Finding a volunteering opportunity
Volunteering works at its best when you as a volunteer are getting as much out of the experience as the organisation you are volunteering for. To find a role that suits you it is worth considering the following points:
Once you have considered these questions the next step is to identify roles that you want to do. Many community groups or organisations looking for help will advertise for volunteers using a variety of methods. They may advertise in local newspapers, they may advertise in libraries, doctors' surgeries or other community venues. Many organisations choose to advertise through the National Database of Volunteering (NDV) which is an internet based directory of volunteering roles throughout England also known as the 'Do It' database because of it's web address - www.do-it.org.uk Volunteer Centre Newcastle uploads many of the voluntary roles based in Newcastle onto the 'Do It' website on behalf of the organisations registered with our service. There are hundreds of volunteering opportunities in Newcastle available through 'Do It'. Volunteer Centre Newcastle's quick guide for finding a role on the 'Do It' website. Box 1 When looking for a role online we would suggest you go straight for the Advanced Search on 'Do It' and enter the first part of your home postcode then select the distance you are prepared to travel. Remember that many (but not all) organisations will reimburse out of pocket travel costs for volunteers for a limited distance of travel. Box 2 The top space in Box 2 asks for the 'area of interest' you are interested in - this refers to the main purpose of the organisation or group as a whole. The middle space in Box 2 asks for the 'type of activity you are interested in - this means the specific role you want to do within a voluntary or community group. The bottom space in Box 2 allows you to search for a particular named organisation you might want to volunteer for. Box 3 This box looks at the times you are available to volunteer. The more time slots you tick the more volunteering roles are likely to be open to you. The more flexible you are on when you can volunteer, the more likely you will be able to fit in to existing volunteering rotas. Box 4 When you have selected your criteria click on 'Find It' to generate the search results. You will then see a list of volunteering roles that should hopefully match the criteria you selected. Sometimes the same opportunity appears more than once - this may be because the roles have been advertised by other Volunteer Centres in addition to ours. At the bottom of the 'opportunities description' screen it will say 'Our thanks to:' followed by the name of the organisation (usually a Volunteer Centre) who uploaded the role onto 'Do It'. If you see: 'Our thanks to: Volunteer Centre Newcastle... ' this means our Volunteer Centre has uploaded the details of this role onto the 'Do It' site with the agreement of the voluntary group or organisation offering the role. If it doesn't say Volunteer Centre Newcastle then it means that we did not upload this opportunity and therefore we do not have the contact details that you need to take your enquiry forward. What happens next? If you click on the word 'Interested?' or the box which says 'apply for this opportunity' you will be taken to a screen which asks you to register with 'Do It', or if you have previously registered you will be taken to the 'my profile' page where you modify your details. Your electronic form will go directly to whoever uploaded the role onto 'Do It'. For many of the roles based in Newcastle that means it will be sent directly to our Volunteer Centre at Newcastle - this will be stated in the second paragraph on your 'my profile' page. Volunteer Centre Newcastle will then respond to you directly, usually by email. We do not pass any information you submit via your 'Do It' enquiry or application onto the organisation you have applied for, instead we will send you contact details for the role - the name of the volunteer co-ordinator and their telephone number/ email address - and we ask you to contact them directly. If you make multiple applications or enquiries (more than 5) through the 'Do It' website, we may attempt to contact you and try and arrange a time for you to come in and speak to Adam, Gemma or Karen so we can help you narrow down your choices. Because of the high number of enquiries and applications we deal with every day at Volunteer Centre Newcastle, it can sometimes take up to 10 days for us to get back to you. We may have to prioritise our response to people living in Newcastle if we are very busy. It will help us to speed up our response time if you follow these simple rules: Please note that other Volunteer Centres may not follow the same procedure as Volunteer Centre Newcastle for 'Do It' applications and enquires that they have uploaded to 'Do It'. |
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