SUBU VOLUNTEERING PROJECT LEADER

HANDBOOK

PROJECT LEADER HANDBOOKSUBU VOLUNTEERING

Contents

Before You Get Started Take some time to plan What do you want to get out of the project? Evaluation

Recruiting Volunteers Ways to recruit students Registering Students Selection of volunteers Induction & Training Managing Your project Organising activities Risk assessmentw Motivating/managing volunteers Data protection Contact & conduct with organisations Meeting with project team Meeting with SUBU Data Protection

On Your Activity Volunteer Registration Trip Registration Volunteer Briefing Accidents What to do in an Emergency

Funding From SUBU External funding

Resources Finances Claiming Expenses Booking rooms Booking minibus T-shirts Stationary & Printing Access to BU / External Training Craft & Activity Equipment

Handover Recruitment of new leaders Evaluation of the project Handover to new leaders

Forms Risk Assessment Accident Report Health Form/Next Of Kin Trip registration Evaluation Form

Your role & responsibilities

Time commitment

Project Structure

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU’VE BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN YOUR APPLICATION TO BECOME A PROJECT LEADER FOR ONE OF OUR SUBU VOLUNTEERING PROJECTS. BY LEADING A VOLUNTEER PROJECT YOU’LL TAKE ON RESPONSIBILITY FOR A SPECIFIC SET OF OBJECTIVES RELATING TO YOUR PROJECT AS WELL AS A GROUP OF SUBU VOLUNTEERS.

THIS GUIDE WILL HELP YOU TO RUN A SUCCESSFUL PROJECT AND TO GET THE MOST EXPERIENCE THAT YOU CAN OUT OF IT. ABOVE ALL WE HOPE THAT YOU’LL LEARN A LOT AND HAVE FUN WHILE DOING IT!

Time Commitment

Fulfilling the role of Project Leader involves more time than just attending the volunteering activity. There will be other tasks – such as meetings, recruiting students, completing paperwork - that will also take up some time and are just as important.

Your Role & ResponsibilitiesBeing a Project Leader is a position of responsibility. We will provide you with support but the success of your particular project will be down to you and your project team. Your responsibilities include:

• Organisingactivitiesfortheproject• Recruiting,motivating,managing&retainingvolunteers• Actingasapositiverolemodeltootherstudents• BehavingresponsiblyandasapositiverepresentativeofBU&SUBU• Organisinginduction/trainingforvolunteersasrequired• Arrangingsocialsoutsideofthevolunteeringactivity• ReportingregularlytoSUBUVolunteeringontheproject• Attendingregularprojectteammeetings• Ensuringthesafety&welfareofBUVolunteerswhileontheproject• WritingupdatesandprovidingphotosfortheSUBUVolunteeringwebsite• Tomakesurethateveryonehasfun!

Don’t worry if this sounds quite daunting. We are here to give you training and support all the way through. We want to help you succeed – and imagine how great it is going to look on your CVwhenyou’vemanagedtodoallthis!

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Project StructureYour project will only be successful if you recruit volunteers to it and ensure that those volunteers are motivated and happy during the project. Plus, you want to have fun doing your project as well don’t you?

As a Project Leader you have leadership responsibility for the project but you don’t have to do everything yourself. Recruiting other volunteers with specific skills who may be able to undertake certain tasks will make the whole project more successful.

You do not have to attend every volunteering activity yourself but there needs to be a named contact in charge when you are not there – an Activity Co-ordinator. Your job is to ensure that the Activity Co-ordinator is fully aware of everything they need to do for the activity, and is capable of doing it.

The Activity Co-ordinator takes responsibility for the activity and acts as a point of contact for the organisation and supervises volunteers for that activity.

So for every activity there will be the following involvement:

Project Leader Plans & organises the project, prepares Activity Co-ordinators

Activity Co-ordinators Lead and plan specific activities & look after students on that activity

Volunteers Sign up and take part in specific activities

Arrivals Period

Beginning of the project

Continuous

Continuous

Occasional

c. 10 hours per week

c. 5 hours per week

c. 2-3 hours per week

Uptoyou!

as required

To contact the organisation, plan activities, preparing promotional material etc

Preparation, communication, meetings, training etc.

Ongoing communication, preparation, evaluation

Involvement with leading /attending the volunteering activity

Fundraising, additional events, socials, 5 minute volunteering

Take some time to plan

It’s very easy to just launch into the activities of your project without spending any time planning how you want the project to run throughout the year. Make sure that you take a step back at the beginning to think about your project, what you aim to achieve, how you will go about doing that and what you will gain as a result.

Before You Get Started

Evaluation

Evaluation isn’t just something that you do at the end of the project, it is essential to evaluate the project throughout. So you need to spend some time now to set some aims & objectives, some of these will already have been written into the project brief.

Aimsarethechangesthatyouaretryingtomake(toincrease•,toimprove•.etc.).Yourobjectives are the activities that you will be doing to achieve your aims.

You can then evaluate the success & impact of your aims/objectives. Some of the methods you could think about using are: Handing out a questionnaire after each activity Taking photos/video before, during and after the activity Keeping track of numbers of volunteers, participants, physical changes made etc. Doing a more detailed survey at the end of the project via survey monkey Holding meetings or focus groups with students and organisations involved

We can help you with these if you are struggling.

What do You Want to Get Out of the Project?

The organisation that you are working with will get a committed group of volunteers regularly turning up to do some good work, but have you thought about what you want to get from your time as Project Leader?

It might be that you are looking to gain some practical experience, learn new skills, add to your CV, make new contacts or just to do something good. Whatever your motivation, it is important to us that you gain from the experience. So think about your own objectives and how you would like to develop through the process.

A big part of being a leader is also helping others achieve what they want to out of their involvement. Helping this happen can also be an achievement for you, so just take some time to reflect on how you might want to help others achieve their goals.

You will meet regularly with SUBU Volunteering and part of this meeting will reflect on whether you are meeting your personal objectives from the project. Our aim is to support you achieve your objectives.

Funding

It might seem too early to think about how you will fund specific activities, but some funding may require a lengthy application process. Remember the more money you have for your project, the more activities you will be able to run.

Recruiting VolunteersThe most obvious place to start is amongst your friends, talk to people you know about the project and they might like to get involved. However, SUBU has an ambition to get more students involved from more diverse backgrounds in all our activities and volunteering can help with this.

There will be an expectation from SUBU that you try to reach as many students as possible with information about your project – and that includes students at other sites/campuses, and even part time and evening students. We’ve got some tools that you can use to help you recruit your volunteers, so just ask for some help when planning this wider work.

I’m sure that you can think of other far more innovative ways to promote your project, please just remember that you are representing SUBU Volunteering and BU and to behave in a responsible manner when promoting your project.

Ways to Recruit Students

Set up your project on our SUBU Volunteering websiteo This will enable you to advertise each volunteering activity to a dedicated group of over 1700 students who are already registered on the site.

Set up a Facebook page & Twitter feed for the project

Nerve Mediao Write an article for Nerve Magazineo Have the project featured on Nerve Radioo Get Nerve to cover an event/activity that you are running

The Rocko BU student newspapero Write an article for The Rocko Ask The Rock to feature your activity/event/project

SUBU Volunteering Facebook Pageo We will post any opportunities or information about your project to gain more coverage

Freshers’ Fairo You must attend the event to recruit new students to the project. You will need to meet with other project leaders to co-ordinate a stand and promotional material

Volunteer Fairo Held in October, this is an event at which we invite external organisations onto campus. Interested students can then come along and find out more. o You will be given a stand at the fair at which to promote your project

Atrium & BOHO Lounge Spaceo You will be expected to undertake one 5 Minute volunteering activity on Talbot & Lansdowne Campus throughout terms 1 & 2. o You can book space in the Atrium or BOHO Lounge at other times to promote the project• Course&SchoolRepSystemo Use the reps for your course or school to help you raise awareness of your project, particularly if it might be of relevance to their course.

Clubs & Societieso Are there any clubs or societies to whom your project might particularly appeal? Clubs & Socs get extra points towards their Star Grading if they volunteer so they might be a great source for potential volunteers. o Also consider linking up with Clubs & Socs if you are running a particular activity for your project that they may be able to help with. Last year the Baking Society provided catering for a concert for the Alzheimer’s Society. And the Choir provided performers.

Word of Moutho Talk about the project whenever you can, you might be amazed at who would like to join it.

Posterso Put up posters or other publicity where it might be relevant around the University.• SUBUVolunteeringWeeklyEmailo This email goes out to all students registered on the database. You can include promotion for your project or for a specific activity.

Registering students

All students who would like to apply for your project must register on the SUBU Volunteering website. All other social media & promotion must direct them to register here. This will enable SUBU to recognise the hard work of all volunteers and to include them in any awards or other recognition schemes.

Selection of students

Where you have a lot of students sign up to volunteer you will need to think about how you will determine who will or won’t volunteer with you.

Will you let anyone who applies volunteer? Or will you have a selection process, if so what will this entail – interview etc. In general, SUBU would not want anyone who declares an interest in volunteering to end up not having any opportunity, so try to make any unsuccessful students aware of other volunteering that they can get involved with – or just createsomemorevolunteeropportunities!

Induction & Training for Volunteers

Consider if you need to run an induction session or workshop for new volunteers, or can the volunteers start straight away with an activity out on the project. If you do run an induction session this could be a group activity or a one-to-one meeting, it depends on the needs of your project.

New volunteers should always be given training on any specific tasks. It might be possible to do this while on the activity but if not then this should be done before hand.

Will you need to consider getting references from students? If so how will you go about this? It is really important to get in touch promptly with students who apply to volunteer with you. All volunteers like to feel valued and if you can do this right from the start your students are more likely to stay with the project. Even an email or message back to thank them for their interest and to say that you’ll be in touch with more information soon is better than just leaving them wondering what is happening.

Managing Your Project

KEEP IT FUN!Sometimes we can forget that volunteeringissupposedtobefun!Make sure that volunteers are enjoying themselves and the activity that they are engaged in. Foster friendships amongst your group and don’t forget to organise a social here and there. Go to the pub or out for a coffee after an activity or arrange a different evening to meet up.

ORGANISING

ACTIVITIESIt is your responsibility to organise

activities for the project in conjunction

with the organisation you are working

with. The first one or two of these have

probably already been arranged for

you, but you will need to liaise with the

organisation to plan more as specified in

the brief for your project.

LIAISING WITH THE ORGANISATIONYou will be a representative of SUBU Volunteering and BU and will be expected to behave in an appropriate manner.

You must contact the organisation and reply to any requests promptly. You will need to keep in regular communication with them and ensure that their expectations are being met.

RISK ASSESSMENTSEvery activity will require a risk assessment. It may be possible to use a generic one where the same activity is repeated at the same venue regularly. SUBU will support you with this and provide training where needed. Risk assessments must be sent to SUBU Volunteering at least one week prior to the activity date.

A risk assessment looks at what would cause harm to people so that you can weigh up whether you have taken adequate precautions to prevent harm. It will help you to plan, deliver and review your activities and protect you and your volunteers. You are not expected to eliminate all risk, but to protect people as far as its ‘reasonably practicable’.

As Project leader, an important part of

your role is to motivate your volunteers.

Show some enthusiasm and lead from the

front, find out why different students got

involved in the first place and think about

how you can sustain these motivations.

Aswesaid,thisshouldbefun!Keepthe

activity enjoyable and make it engaging

and your volunteers should want to keep

coming back.

All volunteers like to be recognised and

even a simple ‘thank you’ can go a long

way. Email all volunteers to say thanks at

the end of each activity and keep them up

to date with progress of the project overall.

Send regular updates & pictures and keep

volunteers informed.

Ensure that you communicate regularly

with volunteers and reply to enquiries

within a day or two.

Request feedback from volunteers. This

could be informal feedback in the form of

a chat on the day or a more detailed survey

at the end of the project. It is important to

gain feedback so that you can assess the

project, respond to suggestions and keep

your volunteers happy.

Provide development opportunities

for your volunteers. They may like to

see the progress that they have made

through the year or to work their way

up through the project to take on more

responsibility.

Delegate responsibilities that other

volunteers can take on. This gives the

volunteer a chance to learn & develop

new skills but also lessens your

workload.

Meetings & socials will help to provide

an opportunity for students to get to

know each other and you better and to

give feedback and contribute ideas to

the project.

One-to-one sessions with your Activity

Co-ordinators will ensure that they feel

valued and have the opportunity to

address any training needs that they

have.

Remember, the more engaged the

volunteer and the happier they are, the

more likely they are to return.

MOTIVATING AND RETAINING VOLUNTEERS

Meeting with the Project TeamProject meetings should be held regularly between the Project Leaders and anyone else relevant to discuss the project. It is up to you to delegate tasks between you and to other volunteers as appropriate.

Keeping in Touch with SUBU Volunteering

You will be expected to meet with SUBU Volunteering once per month during the year. This will provide feedback on the project and an opportunity for SUBU to support your development.

We’re always looking for good new stories so please let us know if you’ve got anything to shout about.

Data ProtectionProject Leaders will be entrusted with personal information about BU students, members of the public and other organisations. You must follow good practice with their data. It might sound dull but data protection is a legal obligation. Data includes email, text, paper records, picture, video, voicemail, answerphone messages and social media.

All written data should be brought to SUBU Volunteering where it will be stored securely, any information that you need, such as health forms can be taken out for your activity and then brought back afterwards. Personal information about individuals must remain confidential and should not be passed on to any third party.

Remember to keep your own details confidential, you can use a SUBU phone to contact volunteers and retain your own privacy.

If you’re in doubt about any information speak to SUBU Volunteering. For a full data protection policy see I/Student Union/Public/SUBU Guideline Policies & Procedures/Formatted Policies (pdf)/SUBUDataProtectionPolicy-adjManaging Your Project

Keep it Fun!Sometimeswecanforgetthatvolunteeringissupposedtobefun!Makesurethatvolunteersare enjoying themselves and the activity that they are engaged in. Foster friendships amongst your group and don’t forget to organise a social here and there. Go to the pub or out for a coffee after an activity or arrange a different evening to meet up.

Organising ActivitiesIt is your responsibility to organise activities for the project in conjunction with the organisation you are working with. The first one or two of these have probably already been arranged for you, but you will need to liaise with the organisation to plan more as specified in the brief for your project.

Liaising with the OrganisationYou will be a representative of SUBU Volunteering and BU and will be expected to behave in an appropriate manner.

You must contact the organisation and reply to any requests promptly. You will need to keep in regular communication with them and ensure that their expectations are being met.

Risk AssessmentsEvery activity will require a risk assessment. It may be possible to use a generic one where the same activity is repeated at the same venue regularly. SUBU will support you with this and provide training where needed.

Risk assessments must be sent to SUBU Volunteering at least one week prior to the activity date.

A risk assessment looks at what would cause harm to people so that you can weigh up whether you have taken adequate precautions to prevent harm. It will help you to plan, deliver and review your activities and protect you and your volunteers. You are not expected to eliminate all risk, but to protect people as far as its ‘reasonably practicable’.

Motivating and Retaining VolunteersAs Project leader, an important part of your role is to motivate your volunteers. Show some enthusiasm and lead from the front, find out why different students got involved in the first place and think about how you can sustain these motivations.

Aswesaid,thisshouldbefun!Keeptheactivityenjoyableandmakeitengagingandyourvolunteers should want to keep coming back.

All volunteers like to be recognised and even a simple ‘thank you’ can go a long way. Email all volunteers to say thanks at the end of each activity and keep them up to date with progress of the project overall. Send regular updates & pictures and keep volunteers informed.

Ensure that you communicate regularly with volunteers and reply to enquiries within a day or two.

Request feedback from volunteers. This could be informal feedback in the form of a chat on the day or a more detailed survey at the end of the project. It is important to gain feedback so that you can assess the project, respond to suggestions and keep your volunteers happy.

Provide development opportunities for your volunteers. They may like to see the progress that they have made through the year or to work their way up through the project to take on more responsibility.

Delegate responsibilities that other volunteers can take on. This gives the volunteer a chance to learn & develop new skills but also lessens your workload.

Meetings & socials will help to provide an opportunity for students to get to know each other and you better and to give feedback and contribute ideas to the project.

One-to-one sessions with your Activity Co-ordinators will ensure that they feel valued and have the opportunity to address any training needs that they have.

Remember, the more engaged the volunteer and the happier they are, the more likely they are to return.

Meeting with the Project TeamProject meetings should be held regularly between the Project Leaders and anyone else relevant to discuss the project. It is up to you to delegate tasks between you and to other volunteers as appropriate.

Keeping in Touch with SUBU VolunteeringYou will be expected to meet with SUBU Volunteering once per month during the year. This will provide feedback on the project and an opportunity for SUBU to support your development.

We’re always looking for good new stories so please let us know if you’ve got anything to shout about.

Data ProtectionProject Leaders will be entrusted with personal information about BU students, members of the public and other organisations. You must follow good practice with their data. It might sound dull but data protection is a legal obligation. Data includes email, text, paper records, picture, video, voicemail, answerphone messages and social media.

All written data should be brought to SUBU Volunteering where it will be stored securely, any information that you need, such as health forms can be taken out for your activity and then brought back afterwards. Personal information about individuals must remain confidential and should not be passed on to any third party.

Remember to keep your own details confidential, you can use a SUBU phone to contact volunteers and retain your own privacy.

If you’re in doubt about any information speak to SUBU Volunteering. For a full data protection policy see I/Student Union/Public/SUBU Guideline Policies & Procedures/Formatted Policies (pdf)/SUBUDataProtectionPolicy-adj

On Your Activity

Appointed Person in ChargeOn the day you must have a nominated person in charge; this might be you or one of your appointed Activity Co-ordinators. Volunteers need to know who will brief them and who to go to if they have any problems.

Registering VolunteersOn the day you should have a list of all students taking part in the activity along with their contact details if they fail to turn up. You should also ensure that volunteers have filled in a health questionnaire with their emergency contact details on.

Trip registrationIf using the SUBU minibus you should fill in a trip registration form, available at SUBU reception. A copy of this must be left with the main reception in Poole House on departure.

Team BriefingAt the venue you will need to give a briefing to all volunteers on the activity to be undertaken along with any specific health & safety advice. It may be that the organisation does this particularly if you are working with the council.

AccidentsSometimes things go wrong and an accident occurs. You will need to have a first aider (or one fromtheorganisation)presentateveryactivity.Oncefirstaidhasbeengivenfillinanaccidentform and hand a copy to SUBU Volunteering the next day.

Near misses must also be reported so that we can review the risk assessment accordingly.

What to do in an EmergencyWhere an accident is severe we need to get the volunteer to hospital immediately.

When on University premises call 222 if a serious accident has occurred, they will call an ambulance for you.

If you are off site, call 999 for an ambulance or other emergency service as needed. Then call 01202 595448 for the BU Duty Callout Officer. Give the medical form to the paramedics so that they can be aware of any medical conditions.

In case of the minibus breaking down, call the breakdown assistance number in the pack (01202965765)andquotetheregistrationsnumber.

If you are not sure what to do about any emergency call 01202 595448 for the BU Duty Callout Officer.

Make Sure Volunteers are enjoying it!Talk to volunteers throughout the activity and ensure that they’re having fun.

Resources

Mobile PhonesYou will be given a mobile phone from SUBU for your activity. It is your responsibility to ensure that it is charged and to take it with you for the activity. Book your phone from SUBU and sign it in & out with us.

It is your responsibility to return the phone or to inform us if it is lost/ broken.

Budget & FinanceYour project will have access to a small amount of funding to cover transport costs from SUBU. Any additional expenditure will need to be agreed by SUBU. You should also look for external funding or do some fundraising yourself.

Project AccountYou will have a SUBU account allocated to your project. You can pay any additional funds into this account and draw money from it for expenses.

ExpensesWe will cover travel costs for your project on public transport or through the use of the SUBU minibus. If you need to use a taxi, this must be agreed by SUBU Volunteering in advance. To claim expenses you must present a valid ticket or receipt and fill in a Payment Requisition form.

Room BookingsWe can book rooms on either campus for you to hold any activity related to your project. This includes space in the Atrium or BOHO Lounge.

Minibus BookingsYou can book the SUBU minibus to take student groups on your project. Your booking should be made as far in advance as possible. We cannot guarantee booking at busy times.

Your minibus driver must be over 21 and to have held a driving licence for three years or more. They must pass the SUBU minibus test, for which we will fund one test per year per project. Other tests must be paid for from the project budget.

Access to SUBU & BU TrainingWe will fund BU or SUBU training as required for your project. You must have a first aider (oronefromtheorganisation)availableoneveryactivity,wewillfundthisforyouaswellasany other training needed.

Volunteer T-shirtsWe have a supply of blue SUBU Volunteering t-shirts that your volunteers can wear while out on your project. These must be signed in and out when borrowed.as they are for all projects.

Stationary, Printing & PostageWecansupplystationary,print(withinreason)andpostanythingneeded.Emailtosubuvolunteering@bournemouth.ac.uk or come up to SUBU to speak to us.

Craft & Activity EquipmentWe have various resources that you may be able to use for your project. These range from litter pickers to sewing machines. Let us know what your activity requires and we may be able to help supply it.

FundingYou will be able to apply for funding from SUBU Volunteering. The budget mainly allows for transport but if there are other things such as equipment you need to purchase then you can submit a request to SUBU for consideration.

Alumni FundThe Alumni Fund has granted a total of £1,000 to student volunteering projects. You will need to submit a request to SUBU Volunteering for consideration.

External FundingThere are many businesses and organisations that will consider an application for a grant towards a charity project. You may find that approaching business direct works well but here are a few other ideas to consider.

Helping Hands – WilkinsonWilkinson’s stores have a ‘Helping Hands’ budget to help local communities do great things, so whether you’re looking for a pot of paint, a raffle prize or something more, it’s worth approaching them. Give as much notice as possible as the staff meet once per month to review successful applications.

You can download an application form & get more information here:http://corporate.wilkinsonplus.com/story.asp?id=32

More information here:

CO-OP COMMUNITY FUND

COMMUNITY FUND GRANTS OF BETWEEN £100 - £2,000 CAN BE APPLIED FOR FROM THE CO-OP TO FUND SPECIFIC PROJECTS. THEY MUST CARRY OUT POSITIVE WORK IN THE COMMUNITY AS WELL AS• ADDRESSACOMMUNITYISSUE• PROVIDEAGOODLONG-TERMBENEFITTOTHECOMMUNITY• SUPPORTCO-OPERATIVEVALUESANDPRINCIPLES• IDEALLYBEINNOVATIVEINITSAPPROACH

Recognition & Awards We want to recognise the contribution of every one of our student volunteers, whether they’ve just volunteered that one time or been a regular on the project. You need to update the status of all your volunteers on our SUBU Volunteering website so that we can do this.

Volunteer CertificatesAll volunteers are given a certificate each term to record their achievements.

Activities Awards CelebrationWe hold an Activities Awards Night in March at which the success of all our volunteer project and individual volunteers are recognised. There is a prize for the Project of the Year which we hope that your project will be nominated for.

BU Development AwardYour commitment as a Project Leader will earn you extra points on the BU Student Development Award.

External AwardsThere are several other external awards that we’d love to enter you or your volunteers for wherever we can. These range from local ones like the Bourne Brilliant Awards in June to the

NUS national awards.So to make sure that we can recognise your hard work and to award it let us know all the great things that you are doing with your project during the year.

http://www.co-operative.coop/membership/local-communities/community-fund/onlineapplicationprocess/

O2 Think BigA grant of up to £300 for 13 – 25 year olds to help improve their communities. For more information and to apply see:http://www.o2thinkbig.co.uk/

V-inspired - CashpointUp to £500 for 14 – 25 year olds to help run a volunteering project.

For more information go to:http://vinspired.com/organisations/8034-vinspired-cashpoint

Handover

As your project draws to an end it will be time to evaluate its success, to recruit new project leadersandtocelebrate!

PROJECT LEADER RECRUITMENT

You will be involved in the process to recruit your new project leaders. This may mean shortlisting from application forms or assisting with interviews. However we recruit we’d like you to be a part of it as you know your project best. If you’re intending to remain in post please let us know by the end of February. If not you may want to try to encourage suitable students to apply for the roles during your time volunteering with them.

EVALUATION

It is time to do a final evaluation of the project. You’ll need to collate any data gathered during the year and to do a final survey to all volunteers involved. It’s really important that you evaluate the project, if you don’t you won’t know whether you’ve made a difference.

HANDOVER

Your handover should be as detailed as possible, include information about what went well, what could have been done better, key contacts, recommendations etc. Include any statistical information that you have gathered.

SUBU Volunteering should be present at this meeting.

CELEBRATE!

You may want to organise a social event, or something bigger to celebrate the success of the project. This is a great way to say a final thank you to your volunteers and to get some final publicityforit.Itmightbeagoodopportunityforafinalteamphototoo!