Archive for the ‘Volunteering news’ Category
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Cuts threaten Americorps
Two years ago, the Serve America Act was passed with much fanfare. It established a goal of expanding from 75,000 government-supported volunteers to 250,000, and aimed to increase education funding and establish a summer volunteer program for students, paying $500 (which would be applied to college costs) to high-school and middle-school student who participate. The world’s voluntary organisations looked on with envy.
What a difference a couple of years can make. With pressure to slash budgets, the Republicans are now proposing to abolish the Corporation for National and Community Service which funds the likes of Americorps and Learn and Serve America.
I think this seems like a false economy for the US, and a real blow for the young people affected. After all, the Americorps version of “national service” is voluntary, not compulsory, and participants receive living expenses and modest college expenses (not a bad option in a time of record youth unemployment rates). It supports innovative projects like Teach for America, which fills hard-to-fill teaching positions with America’s top college graduates, City Year, which has been shown to dramatically reduce teenage drop-out rates in schools, and numerous other voluntary organisations, large and small. (For more, see ICP’s collection of 52 of the most innovative Americorps programmes.)
As Shirley Sagwa writes in the Huffington Post: “Volunteers aren’t free — somebody needs to recruit them and manage them — and charities often struggle for resources, especially during down economies. AmeriCorps members, by recruiting and supervising community volunteers, make it possible for millions of people to make a real difference. As a result, the charitable sector is stronger and volunteers more effective, thereby lessening the need for greater government spending.”
Service Nation, Stand for Americorps and many others are campaigning against the cuts.
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Orange bids to bring mobile volunteering to the UK
Since vinspired.com 2.0 was a mere glint in an eye, the digital team at v has been keen to bring the service direct to mobiles. Already, around 2% of our traffic comes from mobiles, and recent IAB research shows that 44% of 16-24 year olds have checked their social media profiles through their phones. As most volunteering still happens in the real world, rather than online, it makes sense to give young people the chance to record their volunteering while they’re doing it, to inspire others and to get recognition for what they do. I recently registered as an iPhone developer, and plans for our first app are well underway.
We’ve also explored the concept of micro-volunteering as a way to encourage people to take their first steps towards giving their time, inspired by campaigning communities such as Oxfam’s Protect the Human, which promotes actions according to time taken. vinspired’s Festive Favours Advent Calendar featured quick and easy ways to show a bit of festive spirit, and we’ve been excitedly watching the evolution of The Extraordinaries micro-volunteering network, especially during the Haiti crisis.
The future’s mobile…
So, when Orange launched a mobile volunteering community, we jumped straight in. The company caused waves in the UK when they teamed up with Rockcorps to launch incentives for volunteers, a controversial move which has successfully delivered volunteering messages to large audiences through high-profile ad campaigns.
The problem with Orange Rockcorps, of course, is that it has limited scale – you can only fit so many people into one venue, and without “owning” further volunteering programmes, or a menu of opportunities, its expensive and difficult to extend the volunteering offer. So (in addition to the obvious product placement) it makes sense for them to create a mobile app to inspire their community of customers to work together to do good. Together with T-Mobile, they say they’ll have more customers than there are people in Canada – so it’s fair to say that a little time from just a percentage of them could go a long way.
The Orange mobile volunteering site
So what’s in it for charities?
Well, Orange is promising to add the best 10 ideas for mobile volunteering to its app, and to market this to its customers. So if you’ve got a task that could be light work with many hands, submit your idea on their community.
The question for me has been: are charities geared up to crowd-source exciting projects? While Orange have the marketing power to take the idea to a large number of people, it will be the tasks themselves which define its stickiness. Thankfully, initial signs are positive, and community members are rising to the challenge of pitching ideas to the public vote. Popular ideas already on the community include donating photos for charities to use on their websites (we’re sure lots of organisations using vinspired would love that service), mapping homeless people’s locations so that charities can offer help, and identifying sites in need of Guerilla Gardening makeovers.
Orange don’t currently seem keen to use mobiles to promote real-world volunteering in their own app, but they are also promising to promote 10 “apps for good” created by charities or social entrepreneurs. So if you’ve got an app that deserves some attention, let them know – or just get involved by voting for your favourite ideas on the Orange Mobile Volunteering site.
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Our Year, Our Voice
On the 18th December 2009, The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed that the following year beginning the 12th August 2010 (that’s TODAY!) was to be known as The International Year of Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding. This exciting development means that The General Assembly has spent the last month calling on governments, communities and individuals worldwide to support youth-focused activities on a local, national and international scale.
The United Nations have put specific focus on enhancing ‘Dialogue and Mutual Understanding’- the objective being to encourage communication and acceptance across generations and cultures; to promote the ideals of peace, respect for human rights, freedom, and solidarity.
So what does this mean to me?
It would appear that authorities everywhere now understand the importance of acknowledging the voice of youth in regards to social debate. Governments feel it is imperative that young people are engaged in a significant and sustainable manner and they are now turning to young people everywhere in an attempt to improve relationships, enhance understanding and solidify respect between generations, cultures and societies.
“The International Year is about advancing the full and effective participation of youth in all aspects of society,” UN Focal Point on Youth Nicola Shepherd said. “We encourage all sectors of society to work in partnership with youth and youth organizations to better understand their needs and concerns and to recognize the contributions that they can make to society.”
Young people are a major human resource for community development, technological innovation and positive social change. Governments are now trying to harness the energy, imagination and initiative of the world’s youth in an effort to overcome the challenges facing each and every one of us; from enhancing peace to improving the current economic condition.
As a youth-focused organisation, everyone at v is very excited about taking advantage of this occasion and developing ideas to ensure this year is a successful and empowering occasion for young people everywhere. This is an amazing opportunity for youth from all around the world to demonstrate their commitment to fruitful dialogue, contributing and sharing ideas, and advancing mutual understanding.
So what next?
Now that The General Assembly has acknowledged the potential of young people everywhere, there’s never been a better time to try your hand at something new. This is the perfect opportunity to enhance your presence in your local community, get your voice heard and try to make a difference.
Please visit: http://social.un.org/youthyear/ for more information on The International Year of Youth.
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Big shame for big society – behind the scenes of the vschools website
This weekend, reports in the national press mentioned the vschools website being shelved in a “big blow to big society”, so I thought it would be useful to give an insight into what the vschools site is.
The vschools site already exists, has been tested with pupils and schools, and hundreds of schools are ready to sign up. It’s just been sitting on a development server, waiting for a decision for the Department for Education – and sadly, they have decided to scrap the Youth Community Action programme, of which vschools was a part.
Here’s the story so far…
Back in December last year, we were asked to look at how we could build on the success of vinspired.com and the vinspired awards to create a safe, secure and engaging volunteering platform for 14-16 year olds in every maintained school in England.
Luckily we had a solid platform to (literally) build on: vinspired.com, a social platform connecting volunteers aged 16-25 with voluntary organisations who need their help. Building on top of this platform meant:
a) younger volunteers could move their accounts to vinspired at age 16, taking with them a record of their volunteering history
b) voluntary organisations could offer opportunities to the younger audience without doubling up on work
c) making the most of functionality we already had, and importantly
d) we could actually deliver an awesome website in a very short timescale without cancelling Christmas. (Just.)
Creating private spaces for schools & students
Using rapid, Agile development, we extended the vinspired platform, and designed and built private “walled gardens” for schools. This would ensure that pupils could share their photos, comments and achievements with others in their school, without sharing personal details or plans with the wider internet community. Schools could publish their own opportunities, and keep a record of the achievements of pupils at their school in one, easy to use dashboard. Pupils could view opportunities within the school and others in their local communities, offered by approved providers recruited by the vschools advisers.
Image: Logged in view of a school's profile. Please note this is only example content on a test server and does not reflect any relationship with the school, or real volunteering opportunities.
Schools were also given public web pages, where they could showcase their achievements (without identifying individual pupils) and share best practice.
Awards for all
Next up, we extended the age range for vinspired awards, so that pupils could get recognition for their efforts. To do this, we integrated the awards system into both vinspired and vschools user profiles, making it easy for young people to record the skills they learned and the impact they had on their communities. Both sites benefited from this one piece of work.
Image: Early designs for the vinspired awards integration
The next challenge was to work out how to create accounts for hundreds of thousands of pupils without creating loads of admin for staff. Synchronising with existing databases proved controversial in terms of data ownership. Allowing unchecked registrations provoked security concerns, and worries about how the right pupils would end up in the right walled garden. We eventually settled on a token system – school staff could generate unique codes allowing pupils to sign up within a limited time-frame. Each code linked them to the correct school.
Image: vschools service map
Buy-in from pupils, teachers and local authorities
We had, given the time-scales, planned to conduct user testing on the live site, as we had complete control over who could access each secure area, and a team of vschools advisers with contacts in schools who were keen to get involved. However, we were then required to conduct user testing prior to launching the site, so I visited Salford and Milton Keynes to run user testing sessions with pupils and teachers. The feedback was hugely encouraging, helping us to spot bugs but also confirming that the site could work for young people, and I’m grateful to all those who helped with this process.
Since then, a team of over 90 vschools staff have been showing the test site to schools and local authorities, whilst waiting for the green light to launch the site. Figures to end of June (July’s figures come later this week) show 1278 interested schools, with over 500 ready to sign up. Anecdotal evidence from vschools advisers suggest many schools committed to the project prior to the end of term.
So, for now the vschools site remains left on the shelf, but I am hopeful that we may yet find a like minded sponsor to help us realise the potential and share the vision.
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Radio 1 Local Heroes campaign highlights short-term volunteering
A survey of 1,000 young people showed that over 50% said they didn’t have time to get involved in the causes they cared about. Now BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra are planning to inspire their listeners to get involved in volunteering opportunities which don’t involve a big time commitment.
Local Heroes week will run across both channels from Sunday 18 to Sunday 25 April. DJ Tim Westwood will become a “Local Hero” for the week, trying out a different taster volunteering challenge each day.
Anna Bowman, Executive Producer, Radio 1 and 1Xtra Campaigns, says: “Our research suggests that many young people are interested in volunteering but don’t have the time.
“We want to show that volunteering can be fun, rewarding and doesn’t have to be a long-term commitment.
“We hope that Tim’s volunteering antics will inspire some of our listeners to become a Local Hero in their own community.”
Some people might think Westwood is an unlikely volunteer, but I know he gives up his time for causes he cares about. I’ve seen him play for free at a Christmas party for young people affected by HIV – and they got so into it that the wall had to be replastered… Fact!
Westwood’s not the only Radio 1 DJ to volunteer… Nihal, Annie Mac, and Mary Anne Hobbs have all played for free at the vinspired Lake of Stars festival in Malawi and loved it. Plus, DJs from both stations were involved in the Bullyproof and Body Image campaigns.
If you’re inspired to get involved, find an opportunity near you on vinspired.com. You could even get into a festival for free in exchange for giving up a bit of your time!
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Failed by short-termist politics, 16-25 generation needs an injection of political capital
The upcoming election will bypass Britain’s 7.4 million 16-25 year olds because of a focus on short-term vote winning rather than the long term problems facing younger generations, according to a major report published by Demos.
An Anatomy of Youth, which was produced with v, The National Young Volunteers Service, says that the failure of the current political debate to adequately discuss problems like long term economic recovery, climate change, the care gap and communities under strain is turning youngsters away from politics altogether, despite evidence that many are passionate about politics and social issues.
Demos’ Celia Hannon, co-author of the report, said: “The idea that our young people don’t care about society or serious issues is wrong, but they don’t feel that politicians are speaking about the issues that will affect them in future. And they’re right about that. As we head into an election, the campaign won’t get near the debates young people need to have about our future. We’re going to see serious generational injustice on a number of issues unless we tip the scales towards young people.”
One interviewee Babatunde, the 21-year-old founder of think tank New Turn, said: “Politicians talk about ‘young people’s issues’ but they’re only trying to push young people on ‘young people’s issues’. By letting them do that we alienate ourselves and allow politicians to patronise us. If we fail to challenge thought on wider issues we will just be affected by those very same issues we choose to ignore now, tomorrow.”
Stereotyped by newspapers, sensationalised by marketeers and pigeon-holed by politicians, our cultural narratives about young people are not fit for purpose. The report looks at what young people have to say about world they find themselves in and how they are meeting the challenges they face.
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Olympics ceremony preview to reward volunteers
A nationwide campaign which aims to use the inspirational power of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to motivate the British public to give time in their communities was unveiled today.
The 25th Hour, which is separate to the official London 2012 Volunteer programme, is based on the idea that we can all find the extra hour and more to make a difference.
A recent survey on attitudes to London 2012 for DCMS showed that a third of people in the UK say they would give up their time for an Olympic-inspired activity – with even greater enthusiasm among young people, 48 per cent of whom say they would give up their time.
The 25th Hour will also celebrate the outstanding contributions of exceptional time givers with a range of Olympic-themed awards, including 2,012 pairs of tickets to a unique money can’t buy moment – the chance to see the dress rehearsal of the 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.
25th Hour supporters will be able to pledge their time via the campaign’s website – www.the25thhour.org – developed by v, the National Young Volunteers’ Service. From June this year the site will link people directly to opportunities to give time in their area, including featured opportunities similar to current campaigns on vinspired.com, and those posted through YouthNet and Volunteering England‘s 2012 Games volunteering legacy project, funded by the Office of the Third Sector. People can sign up now to show their support for the 25th Hour and receive updates on campaign activity.
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Give a Day, Get a Disney Day attracts 1 million volunteers
There’s been a lot of debate about the rights and wrongs of incentive schemes for volunteers. Wherever you stand, it’s hard not to be in awe of any campaign which attracts 1 million volunteers in less than 10 weeks.
Give a Day, Get a Disney Day offered volunteers a day out at a Disney theme park in exchange for volunteering a day of their time through the Hands-On Network.
Giving away tickets isn’t new to Disney – in 2009, it distributed around 100,000 tickets a month to anyone who went to one of their U.S. theme parks on his or her birthday. In contrast, the volunteer promotion attracted 100,000 participants per week this year. Disney says the campaign exceeded their expectations, and I can well believe it. Who’d have expected volunteering to be more popular than birthdays?
“The innovative nature of this program has exponentially increased our capacity to both invite and excite people about volunteerism,” said Michelle Nunn, co-founder of HandsOn Network.
Non-profits around the US are reporting a bump in participation, and volunteers are claiming they got more than just a freebie. Whether the magic will last longer than the campaign remains to be seen, but bloggers are already speculating that the campaign will be repeated.
Meanwhile, volunteering is making the news in the US with the federal Corporation for National and Community Service says they’re experiencing a recession-related “compassion boom”, and a poll of 1003 Americans showed that 78% believe they’re more involved in making a difference than their parents were.
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Recognise us and respect us
New research by the British Youth Council, Recognise and respect us, examines the barriers some young people face in volunteering. The research highlights that young people often don’t know if their volunteering is recognised or appreciated. The research recommends greater recognition and respect for young volunteers.
NCCPE’s Student Volunteering: Background, Policy and Context (June 2009) highlights other reports championing recognition for young volunteers. Both the Morgan Enquiry and the Volunteering Works report (from Volunteering England and the IVR) conclude that young people, like adults want feedback and to know what they have done has been valued. They are often more inclined to want some accreditation for their achievements which will have currency in the workplace.
The National Youth Agency’s 2007 report, Young People’s Volunteering and Skills Development, showed that while a minority – usually those who were already achieving well in formal education – did not see formal recognition as important, most young people involved in the research wanted their skills to be at least recorded through certificates and evidence for CVs. This was seen as particularly important for those who had little or no other evidence of achievement.
Whilst youth unemployment figures continue to rise there’s much discussion that volunteering can viable way for young people to enter their chosen industry whilst building up the necessary skills set needed for the world of work. But we must work to ensure high profile recognition and respect for the contribution young people can make through volunteering. Young volunteers need, and deserve, to feel valued. Employers need to respect their contribution and ensure that they don’t perceive volunteering as a source of cheap labour.
This finding strikes a chord with us here at v. Our vinspired awards are recognised by the CBI, and have won support from Dragon’s Den star James Caan, EMI’s Felix Howard, and Birmingham City’s Karren Brady. We’ll be celebrating the achievements of some our our vfifty award holders in the national press in the coming months.
And we’re busy working towards the vinspired National Awards ceremony for young volunteers, which takes place in October. Nominations are now open, so nominate volunteers you know – give them the recognition and respect they deserve!
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Calling all employers!
The great and the good of business and charities are all ‘Backing Young Britain’. Business in the Community, the Institute of Directors and the Confederation of British Industry, the Federation of Small Businesses and the Princes Trust are all backing the government’s campaign to get businesses to support young people through the recession. Employers across all sectors are being asked to offer work placements internships, apprenticeships and jobs as well as allowing staff to volunteer.
It is great that employers play their part in making sure young people are not left floundering during the recession. But are we missing a trick here? If reports from volunteering organisations are anything to go by (contrasting with recent Citizenship Survey findings), young people are turning to volunteering in increasing volumes. As well as helping communities, they are gaining an incredible amount of skills and experience while doing so. Employers can do more to make sure that experience is valued as much as work experience and internships.
When the recovery eventually starts and new jobs emerge young people need to be given the support and incentives to make the most of all that they give and gain through volunteering when they move into employment. Employers need to be more vocal about valuing volunteering experience so that young people make the link between volunteering and employability.
A survey commissioned by v earlier this year showed that almost half (49%) of employers felt that volunteering experience is relevant when considering a job application. But what about the other half? And does this translate into their recruitment practices? Employer recognition for volunteering will help young people to see even more of the knock-on benefits of spending time helping others while the economy has gone to pot.
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