guide to running a student led volunteering project
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Kingston University Students' Union's Guide to Running a Student-led Volunteering ProjectTRANSCRIPT
A Guide to Running a Student-Led Volunteering Project with KUSU Volunteering!
If you have an idea which will benefit the community in some way KUSU Volunteering will support you to run it! This guide explains what a Student-Led Volunteering project is, what qualifies for funding and how much money you’ll get. Most importantly it’ll tell you how to take your energy and ideas and turn them into a real-life project. What is a Student-Led Volunteering Project? It can be anything you want it to be. You decide! Previous students have: -Run workshops for Kingston Young Carers on art collage, drumming, IT, rugby and cheerleading. -Knitted hats for premature babies in local hospitals and made bunting for community festivals. -Taught primary school children about art history. -Removed rubbish from the Thames in Kingston through an underwater river clean. -Written a booklet on LGBT issues to raise awareness in schools. -Painted an Olympic-themed mural on the walls of a school gym. -Created a cookbook for young carers. -Led drama workshops and created a Christmas pantomime with MIND. -Organised a day of Caribbean cultural activities for young people with Caribbean heritage. You can read about these projects on the KUSU Volunteering Blog. Want more ideas? Why not: -Run an arts workshop for elderly people, young people etc! -Organise a clothes donation event and give the donated clothes to a local charity shop! -Curate an art exhibition of disabled teens’ work! -Help tidy up a community organisation’s garden! What will I get out of it? There are so many benefits to running your own volunteering project. You’ll make a positive contribution and give something back whilst also building your own self-confidence. You will discover your strengths and talents whilst responding to community need. You’ll also develop valuable job-related skills (leadership, teamwork, organisation, time management) and learn lots about yourself (make new friends, push your boundaries)! Who can I get help from? Not sure you want to run the project by yourself - then get a fellow Kingston University friend or course mate to run it with you! Alternatively get your KUSU Sports club involved through Be A Champion, or get your KUSU Society to help you. You’ll also get lots of help from the volunteering team in the Students’ Union. I’m here to guide you through the process from start to finish and can provide as much help as you might want (without
actually running your project for you!). My email is [email protected] and my work contact number is 0208 417 2548. I can give assistance with project planning, setting a budget, completing a risk assessment, recruiting volunteers, booking rooms within the university, access to a telephone, postal address, meeting space and help facilitate meetings with community organisations/charities. Finally although your project is your own, if you decide to work with a charity or community group it’s likely they’ll have advice they can give you too. What are the rules and regulations? To receive funding and support from KUSU Volunteering you must register as a KUSU Volunteer and your project must...
o Benefit a local community (external to Kingston University). o Be led by Kingston University Students. o Represent good value for money and be kept within an agreed budget. o Not replicate an existing project or be used to fund a project that is already running. o Not form part of an assessed (credit bearing / placement based) piece of academic work. o Not promote a religious or party political belief.
You will also be required to write a blog about the experience afterwards which will be hosted on the KUSU Volunteering Blog, as well as fill in an evaluation form. Please note the core function of the project cannot be to fundraise or campaign. How much funding can I get for my volunteering project? Up to £250 is available for one-off community events (e.g. a Christmas party for Age Concern) Up to £500 is available for on-going community projects (e.g. a weekly language workshop) You can apply for funding for the running costs of your project. This can include: training, equipment, resources for participants, stationary and your expenses. How do I decide what project to run? To help you decide what kind of project you would like to do, ask yourself what issues you feel strongly about, what talents and gifts you’d like to share and what you find interesting. You’ll need to do some research (the internet, libraries, talk to people who have similar projects, and those who will benefit from your project) to see what is already out there so you don’t clash with, or duplicate other services and also to identify a need for your project. We might be able to help you with this as we have links with local schools, charities and other organisations that might be keen to receive a Student-Led Volunteering project. Finally your project is as big as you make it. First and foremost you’re here to do a degree so you need to think about what sort of a commitment you’ll be able to manage alongside your university work. You’ll need to plan ahead, taking into consideration essay submission deadlines and exams. Why not check out the Student’s Experiences page of our website to see what kind of commitment students who have run projects gave and what they got out of the process.
What’s Next? Obviously this timeline is one size fits all to give you a guide as to what to expect. Your own projects timeline will be unique to your project and we’ll talk about this during the planning.
I’ve read this document and got a great idea.
Download a Project Proposal form from the website, complete it and submit it to Volunteering Coordinator [email protected] KUSU Volunteering will then contact you with regards to your proposal and invite you in for a meeting.
Don’t panic if it hasn’t met all of the criteria – we’ll contact you to discuss why and help you make changes.
On-Going Planning. Keep the KUSU Volunteering team up-to-date with your progress. Submit final project budget and have this signed off.
Risk assess your project.
Project takes place. This could be one day or over a number of weeks or the rest of the academic year.
Evaluate your project.
Write a blog about your project experience to go on http://kusuvolunteering.blogspot.co.uk
If you’re worried about anything come and talk to the KUSU Volunteering team. We’re here to support you!
Download from the website.