Archive for the ‘Thoughts on volunteering’ Category
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Is it time we started sharing our cock-ups?
When charities or voluntary organisations get together at events, it’s usually the successes you get to hear about. So hurrah for Sidekick Studios’ latest (beta) innovation: Cocktails and Cock-Ups, an evening of confessional presentations from charities and social enterprises about the disasters you never got to hear about - and, most importantly, what they did to fix them.
Dan Jones from Amnesty International UK, Andrew Dick from Envision, and Darren Taylor from EcoComputer Systems were impressively candid about the mistakes they’d made and the lessons they’d learnt. What struck me was how sharing failure led to frank discussions and a sense of shared experience which is often missing from the usual “look what I achieved”-style presentations.
I was surprised to notice how rarely - if ever - I’ve seen someone deliver a PowerPoint presentation which actually highlighted the things that went wrong. Reviewing mistakes is something we do a lot in Agile web development; at the end of each two-week section of work, the whole team comes together to talk about what went right, what went wrong, and what we could change to make the next iteration more productive. But sharing that learning with other organisations? I don’t do that much.
So what did I take from the event?
- In the third sector, we’re so used to reporting to funders, trustees and bosses on what went well, that we’re in danger of forgetting that the lessons we learn from failure are valuable - not just to us, but to others, too.
- Talking about failure, rather than pretending we can prevent failure, can help us to expect and manage it. It’s also fun, and quite cathartic, once you get past the initial fear.
- “Failing fast” - building prototypes, running pilots, get feedback early on, not trying to plan everything up front in immense detail and instead being willing to embrace negative feedback and change - can actually help to avoid more catastrophic mistakes on a bigger scale.
- Sometimes a perceived failure actually leads to something better.
- It’s easier to admit mistakes with a cocktail in your hand.
So if you’re looking for valuable lessons, I reckon you’d learn more from inviting others like you to share their cock-up tales over drinks than from any of the usual seminars or conferences. Find out more about Cock-Up Cocktails on the Sidekick Studios blog.
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Cybermentors virtual volunteers take on the bullies
CyberMentors, the online peer mentoring scheme run by BeatBullying, is in the headlines today after its hard-hitting new advert was banned from TV for being “too brutal for younger audiences”.
But it is CyberMentors’ ability to forge partnerships with social networks that really stands out for me. YouTube is featuring CyberMentors on its front page all day today. And back in November, Bebo became the first social networking site to install a CEOP “report” button on the profiles of its 8 million users, featuring a link to the CyberMentors site.
By using social networks to offer reach out to young people in the very spaces where they might be bullied, CyberMentors helped over 176,000 young people with bullying and cyberbullying since its launch in March last year.
Lots of young people who’ve had horrible experiences are motivated to help others in the same situation. What’s great about CyberMentors is that it genuinely helps them to do that.
Young people, aged 11-25, are trained as CyberMentors, in schools and online, so that they can offer support to their peers. They’re also supported by trained counsellors, available online if needed, so site visitors always get the appropriate level of help, and younger volunteers are not in danger of having to deal with issues they’re not able to manage.
This video shows how using her experience of bullying to help others helped CyberMentors volunteer Georgia get her confidence back.
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Young volunteers can create income for charity
Ethical fashion label 50FIFTY clothing, which is run by ex-teachers and youth workers, is pioneering an innovative way to combat the rising tide of gun and knife crime affecting young people in the UK.
They’ve combined their business knowledge and their previous lives in youth work to show young people (many of whom facing social exclusion) how to make money legally by designing, making and selling clothing and promotional goods. Through their Made by Young People project, the team says they’ve helped dozens of young people move from criminal activities into entrepreneurial ones.
With research warning that charities will lag behind the rest of the UK economy in recovering from the recession, it’s interesting to see Made by Young People offering to work with voluntary organisations to show them how to raise money through social enterprise. I’m really inspired by the thought of harnessing the talents and entrepreneurship of young volunteers and diversifying funding as a result.
Trekstock is a great example of this approach. It started as a simple idea from a young volunteer, Sophie Epstone, who wanted to put on a gig to raise money for a Teenage Cancer Trust trek. Since then, Trekstock has launched its own fashion line during London Fashion week, toured the UK festival circuit, gained charity status, attracted support from big name celebrities and raised thousands of pounds in the process.
Sophie says: “It may look big now but it all started with a small idea to hold a little fundraiser for a trek and over time the ideas and the drive grew along with the hope that it was going to make a difference to the charities that it supported. I think that you have a great idea, how ever big or small, you must believe that it’s always doable and there is always support out there to help you make it grow.”
I’m sure there must be countless young volunteers out there bringing innovation and money to charities, and I’d be really interested to hear more about them.
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Crowd-sourcing funding for voluntary projects
I’ve just discovered Kickstarter, a US-based website which allows budding entrepreneurs to crowd-source the money they need to bring their ideas to life. A service designer I know called it “my favourite website of all time”, and I can see where he’s coming from.
Project creators can offer products, services or other benefits (”rewards”) to inspire people to support their project: A hot-air balloon ride to the first person to pledge $300, an invitation to the BBQ for anyone who pledges more than $5. It’s up to each project creator to sculpt their own offers to inspire people to invest.
From crocheted yurts to plans to write everyone in the world a letter, the site is packed with weird and wonderful ideas, but it’s the voluntary projects which really got me thinking - such as this appeal to save a local community garden. Could it be that by stepping away from the format of traditional funding applications, we could actually inspire more creative volunteering opportunities? The very act of selling a simple idea, rather than a huge project plan, seems like a more natural way to test out your idea on the general public. Winning public support could inspire courage to test the boundaries and be really innovative.
I’m a big fan of Junction 49 and its commitment to supporting young volunteers in working together to bring their ideas to life, as well as v’s vcashpoint project. I’d love to see what would happen if we could add crowd-sourced funding into the mix. Something tells me that these young volunteers could teach hardened fundraisers a few tricks, and inspire new creative approaches to promoting charitable giving.
I love the idea of voluntary projects having a whole group of supporters, right from the start, who care enough about a project to dig into their pockets to help make it happen. As Kickstart says, a large group of people can be a tremendous source of money and encouragement.
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The science of happiness study concludes: “Perhaps we are a selfish nation”
Depressing news for altruism today, with the news that The Science of Happiness study has concluded that altruism has a negative effect on happiness compared to the control group.
Some 26,000 people participated in last week’s online study, testing one of four, commonly-used happiness techniques: expressing gratitude, smiling, recalling a pleasant event from the day before and carrying out an act of kindness. Each was instructed via a YouTube video - here’s the kindness clip:
All groups recorded an increase in happiness, but the “acts of kindness” group achieved -8% less happiness than the control group. In an article in today’s Guardian, Dr Wiseman concludes: “Perhaps we are a selfish nation.” This conclusion will come as a surprise to people working in the voluntary sector, where there’s an abundance of case studies, anecdotes and research showing how volunteering can make people feel more confident, healthier and happier.
Francesca Borgonovi’s 2008 paper, Doing well by doing good. The relationship between formal volunteering and self-reported health and happiness, concludes that people who volunteer report better health and greater happiness than people who do not, a relationship that is not driven by socio-economic differences between volunteers and non-volunteers. A study published in the Journal of Research in Personality in 2008 showed that students who engage in virtue-building activities such as volunteering report being happier than their more hedonistic counterparts. And ICM Research findings commissioned for CSV (Community Service Volunteers) and Barclays in 2004 found that 71% of volunteers offering their professional skills and experience said volunteering helps combat depression.
So what’s going on with The Science of Happiness? There are obvious differences between Wiseman’s study and the altruism we see in volunteering, including motivation, community impact and level of commitment. Maybe doing things for others with the sole objective of making yourself happier just doesn’t amount to true altruism.
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Can international volunteering be truly accessible for all young people?
The government’s decision to give Raleigh £500,000 to support graduates “who otherwise could not afford” to volunteer abroad has had a mixed reception. While the “creative thinking” was welcomed by the NUS, some previous volunteers complained that it was “unfair” to those who had raised the full cost of the trip themselves, while others claimed that these “free gap years” could still end up costing upwards of £2,000.
Many young people are sold on the value of international volunteering. DFID research published in December 2008 showed that while 19% of the general adult population think volunteering is effective at reducing poverty overseas, that number increases to 32% in the 16-24 year old age group. But is international volunteering still the preserve of the middle classes? There are several schemes in the UK which hope to prove otherwise.
Charlotte Singleton, a volunteer youth worker from Manchester, spent 10 weeks teaching in a school in Himachal Pradesh, northern India. Her placement was fully funded by Platform 2, a global volunteering scheme for 18 to 25 year olds who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford to visit a developing country, funded by the Department for International Development.
She said: “I didn’t think that people like me could do something like this. I thought it was just for people who were rich… I’d never been on an airplane before. The farthest I’d been was Wales.”
Latitude Global Volunteering offers a range of fully funded placements and bursaries for 16-25 year olds who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford to volunteer.
Meanwhile, virtual volunteering opportunities allow young volunteers to help international charities from the comfort of their own homes. WorldWide Volunteering now offers virtual volunteering options, and the UN Online Volunteers Service also has opportunities for volunteers aged 18+.
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Brazillian project provides practical solutions to bridge the digital divide
MetaReciclagem is an open network in Brazil which shows young people how to acquire, recycle and use technology for social change and inclusion in their communities.
This programme has spread really quickly, creating dozens of recycled computer labs throughout Brazil. In these labs, young volunteers collect used computer parts from donations and learn how to reassemble them, taking advantage of free software and internet access to learn through structured workshops, mutual learning and experimentation.
Completed, recycled computers are often donated to non-profit organisations or used to provide lower-income communities with access to technology and the Internet. The volunteers are then encouraged and incentivised to go on to set up new laboratories, with support from the virtual community of projects throughout the country.
Volunteers stay involved for an average of 1 year. Since 2003, over 5,000 young people have participated, most of whom come from families earning less than US$500 a month. Labs champion youth leadership, as volunteer Joe Nascimento explains: “The project is very decentralised; there is no boss. Instead, decisions are made through group discussions, and every opinion is valued.”
MetaReciclagem is a really practical way to show young people that it is possible - and affordable - to access technology and use it for social change and inclusion in their communities. It’s an inspiring project which keeps young volunteers at its heart, giving them the tools they need to help their communities cross the digital divide. MetaReciclagem champions open source, collaborative production and the use of technology for positive social change, and their business model suggests a commitment to practicing what they preach.
For more examples of practical projects tackling the digital divide, visit the UNESCO website, which also hosts a Community Multimedia Centres guide.
MetaReciclagem was one of 22 global projects analysed as part of Innovations in International Youth Volunteering, by v and Innovations in Civic Participation (ICP).
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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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Community cohesion through random acts of kindness
It seems that community cohesion is the volunteering buzzword of the moment. Research released to support last weekend’s The Big Lunch showed that three-quarters of the UK population (73%) would welcome the chance to get involved in activities to bring their neighbourhoods closer together.
And it’s a challenge which is inspiring innovative online-offline experiments in spreading kindness. The Akoha game challenges players to complete a series of good deeds: “We believe in the power of play to bridge differences and allow a wide range of diverse people to engage in shared social goals like never before.” And The Incredibles hopes to engage people in iPhone micro-volunteering.
But can doing favours, or having favours done for you, inspire young people to get involved in volunteering? At v, we’re hoping to find out. This week, we launched Favour Farm, a gorgeous new campaign to encourage young people to do favours for others.
When young people record their favours online, the site and welcome email suggest related volunteering opportunities, while the “burp cast” also provides volunteering inspiration. This summer, volunteers with the bigvbus will be doing favours at music festivals and sporting events, and encouraging young people to get involved. We’ll let you know how it goes.
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Volunteering is sexy
Via @Elinesca on Twitter, an interesting idea from Adam Ferrier, a consumer psychologist who also contributes to the SEEK Volunteer blog in Australia. Adam says that the reason people don’t want to volunteer is because of the frumpy and dowdy image associated with it. You know, that it’s uncool, it’s something for old people or people on the dole, or students who have to do it to build up their CV. Adam says that that can all be changed simply by convincing everyone that it is sexy to volunteer, backed up by actual research that people who volunteer are in fact seen as more attractive to the opposite sex. From his post:
So what needs to happen for more people to volunteer?
- Volunteer organisations need to re-brand themselves and strip away their dowdy image - you can make yourselves better.
- People need to be aware of the benefits, and believe they are real.
Go and read the original blog post here.
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Nice piece, yourself.
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