UN Volunteers Day Event Promotes Our Survey!

Delegates at a national conference in Liverpool organised by the Community Channel to celebrate the United Nations International Volunteer Day, are being urged to take part in the Modernising Volunteering online survey that was recently launched.

Through discussions, showcasing and workshops, the conference is exploring ways of reaching and serving priority groups and developing strategies for recruiting volunteers. It is part of a campaign – “Helping others can help you” – run by the Community Channel and promoted on Facebook and YouTube, networks used regularly by the channel to reach out to new audiences and supporters.

Conference delegates will be encouraged to take part in the survey which runs until 8 January 2009 and provides a prize draw. Two respondants will be selected at random a day after the survey ends and one will be rewarded with an iPod Nano, the other with free membership of the national volunteering development agency, Volunteering England and training vouchers for the nationally recognised Excellence in Volunteer Management programme.

The conference coincides with the release of information gathered by the Department for International Development (DfID) that shows many young people have faith in volunteering, with around one in three believing it to be one of the most effective ways for individuals to reduce poverty in poor countries.

This chimes with Modernising Volunteering’s belief that social networking offers huge potential both to volunteers and those who work with them. “The sheer numbers of people that actively engage with these networks on a daily basis – currently over 70% of UK internet users - offer significant opportunities for recruiting and engaging with volunteers,” says Jamie Thomas, Managing Director of Red Foundation, the partnership member which is carrying out the survey. The networks’ apparent ease of use allows volunteer managers and volunteers to connect with each other and provide peer support. Mike Locke, Director of Public Affairs at Volunteering England, the co-ordinating partner for the project said, “We don’t know enough yet about the ways volunteering organisations and the people they want to reach are using social networking, and we want to know what could be the tangible benefits. That’s why we hope as many people as possible take five minutes to share their experiences”.

The link to the survey can be found here, for more information about the Modernising Volunteering programme click here or contact us.


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