Our volunteers have been part of People Know How since its inception and are integral to our growth and achievements within Edinburgh and the Lothians. This Volunteers Week we’re celebrating over 10 incredible years of VIPs.
In 2013 People Know How’s Chief Executive & Founder Glenn set out a series of founding principles that would shape People Know How. Among these was a strong emphasis on the volunteer experience and the value that volunteers bring to a charity.
As we’ve grown, we’ve created our VIP community - volunteers, interns and placement students. This acronym reflects how indispensable they are to our services supporting the community. We’re committed to ensuring that VIPs gain as much from their experience with us as we gain from their efforts, fulfilling personal aims and objectives while contributing to our organisational aims and objectives. We deliver high quality and innovative projects while offering a learning environment with meaningful opportunities. To this day, we strive to ensure our VIPs gain valuable experiences that further their growth and development.
Throughout our history, we’ve crafted unique opportunities for our volunteers to put their skills in the spotlight and find ways to intertwine their passion with our work in the community. Our volunteers have been at the heart of some of our biggest achievements including consulting over 700 young people in Edinburgh, running an event to introduce Spanish migrants to Edinburgh, interviewing people experiencing homelessness about digital exclusion, running the first digital groups and supporting over 4,000 people with digital during the height of the pandemic. Without our volunteers People Know How would look very different than it does today.
The volunteer experience
Our volunteer journey and experience have been shaped by collaborating with them to ensure the opportunities we offer are rewarding and fulfilling for everyone involved. In 2014 we began our first consultation, led by Glenn and our first volunteers Miren and Amrita. This focused on what good volunteering would look like at People Know How.
In the years that followed, we implemented a volunteer-led approach to our services, creating a supportive framework that allowed our volunteers grow their skills through supporting communities. This was spearheaded by the Social Innovation Academy, a project designed to train volunteers leading to an opportunity to pitch an idea that would benefit the community and could be implemented by People Know How.
Thanks to this approach, we supported communities in Edinburgh and the Lothian through a variety of projects and consultations that laid the foundations for our Positive Transitions and Reconnect services.
In 2019 we introduced a new staff role, VIP Coordinator, and welcomed Amy to People Know How. Amy had an exciting opportunity ahead of her as she began to introduce new ideas to strengthen what was already in place and build exciting new ideas and processes.
Amy implemented measures including forms, policies and databases that would push People Know How to achieve an Investing in Volunteers Award in 2021, recognising good practice in volunteer management and support. Following this, Amy was promoted to VIP Officer and again to VIP Manager, allowing her to continue a focus on VIP policies and procedures, and hired VIP Coordinator Leah in 2022 to help foster a close relationship with VIPs, giving them a platform to be heard and share their ideas as the charity grows.
Always improving
Throughout the history of People Know How we’ve continued to find new ways to support our volunteers. During the pandemic volunteers provided support online and over the phone, and supported us to deliver over 3,000 devices to the community during this time.
As we grow and welcome more staff to our team, our volunteers now support our excellent team of coordinators to deliver our services, from running our canal boat to supporting digital groups and sessions with young people. Later this year will mark the launch of our new VIP strategy as we continue to push the boundaries of the opportunities we provide for our volunteers. We are also reapplying for another Investing in Volunteers Award and aim to continue to spotlight VIPs with a focus on the original principles we set in 2013, ensuring our volunteers get as much out of their time with us as we do from their support.
We’d like to say a huge thank you to all our volunteers who have supported us over the years. Without your dedication, support and ideas we would not have been able to achieve many of the significant achievements we’ve highlighted. Here’s to an exciting future ahead!
You can read more stories about our amazing VIPs on our website here. Or click below to learn more about volunteering.