Many people have gained more free time in lockdown, longing to get out of their own four walls and do something to help the community.
For those new to volunteering, it can be difficult to know where to start. How do you find charities that need help? How do you manage your time as a volunteer? What if you could only give up an hour or two a week?
Ashley Staines, 30, from Streatham Hill, south London, saw that there were huge barriers to getting people to volunteer at a time when charities needed help the most.
He said: “Now I had more time on my hands, I wanted to do more volunteering. I was already volunteering for Age UK Lambeth as a Befriender, meeting the same person every week to provide some respite from their social isolation.
“I wanted to do more, so I contacted my Age UK region and said, ‘Give me anything you can, I’m keen to get involved.’
“The response was, ‘Thank you very much, very kindly, we have lots of things that need to be done but we just don’t have the manpower to actually connect the work with the volunteers.’
“That’s what got me thinking that it’s a sad state when you have things that need to be done, you have people who want to do them, but you just can’t make it happen.
Ashley said he had wanted to volunteer much more in the past than he had, but barriers to entry included flexibility and long-term commitments.
“The most important goal for me in building Volunteero was to make sure I reduced, if not eradicated, many of these key problems,” he said.
Creating Volunteero
Ashley and his two co-founders, who he has never actually met in person due to Covid restrictions, received Innovate grants from the government to help build the app.
They said they were very late in finding out about the funding option and praised Starling Bank for how easy it was to set up a business account and get started with their online-only bank account – they only had three days to set up an account and get the financing.
Charities say the platform is “the dream” and that it “ticks every box they could possibly hope for”, Ashley said.
The app tracks useful statistics for the charities, giving them insight into their volunteering programs that they never had before.
Ashley explained: “At the end of each month, to report back on their impact to funders and trustees, they would spend three days as a team collating numbers on volunteer data.
“But with Volunteero, it’s all there, all the time – real-time metrics.
“From a volunteer point of view, the feedback has also been very positive. One thing we were worried about is that a lot of volunteers are older people, so even though we were confident the app would be good for the younger generation, we’ve actually had a really good response from older people too.
“Two of our most active volunteers on the platform, across all charities, are 78 years old. That’s amazing.”
“I have time to give and I am happy to listen”
As the rollout of Volunteero continues across London charities, Jess, 20, spoke about her experience of using the app with Age UK Gateshead.
Jess, a student in Newcastle, said she wanted to do more volunteering but had an irregular schedule and couldn’t commit to the same amount of time each week.
Through Volunteero, she has helped Age UK with Befriending calls, chatting with up to eight older people each week.
Would you use this app for volunteering? Tell us your thoughts in the comments here.
“The beauty of the app is that it’s very simple, you can choose what time or volunteer work suits you.
“I can choose when to call and the app makes it very easy.
“You can scroll through and see what people want to talk about, and see notes from other people who have talked to them if they need additional help, or tips on what topics to talk about or avoid.
“I thought it would be difficult, but it’s very easy. You don’t have to spend a whole day on it, if you have 20 minutes, you can call someone.
“With the elderly, I think it’s really sad that people need this service, need this company. But I have plenty of time to give, and I’m happy to listen to people’s stories, talk to them, and I love to hear about their lives and how excited they are to talk about it.”
Volunteero is expanding to more charities in London, although it already hosts around 40 charities across the UK. In London, they currently work with Age UK East London, Brent Carers and Scots Care – a charity that supports vulnerable Scottish people living in London.
If you are interested in volunteering through Volunteero, you can find out more and register your interest at www.volunteero.org.