Built on practical experience in the voluntary sector, the toolkit will be available as a free download and in printed form, and aims to offer useful advice and solutions to common challenges in development—and you can be a part of it.
We’re looking for stories, pictures and wisdom from people at the sharp end of community and volunteer development about how you’ve tackled any of the above, and the lessons you’ve learned. Specifically, can you help with any of the following questions and concepts?
Bringing the mountain... ★ A situation where 'bringing things to people' rather than expecting them to seek them out has been successful (or unsuccessful)
Playfulness ★ Are there ways you've deliberately made your processes more 'playful' or fun for new volunteers?
Avoiding seeming desperate ★ How do you make it obvious that you want/need people to get involved without seeming 'needy'?
Social proof ★ How do you handle social proof—showing how many people are already volunteering, and what they're doing? What issues arise around this?
Existing experience ★ How do you handle acknowledging new volunteers' existing experience, or speed up the process for people who already have some expertise?
Bringing in experts ★ Does involving (perhaps external) 'experts' in processes help volunteers feel more or less engaged/confident in their own abilities?
Reducing guilt ★ How do you handle making sure people don't feel guilty about contributing less than others? How do you appreciate the small things people do?
Rewards ★ Do you give 'rewards' of any kind for people volunteering for particular roles or at particular times? How do you handle this? Is there a place for 'spontaneous' rewards rather than ones people know about in advance?
Your thoughts, comments, stories (good and bad!) and wisdom (and even relevant photos) on any of the above would be very gratefully received, and incorporating your examples into the toolkit could (if you wish) help gain some publicity for your organisation or group.
At present I work in development for a youth organisation, recruiting and empowering groups of volunteers. I run workshops with a diverse range of people, using a variety of service design techniques to help groups overcome challenges and barriers to development.
From my experience and discussions with others—as well as having been a volunteer myself in different organisations—I’ve seen the need for a practical tool enabling groups to hold better meetings and collaborate more effectively without the need for costly and time-consuming training, which has led me to the idea of developing the meeting in a box toolkit.
