BECOMING A DIRECTOR WITH CGCS

A year into my freelancing career and I'm thrilled to be adding an exciting new role to my portfolio, I am joining the Centre for Global Citizenship Studies (CGCS) as their first Director of Development + Engagement.

CGCS is a pioneering, online education start-up blending volunteering, formal education and life skills. Created during lockdown by Founders Michael Lee, an educational reformer, and e-learning specialist Jared Borkum, we start with the belief that that young people want more than they are getting from their further and higher educational experiences - not just to graduate but also to grow as individuals, to create meaningful social change and to find their place in an increasingly challenging and unpredictable world.

Our mission helps them achieve just this - we want to revolutionise FE, leaving traditional bricks and mortar learning behind and, with some amazing travel partners like Projects Abroad, run flexible, internationally-accredited programmes that enhance careers, build human empathy and create bridges between different cultures and identities.

Accrediting the Volunteering Experience

What most draws me to CGCS is their flagship qualification, the Diploma in International Volunteering.

Accredited through the National Open College Network (NOCN) and exclusive to CGCS, the Diploma seamlessly integrates into a young person's international volunteering experience.

As well as delivering recognised academic credit for volunteering (worth 41 credits or 16 UCAS points in the UK, and transferable internationally) it prompts deep reflection both on what it means to be a volunteer and on the county and culture in which the young person is volunteering.

Which is where the notion of becoming a 'Global Citizen' really kicks in. Inspired by Oxfam's definition, we believe that:

'A Global Citizen is not just aware of the wider world, they understand it and their place in it, actively working with others to make our planet more peaceful, sustainable and just.'

So I'm super excited to start supporting the delivery and growth of this qualification, and to explore in which other areas of volunteering this approach could be applied.

As you may already know, I'm convinced that we've only scratched the surface of the full personal and societal potential of volunteering. Helping to fulfil that potential is my career mission, so I'm very grateful to Michael and Jared for brining me into CGCS where I can continue to pursue this aim.

Want to know more?

If you'd like to know more about CGCS and/or the Diploma do get in touch - I'd be happy to meet and discuss in further detail.

Research commissioned whilst at DCMS

From July 2020 to August 2021 I served as a policy analyst in DCMS’ Volunteering Strategy Team, focusing primarily on designing policy interventions fit for the Covid and post-Covid eras.

In that role I commissioned a number of pieces of original, independent research:

Volunteer Passports

Everyone has an opinion on them, but few can tell you comprehensively what they are, what they do and what benefits they offer.

When the Kruger Review was published in August 2020, bringing passports back into the volunteering spotlight, we realised a greater evidence base was needed before a mature consideration of their pros and cons could be entered into.

DCMS commissioned Research Works Ltd. to undertake research into passports, aiming to:

• understand the progress that has been made to date in developing them, both in the UK and internationally, and;

• identify the perceived demand, opportunities and challenges for passports from volunteers and the voluntary sector.

The research included a review of relevant literature and qualitative research with volunteers, volunteer-involving organisations, digital platform providers and voluntary sector stakeholders, who either had experience in developing passports or were interested in exploring their potential. You can read it in full here.

Those expecting a good/bad judgement on passports from this research will be disappointed. Passports are a complex set of systems and processes to unpack, a deceptively simple umbrella term for what is essentially a way to collectively tackle many pertinent and legitimate volunteer management and engagement issues simultaneously. Whether or not you’re attracted to the idea of volunteer passports, you’ll undoubtedly already be dealing with many of the volunteering challenges they seek to address.

This research will help anyone seeking to explore whether volunteer passports will work for them. It’ll give you a checklist of the main cultural and technical elements you may need to build or assemble in creating your own passport system, a risk register of common pitfalls experienced by those who’ve already travelled down this path and a roadmap for the kinds of passports most likely to work with different audiences.

In putting our tender specification together and reviewing the final product, I believe this piece is easily the most comprehensive and authoritative investigation into passports produced to date. My hope in commissioning it was to give passports the foundations of a proper evidence base, and in doing so make a timely contribution to a debate that seems to polarise so many volunteer managers and leaders.

Drivers in Demand for volunteers & Volunteering

The urgent need for rapid mobilisation of volunteers at the outset of Covid raised planning questions for many: to what extent was volunteering subject to seasonal fluctuations, driven by the needs and motivations of both volunteers and those engaging them? And if seasonal trends in volunteering are identifiable, to what extent did Covid interrupt or change them?

DCMS commissioned the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to undertake a qualitative study into what drives demand for volunteers across England. The research examined two key questions:

• What drives demand for volunteers, and how does this vary over a typical calendar year?

• How have restrictions under COVID-19 affected these drivers?

The research focussed on formal volunteering, where individuals had given unpaid help to a group, club or organisation. The study consisted of interviews with voluntary sector stakeholders and focus groups with volunteers from different sectors. The aim was to gather evidence to better understand trends in volunteering, to support both ongoing responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and DCMS’ future volunteering policy. You can read it in full here.

The result is a good overview of the extent to which demand for volunteers and demand to volunteer is driven by seasonality, the types of volunteering most observable within these fluctuations and the ways in which volunteer-involving organisations adapted to the disruption to such drivers as caused by Covid. I hope they prove a useful reference point for any volunteer manager or strategist considering their year ahead and planning key points of engagement with their existing or prospective volunteers.

WANT MORE?

If you’d like to discuss any aspects of this research in more detail, or would welcome some support in considering implications for your own volunteering operation, please get in touch.

You can also read more about my freelance and consultancy work here.

Making the most of business unusual during CV-19

A joint post with Green Park recruitment agency looking at bringing corporate volunteers and front line charities together during a time of crisis, highlighting parallels with the recruitment industry.

Covid-19 Programmes at Volunteering Matters

Archives from my volunteering mobilisation and strategic planning activity during the coronavirus pandemic of 2020.

From LinkedIn - an overview and update on the #CharityConnect initiative I established, brokering professional support from the business community to support charities adapting to C19 at pace.

And on the continent, a blog for non-profit colleagues in Catalunya on how volunteer mobilisation is shaping up in the UK.

What does volunteering have to offer community health and wellbeing?

That was the question under discussion at Greater Manchester’s Communities at the heart of health and wellbeing event, at Old Trafford Cricket Ground in September 2018.

Attending for Volunteering Matters, you can hear a little more about our answer to this question at 1m14 here.

Introducing 'Grandmentors' - intergenerational volunteer mentoring for young care leavers

It’s a huge privilege to work on Grandmentors, one of the amazing volunteer-led initiatives in my National Programmes portfolio at Volunteering Matters. This joint post with Nesta’s Will Bibby was produced for National Care Leavers’ Week.

Project Managing England's biggest ever Parent Carer Forum conference, November 2017

One of my last projects at Contact was to lead the Planning Group delivering what became the largest conference of Parent Carer Forum delegates yet.

Co-producing content and logistics with colleagues from the NNPCF, DfE, NHS England and our generous sponsors Seashell Trust, we brought over 300 delegates to Manchester's Etihad Stadium last November. Below is our highlights film.

Capturing the wellbeing of sports and physical activity volunteers

Join In's Hidden Diamonds research set out to capture the true social value generated through volunteering in sport and physical activity.

We were interested in the wellbeing not just for the volunteer but for those they helped to be active, as well as the wider value for the host organisation and local community. We concluded that each sports volunteer generates around £16k of social value every year, over 90% of this measurable in wellbeing benefits.

As part of the team that delivered Hidden Diamonds at Join In, I undertook the initial desk research on existing methods of capturing volunteer value, on top of which we built some pioneering new methodologies. I also built a number of stakeholder partnerships in support of the research, translating its value for those working in sport, those running community activity programmes outside of sport and a number of public health agencies and think tanks.

In this 2014 post for the What Works Centre for Wellbeing, I unpack the numbers, methodologies and thinking behind Hidden Diamonds. If you're new to the research, it's a great place to start.

Speaking at the TES Parent Carer Forum (Contact)

Hosted by Carrie Grant, this was the first ever Parent Carer Forum in 25 years of the TES SEN. I presented with Kay Moore (National Network of Parent Carer Forums) on how together we empower the voice of parent carers in local decision-making. Islington, London. 7 October 2017.

Contact a Family - Parent Participation Data and Comms

Two infographics designed in Piktochart, to support beneficiary engagement in parent participation.

The story of parent participation through Parent Carer Forums, designed for the Strengthening Parent Participation Annual Report 2016.

Illustrating the shared world and objectives of Contact a Family, the NNPCF and local Parent Carer Forums across England.

Thames Path Challenge (Contact a Family, 2016)

In September 2016 I was part of a staff, trustee and volunteer team walking the 100km Thames Path Challenge for Contact a Family, collectively raising £15k.

Freelance + Interim

I'm currently fulfilling an interim role as Head of National Projects with Volunteering Matters on a fixed-term, part-time basis (4 days a week). This is focused on driving (internal) change management and (external) business development. Beyond this I'm open to discussing future permanent, interim/freelance roles and short term consultancy work in:

NPO Management Forum, Japanese Young Core Leaders Programme. Tokyo, 2011

• Team/Department/Programme/Project leadership
• Strategic consultancy, asset evaluation and horizon scanning
• New business and partnership development
• Stakeholder management
• Training and Facilitation.

I bring particular experience from the volunteering, youth, sports and disability sectors, but having worked across the voluntary sector in England and Wales I can offer access to extensive networks and contacts.

Please contact me here for further info.

Join In blog archive

Click for an archive of my blog posts for Join In, the official volunteering legacy charity of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Includes:

• Giving NCS Graduates a Sporting Chance
• Share our How To section this Volunteers' Week
• Give & Gain Day - Just the Beginning
• Hidden Diamonds: Why valuing volunteeing beyond cost matters
• Hidden Diamonds: What Happened Next?
• Why we celebrate Volunteers' Week all year round