Connecting people who want to volunteer with the opportunities to do it.

Since 2011 I've been working with Volunteering Kirklees on ways to use technology to increase the number of people able to volunteer.

The collaboration began with Volunteering Kirklees using Thumbprint.

Thumbprint is a flexible prototyping platform with a set of built-in features that mean it is quick and easy to try-out new ideas for connecting with people.

Through the experience of using Thumbprint, Volunteering Kirklees learned enough to successfully apply for funding from Nesta, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, to build a bespoke system for connecting volunteers and opportunities.

I worked with Volunteering Kirklees to co-design and build the system.

It has proved to be effective and very popular with organisations needing help from volunteers

"WOW! The phone started to ring within two minutes this morning, since then I have spoken to 14 prospective volunteers."

and with people who want to volunteer

"If you are focusing on people then this is the best way because it is the simplest form of communication."

When Volunteering Kirklees quantified the outcomes of an initial trial period they found that

"To date organisations reporting successful conversions to volunteers is 67%."

The knowledge I've gained through Voluntext has led to an ongoing research project funded by Kirklees Council, through the Bloomberg Cities of Service programme, looking at micro volunteering.