Covid-19 Volunteer Response: Boats Analogy

As I have been asked a few times, here is my boats analogy for explaining the volunteering response to Covid-19 in the UK. It helps explain the different speeds and approaches of the different participants in society and also how they have come together.

Mutual Aid Groups – Dinghies
Mutual Aid Groups (MAGs) and similar were extremely quick to organise a hyper-local response and action for those affected by Covid-19. Just like a dinghy, they are very agile, responsive but limited in capacity and suited to small tasks. Together with other local dinghies they have made an impressive fleet, working together to help people.

VCS Organisations – Yachts
Voluntary and Community Sector organisations were also quick to respond, but were more like yachts. Not quite as agile as a dinghy, these organisations had to quickly adjust to working during a pandemic, e.g. remote working options and whether to furlough staff, etc. Just like a yacht, they have managed to operate in choppy waters and volatile winds to regularly meet the needs of beneficiaries and service users in their community.

Local Authorities – Ferries
Although local authorities were extremely quick to recognise the situation and signal they were taking action, as large organisations they are just slower to change direction. Just like a ferry, they have large capacity and can sound their horn to warn people but it just takes time for a ferry to change direction. Most local authorities quickly announced a Covid-19 volunteer response scheme, which attracted a lot of local residents to sign up but they took time to become operational.

Government – Oil Tankers
Just like oil tankers, the Government needs to look far ahead and anticipate and plan what it needs to do. It knows it takes time to change direction and focus, so has to signal its intentions long before it can actually make the change. The government quickly announced the NHS Volunteer Responser scheme which drew in hundreds of thousands of interested volunteers but it took a long time before this was actually operational and volunteers could be activated to perform tasks.

Joining together to form a Covid-19 Armada
Not every area has been the same, but nevertheless we have seen a huge amount of the different types of response boats coming together to support those affected by Covid-19. At first we saw some of the VCS yachts working with and supporting MAGs, e.g. as a VCS infrastructure yacht we produced a Covid-19 Good Neighbour Guide to help MAG volunteers to be safe, both virus and safeguarding-wise.

Local authority ferries quickly engaged with VCS yachts and many also with the MAG dinghies. The government oil tankers are joining the party too, working primarily with the local authority ferries but also with VCS yachts linking with the national volunteer responder service. Together they have formed an effective Covid-19 Armada. An almost Dunkirk-like fleet, all working together to combat a deadly enemy.

Build Back Better – How to Keep the Armada Together
The whole is much greater than the sum of its parts and whichever type of boat we are crew member of, we can see that working together is far more effective. The barriers of ‘normal’ working life that impede this togetherness have been largely put to one side as people, organisations and institutions rally together to achieve things in days that would normally take months or may not ever happen. Shouldn’t it be like this all the time? Well, why not? I think we should aim to keep as much of this collaboration as we can.

Instead of the recovery phase, I heard someone refer to it as the ‘Build Back Better’ phase and that really struck a chord with me. Before Covid-19, people in our society and communities needed lots of help and support and this has not gone away in any measure, in fact, the situation has been made worse. Let’s keep this collaboration and the Armada together to tackle these serious social priorities.

How to do this is the hard part as although there is a lot of desire for this continued collaboration, it will be very easy to fall back into the old ways of doing things. We will drift back into largely separate less effective flotillas. Each of the type of boats needs to make a change.

The MAG dinghies need to establish new priorities and with the help and support of the VCS yachts and local authority ferries they can do this. The VCS yachts need to speed up their change of involving volunteers and adapt their offer to include more task-based, micro, ad hoc volunteering to keep the MAGs engaged. Local authority ferries need to keep their openness and willingness to collaborate with partners and not revert to command and control approaches. Government oil tankers need to keep talking, consulting and collaborating with the other types of boats to ensure we are all working towards a common goal.

Stop Calling it the ‘Third’ Sector

It is increasingly bothering me, to the point of driving me crazy, that people refer to the sector I work in as the ‘Third’ sector. It just seems wrong and symptomatic of a sector that is under-appreciated and undervalued. But we accept it, as that is what our sector does, we do not make a fuss, we get on with important things, like helping people and communities.

We are 20% way through the 21st century and yet still so many refer to it as the ‘third’ sector. The other sectors are referred to by an actual name, private and public sectors, but our sector does not even get a name, it is just the third sector. You know, the other one that is not the private or public sector. This label implies we are the bronze medal sector, not quite as important as the first two sectors.

I know many people in our sector do not mind it being called the ‘third’ sector and a few who even like it. There is even a magazine named it and a fair few organisations with it in their name, so why is it important? “Hello? we are in the middle of a Pandemic Dominic, surely there are more important things to talk about?”

I agree it does not seem relevant, but our sector right now is critical to the Covid-19 response and in our normal humble way, we are thinking about services to people who need it, not sustainability. Who is going to fight on our behalf and champion this ‘third’ sector against all the other very loud voices demanding help?

The boss of Wetherspoons seems to have a louder voice than our third-place sector. Yet Wetherspoons is only a fraction of the size. Our ‘third’ sector that no one hears from, employing nearly 1 million people, is quietly contributing over £17 billion to the economy, representing almost 1% of GDP. This does not even account for the value of formal and informal volunteering, which is estimated to be around £40 billion. So, surely, we need to be heard from and perhaps not having a proper name negatively influences our ability to be recognised and valued? Without a name, we don’t have a proper identity.

Part of the problem, of course, is not having an easy alternative name that people like. If we had that, I am sure lots of people would prefer to use it. Here are some alternatives I have heard used:

  • Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) – this is the one I find myself using. It’s not catchy but I much prefer it. Sometimes it is expanded to include social enterprises, so VCSE sector. Even less catchy.
  • Civil Society – This is growing on me, but I still do not like it. I think perhaps it is because civil can mean courteous and polite, which as a sector we are with the people we support, but as a name in society it still will be seen as this humble nice sector that is not going to bother anyone so we can undervalue and under-appreciate it as they will not care, they are too nice. No, we need a stronger name.
  • Alpha Sector – I saw a presentation from someone who was so passionate about the influence and importance of our sector that it should be called ‘Alpha’. I like the passion behind this, but maybe, on a similar line, as ‘Delta’ can mean a change or difference then maybe the Delta Sector? We are the sector that makes a difference and change in peoples lives. I like this actually, but fear I am probably the only one. Not many people know the different definitions of Delta and as it also can mean the substitute for the letter D so the D sector could mean fourth place which is even worse than third sector.
  • NGO sector – I do not like this at all and certainly do not like the term Non-Governmental Organisation as it is defining something in the negative and not having its own identity. I like it as much as the idea of rebranding cats as Non-Dog Pets.
  • Charity sector – similar to the above but just referencing charities means it excludes other types of groups (e.g. unconstituted) and organisations (e.g. social enterprises) that operate in our sector.

Don’t you just hate people who say we need a solution but don’t actually offer one themselves? Yes, I am doing that now. However, in my defence, I did somewhat half-heartedly suggest ‘Delta’ Sector.

If someone does have a good name, I am fully ready to get behind you. But in the meantime, can we at least stop calling it the third sector?

Trustee – Probably the best volunteer role there is

More people should be trustees. They really should.

It is often forgotten as a volunteer role, but it is absolutely one of the best ways to volunteer your skills and experience and make a real significant contribution to a charity.

This truly fantastic volunteer role suffers, in my view, due its name. The word ‘trustee’ sounds like a term from the nineteenth century, conjuring visions of old men sitting in a smoke-filled board room drinking brandy. The reality is very different … I’ve definitely not had any brandy! Trustees should and do come from all walks of life and it is a dynamic, diverse and rewarding position.

Trustees work as a team utilising their individual and collective skills and experience to direct and make key decisions for an organisation. They take legal responsibility for the charity and work with, challenge and support the Chief Executive to ensure the charity is being well run and delivering its objectives.

As I run a Volunteer Centre it will be no surprise that I volunteer myself and the formal volunteer work I do is through being a Trustee as it is a way to use my skills and experience to support a charity that fits with my work and time commitments. I am currently a proud Trustee of 3 great but different charities: Adventure Ashram, Camden Giving and London Plus.

Although it is arguably the best, do not think it is the easiest volunteer role, far from it. The last 5 years have been extremely challenging for most charities, particularly those with a turnover of under £1 million. Years of austerity have meant increased competition for reduced available funding. To survive, let alone be sustainable, charities have needed to and still are adapting to a new economic environment.

Devising, evaluating and evolving innovative strategies for a charity are the responsibility of the Trustees. With these challenges often come opportunities and a well functioning board of Trustees will work together to identify and prioritise the opportunities and objectives for the organisation.

If that sounds interesting to you, then why not become a Trustee? The meetings are usually just after work and often are between 4-6 face to face meetings per year.

There are a number of ways to find trustee opportunities:

  1. Contact your local Volunteer Centre, there is often one for your local authority area or region
  2. Reach Volunteering – https://reachvolunteering.org.uk/
  3. Do-It www.do-it.org
  4. Charity Jobs – https://www.charityjob.co.uk/volunteer-jobs?keywords=Trustee
  5. Team London (London only) – https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/volunteering/search/
  6. Direct Contact – find a charity you like and contact them directly to ask if they are looking for Trustees. The Chief Executive is a good place to start and if you can explain briefly what skills/experience you have to offer along with your CV it will help.
  7. Other options via Trustees Week website (well worth a look): http://trusteesweek.org/find/

Other useful Trustee Information:

Why do so many misunderstand DBS?

The Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check, formerly Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), is widely used throughout the voluntary and community sector to involve volunteers but I never cease to be surprised at how often it is misused, either through misunderstanding or deliberately.

At the Hammersmith & Fulham Volunteer Centre, we are an authorised umbrella DBS checking service and also provide advice and support to volunteer involving organisations around DBS. We work with DBS needs and questions every day.

I was in a meeting the other day with a range of organisations and stakeholders who provide support and education services to children. The topic of DBS came up and the over-cautious nature of lots of organisations who require unnecessary DBS checks. One person in the meeting correctly said that is actually unlawful to ask for a DBS when it is not required as you are breaking the person’s human rights. Another person then said yes but that they always ask for it for any volunteer role. Even though it’s unlawful? Asked the first person. Yes, absolutely.

This happens a lot. I mean, really a lot. I should not be shocked by this, but I was still was. Not by the point of view, as I’ve heard it often, but the audacity and brazenness of saying it so openly to a large number of other professionals.

Working in our sector, I have heard so many excuses and reasons about why an organisation is requesting a DBS when actually they should not do so. A trend I’ve experienced is that the larger the organisation the more likely it is ask for unnecessary DBS checks. This is probably explained by the more litigious-aware these larger organisations are.

The normal expectation is that a larger organisation should better understand DBS requirements, but many do not and offer up ripostes like the following to counter us saying a DBS is not necessary:

  • “It’s our policy that DBS are needed” – even though it’s unlawful and you are breaking someone’s human rights? Yes, apparently. Sorry to break it to you, but the law trumps your policies.
  • “Our insurance says we need it” – when people say this they expect an end to the discussion and so are surprised when we challenge this. Often insurances do not actually require it, but the person whose in charge of arranging insurance for the organisation requires it. This is fine if they know when a DBS is needed but often they do not and take a zero risk approach. You can understand this, but the zero risk approach is against DBS eligibility rules.

  • “If there is even a potential that a person might be left alone with a child or vulnerable person, then we cannot take that risk” – There is a lot of hysteria around DBS and people mistakenly believe if you spend or could possibly spend 1 second alone with a child or vulnerable person you need a DBS. I recently received an email from a large organisation that said, ‘We will not allow anyone who is not DBS checked have any interaction with members of the public in any circumstances.’ This is simply wrong. You need to take a practical approach, rather than an unlawful overkill DBS approach. If I was alone at a bus stop on a quiet street with a child or vulnerable adult, would I need a DBS. No, of course not.

So why do we have this problem? Yes, DBS is a little complicated and open to interpretation but at the root of the issue is organisations and people covering their bottoms … or risk management in polite terms. Requiring DBS checks means an organisation reduces its risk if one of its staff or volunteers violates or abuses a vulnerable person. When I say reduces the risk, the main risk concerned is how much they might be sued and their reputational risk. If they can say they carried out all the good practice to reduce the risk of it happening then they can reduce the damage as if they do not, it could be game over for that charity.

So, does a DBS actually reduce the risk of something actually happening? Probably a little, if you believe people who offend are likely to offend again. Reoffending rates are always open to interpretation but overall government reoffending rates are at about 30%.

But here are some things to consider about DBS checks and what they actually give you or rather do not give you:

  • Just because someone has a clear DBS does not mean they are not a risk, they could have done criminal acts but never got caught. To give an extreme example, Jimmy Saville would have got a clear DBS check.
  • A DBS check is only good at the point the check was taken. Someone could have done something afterwards. So how often do you check? There is no legal requirement but good practice suggests every 3 years. DBS checks do not have an expiry date.

  • If someone does not have a clear DBS check, then you cannot discriminate because of a conviction or other information revealed. Check here for government guidance and a sample policy on recruiting ex-offenders

At the bottom of this article I have given information and links for the three levels of DBS checks and where to check for eligibility.

North Yorkshire Council have a great new emergency volunteer project (Ready for Anything), funded by Nesta and DCMS, that deals very well with DBS issues. As you might imagine, Emergency Management teams are ‘super’ risk averse as they will not do anything that risks extra trauma for those affected by an emergency. They are great teams that really do fantastic work and I have been super impressed with what they do as we deliver our own emergency volunteer programme CAMERA. However, my experience is that these emergency management teams do not know DBS rules well so they take the zero/minimum risk option and say DBS must be required for all volunteers, even if it is not necessary.

Well not so in North Yorkshire! They have spent a lot of time investigating and clarifying the need for DBS and insurance arrangements. The emergency volunteers will be involved in ancillary roles, e.g. in a rest centre, making cups of tea, directing people, giving out information, sorting out donations and helping to tidy up. They will never be alone with anyone and always supervised by a manager who is trained and DBS checked. Therefore, no DBS is required and so will enable more local people to be involved in supporting when an emergency takes place. This approach is how it should be. They are taking a very realistic and pragmatic approach to managing the risk.

If you are not sure about DBS then check the government guidance or speak to an authorised DBS umbrella body. The Hammersmith & Fulham Volunteer Centre is a DBS umbrella body and can offer DBS help and advice for volunteers, VIOs and employers.

Also be aware that the DBS service will likely change at some point after it lost its appeal in January 2019, where the Supreme Court ruled the service breached human rights. See BBC article here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47054647

The three types of DBS check:

Basic DBS

This check will only show convictions that are not ‘spent’, for example some types of caution will disappear after 3 months.

Basic DBS checks can be used for any position or purpose, however certain roles may require a higher level of check. Basic DBS checks cost £25 for all applicants including volunteers and can be carried out by the person/applicant here (https://www.gov.uk/request-copy-criminal-record).

For anything above a basic check, there are strict eligibility criteria and the government provides guidance and eligibility checker tool here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dbs-eligibility-guidance

Standard

This check shows spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings.

This check needs to be carried out by the volunteer involving organisation (VIO) (or through a DBS umbrella body like the Hammersmith and Fulham Volunteer Centre) and cannot be carried out by the volunteer themselves.

There is no cost to the volunteer for having this check carried out, but the VIO will need to pay for the administration of this check.

Enhanced

This shows the same as a standard check plus any information held by local police that’s considered relevant to the role.

In rare occasions, there is also an enhanced check with a check of the barred lists, which shows the same as an enhanced check plus whether the applicant is on the adults’ barred list, children’s barred list or both. This article helps for when a barred lists check is required: https://www.ucheck.co.uk/the-dbs-barred-lists-when-to-do-a-check/

This check needs to be carried out by the volunteer involving organisation (VIO) (or through a DBS umbrella body like HFVC) and cannot be carried out by the volunteer themselves.

There is no cost to the volunteer for having this check carried out, but the VIO will need to pay for the administration of this check.

Participaction – The new name for volunteering

I have been in denial. No, I am not doing a bad joke about a river in Egypt, but referring to my coming around to the notion that the word ‘volunteer’ is not as cool and sexy as it used to be. The concept of giving time to help others is still very much cool, it’s just that the word volunteer is not so much.

This is hard for me to accept. I am a passionate and determined proponent of volunteering and firmly believe and can demonstrate that volunteers, every day, change the world to make our communities better places. How can the notion of someone giving just a little bit of their busy lives to help someone else not be seen as amazing or cool?

The problem is that volunteering actually covers a vast range of activities but is often used to refer to something far more narrow, namely formal volunteering, i.e. a formal defined in detail volunteer role within a charity, usually involving the volunteer committing time regularly on an ongoing basis. The reality is that volunteering covers all giving of time, including informal volunteering such as being a good neighbour or baby-sitting for a friend, micro-volunteering such as Be My Eyes or ad hoc volunteering.

Although any giving of time is volunteering the core work of Volunteer Centres is focused on formal volunteering, acting as a much needed volunteer recruitment service for the thousands of great charities that desperately need the involvement of volunteers to support their service to the community. However, I strongly believe that Volunteer Centres should not be constrained by such a narrow field of work and that they can and should work to promote and develop all forms of volunteering.

In the last couple of years the word ‘participation’ has become more popular. There is a significant strengthening trend and desire to create a more participatory culture within communities where people feel they should and can be the part of a solution to a problem rather than simply writing a letter of complaint for their local authority to deal with. To help make communities more resilient and cohesive, there needs to be tools as well as a culture to enable people, organisations and businesses to work together to tackle priority social issues.

Although this type of participation or social action is, technically, very much volunteering it is not really seen as such by those who are doing it. I know of a couple of people who would actually hate and object to being described as someone who volunteers but they often give their time informally, which is still volunteering but they will not hear of it. Those in a street who campaign and fundraise to improve the environment and air quality in their area would probably not consider themselves volunteers, but yet they are.

So, instead do we say they are participating? The word participation is by itself too vague to be used. It’s not enough to say someone is participating, it needs to be stronger and suggest something positive, that it creates action leading to a change.

Put that all together and we have Participaction. Admittedly, the word looks better than it sounds, but it encapsulates exactly what is desired from volunteering today. Participaction covers both informal and formal volunteering that delivers positive action through a person participating in their local community. I am not suggesting abandoning the term ‘volunteering’ but sometimes new terms help focus motivations through aligning with current trends.

So Participaction is still volunteering but it’s framing it in a way that reflects the way people want to volunteer today. Whether it’s formal or informal, volunteering today needs to take a participaction approach to get high levels of engagement and support.

Celebrating 10 years of Not-for-profit Social Enterprise Works4U!

I write with unashamed and enormous beaming pride to announce that award-winning not-for-profit social enterprise Works4U is celebrating its 10th birthday. This 100% self-sustaining internationally-recognised London enterprise has a social mission to help businesses to support the community through volunteering. In the past 10 years Works4U has organized for over 15,000 business volunteers to carry out almost 1,000 impactful community projects benefiting over 270,000 people. 

Each volunteering activity organized begins from a genuine community need and Works4U promotes and matches projects to the resources and goals of businesses. It then organizes the volunteering in full, sorting out the areas that are often time-consuming and complicated for businesses and community organisations to do themselves, such as risk assessments, site visits, insurance, safeguarding and DBS (formerly CRB) considerations, sourcing and ordering materials, planning and supervising the volunteering to ensure it is impactful, safe and fun. These activities vary from team volunteering, skills-based volunteering and delivering workshops and carrying out mentoring.

In the voluntary and community sector Works4U is defined as an Employer Supported Volunteering (ESV) broker, bringing together businesses and community organisations. The last 10 years has seen a growth in ESV activity, but it is very difficult to sustain a successful brokerage service and we have seen many similar initiatives fail during our time. One of Work4U’s key strengths is that a flexible approach is built into our DNA. We recognise that every business is different and if we can find a way to make a project happen, we will. We are proud of our not-for-profit approach which makes us a cost efficient and highly effective service for businesses but also, we are very strict on being not-for-loss too so to ensure sustainability.

Although not a large operation based in Fulham, we very much punch above our weight and have delivered huge volunteer projects in London, only last month supporting 300 volunteers to carry out community projects in 10 different locations across the capital, simultaneously. Our work has been recognised locally and internationally, winning several business awards and we have been invited to the United Nations Office at Geneva to lead discussions on how businesses can contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda.

In 2014 we set up the London ESV Network as we want to develop the work of corporate volunteering even further, so it is more coordinated to meet social priorities and has a larger and long-lasting impact. The voluntary and community sector is highly complex and fragmented, so we need to work harder to make it easier for businesses to engage and partner with the sector to make a difference. We believe that businesses are not separate from the community, they are very much part of it, and we need to change attitudes of all about this to create a more joined up, cohesive and resilient communities.

We are using our 10th birthday to show off our achievements and work, but this would not have been possible without the support, input and passion of a huge number of people, organisations and businesses. To my colleagues past and present, volunteers, trustees, community and business partners, the hugest of thank yous for everything you have done.

Although I officially joined the organisation in 2013, I wrote the original business plan for Works4U in 2009 as a pro bono consultant, never imagining I would be working for and leading the organisation a few years later. Whilst putting together the original plan, I worked very closely with Works4U’s first manager, the very fantastic Doreen Thompson-Addo who is equally proud to see Works4U reach its 10th birthday.

“Happy 10th birthday to Works4U!  I am absolutely delighted to see Works4U growing from strength to strength and continuing to make a positive and lasting impact on communities and businesses alike.  Having worked at the Hammersmith and Fulham Volunteer Centre from 2004 – 2010 one of my biggest achievements was co-founding Works4U alongside [then Volunteer Centre Director] Marion Schumann.  We passionately believed that the businesses located in the local area could play a significant role in supporting the voluntary and community sector through volunteering and created Works4U as a platform for this to happen.  It has been fantastic to see the impact that Works4U has had and the recognition it has been given nationally and globally over the years! Thank you to everyone who has made Works4U the success it is today and I hope to be celebrating again in another 10 years time!“

Doreen Thompson-Addo

We are extremely proud of what we have achieved in the last 10 years, but we are firmly looking to the future. The community sector needs the help and support of businesses more than ever and in lots of different ways. We have a large number of really impactful projects for business volunteers to take part in. We can find a project that works for you.

Here’s to the next 10 years!  

Dominic Pinkney
Chief Executive, Works4U

Who is the Dominic Pinkney person?

Well, Dominic Pinkney (that’s me, but I’m writing in the third person) is a voluntary sector CEO, with specific expertise on volunteering. He is the CEO of two amazing Volunteer Centres:

He is also the CEO of Works4U, a not-for-profit social enterprise whose social mission is to help businesses to support the community through volunteering.

He doesn’t like blowing his own trumpet, but he cannot really claim to write an expert blog without at least giving some credentials:

  • Has been invited to the United Nations more than 5 times to present and facilitate discussions on volunteering in the international arena
  • He founded and chairs the London Employer Supported Volunteering Network and has been paid to consult on areas related to ESV in the UK and internationally.
  • Was named by NCVO as one of under 30 leaders leading change and innovation in the voluntary and community sector
  • He is an active and committed Trustee of two great charities, Adventure Ashram and Camden Giving

Dominic is committed to collaboration and believes our communities and society will be better through people, organisations and businesses working together.

If you want to see more of his career history, then check out his LinkedIn profile.

Dominic Pinkney @ Palais des Nations in Geneva