What you need to know about the Big Help Out: a campaign to get more people volunteering
What is the Big Help Out?
Designed by the Shaping the Future with Volunteering and Together coalitions, the Big Help Out is a campaign to showcase how volunteering benefits both communities and the people who take part. The long-term aim is to get more people volunteering who traditionally don’t consider it.
The campaign will encourage a national day of volunteering on Monday 8 May, the bank holiday of the coronation weekend. However, we realise that limiting this volunteering to one day is not suitable for everyone, so we encourage organisations to think of it as a month-long volunteering campaign.
How is VCC involved?
VCC is part of a network of volunteer centres across England (and the UK) and as usual we are happy to promote volunteering roles for the Big Help Out and anything else you would like promoted.
Keep in mind that we are also able to help you with guidance about best practice in volunteer management and for that you can book a ‘volunteer managers’ cafe’ with Shafia. This is one-to-one, tailored guidance completely free at the point of use and can take place remotely (Zoom, phone, email) or in person (at our office in Kentish Town or at a local cafe). You can contact Shafia by email.
How can you take part?
Volunteer-involving organisations can get involved by:
- holding volunteer taster sessions or volunteer-involving events on or around 8th May
- using the publicity to highlight other longer-term volunteering opportunities
We also want to tell the story of volunteering, by sharing the diverse roles available and how it enriches people’s lives. We’re looking for volunteer case studies – another great way to highlight your volunteer opportunities.
If you have case studies, please email: sheila@volunteercentrecamden.org.uk
Feel free also to tag us on our social media and we are happy to retweet and repost. (Links at bottom left of the page)
How does this all tie together?
According to NCVO, ‘This year there will be a big focus on volunteering for the sector. There are three key themes and activities underpinning this focus:
- We need more volunteers. The Big Help Out will support this
- We need to celebrate and thank volunteers. We’ll do this through Volunteers Week, Thank You Day and Trustees’ Week
- We need to reimagine volunteering to make it sustainable. Exciting work is already underway for the Vision for Volunteering’
What’s next?
For regular updates on The Big Help Out sign up to their email list and / or keep checking the Big Help Out website.
Want regular updates from us?
You can quickly and easily sign up for our updates in the orange box at the bottom of the homepage.
UPDATE: 13th March 2023
Register your opportunities from today!
The Big Help Out volunteering hub is now open for you to create your account and start registering your opportunities. All opportunities you upload before the app’s public launch (Monday March 20th) will help you reach the first wave of Big Help Out volunteers.
You can create your account right here, right now! Even if your activities are not yet fully-formed, some presence on the hub will mean you will start to appear in user’s notifications on our app. You can keep adding opportunities throughout the summer, with users receiving fresh notifications where they match their preferences.
Waiting for your personalised account link?
When you signed up to The Big Help Out you may recall being asked if you were happy for the account creation process to be started on your behalf. Those who chose this option were told to expect a personalised link to complete this process.
We’re very sorry to say that this service is not quite ready yet; we’ve had to prioritise some of the other features of the hub and app in the short term – but those links will be available to those who wish to use them, from next week.
However, if you’re ready to go now please simply head straight to the hub to create your new account. It’s only a couple of small extra steps, and you’ll be ready to put your amazing offers in front of the first group of app users from next Monday.
Describing your opportunities
To help you get started, here again are the main categories of opportunity you can register:
- Taster Sessions – light touch opportunities to try out volunteering with you
- Information Sessions – opportunities to find out more about what volunteering with you would be like
- Take an Action – small but meaningful acts that help individuals to participate and contribute to your cause
- Ongoing Roles – promote your new or existing volunteering roles (this feature will be live in two weeks time)
Helping you with The Big Help Out
If you have a question about the hub or type of opportunities you can register, please log them on our enquiry form and we’ll get back to you directly, or include a response in our FAQs.
If you’d like a demo of the new platform we will be running training and drop-in sessions from March the 14th @ 2pm – here (Passcode: 908119) and March 16th 2pm here (passcode 085086). We also have a series of training guides available here.
We hope you love the new platform and use it to find new volunteers and supporters for your cause!
Thanks again for your engagement in The Big Help Out,
The Big Help Out team
