunity part of a larger event – Do you have an event that requires many different roles and is this opportunity part of it? If yes, then choose yes from the drop down menu and you will be able to put all opportunities related to that event onto one page. If it is a one off opportunity, then choose no.
Travel Information – Some simple instructions about how the volunteer can get to your venue e.g. closest train/tube station, bus routes etc.
Expenses
Please outline what expenses you can provide.
Volunteers should not be out of pocket from volunteering. Volunteering Kingston recommend as best practice offering travel expenses and lunch for volunteer shifts over 5 hours. For shifts less than five hours, please provide volunteers with simple snacks. Volunteers should have access to drinking water and we recommend providing tea and coffee.
Files and Documents
Upload any useful documents for volunteers to download e.g. maps and itineraries.
Selection Options
If applying is selected the volunteer will be warned that their session choice has to be confirmed by an administrator before they can attend.
If joining (default) is selected then the volunteer is able to self-serve and join sessions with the expectation that they are attending.
Joining Restrictions
Please be aware that if you do have volunteers under the age of 18 you will need policies in place for the following areas:
Health and safety
Safeguarding
Insurance that covers under 18 volunteers
We do encourage that organisation not discriminate on age and provide all our volunteers an equal opportunity to take part. However, we do understand that certain roles require an age restriction.
Session and Times
Please select which of the three options best fits the opportunity.
Pick something clear, descriptive, and not too long. For example:
Finance Admin Volunteer
Gardening Volunteer
Opportunity description
Assuming you are not recruiting on behalf of someone else, write from the first person plural – so “We are looking…”
Sum up the role in one sentence.
For example:
Join one of our busy, friendly shops, and give your time to help raise money for children in poverty.
We need volunteers to help with our friendly lunch for isolated older people.
Use your admin skills to help us keep up-to-date with our funders and make sure that we can carry on saving bees!
Alternatively, you could start with a question.
For example:
Got some time on your hands?
Do you love theatre?
Want to get out into the great outdoors?
Do you want to make the decisions that will transform Kingston into a more inclusive community?
Say a bit more about your organisation, ideally in one or two sentences.
Then say what the volunteers will do in one sentence:
Our Volunteer Admin Assistant will help with filing and emailing our clients.
Befrienders will have a zoom chat with their buddy once a week, as well as joining monthly team zoom calls.
Sum up the difference the role will make:
By giving your time, you will support vulnerable people to make the changes they need to get back on track.
By volunteering, you will help people get online, chat to their friends, be more independent and get more out of life.
Our volunteers have helped 80% of pupils on the programme make exceptional progress.
Say who the role is ‘ideal’ for:
This role is ideal for people with parenting or childcare experience who want to make a difference to vulnerable children.
This is a great role for a sixth former or college student who wants to champion and celebrate the biodiversity of Kingston’s parks.
This role is great for someone who wants to make new friends and have fun outdoors.
Write in more detail about the tasks volunteers will do. You may want to do this in a list form.
Clarify the time commitment and other practical details.
Benefits & Perks
Describe what the volunteer will get out of volunteering, for example: “Being part of a great, friendly team. Free tea and coffee. A reference if you volunteer for more than three months.”
Skills Required
List the skills required in plain, everyday English, for example: “Friendly and positive manner. Confidence in reading and writing in English. Computer literate. Experience in gardening.”
Only list skills that are relevant to the role.
What category best describes this opportunity
Select from the drop down menu the category that most accurately describes the role. Some examples of different categories are –
Administration
Culture
Education & Literacy
Children
Covid-19 / Coronavirus
Befriending / Buddying
Art & Design
Advice
Environment & Conservation
Libraries
Activity Tags
An activity tag is a way of adding words to your opportunity so the opportunity comes up when those words are searched for. Think about what a potential volunteer might search for when looking for a role like yours and make sure you include these as tags. For example, if you are advertising for a Gardening Volunteer you may wish to include the tag ‘outdoor’ or ‘garden/plants’
You can type in a specific address or keep it more general, such as typing in ‘Kingston’.
Kingston, UK
Travel Information
Some simple instructions about how the volunteer can get to your venue e.g. closest train/tube station, bus routes etc.
How do you want to manage your volunteers?
Click ‘Create a Fully Managed Opportunity’ unless you have your own volunteer recruitment and management website and want to use as well. If you select ‘Create a Self-Managed Opportunity’ you will not have the same access to features. You can convert the opportunity to a full managed opportunity if you want.
Opportunity Application Process
Do volunteers need to apply first?
If applying is selected the volunteer will be informed that they need to be approved first. This is for roles where you want to select the volunteer, perhaps through looking at their experience or interviewing them, for example an admin volunteer.
If joining (default) is selected, then the volunteer is able to self-serve and join sessions with the expectation that they are attending. This is for roles where you don’t want to select the volunteer, for example a community litter pick.
Ask for experience
If you select yes volunteers will have a box which invites them to write their experience when they apply/join. We recommend explaining what you want volunteers to write in the Details section of the opportunity, for example: “When you apply for this role you’ll be asked for your experience. Please write briefly about your experience with x”.
Send a customised email when joining this opportunity?
Select this option if you would like volunteers to be notified of any outstanding tasks as soon as they join your opportunity. For example, if you want your volunteers to complete an application form or contact you with specific information.
Opportunity Restrictions
If you want anyone over the age 16 who is registered on the Volunteering Kingston website, click ‘yes’. Otherwise click ‘no’.
Minimum Age
See our involving younger volunteers’ guidance for more information.
Maximum Age
Gender
Select if you have relevant reason – make this clear in the opportunity description. For example, accompanying someone swimming, volunteering with victims of domestic violence.
Maximum sessions
Can a volunteer only join a certain number of sessions (shifts)? Add this is this is the case.
Must be linked to provider to join
Volunteers must have already applied for or expressed interest in your organisation.
Expenses
Please outline what expenses you can provide. Get in touch with us if you need any support with this.
Promoting and Sharing
Hide opportunity from search results and make secret
Select this if you only want volunteers who you send the link to be able to see the opportunity.
Is the opportunity accessible?
This question is asking about whether or not the opportunity is accessible to those who use a wheelchair.
Opportunity part of a larger event?
Do you have an event that requires multiple volunteer roles? Is this volunteer opportunity a part of that event? If yes, first you need to create an event – go to the Events page under the Opportunities section at the top. Choose ‘yes’ from the drop down menu and you will be able to put all opportunities related to that event onto one page.
Opportunity Documents
Upload any useful documents for volunteers to download e.g. how-to guides etc.
Post Opportunity Options
Select yes, if you want to volunteers to upload things like expense claim forms to the system.
Add a post opportunity survey link
Select yes if you want to volunteers to fill out a survey when they first log hours.
Session and Times
Please select which of the options best fits the opportunity.
Sessions: If the role has shifts and it makes sense for the volunteer to sign up to them on the system. For example, Reception Volunteer at a library who comes in Monday morning and Tuesday afternoon.
Flexible: If the volunteer is giving time flexibly, at their own pace, or it varies a lot. For example, a Research Volunteer who is creating an education pack for the library at their own pace from home.
Getting more support
Please get in touch with the Volunteering Kingston team if you would like more support with any of this. Contact enquiry@volunteeringkingston.org.uk or call 0300 365 9980.
