The variety of opportunities is endless, from gardening outdoors to offering your time to help out from home. Why not take a look at our opportunities page to see what is on offer at the moment.
This is where you can’t make a regular commitment but want to be involved in volunteering.
One-off volunteering can range from:
If one-off volunteering is for you, please register your interest so we can contact you immediately when one off volunteering opportunities are registered with us.
Complete ‘bite-sized’ volunteering actions that are most completed on demand in under 2 hours.
Anything from an activity which takes 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour or even 2 hours. Some examples are provided below:
There are many different occasions when you can microvolunteer in you day to day life, listed below are some examples when you might have time:
At Home
Travelling
Leisure activities/holidays
Beneficiary volunteering is when someone who has been using an organisation's services becomes a volunteer themself. They volunteer to share their experiences and support other service users within the organisation.
Decorating
DIY and general maintenance
Gardening activities
Preparing and serving food
Fundraising activities
If you have a particular community area you would like to complete an employer supported volunteering activity, then please let Voluntary Impact Northamptonshire and we can liaise with local Community and Voluntary Sector Groups to arrange this for you.
A successfully managed employer supported volunteering programme can be a fulfilling experience for everyone: this includes employees, employers and the Community and Voluntary Sector Groups. Participating employees can gain new skills and experiences which can often be applicable to their role in the business they work for.
For example, the potential benefits include:
Voluntary Impact Northamptonshire supports employers to match them with local Community and Voluntary Sector Groups to ensure the needs of all parties are met for a volunteering activity.
In order to provide this effective service, Voluntary Impact Northamptonshire charges an employer £30 per employee for each volunteering session that has been organised through us.
Employers signed up through this service will received the following benefits:
To make an enquiry about employer supported volunteering brokerage through Voluntary Impact Northamptonshire please complete the form below and send back to Angela Corbyn.
There are over 180,000 charities in England and Wales involved in wide ranging activities for the benefit of the public. Like all organisations, charities need a governing body or board to direct its strategy and activities and this is where the role of trustee fits in.
Trustees may be known as directors, board members, governors or committee members of a charity. They are responsible for directing the activities of the charity, ensuring it remains solvent and well-managed and delivering the outcomes for which the charity was set up.
A key role in the effective governance of most charities is that of the Treasurer as an ‘office-holder’ among the charity trustees. Other Trustees look to the Treasurer to advise, guide and reassure them on all aspects of the charity’s financial management and reporting (internal and external), control systems, solvency, risk management and investments.
The Treasurer’s role is an important one which is vital to the well being of any charity. It is also a very rewarding role which needs to be widely recognised and acknowledged.
This should be a rewarding and enjoyable experience. It is a great way to be involved in a community or cause which matters to you. Trustees and Treasurers come from all walks of life and it can help you meet new people, change your community for the better, learn new skills or use your existing skills in a new context.
It is a great way to enhance your CV, have experience of strategy and management or find out more about the not-for-profit sector before making a career change.
Being a trustee puts you at the centre of the action for the organisation you are involved in. The more effective the board of trustees, the greater difference you and your organisation will make.
The Charity Commission provides guidance on who can be a trustee.
Some individual trustees will have specific professional or business skills. Others will bring 'soft' skills such as facilitating, team work, problem solving, or even building the social side of being on a board. Different experiences and perspectives are important and a board that also reflects the people and communities they service will help improve effectiveness.
So an effective board will need a range of skills, attributes and personal experience to enable it to work towards the aims and objectives of the voluntary organisation.
The time commitment will vary from one organisation to another and understanding the likely commitment will probably be part of the discussion you have when exploring a possible trusteeship.
Being a trustee carries legal responsibilities which should be understood before taking up a position.
It is worth taking some time to understand these duties and to find out the specific situation at the organisation you are considering joining. If a charity is also a company limited by guarantee then the liabilities of a trustee, for example, are different.
Further information can be found from The Charity Commission website: Trustee Duties at a Glance.
Many charities need more trustees. If you are interested in becoming a trustee, it is very important that you find a charity which inspires you but also one which has a board who you feel you can work with.
There are lots of reasons why people choose to volunteer. These include:
Your reasons may be different; they may be a combination of these, and may change over time. It’s useful to recognise what your motivation for volunteering is, as this will help you to find the right opportunity.
Volunteering enables you to include your volunteering role on your CV to enhance this further, and gives you contacts to use as a reference. This will show you have been trying to do a regular activity and gain experience whilst looking for work which will be looked at favourably by prospective employers.
Volunteering builds confidence and self-esteem. It gives a sense of achievement and self-worth that you’ve completed something meaningful. It also gives you the chance to spend time away from your busy lifestyle.
You can meet new people and develop new friendships in environments you may not have been involved with before, through volunteering. Being part of a team and socialising with new friends in your local community which you will get to know better can bring its own benefits.
Volunteering can help you develop new skills and knowledge in a different area to your current experience. This can assist you with developing a new career or finding out what it is that you would like to do.
You can share skills and knowledge gained from your own life experience with others, and gain fulfilment by seeing individuals or voluntary and community organisations develop further.
It’s rewarding to see the support you have given to an organisation make an impact on the lives of their clients, some of whom may be vulnerable. Seeing how your time and commitment has enabled a vital service to be provided can give a real sense of achievement.
Find out more about the community schemes we run from Voluntary Impact Northamptonshire, including our award winning Volunteer Car Scheme and Age Span which supports volunteers to make gardens more manageable.
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We have a volunteering centre conveniently located in Northampton Town Centre.
Tel: 01604 637522
Email: contact@voluntaryimpact.org.uk