Evolve - Skills Based Volunteering for Teams
The aim of these development days is to provide grassroots third sector organisations the opportunity to present their organisations informally to a group of private sector volunteers for questions and scrutiny. In doing so they gain the opportunity to receive an external opinion, the questions you will likely ask will be different to those they might usually receive in their own sector. The organisation will have a key theme, priority, problem or opportunity to discuss with your group. Although this may not be your area of expertise for you will be able to contribute a new perspective, and as a group come up with creative ideas.
Following an introduction from Scottish Business in the Community and Firstport, there is no formal structure to the processes however facilitators will be working with you to assist if groups need a little direction. A suggested approach is to use some analytical tools such as SWOT or PEST analysis to assess the organisation after a general discussion and question sessions. This may help to pick out some key areas to devote the rest of the time towards.
Participant organisations are asked to bring any marketing materials, business plans or other relevant documents with them on the day in case they need to refer to them. The aim is for the participant organisation to leave with some key outputs, ideas, or actions to take so it is helpful to review and consolidate the discussions towards the end of the time allowance.Feedback from previous participants
Feedback from both sides has been very positive. Third sector organisations find that they gain new insights and ideas from the day. They find it useful speaking about the issues they face with new people who are unconnected to the sector. They also find it useful validation for the things they are doing well, and a useful experience to test their message to make sure it makes sense to new audiences.
Volunteers find it an enjoyable experience and an insight into a sector which there is little opportunity to work with otherwise. Some find it very uplifting to meet people engaged so closely in communities and are surprised by how much they are able to help.
Praise for SBCs Evolve Programme
“The MI Centre of Excellence took part in a volunteering activity with a difference. We arranged a team challenge based in Edinburgh, run by Scottish Business in the Community. The aim was to engage our relatively new team, build awareness, develop teamwork and widen the involvement of companies in local communities.
On the day we split into 3 teams and spent time understanding the challenges that our 3 social entrepreneurs were facing. Each organisation was relatively new and they were looking for ideas to move them forward. The social enterprises were involved in:
- getting educational supplies to Grenada
- providing an important social gathering place through a focus on fair-trade and organic produce
- horticultural education for people with learning difficulties
It’s hard to get across the passion and dedication of these people. They were truly an inspiration and at the beginning, many of us were wondering what on earth we could do to help. We spent about an hour finding out about each of the businesses and the challenges they were facing. We then used a series of tools to generate ideas to help the businesses move forward.”
Feedback from the MI Centre of Excellence team has been extremely positive:
“It makes you think in different ways and use skills that you didn’t really know that you had, and of course you get to elaborate on other peoples ideas and help develop them too”
“Overall the experience was enjoyable and left you with a sense of making a difference. I’d willingly do this again without a moment’s hesitation”
“The social entrepreneurs were truly inspirational and their dedication and selfless attitude was truly humbling” .
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