Volunteering in the community free essay sample

Volunteering in The Community Wide ranging volunteering opportunities Here are some of the most well-known types of volunteering work. More information can be found from your local volunteering centre or by looking at the Search for a Vacancy section of this website. Administration, IT, management and finance Many organisations depend on volunteers to help them with a wide range of office type work from photocopying and envelope stuffing right through to helping with more specialist areas such as School Governors and Organisation Trustees: School governors School governors form the largest volunteer workforce in the UK with around 350,000 governor places. Governors play a crucial role in the teams that run schools, helping to ensure that all pupils develop as individuals and receive a good quality education. Governors have responsibility for the strategic management of the school, working closely with the headteacher and staff. As a governor you will attend regular governing body meetings, visit the school to meet staff, see the children at work, participate in the life of the school and attend special events. We will write a custom essay sample on Volunteering in the community or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page For more information visit The School Governors website Trustees Trustees, (also known as management committee members, or Board members) play an essential part in the running of voluntary organisations. They are responsible for ensuring that a voluntary organisation has a clear strategy, that it remains true to its original vision, and that it complies with all necessary rules and legal obligations. Being a Trustee means you have an obligation to provide good governance along with a number of important responsibilities. You may be directly involved in carrying out ome tasks, while others can be delegated to the staff you employ. Briefly, trustees responsibilities include strategic planning, monitoring and evaluating the work of the organisation, managing property, staff, public relations and overseeing fundraising activities. As a trustee, you are also likely to be responsible for the actions of your organisations staff: this will involve you in monitoring the way they carry out their duties. People from all walks of life become trustees of voluntary organisations, and together they contribute huge amounts of time and energy to a wide variety of good causes. More information is available at www. harity-commission. gov. uk/tcc/default. asp Advice, information giving, counselling, listening and befriending Many organisations also rely on volunteers to provide a wide range of support to individuals who are in difficulty or dont know where to turn. They often provide training to enable their volunteers to undertake this sort of work and the knowledge and skills gained can otten be used by the volunteers in other parts ot their lives. Prison visitors The Prison Service recruits prison visitors to help provide some contact for prisoners ith the outside world. Any prisoner may apply for support from an Official Visitor. Volunteers should have a desire to befriend prisoners and give support through visiting. They visit all categories of prisoners, whatever their circumstances, and are encouraged to become involved in the general life of the prison, as well as helping to meet the needs of the prisoner. More information is available at The National Association of Official Prison Visitors atmn. w. naopv. com and www. ccJf. org/ whatcanido/prison_visit. tml Event organising, fundraising, marketing, campaigning, ublic speaking Many organisations again rely on volunteers to support their work by undertaking a range of activities to promote their organisation and its work, to the wider community. Some but not all give training to help volunteers develop these skills but many welcome volunteer contributions to support the work of those who already have them. Fundraising All charitable organisations seek fundraising volunteers to help raise income l evels and fund their work. One benefit of fundraising is that you can work for charities in which you have a strong belief. It may be as simple as rattling a collection bucket one eekend, or you could get involved in working in shops, developing new ideas, educational visits to schools and running events. For example, The British Red Cross run a fundraising week, every year, and need volunteers who can give talks to help spread their message and sign up new members, make formal applications for funding and help organise and run events. Childline looks for volunteers who enjoy meeting new people, organising parties and who are good at coming up with ideas and applying them. To find out more it is best to contact each charity direct. DIY projects Many charities rely on volunteers to undertake a wide range of practical work such as decorating, gardening and other types of maintenance and repairs to their properties. Such work is usually supervised by experts in these areas so people without specic skills or experience can be valuable contributors to their work. Conservation and the Environment There are a number of organisations that provide volunteering opportunities in conservation and the work varies from charity to charity. Opportunities to do practical work and help your local environment, such as constructing footpaths and reating wildlife habitats, are available with the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers The work of volunteers is essential to the successful management of the RSPBs bird reserves. Volunteering can be an ideal way to learn about wildlife and conservation while helping the local environment. The National Trust requires people to help look after properties and land and to prepare and run public events Local Authority Countryside and Forestry Units need volunteers for conservation work including tree planting, path work, stile building, creating ponds, surveying sites and dry stone walling. Specific opportunities may exist to work at public locations. There are also many smaller groups which look after properties and land and require volunteers to carry out similar work. Learning, Training and Teaching Class Room Support with Reading A variety of opportunities exist to work with schoolchildren and adults, helping them to learn to read. A popular form of volunteering is to help disadvantaged children who find reading a challenge and are at risk of falling behind their peers. These children may also find it difficult to interact socially with adults and volunteers can help build their onfidence as well as improving reading ability. The work takes place in schools but outside the classroom. For more information contact Volunteer Reading Help, a national charity which trains volunteers to help support children week-in week-out by offering quality, one-to-one time. Many schools are now involved in schemes whereby adults from the local community assist with pupils reading on a one-to-one basis, outside of the usual classroom environment. Volunteers usually undergo a short period of training before committing to spending a set amount of time per week (usually an hour) with a child, or at least a term. Volunteers are not expected to take the place of a teacher but are there to give one-to-one encouragement to children, helping them to relax, gain confidence and enjoy their reading. Volunteers from business can also function as role models to children who are unfamiliar with the world of work. More information is available from The Literacy Trust Artistic, creative, reading, music and dance Volunteering and the Arts For many organisations in the arts sector, volunteering is central to them being able to run effectively, with often limited resources. There are many reasons for recruiting volunteers and many different roles available. Volunteers can help with the management and running of the organisation, assisting with events and activities, administration, and fund-raising. If you already have creative skills you could help run arts workshops for young and disadvantaged people. You may not be creative but if you have an interest in the arts you could help run local theatres, music or dance schools and groups. This could involve running a box office, ushering, working in the bar, making costumes and helping backstage.