Volunteering Opportunities 2012

Team challenges

Projects are for teams of volunteers ranging from practical painting, decorating and gardening at schools and community centres, to skills based activities such as Enterprise Days in schools, ‘Behind the Scenes’ days or CV and Interview days.

Leadership and Management Partners

This is a dynamic programme that matches business people with leadership and management experience with community leaders from the public sector (eg headteachers, regeneration managers) and the community and voluntary sectors including social enterprise (defined, in their broadest sense, as a not-for-profit business solution to a social issue).   Together the partners are encouraged to work on leadership issues and find business solutions to the challenges they face.

Skills Bank

Skills Bank is a Business in the Community programme which enables businesses to share their staff’s time and skills with local community organisations, to help them meet their objectives and build their capacity.

Behind the Scenes

Workplace visits to inspire unemployed people into work - Run a 'Behind the Scenes' day at your business for unemployed clients of a local community group e.g. women's groups, disability groups, homeless people etc or local secondary school pupils / further education students.

Read to Succeed

Read to Succeed is a campaign to promote the importance of literacy and seeks to engage volunteers from business to become reading partners with 7-11 year old, primary school children.

Number Partners

Number Partners is a campaign to promote the importance of numeracy and seeks to engage volunteers from business to become number partners with 7-11 year old, primary school children.

Action Days

A number of team challenges with specific themes and objectives taking place within the same timeframe. Eg skill based challenge during ‘Enterprise Week’ or an outdoor environmental challenge on ‘World Environment Day’. Action Days usually involve a number teams drawn from a range of companies.

Let's Get Cooking

Let's Get Cooking is a £20 million project funded by the Big Lottery, focused on the establishment of a national network of 5,000 after-school based cooking clubs in England. The funding for the programme runs from 2008 to 2012, at which time the clubs should be self sustaining.