Presented on Thursday 7 September at the NCVO Campaigning Conference 2017.
Jarina Choudhury, volunteering consultancy development officer, NCVO
Chris Lawes, media officer, Gingerbread
Chris Reed, director of volunteer mobilisation, British Red Cross
Grant Fisher, director, Model Westminster
Jude Anane-Agyei
Louise Peim, support network manager, Endometriosis UK
If you would like to find out more about our training and events, visit our website at https://www.ncvo.org.uk/training-and-events.
Practical 3: What campaigners need to know about volunteer management
1. Tech sponsor:
PRACTICAL 3: WHAT CAMPAIGNERS
NEED TO KNOW ABOUT VOLUNTEER
MANAGEMENT
CHAIR:
JARINA CHOUDHURY
VOLUNTEERING CONSULTANCY DEVELOPMENT OFFICER, NCVO
SPEAKERS:
CHRIS LAWES
MEDIA OFFICER, GINGERBREAD
CHRIS REED
DIRECTOR OFVOLUNTEER MOBILISATION, BRITISH RED CROSS
GRANT FISHER
DIRECTOR, MODEL WESTMINSTER
JUDE ANANE-AGYEI
LOUISE PEIM
SUPPORT NETWORK MANAGER, ENDOMETRIOSIS UK
4. Who is Gingerbread?
• Gingerbread is the charity for single
parent families
• We aim to support and empower single
parents and their families
• Our work covers a wide range of areas –
policy, research and campaigns, peer
support, employment support, advice and
information
89
single parent peer
support groups
across the country
1,000
single parents
supported into
employment
9,000
people supported by
our helpline
50,000
single parents,
practitioners and
supporters signed
up as members
650,000
people access our
online advice and
information
Our statistics
5. Who are single parents?
• Separated parents with primary care
• 2 million single parent families
• That’s one in four families with children in
the UK
• 68% of single parents are in work
Singe parent statistics
6. What challenges do they
face?
• Financial – growing concern of in-
work poverty, child poverty, lack of
flexible work, expensive childcare
and impact of welfare reform
• Social – single parent families still
experience stigma and discrimination
1 in 4
families are single
parent families
2 in 3
single parents are in
work
1 in 10
single parents are
fathers
<2%
of single parents are
teenagers
38
is the average age of
a single parent
47%
of children in single
parent families live
in poverty
Single parent statistics
8. Our aims for campaigning
• Our motto is that we ‘campaign with and for single parents.’
• Our aim is change: to improve the situation for single parents & to inspire
single parents to be engaged
• Legitimacy 1: Single parents are able to discuss issues honestly, bolstering
our research and policy work
• Legitimacy 2: Single parents inspire and shape our campaigns
9. Case study: Campaign Toolkit
• A funded project to build knowledge for single parents to campaign
• Not a factsheet but a ‘living’ tool started, shaped and evolved by single
parents themselves
• Based on a campaign group of 8 & a survey sent out to 1800
• Survey group would provide topics, campaign group would provide content
10.
11. Lessons learnt
• Factor in drop-out rates
• The more specific the ask, the higher the drop-out rate
• Be prepared to use different types of engagement
• Volunteers come to us because they believe in us
• Appreciate volunteers have different levels of confidence
• Legitimacy is important for volunteers as well
12. “Thank you for all the support you provide for single parents and for speaking
up and out for us. Long may you continue to conquer unfairness and poverty
especially that which affect our children!”
“A big, big, big thank you for all the hard work you do on our behalf, we
honestly can't thank you enough. Because of people and organisations like
you vulnerable people and children get to struggle a little less than we already
do.”
“I would like to thank you for fighting our corner and you have just made a lot
of people happy!”
13. Chris Reed | Director of Volunteer Mobilisation
British Red Cross
@MrChris_Reed
15. Download our free
emergency app now
from the Windows Store,
Apple App Store or the
Google Play Store.
Get our app so you can
always be ready for
emergencies, and will
know what to do if the
worst occurs.
23. Number of ‘enlisters’
Potential
MUST
COULD
WOULD
Moving from ‘must
have’ targets for
volunteer
recruitment and
fundraising……
To identifying what
more BRC could
deliver if we
inspired millions
more people to
engage with
us…….
To understanding
would be possible
if our
organisational
vision was
delivered through
others?
24.
25. Must
Operational roles
Adult Education 60
Event First Aid 3305
Independent Living 1985
IFT 225
Mobility Aids 1037
Refugee Support 629
Tutor 523
Youth Education 20
7,784 7,728
Non-operational roles
Board of Trustees 14
Council Chair/Member 177
Centre Organiser 49
Lead Volunteer 36
SSC Appeals Team 22
Collections Coordinator 15
Fundraising Admin 68
Retail 7347
15,512
26. Could
10,441
Operational
Emergency Response 2527
Youth Engagement 130
Non-operational
Missing Maps – Hackathons 1200
VAD Card Transcription 800
Communications 6
Voices Ambassador 14
Support 409
Intern 57
Fundraising Speaker 4
Static Media Manager 7
Fundraising Collections 109
Link Group 1182
11,516
21,957
27. 16,128 48,342
Would
Operational
CRV 869
Inspired Action Supporter 3968
Grenfell Tower Goods Sorter 850
64,470
Non-operational
UKO Work Experience 33
Patron 36
President/Vice President 94
Make Your Move 30
Open Gardens 41
Red Cross Week 475
Fundraising - non BRC 1000
Fundraising - BRC 2117
Missing Maps – Worldwide 33000
28.
29. Thank you
Chris Reed | Director of Volunteer Mobilisation
@MrChris_Reed | 07939 021 331
chrisreed@redcross.org.uk
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-reed81/
31. Why Do We Exist?
UK faces a serious challenge to its democracy due to historically
low political engagement of young people
The views of an important group is being missed
Model Westminster is run and managed by Volunteers
Our mission is to improve the Political Engagement of Young
People
34. Volunteering Vision
• Educational Mission extends into our Volunteering Vision:
MW to be as Youth Lead as possible
• Journey from attendee, to contributor as:
MW Ambassador, YAB Member and Senior Staff
• Opportunity to grow, learn and develop political knowledge, skills
and experience within the MW team.
• Our young volunteers bring a lot of ideas, passion and enthusiasm.
35. Challenges
• No Office Space / Funding
• Building a team spirit in volunteers who work
remotely
• Building in confidence & commitment in young
volunteers who face significant pressure from school,
university and career aspirations
36. What I’ve Learned
• Start with written and signed agreement
• Clarity on degree of discretion and decision making powers they have.
• What do they want from their volunteering experience / career. Do
everything you can to enable that within the organisation / network.
• Provide opportunities to get involved in different aspects of the mission
• Build relationships between volunteers & yourself and between volunteers with
regular interaction
• Celebrate both MW & personal wins as a group.
• Regular feedback